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Sungsook Hong Setton

Visit artist Doug Reina in his Setauket studio during the tour.

By Heidi Sutton

Back by popular demand, the North Shore Artist Coalition will host its 2018 Open Studio Tour this weekend, Oct. 13 and 14, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free event will showcase the studios of 15 award-winning artists in Setauket, Stony Brook, Port Jefferson and St. James.

Visit ceramic artist Hugh McElroy during the tour.

The coalition, whose founding members include Pam J. Brown, Jim Molloy, Doug Reina, Mary Jane van Zeijts and Nancy Bueti-Randall, started this tour three years ago with the goal of bringing more awareness to professional artists that are living in the Three Village area. 

“We felt that by coming together and pooling our talents and ideas that we could have some kind of creative impact in the community and the studio tour was one of those ideas,” said Reina in a recent interview. “It’s nice to do this with like-minded people.”

While Molloy will be unable to participate this year, the group has invited artists Al Candia, Peter Galasso, Sungsook Hong Setton, Christian Stuyvesant White, Hugh J. McElroy, Marlene Weinstein, Christine Mannone Carolan, Cindy Crowell, Leslie M. Cross, and mother/daughter duoFlo and Karen Kemp to join them for the weekend event. “It’s good that they’re on board. They’re good artists and I know they’re excited to be part of this,” said Reina.

Reached by phone, Brown said visitors to the event “can expect to see the works of an eclectic mix of professional artists who are illustrators, photographers, sculptors and painters.” Most importantly, she said, the tour will offer an intimate look into their art studio.

Sunsook Setton will give a tour of her studio during the event

That, said Reina, is what makes this event so unique. “Honestly, how often do you get to see the inner workings of an artist’s creative process?” he asked. “Usually you see the paintings hanging up [in a gallery] but you don’t really get a chance to see where the artwork gets created.” The Setauket artist added that those that “are at all interested in the technical part of art or getting into art or becoming a little bit more serious about your art” would benefit from this tour.

Finished works as well as works in progress will be on view and several artists will be giving demonstrations.

In the two previous tours, each artist welcomed 80 to 100 visitors to their studio and Brown is excited to see what the future holds. 

“People go to Gallery North, there’s the Reboli Center, the Setauket Artists, Neil Watson at The Long Island Museum is doing unbelievable things, we now have the Brick Studio, we have The Atelier at Flowerfield and then you have the Mills Pond Gallery. That’s a lot of art organizations — there’s a lot happening — so I think it’s really great for local artists to be connected as much as possible and build our community and try to build awareness for people outside of our community,” she explained. 

“We would love in the future to have all these local organizations on board so this becomes a big cultural attraction, an art destination for people who are looking to get away for the weekend,” Brown continued. “It is my hope that this event continues to grow.”

The Artist Open Studio Tour map and addresses may be found at https://www.facebook.com/NorthShoreArtistCoalition. Admission is free and refreshments will be served at some of the studios. For further information, please call 631-834-9036.