art harvest studio tour 2023

Yamhill County’s Art Harvest Studio Tour returns with record number of artists

• September 26, 2022
• David Bates
• Family , Oregon / NW , Visual Art , Yamhill

You might think, after losing two years to the pandemic, the Art Harvest Studio Tour of Yamhill County ’s return would be a little like wading cautiously into the shallow end of the pool, but no. This weekend, organizers are going for a glorious swan dive into the deep end, with both a record number of participating artists and the highest number of new artists.

“The primary focus of the studio tour, I think,” said James Nelson, who organizes the event that kicks off Friday and runs two weekends, “is that it’s an opportunity to meet artists and learn why they’re doing it and to see how they’re doing it. It’s a more personal connection to the art.”

There are several of what Nelson calls “uniquely designed” studio spaces, like the two 9,000-square-foot buildings in McMinnville’s industrial park where painter Erin Hanson produces an astonishing 250 paintings a year. Some artists will share space; McMinnville lamp maker James Violette, for example, joins painter Ray Massini at Art with Elegance , a gallery and studio housed in a renovated 1914 cottage in Newberg owned and operated by mixed media and jewelry artist Marion McMuldren.

But what Nelson terms the personal aspect, in many cases, burrows down to artists’ garages, spare bedrooms, and living rooms. Artist Leo Sheerin and his wife, Polly, have been in their McMinnville home near Upper City Park only a couple of years, but it is both full of and adorned with art. He and Polly have traveled, lived, and taught all over the globe, soaking up the living traditions of other cultures.

Buddhism and Taoism inspire and infuse his work. The patio where Sheerin, one of 21 new artists on the tour, will greet visitors is draped with Tibetan prayer flags, and the walls of their living room are adorned with his work, including enormous masks modeled after those used in Peking Opera productions.

And therein lies an illustration of what sets a studio tour apart from gallery hopping. It would be one thing to see these formidable faces on the wall in a gallery, but when you have the guy who made them in front of you, you can hear how he and his wife, who were both teaching at the time, used them with their kindergarten and second-grade students in a theatrical production of The Odyssey .

“I was the Cyclops, right?” Sheerin said proudly. “I made a giant puppet.”

“It was awesome,” Polly laughed. “The kids were terrified of it.”

“They were terrified and loved it,” he added.

Opera masks and collages are just the tip of this iceberg, and as has become custom in recent years, the best way to get a handle on it all is to visit the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, where you’ll find work by all 49 artists on display. It’s a sampler exhibition of paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel; photography, stained glass, sculpture, wood and metal work, mixed media, ceramics, charcoal, fabric art, and more.

Just eyeballing the list, one thing that jumps out is this year’s tour features a lot of jewelry work: McMuldren and Adele O’Neal in Newberg, along with Debra Franciosi in Amity, and Carla Fox and Susan Goodwin in the McMinnville-Dayton area.

McMinnville book artist Marilyn Worrix is among many studio tour veterans returning this year, although she’s in different digs. She’s no longer in that sprawling apartment downtown but in a custom home along Cozine Creek that includes, of course, a studio for her imaginative and prolific book artistry.

“A book artist really has the freedom to stretch the meaning of what a book is,” she said. “A lot of people would look at something like this” — she displays a pair of mounted stands of unequal length between which the pages of the “book” are strung on a cord — “and wouldn’t think of it as a book. The idea came from medieval books, which were chained to the library tables because they were so valuable.”

Worrix’s story is a nice example of how art flourishes in a community. “One of the things I did right after retiring from real estate was to take a class at Sitka ,” she said. “It just happened to be a book-making class, and I just happened to be taught by an amazing woman, and I’ve never stopped.”

Three decades later, she’s made thousands of books and passed along what she’s learned in classes of her own. One of her former students, in fact, Penny Tucker, is among the new artists on the tour this year.

So how does one do all this? The event runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Sept. 30-Oct 2 and Oct. 7-9. The Chehalem presentation doesn’t open until Oct. 4, so your best bet is to visit the tour website , where you’ll find a complete list of artists and maps. At any location on the tour, you can purchase a $10 pass good for all six days, pick up a brochure, and you’re on your way. If you’re in an unfamiliar area, yellow studio tour signs will point you in the right direction.

THEATER WATCH: The ghost lights are gone and the area’s stages are popping with plays. In McMinnville, Gallery Theater ’s production of the ABBA-themed Mamma Mia! has proven so popular that additional matinees have been added to the run, which ends Oct. 2. Shows in the main auditorium are selling out, and few tickets are left. Across town, Linfield University’s 103rd theatrical season opens Sept. 28 with Leanna Keyes’ Doctor Voynich and Her Children, A Prediction , which draws from Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children and explores the timely topic of “women’s rights in a post-apocalyptic United States.” Finally, in Salem, Pentacle Theatre last week opened a production of Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurers Edition , which runs through Oct. 15. Check with individual theaters about COVID protocols.

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Photo Joe Cantrell

David Bates is an Oregon journalist with more than 20 years as a newspaper editor and reporter in the Willamette Valley, covering virtually every topic imaginable and with a strong background in arts/culture journalism. He has lived in Yamhill County since 1996 and is working as a freelance writer. He has a long history of involvement in the theater arts, acting and on occasion directing for Gallery Players of Oregon and other area theaters. You can also find him on Substack, where he writes about art and culture at Artlandia .

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Art Harvest Tour to feature studios from Perry to Ogden and Boone this weekend

The 80-mile, four-city Art Harvest Tour returns this weekend, offering a pair of new stops.

The tour, held annually the last full weekend in September, varies in location each year, providing plenty of opportunity for artists to display their work.  This year's event will be held Saturday, Sept. 23 and Sunday, Sept. 24.

“It’s really fun to go on a studio tour because you get to see more behind the scenes, where they’re actually creating things,” said Lynsi Pasutti, with Art on the Prairie. “It’s a little bit of a different feel than a 10x10 booth or a tent on a street at an art show. Anytime you are able to go out on a studio tour, it’s just a whole different experience.”

Art on the Prairie, a coalition of artists and community members who organize a November festival in Perry, will present the tour in conjunction with multiple artists on the committee.

A colorful addition

This year’s Art Harvest Tour will feature 18 central Iowa artists at eight different stops. The 80-mile travel along the Des Moines River Valley through Perry, Boone, Ogden and Jefferson.

Pasutti is excited about the new route through Jefferson as well as a new stop in Perry. 

“It’s fun to incorporate some new artists, expand the reach a little bit and celebrate the wonderful talent that’s in this area and work together to promote the arts,” she said.

While several artists and stops are new this year, others like Flock 9 Studios in Ogden and Billy Whittle Collection in Boone have been with the tour since the beginning.

From stained glass to ceramics, the Art Harvest Tour has it all

The tour will feature various artwork, from stained glass to paintings, ceramics, fiber, jewelry, woodworking and more.

“We like to say that each of the artists and their spaces are unique to them, from historic downtown galleries to country-lane home studios, the stops are as unique as the artistic styles they host,” Pasutti said.

The Art Harvest Tour is free, and Pasutti said attendees are welcome to visit the studios and galleries at their own pace during the two-day event.

“It’s our ninth annual event and we have a great group of artists right here in central Iowa and the Des Moines River Valley,” she said. ““It’s an 80-mile loop so it takes quite a bit to drive around, but that’s part of the fun of it.” 

More information about this year’s tour can be found on the Art on the Prairie website , artontheprairie.org, and Facebook page . Maps can be found online and can also be picked up at each location.

The Art Harvest Tour artists include:

• Mary Rose Nichols — Stained glass
• Deborah Powers — Painting
• Andy Klindt — Wooden spoons and bowls
• Cindy Devilbiss — Hand knits
• Lynsi Pasutti — Ceramics
• Betsy Peterson — Painting, mixed media, clay
• Eric Peterson — Wood fired stoneware and porcelain
• Alan Lenz — Woodworking and stained glass
• Bill Greenley — Woodcarving 
• Ellen Fairchild — Mixed media abstracts, mono-type prints
• Katherine Koskovich — Handmade jewelry
• Pam Dennis/Ryk Weiss — Willow, clay and metal works, garden art, wall murals
• Jolene Peters — Mixed media collage
• Curt Nelson — Handbuilt ceramics
• Kevin Shea — Geek culture illustrations and apparel 
• Chad Elliot — Whimsical, expressionistic paintings

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Home / About / Articles / Art Harvest Studio Tour Makes a Triumphant Return

Art Harvest Studio Tour Makes a Triumphant Return

It’s never been clear to me how or why “fall arts” became a thing, given that many arts-centric venues are open year-round, or launch new seasons in January. But McMinnville knows how to take fall arts to another level: We have the Art Harvest Studio Tour of Yamhill County, which is the best “art walk” affair you’ll find anywhere.

And this year particularly, because after two years lost to the pandemic, our art studio tour isn’t just dipping a toe back in the shallow end of the pool; it’s roaring back, with a record fifty artists participating. Most will open their studios to the public, and the rest will be available at galleries or some shared space with other artists. 

The event runs two weekends, Sept. 30-Oct 2 and Oct. 7-9 on Fridays through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County , and you’ll find information about all the artists and where they’re located at www.artharveststudiotour.org . An entry button for the self-guided tour, good for all six days, may be found at all studios and costs just $10.

Listening to organizer James Nelson talk excitedly about each artist, not a few of whom work in a “uniquely designed” studio, is enough to inspire you to visit them all. Realistically, it’s wise to be selective. To dip your own toe in, you might first drop by the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, where work by all participating artists is on display starting Oct. 4. 

“This tells the world that there are a variety of artists in a variety of settings making a variety of art,” Nelson says. “And that no setting should prevent you from making art.”

Just in McMinnville alone (and, a few miles up Highway 18 in Dayton) more than half of the artists may be found, working with acrylics, sculpture, mixed media, jewelry, oils, watercolors, stained glass, sculpture, charcoal, screen prints, paper-carving and book arts. 

If you’ve been on the tour before, know that along with tour favorites like McMinnville book-maker Marilyn Worrix, watercolorist Terry Peasley and paper-carver Doug Roy, nearly half the participating artists are new — and, in some cases, new to town. 

So if you live here, it’s a chance to meet your neighbors.

The Art Harvest Studio Tour is a veritable potpourri of autumnal wonders — including, cross your fingers, beautiful weather. So grab a bite downtown or map out your tour strategy sipping java at Flag & Wire Coffee in the Granary District and get to it. McMinnville is packed with artists. This is your chance to meet them. 

About the author:   David Bates is a McMinnville writer who has appeared in  Gallery Theater  productions since 1998.

29th Annual Art Harvest Studio Tour

Visitors are invited into studios and workshops of nearly 50 Yamhill County artists for self-guided tours. Watch demonstrations, learn the creative process, enjoy viewing and purchasing artwork.

For more deatil refer to the website linked on this page.

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