TRR photo by Charlie Buterbaugh A metal sculpture by Susanne Wibroe-Fost. (Click for larger image)

Arts alliance hosts open studio tour

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

WAYNE COUNTY, PA — Pauline and Ioannis Glykokokalos, co-founders of the newly formed Wayne County Arts Alliance (WCAA), a non-profit organization, intend to create opportunities for people to enjoy the unique aspects of a rural arts community. To that end, they have selected artists to open their studios for three days of conversation and revelry with a local audience.

“Many people are used to looking at art in museums, which has a certain value and appeal, but when a painting hangs in a gallery or a museum, it becomes too precious,” Ioannis said.

Pauline and Ioannis hope to cultivate encounters between the people who participate in the tour and the local artists, two groups who, in most cases, have little prior knowledge of each other.

They hope people will talk freely and reassert the presence of a community. They hope visitors to the studios ask themselves what it might mean to put piece of locally created art in their homes. “How will my living space change?” is a question Pauline likes to ask when she entertains the idea of buying a painting or a sculpture to put in her own home.

“We are all affected by our environments, and this question is a wonderful intellectual exercise,” she said.

The juried tour begins on Friday, August 22 at 11:00 a.m. and continues through Sunday, August 24; each day, 15 studios will stay open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Brochures with maps and directions to the artists’ studios as well as descriptions of their work are available at various locations.

	TRR photo by Charlie Buterbaugh Ioannis works on a frame in his studio. (Click for larger image)

The public is invited to visit any of the artists, some of whom have chosen to live amidst the familiar agricultural landscape of Wayne County, such as Susanne Wibroe-Fost, a welder and metal sculptor, whose part-time home is a farmhouse not far north of Rileyville, PA.

On her property, Wibroe-Fost created Lookout Sculpture Parks East, an expansive field with colossal cast bronze, welded steel and clay sculptures placed before a backdrop of rolling green hills.

Contrasting proportions can be found in Hana Gorman’s studio, north of Bethany, where the artist, a native of the Czech Republic, sculpts marionette puppets from pewter or polymer clay, a tradition she learned from her parents.

All of the marionettes’ garments are handmade and Gorman considers herself a sculptor and a costume designer. Also a painter, she offers art classes to students age six and above.

Self-taught artist Robert Lander displays paintings and sculptures that resemble characters of Greek mythology in his Bethany studio.

John Russo’s home on Whitney Lake could easily be described as a complete study of graphic design and form, though after a 40-year teaching career at Parsons School of Design in New York City, he insists he’s “only a doodler.”

“I’m the little old teacher who never sold anything,” he said.

Russo does not believe that he can adequately describe what his art means, and yet he believes he is art. His approach is refreshing, and at 83, he is prolific.

Ioannis Glykokokalos will exhibit a collection of his richly toned abstract paintings. The framing business he owns and operates with Pauline and the couple’s eclectic garden presents an environment infused with artistic activity.

The studio tour will open doors and dialogue between area residents and artists in the rolling Wayne County hills.

For more detailed information call 570/253-1000.