Get out your calendars and highlight July 8, 9 and 10.
Those are this summer’s dates for the Cowichan Valley’s Visions Art Tour: always a favourite with art lovers up and down Vancouver Island.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on each of those days, studios will be open as artists exhibit their finest work, their newest work and works in progress in the settings that provide their inspiration.
Taking this tour, which is a free, self-guided event, allows art lovers and art collectors to reach into the Valley’s creative roots, exploring places they may never have seen before.
There are waterfront locations, studios tucked among towering trees, still others overlooking the Cowichan estuary, some nestled in lush gardens and still more down winding roads you didn’t know existed.
To cut down on the driving, there will be clusters of artists and artisans at some of the studios; that means art tourists can see the work of 27 Visions artists at 15 venues.
Participants include painter Bev Robertson and photographer Neil Fatin will Terry Harrison, glass, tile and clothing painter, at her South End location.
Lorraine Hawe and new member Kathy Curry Hill will show in the gallery in the town centre at Arbutus Ridge along with jewelry designer Karen Bottcher.
Another cluster group will feature printmaker Edie Miller, who joins the tour for 2016, showing at Beverlee McLeod’s studio along with potter/jewelry designer Rosemary Danaher, potter Penny Jones, photographer Nathalie Mansey and painter Charlotte Haggart.
Meanwhile, other artists and guests include painter Sue Coleman, jewelry designer/silversmith Joanne Kimm, Carolyn McDonald, Laurel Hibbert, Carol Borrett, and new to the studio tour this year, Kmit, Roger Jackson, Cher McKittrick and woodcrafter Lorna Robertson.
To round out the tour, there’s silversmith Michele Heath, glass blower Tyler Hayes, quilter/clay artist Joan Tuff, wood turner Ken Broadland, pencil artist Donna Birtwistle and potter Lyndsay Hunley. Check out visionsarttour.ca for more information and a downloadable brochure.