It’s the time of year in Adams County when giant brown crickets invade our old homes to find audiences for their theatrical deaths. Late November is also the time of year when the Foothill Artists’ Studio Tour returns.
This year, fourteen artists exhibited last weekend across eight locations in and around Cashtown, Orrtanna, Fairfield, and Carroll Valley. Some very dedicated art lovers and patrons make it to every stop. This art critic did not, but across two years of attending the tour, I have been to five locations, and knowing the work of most of the artists, I can authoritatively say that it’s very much worth checking out. It’s a lot of fun flying around the hills and curves of orchard country, feeling your stomach flip. So is poking around other people’s private art studios and homes. But the option of making a purchase to support living artists who also happen to be our neighbors makes the day.
This year’s tour highlighted the work of painters, fiber artists, printmakers, jewelers, ceramicists, woodworkers, and one bookbinder. Before last weekend, I had no idea we had a used bookstore in Cashtown, or that bookbinding was still a practice engaged in by individuals and not just machines in the factories of contemporary publishing houses.
Chris Herbert of Rocktop Bookshop & Bindery at 1229 Old Rt. 30 sells books about military history. He also rebinds old books that would have otherwise fallen apart, sometimes replacing their pages with blank ones to create charmingly unique notebooks. The bookstore is split across two buildings. If anyone wants to bribe this reviewer, purchase me the green one with the gold sword and feather on its cover. It’s $60.
Two doors down, at 1215 Old Rt. 30, Chris’s wife Drucilla Meany-Herbert sells books on world history, which includes books on a LOT of topics, including but not limited to: Art Treasures of Yugoslavia, World Tartans, and The Travels of Captain Cook. If you especially love used art books, this will be your jam.
To learn more about the Foothills Artists group and see examples of their artwork, visit www.foothillsartists.net. For further information, please contact Geoffrey Thulin at geoff@geoffreythulin.com.
Foothills Artists: Erin Brown, Daryl Despres, Andrea Finch, Anne Finucane, Jack Handshaw, Chris Herbert, Sarah Maclay, Heidi Myers, Judy Pyle, Jóh Ricci, Jayne Shord, Gretchen Shutt, Geoffrey Thulin, and Debbie Westmoreland
