For the City Times

A Port Edwards artist, Joe Clark, has been selected for inclusion in the annual Hidden Studios Tour—Art along the Ice Age Trail.

Joe Clark. (Contributed Photo)

The art tour will be held Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. Eight studios will be featured on the tour, and most studios will host one to two guest artists.

Visitors will be welcomed into artists’ studios, with the opportunity to see them demonstrating or explaining their processes. Clark estimates that he has been making raku pottery for at least 35 years.

“I have three raku glazes that are tried and true: a copper matte glaze that’s really beautiful, a white crackle glaze, and sager firing, in which each pot is fired within a bowl-shaped container,” said Clark. “Before you put the pot in the bowl-shaped container, you place pine needles, straw, or even salt in the container. Each piece is fired in its own little atmosphere. What happens when it burns, you can never repeat. You can’t control it. I love the immediacy of it. Each piece is so different and unique, it’s very exciting,”

This marks his second year as a guest artist, and he previously participated in the Hidden Studios Tour a few years ago.

“We wanted to make this an art destination,” said founding tour artist John Davenport, who is an oil and pastel painter. “We are proud of the high quality and the diversity of the art on this tour.”

The tour includes paintings, drawings, printmaking, photography, jewelry, glass, ceramics, hand forged home furnishings, textiles, sculptural lighting, wood furniture and accessories, raku pottery, and leather handbags.

Original artwork by Joe Clark. (Contributed Photo)

The annual Hidden Studios Tour– Art along the Ice Age Trail sheds light on the mystery of the creative process of 20 artists in eight studios along the country roads of central Wisconsin from Nelsonville and Amherst to Almond. Many of the studios appear hidden among the rolling hills that reflect Wisconsin’s glacial heritage.

For a list of the participating artists, photographs of their work and their statements, a map to all the studios and sponsors, and a list of area lodging and restaurants, go to www.HiddenStudiosArtTour.com

Concurrent with the Hidden Studios Tour, the photography exhibit, “The Barns of Portage County,” a project of the Portage County Historical Society, is at the Rising Star Mill in Nelsonville. On Oct. 1, members of the Portage and Waupaca County Chapters of the Ice Age Trail Alliance will host their annual Hike-A-Thon, at Hartman Creek State Park, Waupaca.