by Clare Scott-Taggart

How does a person choose where to live? Sometimes the decision is made because of employment or family proximity, sometimes it’s inertia, or comfort, or a sense of community. For Dave Smith, a member of the Apsley Studio Tour, it was love.

Dave knew from the age of 12 that he was going to be a painter. Coming from a family of artists, Dave was familiar with the territory, but his parents refused to support an arts education, so Dave chose a career in advertising instead. He held onto his dream but tucked it away for the time being, painting part-time and taking workshops and learning his craft with the idea of achieving his goal eventually.

Dave worked close to Toronto and enjoyed spending thirty-odd summers at a cottage north of Bancroft, loving the beauty of the northern landscape. But life changes, bringing an end to that chapter in his life, and he found himself looking for a partner and thinking more about his dream of becoming a full-time painter. Fortune, chance, or plain old good luck allowed Dave to meet Sue Rankin, glass-blower and artist (also on the Apsley Studio Tour), and from the moment they met Dave’s dreams came true. Dave now lives in Apsley with Sue and is a full-time painter exhibiting on the tour.

Unlike Dave, Dolores Hopps, textile artist, is a long-time resident of the Apsley area. Dolores had a cottage on Chandos Lake from 1968 to 2019, and lived there full time for 8 years. Dolores has always “loved the look and feel of fabric and the excitement of creating with all the related mediums. Colour and the use of different texture is so satisfying, and seeing the end result is so gratifying.” Dolores works with textiles in a painterly style, layering and using machine embroidery to create texture and detailing on panels that are full of colour, joy and energy.

For Andrew Gregg, a new member to the tour, the road to the North Kawarthas began in 1980. As an Australian immigrant, he was introduced to the canoe by colleagues from work who took him on a trip to the Buckhorn Wilderness (now protected as the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park), which led to numerous family canoe trips and adventures in the region. In 2000, Andrew discovered water-access lots for sale on the shores of Rathburn Lake and now divides his time between his house on Rathburn Lake and Australia.. “My first artistic response to the area were sketchbooks I’d take on early canoe trips. The paintings I make now are a recent development. Since I’ve retired from teaching art, I’m discovering this beautiful pristine area all over again.”

The paintings Andrew will display at the Apsley Studio Tour are “paintings I make along the east coast of Australia that reflect a wandering nomadic exploration of the mighty eucalyptus. I will exhibit some of these works alongside paintings from the Kawartha Highlands and sketchbook drawings.”

Britt Olauson’s winding road to Apsley began with her education at Sheridan College in Oakville in the School of Crafts, with a focus on furniture.  After having a studio in Toronto, Britt wanted to start a family and the lure of country-life felt much easier than the hustle and bustle of the city. She found  “my current home and studio in Apsley on Kijiji, and it seemed like the perfect fit, as it was a live/ work type of space, with lots of yard and Eels creek ran through our backyard. Apsley was also a place I was familiar with as my eldest brother lived here with his family, and I knew some of my mentors from Sheridan called Apsley home, which made the move even more inviting.  Aspley has been a wonderful place to raise my boys and continue my woodworking career.”

Britt makes beautiful, hand-crafted custom furniture and welcomes commissions. For the studio tour, she makes smaller items as well. “Every piece of wood that I work brings me pleasure with the inherent beauty it presents as I shape, cut and join the pieces into new functional objects. The learning process never ends with woodworking. It keeps my mind engaged and my body active.”

The 30 artists who make up the Apsley Studio Tour have all made their way here through a myriad of routes and have much to tell you about their journeys, both as makers and as members of your community. Please join us as we gather to show and sell our work at 11 studios scattered throughout the area in the fall.

This year’s Apsley Studio Tour takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 21^st and 22^nd, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with 30 artists in 11 locations throughout the Apsley area. For more information on the tour, participating artists, downloadable map and the link to our handy app, please visit our website, www.apsleystudiotour.com.