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By MICHAEL PENNACCHIA
A rich palette of autumn foliage on Hope Valley’s Main Street provided the perfect backdrop for HopArts Studio Trail, the second annual tour of Hopkinton artists’ studios held last weekend. Who would have thought that Hopkinton harbored a concentration of artists and artisans to support a two-day tour?
Artists Leah Grear, Beth Drainville, and Michelle Walker, president of the board of Langworthy Public Library, that’s who. The three women co-founded HopArts in 2006, when the event began with 19 artists. It has since grown to include 30 participants.
“We couldn’t have been happier with the outcome of HopArts,” said Drainville. “We’re on to something good for the artists, the community and the general public,” she said. “People were telling us they had no idea that Hopkinton was an artists community.” Drainville’s artist husband Steve, was also on the tour, along with guest sculptor, Carl Hirsch. The Drainville’s work on their 18th century farm in Rockville.
Nearly 400 people visited the studios this year, according to Grear, a resident of Hope Valley. “I was a ‘newbie’ in town and wanted to meet other artists and find a way to build community,” she said, referring to her initial outreach to get the program started.
A graduate of the R.I. School of Design and an art teacher at The Wheeler School in Providence, Grear’s work includes paintings and hand-built clay pieces using the “scrafitto” technique. Her scrafitto pieces involve applying black and white layers of clay “slip” to an unfired ceramic piece and then “scratching” so as to produce an outline drawing prior to firing the piece in a kiln.
A steady parade of arts enthusiasts strolled along Main Street during the two crisp, sunny days. Many of the artists’ studios were in the center of town, though others were nearby in Carolina, Rockville and Wood River Junction.
The variety of artists and artisans ranged from potter and painter, Susan Shaw, whose porcelain plates, vases, pitchers and mugs were on display, to Dave Drown’s “digi-pop” computer images of oversized vintage bottle caps and Dietrich Baeu’s custom furniture designs.
Shaw also exhibited her lively watercolors of fish, while her husband, wood-turner John Buscaglia displayed his cherry-wood bowls and apple-wood lamps made from century-old macoun apple trees. Shaw’s studio at 7 Corey Trail is open most days and a good local source for gifts and functional pieces. In the Shaw’s adjacent residence, Patricia Arrow, a quilter and former classical ballet dancer, displayed some of the playful quilts she creates and designs for children. “I can’t draw,” said Arrow, “but I can make almost anything using a square, a triangle and graph paper.” She accepts custom orders for quilts through her company, “Blanket The World.” A selection of her quilts, which are crafted from hand-dyed fabrics, can be seen online at http://home.earthlink.net/~patarrow.
Just around the corner on Main Street, fiber artist, Linda Perry displayed her hand-painted “skeins” or coils of wool yarn and hand-crafted knitted items. Next door, Jane Dillon, a ceramic artist, displayed what looked like whimsical clay castle canisters. “This series of stacked containers could hold cereal or souls depending on what side of the equation you find yourself!” she wrote on the HopArts website. Computers, large-scale graphics equipment and video screens share the spotlight with bold graphics of marbles, cars, robots and other pop icons at Dave Drown’s bright studio behind his residence on Maple Street in Hope Valley. Drown renovated the former barn, where he creates gicleé prints, fine art reproductions and websites like the one he created for HopArts www.hoparts.org and his own site www.artprintgraphics.com.
Further along the studio trail at Dietrich Baeu’s Furniture Studio in the former 1850’s Centerville Mill, I found Baeu working in his 5,000 sq. ft. wood shop. There, he creates custom wood furniture designs for clients throughout the northeast.
Baeu’s woodworking career was spawned by a mid-life crisis. “By training, I’m a businessman, who developed a hobby as a woodworker 35 years ago,” he said with a distinctive German accent. “At the ripe old age of 41 I left the corporate world and wanted to have some fun.”
Nineteen years ago he came to Hope Valley, where he lives with his wife, Yvette. The couple’s private quarters are adjacent to the furniture showroom on the mill’s restored second floor.
“I like the rural environment of this part of the state. It feels very much like home, having grown up in a rural environment,” said the Hamburg, Germany native.
“HopArts exceeded our expectations,” said Drainville. “It helped to unify the arts in the community and was a joint effort from everyone involved. Hopefully it will continue throughout the year.”
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