Studio tour will offer insights on artists
By Bill Rea

Marianne Broome is organizing and participating in this weekend's Studio Tour King.

Everyone knows that an artist creates, but the hows and wheres behind those creations are sometimes mysterious to many.

There are many talented artists in King Township, and patrons of this weekend's Studio Tour King will get a chance to see many of them in their own work environment.

The tour is being coordinated by awardwinning King City artist Marianne Broome, with the help of nature photographer Garry Conway, president of Arts Society King (ASK).

There will be 20 artists on the tour at 16 different locations, including Broome and Conway. Broome said ASK was interested in celebrating the arts and environment in King, and had discovered how many talented artists there really were. They decided these people should be promoted and encouraged.

"One of the best ways to do that is through a studio tour," Broome observed. "It's an opportunity for people to actually visit the artists' studios and talk to the artists themselves. See them work. See how it's produced."

Broome plans to have hundreds of her works on display, including acrylic paintings, which is a medium she's devoting a lot of her time to now. Her work includes florals and landscapes, including some in King. She used to be devoted to painting in watercolours, and there is still a public call for them, but watercolours are displayed in glass for protection, and many people don't like viewing them that way. As well, she said there's a trend these days for larger paintings, and the glass to cover them is heavy.

But there is going to be more than just paintings on the tour. "We have a great variety of artist," Broome declared.

There will be fine art creations by Joanne Clarke, Ernestine Tahedl, Ken MacFarlane, Helen Lucas, Karola Steinbrecher, John McEachern, Phil Chadwick, Diane Styrmo, Andrea Loeppky, Nancy Jones and Evangeline Munns; handcrafted

furniture made by Bruce Chambers; waterfowl carving by Bob Sharer; photography by Conway and Tom Wray; and sculptures by Brett Davis, as well as displays from Jordash Gallery, Schomberg School of Art and Kingcrafts.

"A wonderful, wonderful array of very talented artists on the tour," she observed.

The tour will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Maps of the tour are included on the ASK brochure for the on-going Arts Festival King. Copies have been distributed to homes in the township, and can still be obtained from the local branches of the public library, or at the Township offices in King City.

"It'll make a wonderful day's outing," broome remarked.