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Date: 6/15/2021
WORTHINGTON – After hosting its last event in the fall of 2019, the Hilltown Arts Alliance will be hosting a sneak peek event ahead of the Hilltown Open Art Studio Tour on June 20 at 2 p.m. at the Rabbit Hole Restaurant in Worthington.
Kate Bavelock, one of the organizers with Hilltown Arts Alliance and a member of Hilltown Community Development, said there will be several different types of art on display at the exhibit.
“It really is a mixture. The Hilltown Arts Alliance is open to a number of working artists, we have sculptors, we have potters, we have fine arts jewelry. The bulk of it is paintings of some type but we do have a mixture,” she said.
Bavelock explained the upcoming showcase is a preview of the Hilltown Arts Alliance’s main event.
“Our Open Studio Tour is kind of our centerpiece program and the last one we had was in June of 2019. We are very excited to reconnect with each other. The Open Studio Tour is very much a way for the artists to interact with the public and they open their private studios where they work alone most of the time and having people come through to talk about their creative processes is a wonderful experience,” she said.
Bavelock said she is looking forward to seeing how local artists reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic through the art they created.
“The exhibit is still not quite the Open Studio Tour; it is more a time for us to see and share with each other as well as the public the things people have been working on during COVID-19. That is interesting to me, what happened during the shutdown when you were alone in your studio? I wonder and think it will be a fruitful period for a lot of people but maybe not always,” she said. “It’ll be interesting to catch up and see, hear, and reconnect.”
Kevin O’Connor, a local artist and member of the Hilltown Arts Alliance, said another artist, Bob Sweeney, donated a piece of art as a challenge for the showcase.
“Bob Sweeney, who is a listed artist, has donated a piece as a sort of challenge. If we can sell the piece, we get to keep the money it generates. He has been a supporter all along,” he said.
O’Connor said the planning process is in its final stages.
“The collaboration with the venue is pretty much resolved now, we just have to plan the installation and the kickoff,” he said.
Along with the exhibits, O’Connor said the alliance will be setting up a tent for social interaction between the artists and public.
“We are accommodating the artists gathering because we think there will be a lot of social interaction which is part of our mission, and we are providing a tent to allow that to happen,” he said.
After the COVID-19 pandemic put their partnership on hold, Bavelock said she and the rest of the alliance are looking forward to partnering with the Rabbit Hole Restaurant.
“When they opened, they always wanted to do more community-oriented events and to partner with us at the Arts Alliance, of course with COVID-19 everything got shut down, so we are really excited for this partnership as an exhibit space,” she said.
Any artists interested can still sign up and can reach O’Connor at krdoconnor@gmail.com to do so and he said he expects some last minute sign ups.
“We are used to artists responding at the last minute, but we made it clear to them installing at the last minute because of the limits we have on the space and we will be installing that Sunday morning. We understand that there may be some stranglers,” he said.
At the time of writing, O’Connor said about 17 artists had signed up to display their work.
The Hilltown Art Alliance’s showcase is open to the public and lasts from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on June 20.