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Toe River Studio Tour This Weekend

Toe River Arts Council

The Studio Tour event, sponsored by the Toe River Arts Council (TRAC), is held twice a year: on the second weekend in June and the first weekend in December. This weekend’s self-guided free tours offer the visitor an opportunity to search out the professional artists and craftspeople working in the coves and hollows of the two rural mountain counties. Many stops on the map will showcase more than one artist.

Art lovers create their own tours, travel at their own pace, and stop for lunch on their own schedule, with help from the TRAC Studio Guide, and arrowed Tour signs.

Over 100 artisans and galleries open their doors and invite the public. It is a rare opportunity to visit the actual workplaces. From world-class to emerging… glass blowers, potters of every description, wood turners, basket makers, printers, painters, fiber artists, photographers, sculptors, jewelers, metal workers, and more. No wonder it is known as the premier open studio tour in the country.

The Spruce Pine TRAC Gallery at 269 Oak Avenue will host a reception to “meet the artists” on Friday, November 30 from 5 to 7 pm.

Tour map guides can be picked up ahead of time or during the Tour at either TRAC galleries, the Yancey or Mitchell Chambers of Commerce, participating studios, galleries and other local businesses in Mitchell and Yancey counties, and many other regional locations.

A PDF of the tour map and guide can also be downloaded by clicking here.

For more information contact Toe River Arts Council at 828-765-0520 or 828-682-7215 or click here to visit the TRAC website.

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Spring into Metals with Ruth Reifen!

Ruth Reifen

 

“Be aware of beauty.”
“A phrase I have been hearing at home for as long as I can remember.

“I wish to carry, through my art in jewelry, the message further; and what could be more prominent and enhance beauty more than a jewel? I strive to design and create pieces of jewelry that will present beauty that is beyond trend, that others will be able to relate to and to weave it into the ongoing process of their lives.

“I am a tactile artist, drawn to earthy substances. The texture and pliability of porcelain and cement and the way they are incorporated into rigid metal structures, is what I find most exciting. When these elements come into contact with the live skin, the different way that the body’s temperature suffuses them is what enables a full expression of their beauty.”

“Finding ways to express my creativity, to keep innovating, while avoiding trivializing jewelry design, my goal is to make others be aware of beauty.” – Ruth Reifen

 

Ruth Reifen Floral Charades
Ruth Reifen, “Floral Charades Pendant 01,” copper, auto-paint, epoxy, thread

 

You can click here to watch an American Craft Council interview with Ruth at the 2012 ACC show in San Francisco.

 

Ruth Reifen Waiting for Godot
Ruth Reifen, “Waiting for Godot Rings,” porcelain, gold-plated brass

 

Prototype to Prototype, March 10 – May 3, 2013, in the metals studio

In this class we will explore wax carving and sculpting to produce original compositions for casting and electroforming. These processes can be used for one-of-a-kind designs and for reproduction. A variety of materials (primarily casting rubbers) will be used for mold-making, to create multiples from our individually crafted work. Once we have cast them in metal, we will practice silversmithing techniques to complete finished jewelry pieces. Then more prototypes!

 

Ruth Reifen Floral Charades
Ruth Reifen, “Floral Charades: Log and 5 Rings,” copper, auto-paint, epoxy, thread

 

Ruth Reifen is a Brooklyn-based jewelry artist, part-time faculty at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and teaches at the 92nd Street Y in New York. She has also taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. Ruth received her BFA in Jewelry Design from Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Israel and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has beeen shown in Israel, Europe, and the U.S., most recently in Holland, Florida, Texas, and San Francisco. She is represented by Gallery Loupe in Montclair, New Jersey, and has work in the permanent collection of of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

 

Interested? You can click here for more information about this and Penland’s other spring concentration workshops.

 

And you can click here to visit Ruth’s website, where you can see more of her work.