Red Trillium tour blossoms in the rain

By Jake Davies - West Carleton Online

PANMURE – May finished off with a rainy weekend, but like spring flowers, maybe that was good for the 27th year of the Red Trillium Studio Tour spring edition.

Over the May 31 weekend, the RTST opened doors to 12 of West Carleton’s most interesting studios featuring 25 of the community’s most well-known artists on the self-guided art tour.

A woman poses in front of her art.
Cecillia Chan of Ceci Art Studio poses in front of her work. Photo by Jake Davies

From one side of West Carleton to the other, participants from all over the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley got to look at stunning artwork and the studios the artwork was created in. And if they really wanted, they could take some of the art home.

West Carleton Online has taken the RTST many times during both its spring and fall tours, and that rainy May 31 we were on it again.

The artists on this spring’s edition created masterworks in a variety of mediums including oil and watercolour painting, photography, glass blowing, stained glass, jewellery, woodworking, woodturning, oil and acrylic, printmaking, drawing, pottery, sculpture, photography and more.

On Saturday, May 31 of the two-day event, West Carleton Online visited a new stop on the tour on Upper Dwyer Hill Road where potter Cheryl Caswell creates out of the Clayful Potters Studio, which she converted from a former operating barn.

In 2021 Caswell decided to take a pottery class to learn to make her own mugs. She fell in love with the craft and built her studio in her barn. From there she learned to make all sorts of functional pottery and last year opened the Clayful Potters Studio where she works and teaches others the art.

This year was the first year her studio was on the tour, but she was already familiar with the RTST.

“I did it a couple of years ago with my parents and I just love this stuff,” Caswell told West Carleton Online from the studio. “So, I decided to try to get in the show. Teaching classes is mostly what we do. It’s working really well.”

Caswell used to operate a kennel at the location and did the pottery as a hobby.

“Now I just make pottery with dogs on it,” Caswell said. “It’s working really well.”

Joining Caswell in her studio was painter Cecilia Chan who is the artist behind Ceci Art Studio. Chan migrated to Toronto from Hong Kong at age 12 with her family. She always had a passion for visual arts and holds a degree in architectural science from Ryerson University. When she was a little older, she was encouraged by her counsellor to take up a hobby to help her manage depression. Chan took up painting, mostly oil and acrylics, and soon she was selling work and earning commissions.

This is the fourth time Chan has been in the RTST tour over three years, and she says it was a great start to the weekend.

“We’ve been busy this morning,” she told West Carleton Online. “I already have two commissions. It seems like the rain brings them out. I think they just want to meet me in person.”

Chan’s own studio is in the Kanata area, and she says she’s been professional for the last five years.

“The pandemic was a busy time and that’s how I got started,” Chan said.

Next up for the RTST will be the fall tour and West Carleton Online will share the date when it comes available.

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