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Celebrating the arts: Studio Tours ring in 12 years of opening up shops

During the summer’s Studio Tours, celebrating 12 years, Saranac Lake Artworks opens up the studios of local artists and craftsmen to the public to see them in their own space. (Enterprise file photo — Matthew Turner)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake ArtWorks is celebrating 12 years of Studio Tours–a free event that showcases local artists and gives visitors an inside glimpse of their artistic process.

The event runs the last weekend of each month, from June to November, meaning that there will be five more opportunities to create your own art studio adventure.

The Studio Tours are part of the Arts Celebration of 2018 and were first founded by Sandra Hildreth and Diane Leifheit, who at the time, were both members of the Adirondack Artists Guild.

Studio Tours showcase the wealth of talent and creativity that makes Saranac Lake an arts destination in the Adirondacks. This is a unique opportunity for visitors to learn about each artist’s process, inspiration, and materials, see works in all stages of progress, and watch artists demonstrate their techniques in a wide variety of styles, subjects, and media including painting, pastel, ceramics, printmaking, woodcarving, fused glass, photography, fiber art and more.

Hildreth said that upon its formation, “One of our goals was to make Saranac Lake an arts destination. A place where people would want to come because there was a lot of great art and the artists were friendly and accessible. Having Studio Tours helps spread that idea. If people visit on the first Friday of the month, they’ll discover our galleries have opening receptions that are fun to attend. If they come on the third Thursday in the summer, they discover the ArtWalks. And if they’re here on the last weekend, artists studios are open to the public!”

The studio tours create a different kind of environment for experiencing the arts. For artist Kevan Moss, “The open studio tours help me acquaint viewers with my work and allow me to personalize the art-making experience. The visitors’ responses to my paintings also allows me to get feedback on what works for viewers and perhaps by omission what doesn’t. The nicely puzzling lesson is that almost everybody likes a different painting — some large, some small; some somber, some bright and bold; some of the Adirondacks and some from beaches or coastlines hundreds of miles away.”

The immersive experience also gives opportunity for networking.

“There is certainly room for more development of this important facet of keeping our community’s businesses alive and well, and non-art business owners are encouraged and welcome to visit during studio tour time, and to attend gallery openings, or simply just visit the galleries in town,” said six-year participant Susan Whiteman. “There is a tremendous amount of local talent that is very skilled at what they do.”

Many studios and galleries in downtown Saranac Lake are within walking distance or a short drive of each other. To visit artists throughout the surrounding region, check the map and each artist’s participating dates to plan your own driving tour.

And perhaps the best feature of the Tours: they are free and open to the public.

People can start planning their own tour now by going to www.saranaclakeartworks.com/studiotours.

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