Landmark year for Chatham Studio Tour -- 2010
Rita Spina is one of 50 artists who live and create in
Chatham County, who will open their studios the first two weekends in December
for the 20th Annual Chatham Studio Tour. Art-lovers can meet Tour
artists and see samplings of their works at receptions at FRANK Gallery in
Chapel Hill on November 29th from 7 to 9 PM, and November 30th
at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro from 7 to 9 PM.
Rita Spina’s career as an artist began just as the
Chatham Studio Tour was being organized. Born and raised in Manhattan she
always expressed an interest in art, and as a child attended Saturday classes
at the famous Parson’s School of Design. She planned to be an art major at
Russell Sage College. However, she became an English major, as the Art program
was tailored for those who wished to follow the great artists of the world
-- that would come later. She married, had four children, went to Hofstra
University for her graduate degree in Psychology and eventually headed up
the Psychological Center. A subsequent clinical practice followed. For 5
years she and her husband Larry lived on their 57 foot boat in Huntington
Harbor.
It wasn’t until she retired to Fearrington Village that
Spina rediscovered her knack for creating art. She began meeting with a small
group of practicing Fearrington artists called The Collection --
Carol Owen, Vidabeth Bensen, Fran Schulzberg, Jackie Hammer and Claire Levitt.
They supported one another in creating art, and became the nucleus of artists
that would evolve into the Chatham Studio Tour.
“Those Fearrington artists were a great help to me,” says
Cathy Holt, founder of the Chatham Tour. Holt had been a successful jewelry
maker for 10 years when she moved to Chatham County just over 20 years ago. “I
had heard that there were artists up every country road, and I wanted to meet
them,” she asserts. Holt took on the job of Executive Director of the Chatham
Arts Council (now called ChathamArts) with the idea of fostering a vibrant
artist community. She drew inspiration from an artists’ collective she had
visited just outside of DC, and an antiques center in Cameron, North Carolina.
She envisioned a tour of artist studios as a mechanism for building community
among local artists.
Holt proposed the idea to the Arts Council Board of
Directors. “They said there were no funds available, but, if I would raise the
funds myself, they would be supportive” she recalls. She secured some starter
funding from Central Carolina Community College, and began to talk to
businesses. “I pointed out that artists are small business people, who attract
visitors to other local business,” Holt emphasizes. “On my own time, I began
meeting with artists, to describe the idea of a tour, and get them involved.”
In 1992, the first Chatham Studio Tour launched with 30 artists. “Then, most of
the artists had full time jobs and created works as avocation,” Holt notes.
“What makes me most happy is that the Tour helped many artists to pursue their
art full time.”
The Chatham Tour became a model for other arts groups. The
next year, fellow jewelry maker Monnda Welch, who then lived and worked in
Orange County, patterned a studio tour there on the Chatham plan. “I even had a
visit from a writer all the way from Boston to learn about our tour,” Holt
recalls.
Over the years, the Tour flourished as a program of
ChathamArts, and in 2007 Tour artists formed the Chatham Artists Guild.
It has now grown to over 50 artists. Ten new artists join the Tour this year:
potter Trish Welsh; quilter Suzanna Stewart; pastel artist Carolyn Schrock;
fiber artist Christie Minchew; jewelry maker Lynell Dodge; basket weaver Jan
Dunn; mixed media sculptor Nate Shaeffer; photographer Len Jacobs; and
furniture maker Erik Wolken.
The Chatham Studio Tour is a holiday tradition, and an
opportunity to see and purchase unique original art. Visitors from all around
enjoy Chatham’s rural beauty and share with the members of the Chatham Artists
Guild in the creative process. “Our Tour is an important economic engine,”
notes Guild President, Julia Kennedy. Last year, Tour visitors came from
counties all around North Carolina, and as far away as New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri,
Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and California. “As they travel around Chatham, they
stop at restaurants, gas stations and all kinds of local businesses,” Kennedy
continues.
A free self-guided brochure and tour map can be found in
numerous locations throughout the area, including: FRANK Gallery in Chapel
Hill, Saxaphaw Artists Gallery, McIntyres Fine Books in Fearrington Village,
PAF Gallery in Siler City and The Joyful Jewel in Pittsboro. An online gallery
of selected Tour art, information about participating artists, and a tour map
and guide can be found on the Chatham Artists Guild website at: http://www.chathamartistsguild.org.
Photo caption: Chatham Artist Guild’s Rita Spina with her
creation resurrected from the burned Chatham Courthouse.
About the author: Forrest C. Greenslade, PhD is a Chatham
County writer, sculptor and painter. He is a member of the Chatham Artists
Guild, and will participate in this year’s Tour.
