Perhaps more than two dozen stops on a studio tour that travels through an the forested reaches of North Kitsap is too robust. Not for the enthusiast.
“I’ve heard people do this and it takes them two full days to do them all,” said artist Marilyn Good.
With 25 stops dotting the map this year, the Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest-sponsored studio tour has built a solid platform for local artists, bringing out the curious and the fervent for a drive through the woods.
For the connoisseur it’s an eclectic display of the creative ambition that is nearly omnipresent in the Kitsap art community. A ripe opportunity to add local works to the collection or pick up a unique gift.
“Every year we’ve had more studios,” said longtime organizer Wendy Hampton.
Art in the Woods began with just over 10 stops in 2001 and this year with another surge in artist interest, the tour has grown to the point where organizers were forced to cap the number of studios at 25.
It’s still quite a grandiose endeavor, given that many of those stops along the way will feature more than one artist and their wares.
Go to www.cafnw.org to see the listings of which artists will be at what studios during the three-day self-guided tour 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 9-11. Or pick up a brochure at Poulsbo’s Verksted Gallery and Raven Blues
Even without mustering a visit to every stop, there is still likely to be a broad cross-section of arts and crafts — ranging from traditional paintings to handmade sculpture and jewelry to woodworking, printmaking, pottery and more — with all the quaintness you could ask for.
“Everyone’s studio will be as different as the person,” Hampton said.
The Art in the Woods tour has become a fertile local market for the county’s fledgling artists and veterans alike, and, Hampton added, there are quite a few new faces this year.
One such face is that of Good, an artist-at-heart for all her life just now on the verge of thrusting her clay works out for public consumption and critique at age 60.
Good’s work was featured for the first time on the tour last year as part of an ensemble at Dorothy Rana’s Dancing Bird Studio. This year while Rana will be showing alone at the Dancing Bird, While Good’s studio Good Works, located at 23499 Clear Creek Rd. in Poulsbo, will be making its premiere, showcasing her work along with that of romantic impressionistic painter Beverly Hooks and potter Wanda Garrity.
“We had such a great time last year,” Good said, noting her original intent to return to the Dancing Bird this year. “But I’ve got this new studio … and I just thought this was a time for me to break out and do my own thing.”
Launching from the Art in the Woods platform, Good is breaking out in more areas than one as she focuses on web visibility and communication for her products — cleverly glazed and colored ceramic containers. Her ultimate ambition is to take the business of her art on the road, traveling across the country with her husband Sherman.
On the other side of the coin, Art in the Woods is also a consistent foundation for tour regulars like Leigh Knowles Metteer, who’s dreams came to fruition right here in North Kitsap with the completion of Knowles Studio — a 1,500 square-foot work/exhibition space nestled amid old orchards and pine groves at 20432 Noll Rd. in Poulsbo.
Metteer is a versatile avant-garde artist who has exhibited her etchings, lithographs, paintings and drawings continuously since 1981, teaching all the while to kids though adults.
On the Art in the Woods tour, she’ll be giving a few 3-D and 2-D demonstrations throughout the weekend while also showing off her collection of work alongside the gripping photography of David and Tom Layton and the colorful impressionistic painting of Robin Weiss.
