Red Trillium Studio Tour delights through rain

DUNROBIN SHORES – If you didn’t like the weather last weekend, you only needed wait a few minutes and it would change.

From sun and calm to wind and downpours, West Carleton got the gamut of weather all weekend long (June 6 and June 7) but if you were taking the Red Trillium Studio Tour (RTST), spring edition, the weather probably played a very limited role as visitors took the self guided tour to visit 28 artists located at 13 studios spread across West Carleton, and if your windshield wipers were operational, you were good to go.

The tour is in its 28th year (and each year there is a spring and fall event) and is as popular as ever, not only for West Carleton residents but for people from all over the greater City of Ottawa and neighbouring Ottawa Valley communities.

Each tour there is a number of new artists, a handful of new studios and of course, many, many old favourites.

“We’ve received feedback from most of the studios and artists and overall, it sounds like it was a good weekend,” RTST organizer and torched glass art and jewelry artist Roxanne Ward of MacLaren’s Landing told West Carleton Online today (June 10). “Many commented there were lots of visitors and people were really engaged. There were lots of great conversations about their art and process. Some of the studios had demonstrations and those are always popular.”

West Carleton Online dropped by Barlow Crescent in the Dunrobin Shores area where artists Jennifer Ajersch and Ahlena Sultana-McGarry were sharing their work with RTST tourists.

The Ottawa River location was the studio of Ajersch an oil painter and print maker who only had to look out her window for inspiration for her landscape paining.

Sultana-McGarry is an Almonte resident who graduated from Dunrobin’s West Carleton Secondary School only a few short years ago.

Her art involved Nerikomi pottery and jewelry.

“It’s a Japanese technique where you dye the clay before making your piece and the pattern is baked in it,” Sultana-McGarry told West Carleton Online. “I found working in this way, you imbed the pattern in the work. It’s hard, but I love the results.”

Sultana-McGarry took up pottery, like so many artists did, during COVID. She has a visual arts background, and art was just a natural extension of that.

“It’s kind of a drug,” Sultana-McGarry said. “You get hooked on to it and you just can’t stop.”

This was the first time Sultana-McGarry was on the tour, and she says Day 1 (Saturday, June 6 when West Carleton Online dropped by) was going well.

“It’s going really well,” she said, “We met so many fascinating and interesting people.”

Sultana-McGarry also marvelled at the RTST itself.

“There are very dedicated, super talented people on the team,” she said.

Ajersch, a retired engineer who opened her doors for the tour, agreed it was a good first day for the tour.

“Great,” she said. “Lots of foot traffic and interesting clients and good conversations.”

While painting for art lovers is relatively new for Ajersch, she says she’s been an artist all her life.

“I’ve been creating my whole life,” she said. “I retired from engineering in 2000 and have been painting seriously for the last six years. Oil painting and print making.”

It’s her fourth year on the RTST, but she only participates in the spring event.

“I like celebrating a year of accomplishment and sharing my work,” Ajersch said. “I like meeting the neighbours and chit-chatting with clients. Being an artist is a very solitary thing.”

Ward says the tour, based on her own stop in MacLaren’s Landing at her studio, had approximately 60 to 70 visitors each day, “with some studios saying they had more visitors on Sunday (June 7).

“All artists reported they were happy with their sales,” Ward said. “Some reported they also had some commissions as a result of the tour. There were many comments about the high calibre of artists who were on the tour.”

Keeping some information helps the RTST organizers keep the tour fresh and vibrant, although it can be a challenge to get that information.

“We always try to get an idea of how many people have been on the tour before versus who are new to the tour,” Ward said. “We asked the studios to just ask people and try to keep a record of the responses. It’s not the most accurate, but we’ve found people just do not want to fill out a form or survey and are very reluctant to leave their contact information. Based on responses from the studios, it looks like about 50 to 70 per cent saw people who have done the Red Trillium Studio Tour before. For some it’s a wonderful tradition they do with friends or family. We are happy to see folks who are new to the tour though. And a number of studios commented they did see a greater number of younger people (age 20 to 40) visit and that is great news. Typically, our visitors tend to be older, retired; which is not a bad thing. But we are striving to reach a larger demographic. We also tried to ask people how they learned about the Studio Tour, and many said they saw the roadside signs, or picked up a brochure. Many also said they saw one of our posts on social media. Again, it’s hard to collect this information anecdotally, but we try.”

The fall date of the RTST hasn’t been chosen yet, but West Carleton Online will share more news on the fall tour as it comes available.