More than three inches of rain fell across the Hopewell Valley over the weekend, but it wasn’t enough to keep artists — or art lovers — from the 19th annual Hopewell Tour Des Arts.
The two-day tour went forward Saturday and Sunday despite heavy rain that forced organizers to make adjustments, including moving planned outdoor musical performances inside the Hopewell Valley Stage.
Across the region, visitors ducked into studios, galleries and other spaces to see the work of artists participating in the annual self-guided tour organized by the Hopewell Valley Arts Council.
At Highland Design Farm on Van Dyke Road Sunday afternoon, visitors wandered through a collection of studios showcasing painting, photography, sculpture, woodworking and other work as rain continued outside.
Inside one gallery space, painter Margaret Koval talked with visitors surrounded by her textured paintings. Koval creates the works from behind loose-weave linen, pushing oil paint through the fabric to produce the image on the opposite side.
“I can’t fully see or control what I’m making, and information gets lost in transit,” Koval wrote in an artist statement displayed with her work.
The resulting surface can resemble carpet or tapestry, a process Koval connects to her interest in perception and the limits of what can be understood simply by seeing something. Before turning fully to painting, Koval made documentary films and produced television news, according to her statement.
Elsewhere at Highland Design Farm, photographer Richard Speedy talked visitors through his photographs of water and coastal landscapes. Speedy described returning to locations repeatedly in search of the right combination of light, tides and weather.
“You find great places, but it’s not the right time. It’s not the right light,” he said. “So you go back.”
Visitors were doing more than looking. One participating artist said late Sunday afternoon that he had sold two pieces Saturday and another four or five Sunday.
A tour reshaped by the rain
The weather presented organizers with a much bigger challenge than simply keeping artwork dry.
Hopewell Valley Arts Council Executive Director Carol Lipson said organizers came close to canceling Saturday after electricity went out in part of Hopewell Borough.
“We decided to go ahead,” Lipson said. “We got lucky. We actually had more people than usual yesterday.”
Lipson said artists were pleased the event continued, although organizers did not yet have final information about sales.
The Hopewell Valley Stage, which debuted this year as the tour’s welcome center, took on an expanded role because of the weather. The venue hosted the tour’s “One Piece Show,” featuring one work from each participating artist, while musical performances originally planned at several locations were moved there.
The Stage also offered something especially valuable on a wet weekend: a dry place to begin the tour.
“It’s nice to have a stage as a starting point and place to get out of the rain,” Lipson said.
Tour co-chair Luna Sconty said the weekend still brought “great energy” and that artists and musicians were enthusiastic.
“It takes a lot of work for a couple of months, and then boom! It’s here,” she said. “Everybody’s smiling, and that makes me smile.”
The decision to continue wasn’t necessarily an easy one. Organizers were monitoring downed trees and flood watches during the weekend, and Lipson acknowledged the balance between preserving an event that takes months to organize and keeping visitors safe.
In the end, the 19th annual tour went on — just with a few more umbrellas and a lot more time spent inside.
Up next, the Hopewell Valley Arts Council’s 12th Amazing Pumpkin Carve kicks off October. 8 at Needle Creek Brewery. Visit the website to learn more and to get tickets.
