Fall season sees artists south of Calgary opening their studios to guests

Artists from many different disciplines have been painting, sculpting, pounding, dipping and melting materials into unique pieces for the The Most Beautiful Art Tour in Alberta.

Julia Reimer is a glass blower in her Firebrand Glass Studio in Black Diamond. She and her husband Tyler Rock started the event in 2013 because guests to their studio often wanted to spend more time in the community.

"Often they'd ask what else is there to do here in this area," she said. "You know we're such fans of this region and love where we live but it was hard not to share other fantastic places."

Artists in Turner Valley, Okotoks and Black Diamond open their studios for guests who can see them creating and then purchase some of the art.

"Really, I think it's pretty unique," said Reimer. "In that the people that are involved in this are all volunteering to make it happen so everyone sort of chips in, we put a little bit of money together to be able to do advertising, we volunteer a lot of time in order to make it all work."

Reimer is working with apprentice Zachary Cardinal and it's the first time he's taking part in the art tour. Cardinal says he's a little nervous about working in front of a crowd and he expects to field many questions.

"Like the colors, why the colors change," he said. "Then you know - (something like) is it hot? Simple stuff like that and you (also) get a lot more advanced questions from people who've been around the material before."

STUDIO HEAT

Reimer says many people are fascinated by the objects made out of glass along with the heat in the studio.

"To melt glass, you need really high temperature," she said. "1200 degrees Celsius is the nice temperature that you want your glass to melt to, at that point you have a liquid and then you're able to shape it."

Reimer says the craft dates back thousands of years but the techniques and tools are similar.

"This was developed in the Roman Empire," Reimer said. "You just go wow, how smart were they to figure out that you can take this liquid molten material and use your breath and centrifugal force and gravity and some basic tools to create an object that you can enjoy for your lifetime and potentially pass down to your great, great grandchildren."

FLOATING INK

In Turner Valley Susan Kristoferson is dipping a sheet of paper into water that has paint floating on the surface.

"This is called suminagashi," she said. "Which means ink floating or floating ink, it's traditionally a Japanese process."

Kristoferson is in her eighth year in the tour and says it helps her to develop a following. She enjoys welcoming guests to see her unique art form.

"Well, it's sort of like a musician," Kristoferson said. "You can practice and practice and its great fun and you love doing it but there is (value in) an exchange with people, there's someone else seeing and understanding or being moved by what you have created."

She and other artists in the tour have put signs up to help guide guests to their home studios for September 16th and 17th with the goal of making memories.

Learn more about the tour here: www.themostbeautifularttourinalberta.com