Orange County Open Studio Tour Marks 21st Year

ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. - Oct. 29, 2015 - PRLog -- 2015 marks the 21^st year for the Orange County Open Studio Tour, one of Chapel Hill and Orange County’s most popular events, which takes place the first two weekends in November each year. The tour is made possible by volunteers from the Orange County Artists Guild (OCAG), a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the visibility and recognition of area artists and crafts people. More than 80 local artists will participate in the 2015 weekend events, scheduled for November 7 & 8 and November 14 & 15 this year. On Saturdays studios are opened from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sundays from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Preview shows will be held at The Hillsborough Gallery of Art in Hillsborough, with an opening reception on Friday, Oct. 30, 6:00 – 9:00 pm and FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, with an opening reception on Thursday, Nov. 5, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Both events are free and open to the public. During the Open Studio Tour members open their studios, often located on their own property, to the general public. During a visit members of the community get a chance to meet artists, learn about their creative process first-hand, view their body of work up close, and have the opportunity to purchase work directly from the artist on location. Local artists benefit greatly from the Tour by increasing their exposure to a broader community base, receiving immediate feedback from prospective buyers, and by selling their work on site.

Begun by jewelry-maker Monnda Welch, the Orange County Open Studio Tour was originally run by her as a one-person operation. Welch had long envisioned a county-wide studio tour, but did not have time to organize one. Then, on Mother's Day in 1995, Welch broke her wrist. Ten days later she tore her rotator cuff. To a jewelry-maker these events were devastating, and meant a temporary halt to creating jewelry. But finally she had the time to bring all of the necessary elements together to plan a studio tour. 28 artists participated in that first tour. However, after 6 years organizing and running the tour, Welch felt she could no longer afford the necessary time and energy to continue and so the Orange County Artists Guild (OCAG) was formed, by 20 participating artists, specifically to run it. Funded by a grant from the Orange County Arts Commission, the Guild began running the Open Studio Tour in 2001. With a current membership of approximately 120 artists, more than 80 will participate in the 2014 studio tour.

Members are juried into the Guild based on the quality of their work and pay $100 annual dues and $250 to participate in the tour. All organizational work for the Guild is volunteer; there are no paid employees. Men and women, old and young, Guild members are serious artists who excel in their craft. They show their work at various galleries and art venues, and many are award-winning, so there are treasures to be found at every location. Brochures and tour maps are available at venues throughout the area or on the guild website: http://www.orangecountyartistsguild.com

If you do not have a brochure handy, or just feel like winging it, drive around until you find one of the bright yellow signs posted all around the county. Follow the arrows which mark the way to each studio. This is one of the few times a pop-in visit is not only welcome, but also encouraged. The Tour features the work of fine artists and craftsmen working in many different mediums: book arts, clay, ceramics, drawing & pastels, furniture, glass, illustration, jewelry, mixed media, painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor, wax encaustic), photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, woodworking and more. To see examples of artists’ work visit one of the preview shows at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in Hillsborough or FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill or at the OCAG website:  orangecountyartistsguild.com (http://www.orangecountyartistsguild.com/).

The Tour has grown tremendously over the years, becoming a highly anticipated and appreciated event in the community. Held the first two weekends in November, Orange County is at its most beautiful, with normally clear weather and comfortable temperatures making it a great time to be out and about. Participating studios are located in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, as well as out in rural parts of the county. In the early years, much of the traffic to studios came from people who were already on artists’ personal lists of contacts. But as the Tour has grown, it has continued to attract more and more visitors through publicity and word-of-mouth, bringing visitors from other areas in NC and beyond. In 2013, with 65 studios open, OCAG estimated that there were over 11,200 visits to studios. Over 36% of the open studios had between 100 and 200 visitors over the two weekends; about 15% of the studios had between 200 and 300 visitors; about 12% had more than 300 visitors.

While artists participating in the Tour hope to sell work, selling art is not the only purpose of the Tour. Part of the tour is educating visitors about the importance of the arts in the community. The bright yellow signs attest to the large number of artists and artisans living throughout the county and willing to share their knowledge and creativity with visitors. Many of the studios will also feature demonstrations about how the work is done.

For more information about the Orange County Artists Guild or about the 2015 Open Studio Tour please visit the Guild’s website at: http://www.orangecountyartistsguild.com