Autumn brings many events — pumpkin patches, baking apple pies, leaf-peeping and the Mo’Town Studio Tour.
This fourth annual self-guided studio tour has become a staple on my list of fall activities. This year five local artists, hosting 13 guest artists, will open their studios to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 15 and from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 16.
With only one returning guest artist this year, each stop will be a different experience from previous years, though the hosts remain the same.
The hosts and founders of the event are Jen Allen and Lisa Giuliani, both potters. The other hosts are Jamie Lester and Nadia Caterina of Nampara Sculpture and Arts; Bryn Perrott, a wood carver and print maker; and ceramicist Shalya Marsh.
Last year, these artists teamed up to offer a raffle as a fundraiser during the studio tour. The artists themselves donated to round up funds from the raffle to $1,000, which went to their diversity and inclusion grant.
After the application deadline closed last year, they awarded this grant to artist Rona Chang as travel funds for participating in this year’s tour.
Rona, a textile artist born in Taiwan and raised in New York City who now creates her wearable art in Pittsburgh, will be one of the guest artists at Lisa’s studio.
“These guest artists we have, they won’t really be back. So it is a really great opportunity for our community to see art they wouldn’t necessarily see unless they traveled,” Lisa said.
The other artist Lisa will host is Nevada Tribble, paper and fiber artist who converted a bike into a portable sewing machine so she can sketch with thread while on adventures.
Nathalie Singh-Corcoran, the only returning guest artist, started making paper collages during the 2020 pandemic. Her full-time job is as an English teacher at WVU, and she creates art in her spare time.
Lisa said it is important to spotlight part-time artists, noting that participating in the tour last year gave Nathalie the motivation to create a whole body of work, and selling it gave her the confidence as an artist to keep creating at a larger scale than if it were a hobby.
Other guest artists this year are: Kara Hetz, jewelry maker; Yoshi Fujii, ceramicist; Doug LaRocca, illustrator, designer and screen printer; Atiya Jones, multi-disciplinary conceptual artist and pattern and motif designer; Eric Pardue, potter; Hunter Stamps, mixed media sculptor; Erina Schultz, an artist with multiple mediums; Lindsay Oesterritter potter; Amelia Stamps, potter ; and Morgan Hill, multi-disciplinary artist.
Some of these artists are from in state, but many are from other eastern states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia.
With all of these artist sharing their work, there will be lots to see at each stop. “They should go to all the stops. Every stop is so different, don’t just go to the one you know. Every person’s space is different,” Lisa said.
“It’s becoming more of a brand,” she said, explaining that people hear of the tour, but maybe don’t recognize the host artists individually.
During a previous year’s Studio Tour, Lisa met a customer from Ohio, who said the studio tour brought her to the area. “It never dawned on me that someone from Ohio drove here for the studio tour,” Lisa said, laughing.
“At the end of the day it’s about promoting people and exposing people to art,” Lisa said.
