In an annual tradition pairing the peak of the fall season and the creative works of artists around the Monadnock region, visitors got the opportunity to look into the studios and galleries of local artists last weekend, as part of the Fall Foliage Art Studio Tour.
The tour, which had artists open their studios for set times from Saturday through Monday, featured more than 20 local artists, including artists from Antrim, New Ipswich and Rindge.
Susan Wadsworth of Rindge was one of the artists who opened her studio, and has been a member of the tour since 2008.
“It’s pretty amazing that this area has that many artists willing to open their studios,” Wadsworth said. “It’s fun to have a weekend that’s art-filled.”
Wadsworth, who works with pastel and ink on paper, said she doesn’t get as many visitors as some of the artists on the tour, but those who do come are often there because they like her work. Although she had only about a dozen visitors over the weekend, she said at least one is interested in purchasing one of her pieces.
“For me, I see it as kind of an educational thing,” Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth’s works are abstract, usually landscapes inspired by her travels and the scenery of New England and Canada. She said her style is inspired by several Asian traditional art techniques, and, as a former teacher, she enjoys educating people about the work she does.
In New Ipswich, couple Gerry Friedman and Danielle Le Bris showcased their very different artistic styles in a two-for-one stop at their Main Street home.
Friedman, a sculptor who does mostly figurative work with metal, took visitors on a tour of his garage studio, where he’s working on realizing a vision that has been in his head for several decades now. In something of a departure from his usual material, Friedman is working with wood he salvaged from various types of chairs to create a skeleton-like figure, sitting in a chair, titled “Chair-man of the Board.”
“This has been in the making for years,” Friedman said. “I just needed to find the right chair to sit him in.”
Le Bris, an encaustic artist who uses beeswax with colored pigments, also had her work on display. Often working in landscapes, Le Bris said her work is often inspired by the views she grew up with in Europe, particularly in France and the Brittany islands, but also draws in elements from New England. One piece has a view inspired by scenery in the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific, but includes images of herons and Monarch butterflies that are pulled from her experiences in New Hampshire, she said.
“It becomes a mix of those two memories, so you couldn’t really place it in either place,” Le Bris said. “I tend to do that a lot. The landscapes are pulled from my visual memories, which inspire me.”
The Jaffrey Civic Center is hosting a show featuring work from the artists featured on the tour. Work is on display in the Auditorium Gallery through Oct. 22 and in the front hall display cases through Nov. 5. New artists this year include printmaker and Keene professor Rosemarie Bernardi, Shannon Perry of Keene, Jessica Thurber of Rindge and Tristan Bridges from Swanzey.
The display cases outside the gallery will include ceramics by Shana Brautigam from Rooted in Clay in Rindge, wood-turned works of Bob Englund and Kenny Greatbatch from Swanzey, the pewter works of Joe Farchaus from New Ipswich and the blown-glass of Alex Kadish from Antrim.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.