Local artists share their love of art

September 28, 2021

By Kristena Schutt-Moore

The 29th Bancroft and Area Studio returned this year with 11 artists at nine studio locations sharing their love of art that inspires them to create.

This year the artists included wood worker Lyle Collins, stone carver and painter Andrew Edgar, Wood artists Rene and Elaine Butukofer, painter Nancy McKinnon, glass artist Karen Istead, painter and print maker Freddie Towe, painter and sculptor Ken Fraser, painter Barb Allport, painter Ketha Newman, doll artist Teena Surma and potter Amy Doole. In the first weekend alone the artists were visited by roughly 100 people who came to take in the changing fall colours and the area’s art scene.

One of the tour’s organizers Ketha Newman says that the numbers of visitors were pretty on par with the numbers that they traditionally received pre-COVID-19. At her studio she said, “The nice thing was that people came up pretty staggered, so we didn’t get a whole crowd of people all at once. So it felt really safe. A lot of the people that come out every year on the tour came back as well and it was just really nice to visit with people again.”

All COVID-19 restrictions were held at each studio, and masks were mandatory, and hand sanitizer were available at each location.

Both coordinators Newman and Karen Istead said that this year there were new faces coming to the show and many were new artists. There has been interest for next year’s studio tour already.

Istead explains that it is a juried show and that the board members do review the work and the studio, but that anyone interested can apply to be part of the tour. There are applications available on the website www.bancroftstudiotour.org or contact Istead at kistead)@gmail.com or Newman at kethanewman@hotmail.com.
Several of the studios will be keeping their studios open for visits and shopping via appointment. Contact information can be found on the artist list on the website.