An upcoming art tour is giving Winnipeggers an opportunity to get up close and personal with some local artists.
The 6th annual Harte Trail Studio Art Tour allows art enthusiasts to meet local artists in their personal space within their homes.
"In your little studio, you spend so much alone time that it's really nice to have those opportunities to get out in the public and talk about your work," said Shirley Rayner, one of the artists involved in the tour. "The unique thing about this kind of experience is that you get to talk to the artist, which is something that both sides really like."
Rayner says the tour is kind of like a smorgasbord.
"In other words, you can do as little or as much as you like because there are 20 artists this year on the tour," Rayner explained. "We have a pretty big range of artists, and there are a lot of different mediums that people work in."
Several of the artists involved are painters, but they also have two sculptors who carve in stone, a man who uses dyes on silk and a few potters.
"The other thing I want to point out to people too, is one of the real perks is we have what's called a passport. It's just like a little card, and it's got a little square for every artist. So, as you go around to each artist's studio, they each have a stand. So, get your passport stamped and then at the last studio you visit, you can drop it off with that artist, and we do a draw immediately after the tour and you get $400.00 towards purchasing anything at any studio."
The 6th annual Harte Trail Studio Art Tour is free and takes place Sept 21-22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Maps and brochures of the tour can be found at hartetrailstudiotour.net.