Residents, Artists Connect on Tour

Residents, Artists Connect on Tour
Rain puts no damper on sixth annual Studios Tour.

  "I'm trying to make the grass sparkle. It's a challenge," Great Falls Foundation for the Arts chair Mollie Vardell told two children watching her work on a landscape painting in the Artists' Atelier at Leigh Corners Sunday afternoon. The girls agreed that the painting looked "way better" than it had the day before.

Vardell was one of 13 artists working that day in the atelier, which was just one stop on the sixth annual Great Falls Studios Tour last weekend. As the streets and sidewalks were finally drying after days of rain and cold, Vardell said the dismal weather had not hurt attendance. "I think, if anything, it worked in our favor yesterday," she said, noting that residents had not had the option of outdoor recreation, so many had opted instead to drop in on the atelier and the home studios of artists throughout the Great Falls community.

THE TWO-DAY EVENT, staged by Great Falls Studios, was the community's largest art tour to date, with 44 artists spread across 29 stops. Last year, 38 artists participated. Residents of all ages had a chance to drop in on a wide variety of artists, from painters and potters to jewelers, a lithographer and a leathersmith, watching them work, talking technique and perhaps making a purchase.

"I think it's amazing for a community our size that we have this many artists," said Malia Kishore, who was visiting the atelier with her 12-year-old son Ben. "It's such a treat to see what they're working on and to support them if we can." She was buying a still-life painting she had seen earlier in the newspaper.

"It seems like Great Falls has become this hotbed for artists, and I don't know why," said Luke McCabe, the son of one of the painters stationed in the atelier. He said he thought the annual tour had "definitely grown" in quantity and quality and that it brought high-caliber work in a range of prices that made it accessible to everyone.

"I was very pleased with the result and the place looks beautiful," said Jenna Klimchak, who was participating in the tour for the first time. She was alternating her attention between four abstract, multimedia pieces affixed to both sides of the board on her easel in the atelier. "People like to see how artists work, and we sold some paintings. That's always good."

When photographer Robin Kent first participated in the tour two years ago, it had been on "one of those perfect days," he said. Yet about the same number of visitors — 80 or so — had dropped in on him in his basement this year. "I'd consider it pretty successful, given the lousy weather, especially yesterday," he said. Kent said he had sold about 20 pieces, as well as books and greeting cards, but he added, "The main purpose of the tour is to let people in to see what the artists are doing in Great Falls."

He said he had been chatting with visitors about digital photo processing techniques, printers and how he manages to get the moon to show up where he wants it in a photograph. (He uses a compass.)

ONE SUCH ENTHUSIAST was longtime Great Falls resident Tanya Beauchamp, who had made a special point to drop in on photographers on the tour. As an architectural historian, she used photography in her job and still had a darkroom she hadn't used in years. She and Kent were discussing the more cutting-edge technology of Epson printers. Beauchamp said she had also visited painters, quilters and the lithographer who was giving demonstrations on his antique printing press. "It's a wonderful way to see what people are doing and also to see the neighborhood," she said.

It was painter Bob Gilbert's first time participating in the tour, and he said his house would definitely be a stop again next year. "I really enjoy the people side of it," he said. "I sold several pieces. Got a lot of questions about technique, a lot of feeling about the diversity." His work included landscapes, cityscapes, sports paintings, portraits and portraits of pets in oils, acrylics and watercolors, on a variety of surfaces. "I enjoy the diversity. I think it shows your strengths," he said.

"We know Bob as a real estate person and we had no idea," said McLean resident Lola Reinsch, who was visiting Gilbert's home studio with her husband Almont Pierce. "That's shocking, to do three different media and then to mix them too." A longtime friend of Gilbert's wife, she had just learned the month before that he painted.

IN FACT, Gilbert is the resident painter at the Old Angler's Inn in Potomac, Md. and is about to put on a show at Washington Technology Park in Chantilly.

Many artists on the tour had other, full-time sources of income. Karen Bateman, who was stationed at Riverbend Park, is a scientist with the National Institutes of Health whose husband encouraged her to pick up a hobby a couple of years ago. She started painting landscapes at Riverbend Park with resident artist Jack Warden, whose work was also on display for the tour, and her third work was juried into a show in Reston. She now has had two solo shows and was recently sought out by a Manhattan art gallery. "It's been life-changing," Bateman said.

Although this was the second time she had been a part of the tour, she said it was the first time her stop was in her "natural habitat." "I think there's something special about seeing the art in the place it was created," she said. She and Warden had planned to paint outdoors throughout the weekend, as is their custom, but were deterred by the rain.

However, she said the weather had not discouraged visitors, more than 100 of whom had dropped in on the two painters. Many, she said, were passing through the park or seeking shelter during a picnic that was held nearby on Saturday.

"Even though we have stuff up for sale, I think the emphasis has been toward a presence in the community and having people see the artists at work," she said, although she noted that she had made some sales. "Which is kind of icing on the cake. I'm not doing this for a living."