Over the Mountain Studio Tour bids Sycamore Pottery owners ‘farewell,’ new artists ‘welcome’
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The 33rd Annual Over the Mountain Studio Tour came to a close on Sunday evening, ending what may have been one of its best attended tours. According to tour founding members Ren and Pam Parziale, who helped basketweaver Anne Bowers bring her vision for a yearly Jefferson County art studio tour to life, Saturday’s warm and bright weather drew in so many attendees, they sold out of the majority of their pottery stock that day.
“It’s all about cooperation and sharing. We share information about how to do publicity, how to price, how to write a press release — it’s all about marketing and how to take what you know and help other artists succeed,” Pam said, indicating that helping other local artists become more visible draws increased attention and support toward the entire art community, based on the longtime success of her and her husband’s business, Sycamore Pottery.
“It’s a basic philosophy, ‘If we succeed, we all succeed. If we personally do well, the other people will also do well,'” Pam said. “It’s important to us, to educate the public about the fact that some objects are still made by hand — not everything is machine made!”
Ren noted Sycamore Pottery’s 50 years in business would have never been reached, if the Parziales hadn’t been driven by a deep passion for their craft and a willingness to work hard to create the best possible product. That dedication to their business’ success started in the same location it continues in to this day, tour Stop 5 in Kearneysville. What was once a hay field was gradually developed into a verdant, wooded area with four buildings — two of which were built to serve as an art studio and art gallery.
“When we moved here, there was nothing here — no buildings, no trees, just pastures where they roamed cattle out here,” Ren said. “Pam and I, we planted over 4,000 trees [here]. Every spring and fall, we would get a few hundred seedlings from the state of West Virginia that were available for very, very cheap. Any trees that you see around here, chances are that we planted them!”
This year’s tour proved particularly significant for the Parziales, as they announced it would be Sycamore Pottery’s last.
“We’re slowing down, not stopping. I am never going to stop until I’m forced to stop!” Ren said, mentioning producing enough pottery for the tour’s high volume of attendees had grown challenging, leading the couple to stop participating after this year.
However, Ren said that Sycamore Pottery will continue to create and sell pottery at smaller sales events in the future, including the continuation of their annual Mother’s Day sale in their gallery. And, as for the future of the tour the couple dedicated decades of their life to participating in, Pam said she is confident its future is bright.
“The studio tour, I think, will continue on very successfully, because we have a lot of new, younger artists with enthusiasm and good work, who understand social media and how to advertise,” Pam said.
While tour attendees may have wondered whether the presence of new artists with already-represented art forms would hinder the forms’ returning artists’ sales, Pam said she did not believe that to be the case, based on the fact that Sycamore Pottery almost sold out of its stock this year, in spite of the introduction of a second potter on the tour. And that potter, Shepherdstown resident Esther Murphy, who was located at the sole Shepherdstown art studio on the tour, Stop 7, echoed her statement, after experiencing satisfying sales numbers.
“This has been great! The tour has been really good to me and it’s been a fun weekend,” Murphy said. “It’s nice to make connections with some of the local art scene, which I hadn’t before, because I started in Frederick, Md. and made my connections there.
“I thought this would be my first and last year, but it’s been such a great experience that I’m going to be back next year,” Murphy said, mentioning that, along with her electric-fired pottery, she was also selling some wood-fired pottery, which added a differentiating element to her work.