The Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour has inspired many others, but as THE Original artist’s studio tour on the Seacoast, the quality and variety of artists represented is unparalleled. This year they are returning to their home studios to welcome visitors to share the experience, while supporting Covid-19 best practices.

Celebrating the 21st year of this unique tour, they are pleased to announce that all studios, with only one exception*, are intending to stay open for in person visits. Individual studio guidelines may vary, but social distancing and masks are encouraged. Please, continue to consult the website for up to the minute details.

“Coming out of an unusual year, everyone is looking forward to being in person again.” says Mills, potter and founding member of the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour (PHAT). “This tour has become part of the season’s tradition for artist and visitors alike and we expect to have a great turn-out at all our studios.” Featuring world class artists, PHAT offers a wide variety of work available for sale just in time for the holiday season. Including glass, clay, photography, printmaking, jewelry, encaustic, collage and blacksmithing, this tour is sure to provide something of interest to everyone.

Since 2001 Seacoast based artists have prepared their home studios to throw open their doors the weekend before Thanksgiving inviting the public to learn, unearth hidden treasures, and buy direct from the maker. “We have participated in a number of successful events this year and we’re sure this tour will follow that trend! Sharing with our community to learn more about what we do in our studios is a way we can continue to find success and invite them to continue to support local artists.” says Mills.

This year’s upcoming event features seven in-person studios, with 15 participating artists. Studios that are opening to the public may ask visitors to observe social distancing, limit numbers inside, and require masks to be worn. Visitors can consult the PHAT website for links to individual artist studios and their guidelines.  Artists featured on the tour include Steven Zoldak, Maureen Mills, Karen Orsillo, Nancy Kanner, Emma Ashby, Dyanna Smith, Lisa Grey, Peter Happny, Susan Bates, Annie Littlefield, Bill Clarke, Lucy Clarke, Kristina Logan, Reg Logan, and Sophia Logan-Barré.

“I think one of the reasons people enjoy the Tour so much, and come back year after year, is they’ll see familiar artists,” Lisa Grey, print and textile collage artist says. “I also think the variety of medium, style and price range has kept people interested.”  This event is self-guided and individually paced. You can spend a day or the whole weekend taking in what each studio has to offer and talking individually with the artists.

Art is a special, thoughtful, quality gift for any holiday or celebration. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, always comes with a story, and is heirloom quality – a gift that can be handed down from generation to generation. Open studio visits afford time to discuss a gift with an artist who will help you make the right choice for its recipient. And while you can certainly start your holiday shopping on this tour, it is a low-key atmosphere that welcomes browsing, watching a demonstration, or just visiting too.

For information and updates on the artists and their studios or to download the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour map, check out www.PortsmouthArtsTour.com and

Facebook Event Listing 2021

*Studio 5 will be online only*

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WHAT: Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour; Original seacoast Artist Studio Tour

WHERE: 7 Portsmouth studios, featuring 15 artists

DATES: Saturday and Sunday Nov. 20-21 , 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

INFORMATION & MAP: www.PortsmouthArtsTour.com  and

https://www.facebook.com/PortsmouthHolidayArtsTour/

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Explore the work of 15 of the Seacoast’s most talented artists during the original Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour. The Tour takes place on the weekend before Thanksgiving, November 20–22.

The artists on this free, self-guided tour continue to open their studios without an admission charge – now for the fifteenth year. Visit home studios to see new work, watch demonstrations and get a jump on your holiday shopping.

New to the Tour this year is furniture maker Thomas Hand. With grace and precision, he works with Chippendale, Queen Anne & Federal Furniture styles, specializing in Portsmouth reproductions. Tom joins glass artist Dyanna Smith in Studio 2 on Peverly Hill Road.

The Tour is a great way to spend a few hours, the day, or the weekend exploring and supporting the work of these local artists who are sharing home studios with the community. Artists reveal their work during the Opening Night celebration with refreshments on Friday, November 20 from 5-8pm. The Tour continues during the day on Saturday, November 21 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 22 from 10am-5pm.

Tour map

Signs will be posted at each studio with numbers and balloons to help navigate the driving loop.

Full Studio List:

Studio 1: 911 Greenland Road

Artists: Maureen Mills and Steven Zoldak (handthrown stoneware and porcelain),

Karen Orsillo (porcelain pottery and jewelry), Stacey Durand (paintings and prints), and Neil Troost (fine art photography)

Studio 2: 78 Peverly Hill Road

Artists: Dyanna Smith (glass jewelry, beads and sculpture), Thomas Hand (period and reproduction furniture)

Studio 3: 589 Middle Road

Artist: Emma Ashby (encaustic paintings)

Studio 4: 31 Boss Avenue

Artist: Bruce Iverson (traditional and contemporary Asian brush painting)

Studio 5: 351 Union Street

Artists: Diane Stradling (felted, embellished garments and wall hangings)

Studio 6: 178 Highland Street

Artist: Tess Feltes (wildlife art)

Studio 7: 220 South Street

Artists: Kristina Logan (lampwork, glass beads and jewelry), Reg Logan (ceramic and insect jewelry)

Studio 8: 66 Rock Street

Artists: Peter Happny (blacksmithing), Lisa Grey (textile collage and printmaking)

Full brochure

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Lucky Thirteen: Thirteen artists present the 13th Annual Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour November 22-24, including two new artists

Portsmouth, NH

Books created from nautilus shells, ornamental “spirit houses”, and brilliantly colored felted scarves join the impressive variety of locally crafted artwork that makes up the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour. Every year on the weekend before Thanksgiving, seacoast artists open the doors to their private studios and invite the public in for three days of socializing and early holiday shopping. November 22, 23 and 24 marks our thirtheenth year, featuring thirteen artists – two who are new to the event this year.

Adele Sanborn joins the artists in Studio 1, bringing with her a collection of handmade paper, books and works of calligraphy. Sanborn describes herself as a mixed media artist, even though she’s been a photographer and calligrapher sine the 1970’s. She lets chosen quotes inspire and guide her designs on paper, each one unique to itself. Her work is not content to simply stand on paper alone – it sandwiches itself between nautilus halves, inside tiny ornate houses, and on magic wands.

“I like to transform the written dimension into lettering art and then accent the verse with watercolors, my own photos, or natural found objects” Sanborn explains. “I continually experiment with the latest technology in combination with the broad point pen, a traditional calligraphy tool.”

Diane Stradling also joins the Tour, adding Studio 8 to the end of the map on Union Street. A long-time Portsmouth resident, Stradling creates colorful scarves, jewelry and embellished wool garments using felting techniques. “I am delighted to be included in the Tour this year, and to be joining a group of our community’s most established and creative artists,” says Stradling. “The weekend promises to showcase new and exciting work and we are all fortunate to live in a town where art is appreciated and supported.”

Artists reveal their work during the Opening Night celebration with refreshments on Friday, November 22 from 5-8pm. The Tour continues during the day on Saturday, November 23 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 24 from 10am-5pm. Tour maps can be downloaded from the website at www.portsmouthartstour.com. Signs will be posted at each studio with numbers and balloons to help navigate the driving loop.

This is a free, self-guided tour along a three-mile driving loop in Portsmouth. Artists at each studio will feature their new work along with the designs they’ve become known for. Work is for sale, and many studios will have ongoing demonstrations throughout the weekend, including glass bead working, book-making, and blacksmithing.

Full Studio List:

Studio 1: 911 Greenland Road
Artists: Maureen Mills and Steven Zoldak (handthrown stoneware and porcelain),
Karen Orsillo (porcelain pottery and jewelry), Adele Sanborn (calligraphy, books and paper art)

Studio 2: 78 Peverly Hill Road
Artist: Dyanna Smith (glass jewelry, beads and sculpture)

Studio 3: 782 Middle Road
Artist: Neil Troost (fine art photography)

Studio 4: 31 Boss Avenue
Artist: Bruce Iverson (traditional and contemporary Asian brush painting)

Studio 5: 178 Highland Street
Artist: Tess Feltes (wildlife art)

Studio 6: 220 South Street
Artists: Kristina Logan (lampwork, glass beads and jewelry), Reg Logan (ceramic and insect jewelry)

Studio 7: 66 Rock Street
Artists: Peter Happny (blacksmithing), Lisa Grey (textile collage and printmaking)

Studio 8: 351 Union Street
Artists: Diane Stradling (felted and embellished garments)

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Popular “Open House-Open Studio” Event Features 16 Artists at 6 Locations Over 3 Days

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Over 500 art lovers from across New England are expected to visit the New Hampshire Seacoast this weekend to attend the Third Annual Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour.  The popular three-day event will feature 16 artists and craftspeople displaying their wares at 6 locations in Portsmouth.

The free, self-guided tour begins Friday, November 21 (4-8pm), continues through Saturday (10am-5pm), and closes on Sunday (10am-5pm).  The tour features work in a wide variety of media, including pottery, photography, painting, jewelry, collage, woodworking, and textiles.  Visitors can meet the artists, discuss their work, see their tools and techniques, and handpick pieces for sale.  In addition, attendees who visit all six studios can enter a raffle to win an artwork donated by the artists.

Exhibiting artists are Maureen Mills & Steven Zoldak, hand-thrown stoneware; Victoria Elbroch, etchings and monotypes; Karen Orsillo, colored porcelain pots and jewelry; Betty Wholey, jewelry; Bill Woods, wooden toys; Shawn Pelech, painting and printmaking; Neil Troost, photography and Giclee prints; Mike Norberg, nautical oil paintings  & pen-and-ink drawings; Tess Feltes, nature drawing and painting; Lisa Grey & Peter Happny, textile and paper collage & blacksmithing; John May, lathe-turned wood; Hope Murphy, fused-glass earrings; Patti Mitchem, handwoven items; Katherine Baucke, multimedia paintings.

About The Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour

Founded in 2000 by Neil Troost, Maureen Mills and Steven Zoldak, the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour is an annual event that brings art-lovers into artists’ homes and studios.  The tour is self-supported by the artists with help from local business sponsors.  Ocean National Bank, which has won national recognition for its support of the arts, is the lead corporate sponsor.  Sponsoring businesses also include The Sheraton Harborside, “Accent on Home & Garden” magazine, The Flower Kiosk, The Genip Tree, D. Scott Campbell & Associates Public Relations, Piscataqua Savings Bank, The Portsmouth Brewery, Ceres Bakery, Moe’s Italian Sandwiches, Lollipop Tree, and Kennedy Studios Gallery & Framing.  For more information about the tour and the artists involved in the event, please visit: www.portsmouthartstour.com.

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published 11/2/12

It’s been a creative year for our local artists – join them for the 12th year of the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour and find out what they’ve been up to.

Eleven artists welcome the public into their art studios on the weekend before Thanksgiving for socializing and holiday shopping. This is the original arts tour of the seacoast, and it remains a free tour – no entrance fee or tickets to punch! Follow the self-guided tour along a three-mile loop in town and stop to see what’s new. Artists at each studio will feature their new work along with the designs they’ve become known for. Work is for sale, and many studios will have ongoing demonstrations throughout the weekend.

Artists reveal their new work during the Opening Night celebration with refreshments on  Friday, November 16 from 5-8pm. The Tour continues during the day on Saturday, November 17 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 18 from 10am-5pm. Tour maps can be downloaded from the website at www.portsmouthartstour.com. Signs marking each studio with numbers and balloons will be posted to help navigate the driving loop.

Studio 1: 911 Greenland Road

Artists:

Maureen Mills, recipient of a 2012 Fellowship award from the NH State Council on the Arts to work on large scale ceramic forms that include text and graphics. Her new work is also influenced by her travels to Tokyo, Japan for a Ceramics Symposium.

Steven Zoldak is working on a new line of traditional redware pottery.

Karen Orsillo‘s colored Porcelain pots and jewelry are based on a Japanese technique called neriage or nerikomi. This year she traveled to Japan to visit the source of her inspiration.

Studio 2: 78 Peverly Hill Road

Artist:

Dyanna Smith‘s glass beads, jewelry and sculpture is influenced this year by natural themes as she explores filmmaking and local farms as part of her dissertation research in environmental studies.

Studio 3: 782 Middle Road

Artist:

Neil Troost‘s Fine Art Photography has expanded his product line over the past year and is now printing and stretching his own canvas gallery wraps which look spectacular in a wide variety of sizes. He is putting the finishing touches on a new website featuring over 400 images aimed towards a national online audience.

Studio 4: 31 Boss Avenue

Artist:

Bruce Iverson shows his traditional and contemporary Asian brush painting.

Studio 5: 178 Highland Street

Artist:

Tess Feltes is showing oil landscape paintings and will be demonstrating a bird painting in the studio, in addition to her wildlife art.

Studio 6: 220 South Street

Artists:

Kristina Logan was the Master Presenter and Master Teacher for the International Society of Glass Beadmaker’s Conference in Seattle WA this year. She is currently in exhibition at the RAM (Racine Art Museum) in Racine WI showcasing glass used in jewelry. Last year, the Corning Museum of Glass acquisitioned one of Kristina’s Constellation Necklaces for their permanent collection.

Reg Logan will show her ceramic and insect jewelry.

Studio 7: 66 Rock Street

Artists:

Peter Happny recently demonstrated for a blacksmithing group in Bergen, Norway. He will be displaying a group of new fun, small sculptures and doing short demos for kids and the general public during tour hours.

Lisa Grey is working on a series of new scarves and photographs drawing inspiration from her travels to Thailand, Nepal and Tibet. In addition she will exhibit new fabrics and papers naturally dyed with leaves and flowers.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com for details, studio locations and tour map. For more information please call 603-436-3818, or any of the participating artists.

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published 11/14/11

Spend a delightful hour or two this weekend discovering eight different artists’ studios along a 3 mile loop in Portsmouth. Fourteen local artists will be featuring their finest work for sale during this free, self guided tour. Artists will be present in person to greet visitors and discuss their craft – some will even demo their work during the weekend.

Studios are open Friday, November 18 from 5-8pm, Saturday, November 19 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 20 from 10am-5pm. Watch for tour signs with numbers and balloons as you follow the map to each home studio.

Participating artists are:

Studio 1: Maureen Mills and Steven Zoldak, showing handthrown stoneware and porcelain; Victoria Elbroch, etchings and monotypes; Karen Orsillo, colored porcelain pots and jewelry.

Studio 2: Dyanna Smith, fused and lampworked glass jewelry and sculpture.

Studio 3: Neil Troost Fine Art Photography; Julie Schmidt, metal jewelry.

Studio 4: Bruce Iverson, traditional and contemporary Chinese brush painting.

Studio 5: Tess Feltes, wildlife artist.

Studio 6: Tim Gaudreau, photography and eco-art.

Studio 7: Kristina Logan, lampwork, glass beads and jewelry; Reg Logan, ceramics and insect jewelry.

Studio 8: Peter Happny, blacksmithing; and Lisa Grey, textile collage and printmaking.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com for details, studio locations and tour map. For more information please call 603-436-3818, or any of the participating artists.

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published 11/16/09

Visit with natural science and children’s book illustrator Tess Feltes during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour this weekend, where she will have signed copies of her latest book, “Singing Crickets” (2009, Millbrook Press) featured in her open studio.

A simple, fact-filled picture book, Singing Crickets follows the life cycle of crickets, as a mama cricket lays her eggs in the late fall, the babies hatch in the spring, and they grow throughout the summer to sing during the warm summer nights.

Having many botanical and entomology books and journals to her credit, Feltes was delighted to have the opportunity to combine accuracy with a more colorful and whimsical approach. She will be joined by fourteen other artists at eight locations along a self-guided studio trail this weekend during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour. Along with featuring her original drawings, paintings and prints, Feltes will be on hand to explain the creative process of taking sketches and scribbles to finished illustrations.

Watch for tour signs with numbers and balloons to guide you as you follow the map to each home studio. All of the artists will be available to discuss their work and answer any questions you may have. The tour is free and open to the public. Work will be for sale and custom orders are welcomed.

Studios are open Friday, November 20 from 5-8pm, Saturday, November 21 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 22 from 10am-5pm.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com to download a brochure and tour map.

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published 11/16/09

Kristina Logan is known for her dots. Looking at one of her exquisite glass beads, it’s hard to imagine how she gets them so precisely placed each time. Logan makes it look effortless and fun as you watch her work, which is what you can do this weekend if you visit her studio during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour, or if you check out her new DVD.

The newly released DVD is part seven in a series produced by the Corning Museum of Glass, and captures a complete portrait of Logan as an artist. Explaining where she finds her ideas and inspiration, Logan demonstrates working at the torch – precisely layering and dotting glass to make her intricately beautiful beads. She talks about how she got started making beads and working with glass and about precision and dot placement in her work. Logan then shares how she works in her studio to combine her finished beads with silver to make beautiful works of art.

“I’m honored and thrilled to be a part of the Corning Museum of Glass Master Series,” says Logan. “It was an exciting process making the DVD during 3 days of filming at the Studio at Corning. This is my first DVD so adding dots to a complex bead while being filmed did add a little bit of pressure! I’m happy to say that the filmmakers really did capture what I do on a daily basis and what I think about when I work. My process of going from a bead to a piece of jewelry is also shown.”

To meet the artist and see her work, visit Logan’s studio during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour November 20-22, when she will be joined by fourteen other artists at eight locations along a self-guided route winding through Portsmouth.

Watch for tour signs with numbers and balloons as you follow the map to each home studio. All of the artists will be available to discuss their work and answer any questions you may have. The tour is free and open to the public. Work will be for sale and custom orders are welcomed.

Studios are open Friday, November 20 from 5-8pm, Saturday, November 21 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 22 from 10am-5pm.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com to download a brochure and tour map.

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published 11/16/09

This year, the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour is proud to help photographer Nora Simone Happny share her message of hope for the children of Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. Happny captures the vastness of Kibera, its heartache and hope, through her candid images of community life captured during her recent visit in May.

Happny spent her visit participating in an inspired soccer league that has grown to serve 5000 youth as a program of the larger organization, Carolina For Kibera. Carolina For Kibera’s (CFK) mission is to fight abject poverty and help prevent violence through community-based development in Kibera and other parts of Africa. In the Youth Sports Associaiton, the rules of the league require each player to pick up trash in the neighborhood before each game, and teams are made up of multiple ethnic groups in hopes of relieving ethnic tension in the region.

Motivated by the good she saw coming from CFK and the positive effects on Kibera youth, Happny has created a photo diary of her visit which she is presenting this weekend.

Happny’s photographs can be seen throughout the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour November 20-22, when fifteen area artists open their private studios at eight locations along a self-guided route winding through Portsmouth. Proceeds from the sale of these photographs will support the CFK.

Watch for tour signs with numbers and balloons as you follow the map to each home studio. All of the artists will be available to discuss their work and answer any questions you may have. The tour is free and open to the public. Work will be for sale and custom orders are welcomed.

Studios are open Friday, November 20 from 5-8pm, Saturday, November 21 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 22 from 10am-5pm.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com to download a brochure and tour map.

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published 11/16/09

Through photographs, glass and community participation, two different Portsmouth artists are using their artistic mediums to present environmental themes in new ways. Tim Gaudreau has a history of creating thought provoking eco-art in photographic images and interactive installations, and Dyanna Smith is just beginning to translate her work in conservation into sculptural works of glass. And both artists are opening the doors to their studios during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour this weekend.

Gaudreau’s creations reveal the human relationship with the environment through varied media, including photographic and sculptural installations that shift an observer’s perspective on their daily lives.

“The purpose of eco-art is healing,” Gaudreau explains, “bridging the rift between resources and how we use them.” His Self Portrait as Revealed by Trash proves the point with collaged collections of photographs, each highlighting a separate object. Installations cover walls and entire rooms with images. “For a year I photographed every single thing that I threw out.” Most recently, Gaudreau is working on a year-long documentation of his own carbon footprint.

Smith is a glass artist who completed her first sculptural piece this year in response to her larger work in the environmental field.

“I was inspired to create Three Ice Cores in Glass after investigating the science behind global climate change concerns,” says Smith. “Even as a scientist, I find the information hard to grasp, and it can leave me feeling helpless about the future. Then I came across a graph showing the build up of massive amounts of lead in the atmosphere that peaked in the 70’s and then dramatically decreased after the switch to unleaded gas. As a nation, we took wide-spread action then, and we fixed that incredible problem! I wanted to visually explain how we can make a positive change – how we did it before, and we can do it again.”

To see their work and meet the artists, visit their studios during the Portsmouth Holiday Arts Tour November 20-22, when Smith and Gaudreau will be joined by thirteen other artists at eight locations along a self-guided route winding through Portsmouth.

Watch for tour signs with numbers and balloons as you follow the map to each home studio. All of the artists will be available to discuss their work and answer any questions you may have. The tour is free and open to the public. Work will be for sale and custom orders are welcomed.

Studios are open Friday, November 20 from 5-8pm, Saturday, November 21 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 22 from 10am-5pm.

Visit www.portsmouthartstour.com to download a brochure and tour map.

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