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Follow on Google News | Orange County Open Studio Tour Marks 22nd YearMembers 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 hugely 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 2016 Open Studio Tour please visit the Guild's website at: http://www.orangecountyartistsguild.com or contact James Oleson: info@orangecountyartistsguild.com End
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