Party Shoes. Laura Peery, artist
The Kenilworth Artists Association invites the public to its annual Kenilworth Artists Studio Tour on Saturday, October 7, and Sunday, October 8. Participating art studios will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Twenty-five artists, five of them new to the event, will showcase original works in ceramics, knitwear, woodwork, encaustic, mixed media, glass, silver jewelry and oil, acrylic and watercolor painting.
Medieval Watermelon Parade. Ursula Gullow, artist.
Sarah St Laurent has lived in Asheville and shared studio space in the River Arts District since 2018. She primarily works with encaustic. “I love to combine the beeswax medium with textiles that I dye, rust, embellish and embroider,” she says. “I also explore using my photography with the wax by transferring images on top of the wax or by embedding cyanotype images into layers of wax.” She often mounts her work on small structures or metal grids.
Laura Peery says that, in her opinion, the Kenilworth Studio Tour ranks high among art tours in Asheville. This will be her seventh year participating and she plans to open her home studio so that visitors can see her porcelain teapots and vessels that are inspired by dressmaking techniques. Her grandmother owned a dress shop, and Peery found the portion of the business where alterations were made to be a magical place. “When I discovered clay, it was no accident that I was drawn to its ability to mimic fabric,” she says. “As this is my work space, I will have finished work—teapots, figures, mugs and vases—as well as pieces in progress.” She will also demonstrate her process and techniques during the Tour.
Marianne Soufas, artist
“I’m really grateful that Kenilworth has established this stroll and that I’ve been able to be a part of it,” says Ursula Gullow who has participated since 2016 and sees the event as a time to meet new people and welcome those visitors who return each year. “The studio stroll is an opportunity for me to sell painting studies, sketches, ceramic experiments and other mixed-media artwork that is not intended for gallery display,” she says. “I think the Kenilworth Studio Tour is an excellent opportunity for people to meet artists of all disciplines and learn a little about their craft. These days, people look online at images of things all the time. It’s quite a different experience to get out and see objects and paintings in real life, meet the artists and get an understanding of why they do what they do.” This year Gullow will feature landscapes from her Kenilworth neighborhood as well as paintings inspired by her interest in 18th-century French painting.
Kenilworth artists donate 5 percent of their Studio Tour sales to Loving Food Resources, which provides food, health and personal care items to people in 18 WNC counties who are living with HIV/AIDS or are in home hospice care with any diagnosis.
To see a map with a list of artists and studios participating in this year’s tour, visit KenilworthArtists.org. Brochures are available at each studio location to direct attendees to the next stop. The event is free of charge.
