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BY KAREN BOSSICK EJ Harpham has thought back on how she held a steelhead trout caught on a fly in British Columbia as she creates fine art bowls, kitchen sinks, wall tiles and more in her expansive potter’s studio south of Bellevue. Ketchum photographer Kirk Anderson has sat in marshes on chilly mornings waiting for the right light to work its magic as he captures a moment in nature. And Jodie Stejer creates art with fire as she fuses together layers of beeswax, resin and pigment with a torch.
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Marybeth Flower’s “Camas Cabin” was shot near Fairfield.
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These are three of the 41 artists participating in the Artists of the Wood River Valley Studio Tour Friday through Sunday, Aug. 19-21. The tour map appears in an Eye on Sun Valley ad, and it is available at https://artiststudiotour.com/locations/ The free tour will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. It will feature artists from Bellevue through Ketchum displaying a wide range of techniques from Mark Sheehan’s welding to Janet Starr’s hand-dyed fabric wall hangings to Lisa Horton and Christina Healy’s jewelry work. There’ll be veterans, such as Lisa Holley, who is just back from the Amazon with fresh ideas for her series of paintings depicting animals through what they eat. And there’ll be newcomers, such as Bex Wilkinson, who has evolved from wanting to paint her family home with polka dots to creating large-scale abstract paintings. The tour is modeled after the Wood River Valley Studio Tour, which ran for seven years before dissolving in the wake of the pandemic. Organizers, including Lisa Holley and Lisa Horton purposefully kept it smaller than the original tour so as not to overwhelm tourgoers.
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Lisa Holley has hep as she incorporates various foods into her latest animal portrait. PHOTO: Karen Bossick
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“We cut it off at 40 but somehow got 41 artists,” said Marybeth Flower. Flower, a Ketchum photographer, has shot a wide range of photographs from the piazzas of Italy to abstract photographs of aspen trees. Lately, she has been training her lens on barns in the Palouse and other parts of Idaho, trying to document them before they’re gone even as she turns them into an art form. “There was a great one I planned to photograph and when I went back to capture it, the structure was removed for improvements on private property. It made me sad. Others are falling in on themselves,” she said. “I am intrigued with these structures as they are part of our Western history. I always wonder about the original settlers in the space and what made them depart.” Flower said the tour gives artists the opportunity to show the public how they work.
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EJ Harpham’s studio looks out onto a beautiful garden and waterfall surrounded by flowers and a walking path. But you need to catch it Friday or Saturday as her studio will be closed on Sunday. PHOTO: Karen Bossick
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“The public can see their workspace and talk to them about how they do work,” she said. Flower will demonstrate how she turns a less-than-perfect image into a beautiful piece of art with the help of Photoshop and other techniques. “Recently, for instance, I photographed the tulip festival in the Skagit Valley. And there’s no perfect tulip. There might be a brown spot or scar on it and you have to work at making it beautiful for the eye to behold. I’ll be showing people how I work on the tulip, how I might blur the background so the subject stands out. It’s not just about clicking the shutter.” Flower said she loves opening her studio to visitors.
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Judy Whitmyre not only paints but creates art from found objects in her Ketchum studio. PHOTO: Karen Bossick
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“There’s nothing more rewarding than having someone come into the studio and saying ‘I love it. I want to hang it on my wall,’ ” she added. STAY TUNE… Eye on Sun Valley will feature four short videos featuring Lisa Holley, Lisa Horton, Jodie Stejer and Janet Starr beginning Monday and running through Thursday. All four videos are currently running on Eye on Sun Valley TV on Cox Cable Channel 13 this week.
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