Artists open their doors to the community
Steffen Silvis
MNJ Contributor
Fast approaching its 50th anniversary, Toe River Arts has been supporting and promoting Mitchell and Yancey County artists since 1976.
The organization’s twice-yearly tours of local artists’ studios are slightly younger — having begun in 1993 — yet have become one of the organization’s greatest successes and arguably its most public face. The program is considered one of the oldest such tours in the nation.
After the fall tour was canceled owing to damage from Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land), the summer tour (which opened last Friday with a packed reception at the Kokol Gallery in downtown Spruce Pine) took on greater significance. The tour attracted visitors from all over; cars parked in front of the artists’ studios this last weekend had license plates spanning the distance between Alabama and Massachusetts. Following are a few of the highlights from the latest tour:
Starting in Spruce Pine, TREATS Studio Gallery on Oak Street downtown had a group show in its downstairs gallery, representing the work of its member artists. Founded in 2019, TREATS is an artists’ community, offering studio spaces to local artists who want to be part of the organization’s mission.
Artist Katie Elkins gave tours of a few of the studio spaces above the gallery, including hers, where her paintings were on display, as well as an impressive collection of old sewing machines which she repairs.
Across town, a small crowd gathered at Kurt Anderson’s studio to watch the artist at work. Anderson may be one of the most overtly prolific artists in the area, as his mixed-media paintings (a mash-up of folk art, Picasso, and comix) can be found dotting the landscape, including the façade of the Kokol Gallery in Spruce Pine.
Anderson is a renaissance man, moving from paint to clay and then on to printing T-shirts. More hive than studio, his workshop buzzed with friends and collectors.
In Tandem Gallery in Bakersville, across from Mica Gallery on Mitchell Avenue, quickly established a reputation as a center for ceramic work, including pieces by Kathy King, Amber Higgins (pottery as collage), and the transformed, everyday items of Shalene Valenzuela: clothes irons, cafeteria plates and malt-mixers.
Between Bakersville and Spruce Pine are many ceramists’ studios. The tour took in the workshops of Terry Gess, Nick and Lisa Joerling, and Courtney Martin’s airy studio, displaying her pieces.
Next door, Martin’s neighbor John Geci works in glass. Geci’s “flat bottles” glow in the light of a window, each capturing light differently.
Nearer to Penland School of Craft, tour-goers were invited into the sleek spareness of Jeannine Marchand’s workshop, displaying her innovative folded porcelain sheets that look like linen.
A completely different world was entered in Daniel Essig’s nearby studio, whose book sculptures are in competition with the eclectic cabinet of unusual pieces that constitutes his workspace.