Third Annual Elephant’s Eye Tour Brings Unprecedented Number of Visitors to Artists’ Studios

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul 01, 2010 -
DOYLESTOWN, PA (July 2010) – Over two weekends in May, a selection of nationally- and internationally-acclaimed contemporary artists from the Bucks County area invited residents, visitors, art enthusiasts and students for a rare glimpse inside  their studios during the Third Annual Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour.

The tour showcased two- and three-dimensional work in various mediums, including oil paintings, photographs, sculpture, pottery, turned wood and more, and included ceramic artists and sculptors, Lisa Naples and Ken Vavrek; photographers, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee; wood turner, David Ellsworth; bead artist, Wendy Ellsworth; collage artist, Stacy Speer Scott; painters, Alex Cohen, Pat Martin and Linda Guenste; and sculptors, John McDevitt, Louis Pruitt and Jonathan Hertzel.

According to the tour’s founder, Lisa Naples, “Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour honors art and artists in a way that is truly inspiring and exciting. With each year the tour has seen more sponsors and artists join on, more students participate and more visitors attend. After three years, people know the name and visitors are starting to make their attendance an annual tradition. More than a thousand people stepped into the studios this year; an increase of more than 10 percent from 2009.”

Naples first had the idea for the Elephant’s Eye Studio Tour more than a decade ago. Her desire was to open the doors of accomplished contemporary artists studios in Bucks County to the public and to encourage local youth to pursue art. In keeping with her original mission, each year the tour holds an education day for area students. This year, on May 14, participating artists hosted approximately 200 school-aged visitors. Students had the opportunity to interact directly with the artists through hands-on experience, dialog and demonstrations.

“It’s important that we teach our youth that art doesn’t have to be a hobby or a pipe dream,” Naples said. “We hope that by exposing them to artists who are not only celebrated but sustained by their talent that they will consider pursuing art as a livelihood and continue the reputation of the well-known Bucks County artists who have come before them.”

Spanning across Central and Upper Bucks County, Elephant’s Eye Tour got its whimsical name from the song, "Oh What a Beautiful Morning” in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first musical, Oklahoma. The tour’s name is meant to pay homage to the distinguished group of artists who graced Bucks County from the 1920s through 1960s, including Oscar Hammerstein who was a local Bucks County resident during the time he wrote the lyrics. They were the people who gave Bucks County its reputation as a cultural center – Elephant’s Eye celebrates today’s artists who keep that reputation alive.

For more information on the artists, the tour itself or to view artists’ work, visit http://www.elephantseyetour.org or call 215-340-0964.