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VIDEO: Annual artist studio tour goes virtual on Saanich Peninsula

ArtSea converts popular event to online format with personalized artist videos

For many art enthusiasts, from those who appreciate art to those creating it, the cancellation of home studio tours on the Saanich Peninsula and elsewhere in Greater Victoria due to the pandemic has been a disappointment.

So the ArtSea Community Arts Council, with the co-operation of 32 of its members, has come up with a solution it believes will satisfy at least some of the yearnings of its patrons.

The ArtSea Virtual Artist Tour allows online viewers to “visit” the home studios of artists in multiple genres, see what they’re working on and experience demonstrations of their work. Videographer Tori Jones safely worked with artists in their homes, shooting and later editing video presentations that in many ways, mimic the type of studio-related activities they’d be engaged in during the regular tours.

“With each video we hope to introduce you to the artist and share with you some of their inspirations, their joys and reasons why they are drawn to produce the work they love,” reads the ArtSea website.

Not only was the video project developed for patrons of the arts, it was created a way to give the artists themselves more exposure at a time when their usual means of exhibiting has been severely curtailed.

ALSO READ: Experience new works and more throughout October with ArtSea

Readers can find a collection of individual artist YouTube videos at artsea.ca/calendar/artsea-virtual-artist-tour, with more planned for the coming weeks. Follow what’s new with ArtSea on Facebook and Instagram.


 

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Online viewers can see this piece, and others by Steve Chmilar, in the virtual tour of his works from his home studio, during the ArtSea Virtual Artist Tour, which replaces the in-person tour cancelled for 2020 by COVID-19. (YouTube/ArtSea Community Arts Council)