Over the Mountain Studio Tour

For the past 10 years I have had the pleasure of being a tour member on Over the Mountain Studio Tour. It is in it’s 34th year and is the oldest studio tour in WV.

As we head into our tour weekend I find myself thinking about why belonging to this varied and changing group of artists matters.

As artists we tend to spend much of our time in a solitary space. To be in the process of designing, fabricating, refining our work it is necessary to focus inward. And then we open our doors, or lay our wares in front of our audience. To belong to a group of artisans is for me a middle space. Being among other artists is a place where the vulnerability of making craft can be understood. To be among others who have a daily or weekly, a regular practice of creating artwork, who can offer encouragement, suggestion or gentle critique from a place of understanding is a powerful thing.

I have the job each year of promoting the tour’s artists on our Facebook page and writing press releases. It allows me a deep dive into each artist’s new works, to pull our community into thinking about art if just for a moment. It allows me to stop and appreciate the process and progress of a very diverse group’s works. And to marvel at each individual’s skill and elegance of design, their sense of humor their thoughtfulness and their ingenuity.

And it allows me to reflect that back into my work with a renewed sense of purpose.

I hope you will join us this year for our tour.

Rarely is my bench this tidy
Yarrow crown in sterling and copper

Myself and Tour Member and my host Anne Rule Thompson and her assistant

Dangerous Botanica

The stories of plants are endlessly compelling. Plants are survivors, innovators, collaborators. Plants are healers, killers, food, medicine, intoxicant and murderer. All the best of human stories center around the natural world. The allegories that explain our existence often utilize the elemental properties of plants. I have been working on a series of metal-smithed, hand-fabricated brooches and crowns, necklaces and earrings that focus on the most infamous and lovely of plants, fungi and flowers.

Jimson Brooches
Yew Brooches
Poppy Crown

2023 schedule of shows

This schedule will shift in the next few months as I plan my year. I look forward to an exciting schedule of markets and festivals in 2023

1/28/2023 World Oddities Expo Pittsburgh

2/17-19/2023 Mythicon Gettysburg

3/04/2023 World Oddities Expo Richmond

4/14-16/2023 Ocean Renaissance Ocean City MD

4/22-23/2023 Festival of Legends Apex NC

5/6-7/2023 May Day Faerie Festival Rocky Point, MD

5/20-21/2023…. Bringing in the May Berkeley Springs WV

6/17/2023 Under The Sea in WV Charles Town WV

7/08/2023 MythMusica Parkton MD

7/21-23/2023 Over the Mountain Studio Tour Summer Show

7/29/2023 Wedding Expo, Pendleton Hall, Charles Town WV

8/19-20/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

8/26-27/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

9/2-3/2023 PA Renaissance Festival

10/7/2023 457th Annual Fredericksburg Troll Market

10/21/2023 Monongahela Witch Fest

10/28/2023 The River House Artisans Market

11/11-12/2023 34th Annual Over the Mountain Studio Tour

11/24-26/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace, Entler Hotel

12/2-3/2023 Winterfest Art Market, Charles Town WV

12/9-10/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace, Entler Hotel

12/16-17/2023 Shepherdstown Holiday Marketplace

2024 Shows So Far!

Mythicon: Feb 16-18 2024 Gettysburg PA

Ocean Renaissance 2024 April 12-14, 2024

Hand fabricated poppy crown, hand painted copper