The Spirit of Manitou Trail tour is on this weekend, featuring some of the province’s finest artists and artisans nestled within a comfortable driving area.
Some of the artists have banded together at gallery locations while others greet travellers at their own studio locations. The trail encompasses the communities of Meacham, Viscount, Plunkett, Guernsey, Manitou Beach and Watrous and their rural areas. There are multiple pathways to take to enjoy the hospitality of each host and artist.
“We have a wonderful group of 18 members, 16 of which are showing this year,” says Sandy Christiensen, long time member and anchor of the Manitou Trail group. “We have everything in the line of painters, potters, sculptors, fabric art, stonework and wonderful woodwork. We cover every medium there is.”
Travellers can use highways to access most of the trail with a few of the locations just off the beaten path down well-maintained grid roads. There is no admission to any of the sites along the trail.
Watrous resident Christensen is one of the seniors of the Trail, as she says. Sandy works in clay as does Linda Leslie whose attention is given to creative glazing to create striking functional pottery and unique small decorations.
“I got hooked on making statues of people around me,” Christensen says. “Mine are pretty much representative of the people I see in this community and the farms we’re surrounded by.”
Another attraction on the trail is the home studio of Dave and Loa Titman and Concrete Elements just southeast of Meacham. There you will find a gallery of concrete exterior ornaments and designs to rival the imagination.
The inventory includes ornamental planters and obelisks, a full slate of animal statues, outdoor benches, including a unique time capsule bench. It comes with pillars in which you can store time capsule items for future uncovering.
There are unique designs that can’t be found anywhere else. Large hexagonal planters can be carved and stained specific to a client’s design needs.
Another unique feature at Concrete Elements is the scale rideable train that will be open and operational on the weekend. Take a step back in time with a locomotive ride.
“We got the train in 2013,” says Loa Titman with Concrete Elements. “It came out of Leisureland which was south of Saskatoon. The train and track sat idle for about 40 years until the Meewasin Valley Authority took over the property and they wanted to clean it up.”
The Titmans put a successful bid in and have been operating the ride, complete with 1400 feet of track, since its arrival.
That’s just a sample of what await on your travels with this year’s Spirit of Manitou Trail Studio Tour. Operators’ hours are Saturday July 6 from 10 am to 7 pm and Sunday, July 7 from noon to 6 pm. Find out more at: Spirit of Manitou Studio Trail – Artists & Artisans of Central Saskatchewan.