northcentralarkansasartistleague

CLINTON TO HOLD FIRST LITTLE RED RIVER STUDIO TOUR OCT. 11-13

Mark your calendars for Clinton’s very first art studio tour October 11 and 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. The self-guided driving tour features behind-the-scenes looks at six unique working studios, visits with ten artists, opportunities to view and shop for unique art works, and watch live demonstrations. Sites are all within a 15-mile radius of Clinton and the event is free for everyone interested in art.

Start the Little Red River Studio Tour at Rock N Java Coffee Cafe, in the mall at 230 Hwy 65 S. #8 in Clinton, home of Morrisette Pottery, to get maps of locations and perhaps enjoy a meal or dessert on the patio overlooking Archey Fork Park. They are open between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Artist Adrianna Morrissette will be there to show some of her pottery and distribute tour guide maps to visitors. Adrianna has worked with clay for over 30 years with high acclaim in juried shows and exhibits nationwide.

Don’t miss Clinton’s newest studio, Red Fern Glass Studio, 174 Lori Lane, where renowned glass artist Ed Pennebaker will demonstrate hot glass work at the furnace. Ed is a versatile artist who started out working in two dimensional art with an M.A. in printmaking from Emporia State University in Kansas. He was introduced to working with hot glass when he was working as an Artist-in-the-Schools in 1981-1983. Producing glass functional forms eventually led to working with sculptural lighting and then to pure sculpture. Along the way he worked with cast glass, fused glass, cast bronze, and steel fabrication. Pennebaker now uses some or all of these media to accomplish works that address issues concerning natural resources and the environment. Pennebaker’s work has been sought after for collections all over the world. He holds a Lifetime Achievement award from the Arkansas Craft Guild, an Arkansas Artist Fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council, and has been included in Arkansas Arts Center's prestigious Annual Delta Exhibition. A resident of Arkansas since 1985, he built his new studio in 2018 Clinton, Arkansas.

Ed’s wife Carol Corning is also exhibiting colorful and unique art in her upstairs studio at Red Fern. As one of 10 children with rural roots, she draws on those memories to create scenes that are indicative of growing up in a large family with a caring mother in 1960’s Arkansas. She uses found objects and fused glass to take the viewer back to a time when families ate, worked, and played together. Her latest works are rural scenes using batik fabric with found objects. She has recently retired from teaching from Clinton High School and is enjoying creating art, and her little woodland farm next to their studio. Her web address is carolcorning.com.

Also at this studio for the tour are two guest artists. Patty Munson will show her beautiful jewelry, mostly earrings. She has been working with clay for the past 30 plus years. She makes traditional pottery as well as the tiny art works in her earrings and pendants. Patty has made her home in the Chimes Community for the last 46 years. She enjoys growing a large garden and helping her husband with their rental homes.

Steve Myers will display exquisite hand-carved wooden bowls. His carpentry skills include home-building, custom cabinetry, clocks, boxes, and more.

At Katz-Messenger Stained Glass, 2212 Hwy. 95 W., meet Roberta Katz and her husband Steve Messenger. Local residents have seen their stained glass work in more than 25 local churches, hospitals, and businesses, and will remember Roberta when she owned the Pentacle Gallery. They bring more than three decades of experience designing and hand-crafting custom stained glass windows. Visit the A-Frame workshop to see work in progress, tour a stained glass project from idea to installation including creating a pattern, glass cutting, foiling and soldering, finishing. Relax in the spacious sunlit Showroom/studio, where you can admire current finished work including stained glass panels, small fused scenarios, ornaments, lamps, and photos of past projects. See more of their work on facebook/com/katz-messenger-stained-glass.

Another woodland studio is located in a remodeled bunkhouse at Rock’n’Pine Studio, 958 Morningside Rd. N., in Choctaw, where artist Joyce Hartmann paints in impressionistic and realistic styles, using oils, acrylics, watercolor, and ink. She has always enjoyed painting wildlife, reflected by some of her past work experience as illustrator and writer for Kansas Fish and Game Magazine and other outdoor publications. She has taught art, with degrees in physical education and art: A.B. Washington University, St. Louis, and M.S. from Pittsburg State University, Kansas. Her awards include purchase awards in watercolor at plein air events and Best of Shows in oil painting, watercolor, and ink in regional and state competitions. Her work hangs in museums, galleries, homes and businesses, and can be viewed on Facebook Albums, Instagram, www.joycehartmann.com, at her Rock'n'Pine Studio, or local regional exhibits. The tour will feature framed and unframed paintings, prints, works in progress, and crafts. She will demonstrate watercolor and plein air techniques, discuss commissions for portraits and customized art or prints, and answer question about techniques and materials.

At Sue’s Art House, 166 Primrose Lane in Shirley, Sue Pico offers three different up-close and personal demonstrations of three different art forms over three different days: Watercolor Painting; Ukrainian Egg design and creation; and “Antique Ink Drawing” using a broken stick. A big screen TV makes seeing all the details of the demonstrations easy and comfortable. She is happy to answer your questions and provide refreshments throughout the day. Several additional art forms from Sue’s numerous Art Adventures and Classes are on display. Sue is known as the Art Lady of Arkansas, and brings an extensive background in fine arts and art education. She teaches at her studio, as well as throughout the state. See more of her work on facebook.com/ArtLadyofArkansasSueAllenPico.

You will meet Artist Barbara Cornett at BC Stained Glass, 498 Teal Trail, Shirley. She has been making artistic glass pieces for 15 years, and has shown in galleries in Arkansas as well as Arizona. She presently teaches both fused glass and stained glass classes at her studio and at the Arkansas Craft School in Mountain View, and has created many handmade custom windows for clients throughout the U.S. During the tour, Barbara will provide visitors with an explanation of the steps taken to transform flat sheets of fusing glass into three dimensional glass art pieces. She will show what happens to glass inside a glass kiln. Best of all, each visitor may construct one of their own fused glass suncatchers, which will be mailed to them free of charge after it is fused in her kilns. Enjoy admiring and shopping for finished fused glass pieces as well as stained glass panels which will be on display in the studio. See more of her art work at facebook.com/BCStainedGlassWindows.

The Little Red River Studio Tour is registered as part of American Craft Week. Learn more on their web page and also at https://www.facebook.com/littleredriverstudiotour .