By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
From June 21 to 22, the Fine Arts Society of Milton (FASM) hosted the 10th annual Escarpment Art Studio Tour, stretching from Carlisle to Milton. A total of 17 artists participated in the tour, with art forms ranging from pottery to oil paintings, metalworks to textiles, and stained glass.
Artists must be members of FASM to participate in the tour. Artist Diana Tuszynski, who is president and chair of the board of FASM, is also one of the tour’s founders.
The Escarpment Tour is based on the idea of a collaborative collective rooted in nature, encompassing all kinds of artistic mediums. Tuszynski herself works with acrylics, oils, oil and cold wax mixtures, and alcohol ink, and has been presenting her work in small exhibitions for the last 20 years.
“I started painting about 20 years ago, and it was my exposure to the Fine Arts Society of Milton that got me out of the artistic closet, because you were able to show in an exhibition as a member,” Tuszynski said. “So I got over that initial fear because of their generosity and their encouragement.”
Tuszynski’s husband, Harold Dickert, was also showcasing his work at the Kilbride location.
Dickert is a luthier who makes custom guitars and specializes in tonewood, which is any type of wood used to create musical instruments, particularly guitars. Different types of tonewood will affect the volume, resonance, and other characteristics of the sound of the finished guitar.
When Tuszynski and Dickert moved to Milton, Dickert built his own workshop, located to the right of the garden where the rest of the artists were set up.
Anne-Ellice Pascoe, owner of Ellisse’s Glass Pieces, was also stationed at the Kilbride studio and spoke about the nature theme that runs through the entire tour.
“With many artists, the creative vibe is being outdoors,” Pascoe said. “We’ve got painters that do plein air work, so they’re outside and looking at nature itself and taking a representation of that, interpreting it in their creative works.”
“I try to incorporate a lot of landscaping-type ideas because that’s important to me,” Pascoe continued. “When I was a child, we were in the cottage, and my dad and mom both taught us to respect nature.”
Doris Treleaven, owner of Metalscape and president of Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources (P.O.W.E.R.), spoke about how her environmental advocacy intersects with her art.
“I see things in nature,” Treleaven said. “I look at a tree and see how a plant is made, and I kind of follow that line with metal. But if we don’t have trees and they keep ripping everything down, then it’s difficult to live in that kind of environment.”
Treleaven also spoke about the eclectic group of artists that participate in the tour.
“There are beginners who have just started and some artists who have done it for a while, but don’t consider themselves professionals and just [see it as] more of a hobby,” Treleaven said. “And then there are full-time people like myself who take it seriously and pay our bills with it.”
“But everyone gets along,” Treleaven continued. “I love it, I just think it’s so cool that I get to see other people’s work and how they see the world, through their work.”
FASM will host a Studio Art Tour from September 27–28, where attendees can visit artists in their studios, purchase their work, and watch them create up close.
