Brown County STUDIO TOUR ~ by Chrissy Alspaugh
The 24th annual Brown County Studio Tour will whisk art enthusiasts through beautiful back roads to experience the community’ s rich art history first-hand.
Twenty-seven artisans will be showcased at 17 local studios with public hours throughout October. These working artists will give visitors a glimpse into their lives, with demonstrations, tours of the spaces that inspire them, special creations available for sale, and even opportunities for visitors to try their hand at various art forms.
T. C. Steele State Historic Site is also a stop on the tour.
The studio tour is a free, self-guided event designed to showcase arts and crafts created in the community often referred to as the Art Colony of the Midwest.
“ The arts and our painters are really what put Brown County on the map 100 years ago,” said Andra Walters, executive director of Brown County Art Guild.“ It’ s amazing how rich the arts still are here and the wonderful, indepth representation of artists and creatives who live in the area.”
New to the tour this year, participants will be able to search for the Brown County Studio Tour on the PocketSights Tour Guide app to quickly find the nearest open studio.
Brown County Bikes also for the first time will offer one- and two-day bicycle tours on Oct. 15 and 16 to 15 of the studios, with mountain-bike and all-asphalt options available, said co-owner Kate Nolan. For information, visit < browncountybikes. com >.
The second and third weekends of the studio tour will be extra special, said Lory Winford, studio tour vice president. Many participating studios will welcome live bands, offer refreshments, and have planned events including black-smithing and falconry demonstrations, she said.
Winford said each year the tour draws art enthusiasts from across the nation.
“ Brown County is all about nature and the arts, and this tour showcases a lot of the art and the artists whose modalities don’ t get representation in studios,” she said.“ The arts are so important to our lives, and this studio tour allows us to see in real life how important the arts are to our world.”
Several studios on the annual tour host guest artists’ creations, allowing visitors to see multiple art forms in a single stop, Winford said.
All studios are open in October from 10:30 a. m. to 5:30 p. m. Wednesday through Saturday; many are open Sunday. Visit < bcstudiotour. com > for studio locations, to confirm individual studios’ tour days, or to get a printable tour map.
“ It’ s just going to be a wonderful October,” Winford said.“ Visitors will see a wonderful
28 Our Brown County Sept./ Oct. 2022