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Date: 9/28/2022
HUNTINGTON — The Hilltown Community Development Corporation has announced a full slate of art activities that run throughout the weekend of Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in and around the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. The events are complemented with opportunities to taste the best of local farm and beverage producers at the height of harvest season.
The weekend begins at 6 p.m. on Sept. 30 with an arts salon at the Cummington Community Center, 31 Main St., featuring five local artists.
The Open Studio Tour follows on Oct. 1 and 2, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Visitors can follow the self-guided tour to see the work and studios of 23 Hilltowns artists who have chosen the region for its unique rural character and space to create.
Included in the Open Studio Tour this year are two artists from Huntington and one from North Chester.
Susanna White, 90 County Rd. in Huntington (SusannaWhite.com), is a full-time fine artist originally from California, who spent her childhood summers at her grandmother’s home on the May Coast.
White moved to the Pioneer Valley to attend Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art. She went on to earn a studio certificate in painting and drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago and a master’s of fine arts in painting from Tulane University. She has taught art at Tulane and in the Continuing Studies Program at the Maine College of Art. She has also taught at Berwick Academy, the Loomis Chaffee School and the Williston Northampton School, where she taught for 16 years. She now offers private art lessons and workshops to groups and individuals both online and in person.
As a full-time fine artist, White balances her time between plein air, studio and commission work. Her paintings are held in private collections. Most recently she has been a visiting artist at the Art Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place in Foxborough. During September she will be showing her large mural, The World Below, at Arts Aboard, a gallery in Natick.
Laura Bundesen, at 2 Pleasant St., Huntington, another featured artist in the open studio tour, is “stitching together art and neuroscience,” according to her website.
Bundesen’s art work is focused on artist representations of the human brain itself, and began with two fiber art pieces she made in October 2014 for an invitational exhibition. Since then, she has been “spurred on” by the reception her pieces have received, and has no plans to stop exploring artist expressions of the brain. Bundesen also sells pins, earrings and notecards of her work.
Olwen O’Herlihy Dowling, at 322 E. River Rd. in North Chester, paints images in oil and watercolor of the West of Ireland where she was born, as well as North Chester where she lives and has her studio in the Berkshire mountains. Her paintings are in private collections, and she has exhibited at the James Joyce Gallery and the Hallward Gallery in Dublin, Ireland; Smith College Alumnae Gallery, Hosmer Gallery in Northampton, and the Watkins Gallery in Northampton.
Dowling has also worked for over two decades as a scenery and backcloth designer for professional theatrical productions. For the past 20 years, she has been producer, managing director, production manager and stage manager for large and small professional theatrical institutions, as well as director of the Northampton Center for the Arts.
The full slate of artists participating in the Open Studio Tour, as well as a listing of live demonstrations and events and local eateries, may be found at the hilltownartsalliance.org/open-studio-tour.
The Hilltown Community Development is a registered nonprofit that seeks to improve the quality of life for Hilltown residents by addressing economic, housing, education, social and community needs while preserving the rural character of the area.
The Hilltown Arts Alliance is a registered volunteer-run nonprofit arts organization that seeks to connect and support local Hilltown artists and makers in their creative endeavors.