Bloomington artists will be opening their studios to the public this weekend for the fifth annual Bloomington Open Studios Tour.
BOST begins this Friday with an evening reception and group show at the I Fell Gallery. During the day Saturday and Sunday, 35 local artists will open their studios to the community, give demonstrations and provide hands-on opportunities.
The BOST website, www.BloomingtonOpenStudiosTour.com, offers information on each artist and links to their websites, so participants can choose the studios they are most interested in. Here, one can find a collective map of the studios.
BIKE BOST is also new this year. It provides a scenic biking map which connects all of the studios and offers five geographically defined tours.
BOST Media Coordinator and contributing artist Michal Ann Carley explained BIKE BOST was created for those who want to experience the landscape along with the tour.
“Not only is being nestled in nature my inspiration, it has proven to be a big draw for a number of tour visitors,” she said.
Carley herself has a studio further off the beaten path. There, she works in metal and glass alongside her woodworker husband.
Carley will be showing torchworked and kiln-formed glass jewelry and objects, hand plasma-cut steel garden whimsies, traditionally forged utilitarian objects, and iron and glass sculptures this weekend. She also plans to demonstrate basic glass bead-making on a torch, which will take place Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in her glass shop.
“Our tour is as much about introducing the public to the methods, materials, processes and conceptions about creating a work of art as it’s about showing a large body of work,” she said. “This year we are all demonstrating aspects of the processes we use or display visuals that illuminate the process.”
Carley explained that while the tour focuses on teaching the community more about the artistic process, she also learns a lot from the experience.
“People not only came to see my work and to explore the mysteries of an ancient blacksmithing tradition, they shared with me their lives and pursuits, and the reasons why they were compelled to go out and wander through a stranger’s space, look at and think about the reasons and the passions that compels artists and artisans to create such stuff,” she said.
Project coordinator and participating printmaker Elizabeth Bussey also spoke about what she gains from the tour.
”I find that the Open Studios event provides me with a different way to connect with the art-loving public,” she said.
Bussey will open her 1970’s quad-level house in Park Ridge East, which doubles as her studio. She said she plans to rearrange the furniture a bit, turning her living room into a mini-gallery space for her finished and unfinished work.
In lieu of a demonstration, Bussey will have a participatory activity in her basement where participants make “solar flags” by printing sun-inspired blocks onto brightly colored squares.
“Printmaking is a process-driven medium, with many steps that are often difficult to explain to people in words,” she said. “So inviting people into my studio is a perfect way to show them what I do and let them experience the ‘aha!’ moment when you pull up your print.”
Overall, Bussey said she admires the collaboration and community BOST generates.
“BOST allows me to reach so many more people than I can by myself, and I love that BOST is a group of artists working collectively to both benefit their art business as well as providing the public with art activities and education — all for free,” she said.
