By Jerelyn Craden

The Studio Tour, Haliburton Highlands will be in full swing celebrating its 35th year over the first two weekends of October with must-see art made by 44 local artists, including ten guest artists, displayed and presented at 26 studios at the same number of locations, with a drive along picturesque country roads embraced by the magnificent colours of autumn, this is an experience not to be missed.

Peter and Joyce Emmink, co-directors of The Studio Tour are fused-glass artists whose studio, Ivy Cottage Fusion Arts, is located in Algonquin Highlands. 

“We have 10 wonderful guest artists this year,” Peter Emmink said, “and one whose work is quite unique is felt artist, Chris Lizak.”

Joyce added, “And new to our full-member artist roster is metal sculptor Scott Childs. His work is very creative, and his studio (Z on the list) is definitely worth a visit.”

Peter adds,  “Tiffany Howe will be back after a bit of a break from the tour.”    

Howe is a multidisciplinary artist who creates mixed media paintings, sculptures, earrings and installation art using recycled materials, and found objects.

Pure eye-candy greets tour visitors with a wide range of different types of art – wood, textiles, metal, photography, painting, glass, pottery, and jewellery. 

“Most of us do an educational piece or demonstration for visitors,” Joyce said. “One of our guest artists, Albert Cote, a fibre artist, is often sewing while he’s showing his work.”

“Sylvia and Wayne Rose will often do a firing of raku pottery,” Peter said. “Joyce shows visitors the different stages of glasswork, before the kiln, after the kiln, and what molds look like.”

The Emminks weren’t always fused-glass artists. 

“About 30 years ago, Pete and I were on the Studio Tour doing stained glass as well as sand-blasted etchings, and then we kind of morphed into this fused glass,” Joyce said. “The nice thing about it is, you can use every tiny scrap of glass, nothing goes to waste, nothing ends up in the landfill.”

The couple’s styles couldn’t be more different from each other, Peter said.

“She makes wonderful functional plates and bowls, lovely four-season garden lanterns. I do more of the artsy framed work pieces, everything from a head shot of a bobcat right down to a stream trickling through the woods in the winter,” he said.

Over a weekend, between 500 and 600 visitors come to the Emmink’s studio. 

“Over a year,” they said, “we get about 1400 visitors.”

The Emminks are also looking forward to doing a Studio Tour beer this year, a cross-promotion, limited release with Haliburton Highlands Brewing, located at Abbey Gardens. The Studio Tour Beer will be released in September.

For a fully enjoyable, educational, and artistically enriching experience, the Studio Tour brochure and map are available for viewing and downloading, as well as a list of all of this year’s valued Studio Tour Haliburton Highlands sponsors at: www.thestudiotour.ca.

In addition, 20,000 copies of The Studio Tour brochure will be available at various locations throughout the county.