With over 50 artists in 34 studio locations spread across Prince Edward County (PEC), the PEC Studio Tour held their 29th annual tour this past weekend.

Founded by artist Peta Hall in 1993, the PEC Studio Tour included only a handful of artists mainly in the Bloomfield area.

Artist Tina Osborne. (Desirée Decoste/Gazette staff)

As said on the PEC Studio Tour website, over the years the Tour has spread its artistic wings to include artists in every corner of this creative community.

Artist Terry Culbert and Barbara Högenauer who created HOGBERT, two artists working on the same canvas, are also individual artists and work out of County Studio.

 “The beginning of the pandemic it was dead and then last year was the first time that all the studios opened and it went crazy,” Högenauer expressed. “We had more people then ever, more people, more sales and I think because people couldn’t travel, they couldn’t go anywhere so they all came to the studios here in PEC. Its very interesting.”

 “The entire studio tour had never felt or experienced such a good year as last year,” stated Culbert. “I would say this year is about the same as last year in terms of people coming.” 

Culbert and Hagenauer also had Sandra Pim as guest artist at County Studio.

“When I first saw the baskets I thought, I bet I can do that, and it took me a long time but I did it,” Pim said. “And they’re mostly standard earthy shapes but its the color thats the fun part! I think the community loves the tour. Its a real highlight, and brings business to the community and we get a lot of visitors to the community because of the tour. I think its a very positive feedback from the community.”

Since its inception the Tour has helped promote and support over 300 County artists. Over time, that first black and white paper flyer has expanded into a full-colour 28 page brochure, their interactive website, promotion on multiple social media platforms, ads in local newspapers and magazines, videos and radio advertising.

Artist Florence Chik-Lau. (Desirée Decoste/Gazette staff)

There was something for everyone, painting in every medium from watercolour, encaustic, acrylic, oil, to mixed media, sculptures, pottery, ceramics, tapestry, rugs, photography, jewellery, fabric art, stained, fused and hand-blown glass.

Artist Tina Osborne off of Rednersville Road is in her second year of the Studio Tour and hadn’t seen as many people last year as some artists.

“I think for me the pandemic just stifled my creativity, I just didn’t feel compelled to create anything. I did some jewellery and some things but that’s about it. That was the biggest impact on me, and because it impacted me it impacted my business,” expressed Osborne to The Gazette. “So when everything opened up this Spring I was totally taken aback and had to get ready for all these shows. But what that did was really boost my creativity, I started a couple new lines of jewellery, I’m going in a different direction with my paintings.

This years sales have been really good.”

Florence Chik-Lau, artist, has been on this tour for the past 18 years.

“During the pandemic I did a lot of online sales, It wasn’t to bad for me,” Chik-Lau said. “My inspiration comes from a lot of animals and water. I think the community feels pretty positive about this tour, I think most of the people flock to the towns rather then the outside areas, but it hasn’t been to bad.”

Couldn’t make it to the Studio Tour weekend? No need to worry as most studios are open seasonally or year-round.

For more information please visit https://pecstudiotour.com/