Brattleboro-West Arts

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.: This Memorial Day weekend, the Vermont Crafts Council will present its 32nd annual Spring Open Studio Weekend, which spotlights the multitude of professional artists and craftspeople who live and create throughout the state. 

In Brattleboro and neighboring Marlboro and Dummerston alone, tour attendees will have the chance to visit 11 artists in nine studios and one gallery, during the event on May 25 and 26.

Of those artists, six are members of Brattleboro-West Arts, a group of more than two dozen artisans and craftspeople who have worked together since 2008 to support one another and increase the visibility of local art in the community.

Two local artists are new to the tour this spring: watercolor painter Gregg Wapner and textile artist Karen Kurak of Spare Thread Studio.

Participating sites will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with many studios offering demonstrations as well as the opportunity to purchase art and talk to the artists who made it.During the tour hours, follow the yellow signs from Exit 2 of Interstate 91 and elsewhere around town to find participating studios and galleries. Guidebooks and other information to help you navigate the tour will be available at each location.

Also, you can view an interactive map of the local stops on your device, and tour goers can pick up guidebooks with maps at any participating site.

Here is the complete lineup of tour stops in the Brattleboro area, listed according to their site numbers on the statewide tour. Artists showing at the studios marked with * are members of Brattleboro-West Arts.

 

56. Vermont Artisan Designs & Gallery 2 (tour information center), pottery, art, glass, jewelry and wood: 106 Main St., Brattleboro. 

*57. Orchard Street Pottery, wood-fired, salt-glazed pottery featuring branch handles by Walter Slowinski: 658 Orchard St., Brattleboro.

*58. Applewoods Woodworking Studio and Gallery, live-edge hardwood furniture and burl vessels by David and Michelle Holzapfel: 2802 Rt. 9 Marlboro.

    Guest Jess Weitz will show her paintings and ceramics with handmade pigments at Applewoods.

59. Gregg Wapner, watercolor paintings: 345 Sunset Lake Road, Brattleboro.

*60. Chris Lann Designs, contemporary handcrafted fine jewelry: 1420 Sunset Lake Road, Brattleboro.

*61. Matthew Tell Pottery, wood-fired pottery with earth tones and overlays: 163 Potters Hill Road, Marlboro. (matthewtellpottery.com)

62. Carol Violanda Art, abstract and representational paintings: 1868 Stickney Brook Road, Dummerston.

63. Lost Mile Designs, rustic furniture and fiber art by Pam Bullock and Tim Hayes: 51 Lost Mile Road, Brattleboro.

 64. Spare Thread Studio, hand dyed and hand woven wearables, as well as collage, cards and other soft stuff by Karen Kurak: 744 Stickney Brook Road, Dummerston.

For a complete list of all participating sites statewide, as well as information to help plan your itinerary for the weekend, visit vermontcrafts.com.