By Jesse Bertel

Every year, the Prescott Studio Tour opens its doors to the community, offering a treasure trove of local artworks and artists practicing their craft. The “Roughrider Leg” of the tour is where a host of wonders await. Yavapai College’s (YC) Visual Arts Department will present artists, demonstrations and more, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 8 on YC’s Prescott Campus, 1100 E. Sheldon St.

The free, three-day event will feature 61 artists, 45 private studios and another 30 artists in five separate arts centers. Yavapai College will showcase its talented students and instructors across various artistic fields, including ceramics, metal sculpture, jewelry, lapidary, woodworking, woodturning, painting, drawing and printmaking.

Painting and Drawing Instructor Bryan Robertson is hoping to guide visitors to more of the studios and labs this year.

“We did it last year and we got a lot of people down by ceramics, but that’s part of the main issue is that you kind of have to travel from one side of the campus over the other side,” Robertson said. “We’re going to try to have some better signage out this year and we’ve got better maps to hand out to people. So, when they come to campus, they should have a map.”

Robertson sees the Studio Tour as an opportunity to inform people about the arts programs at the College.

“It’s a really great opportunity for us to connect with community members that are interested in the arts and may not have known that we’re here and that we offer such an extensive range of art classes,” Robertson said. “It’s nice to meet prospective students and share their interests that they have in a particular medium that we could, you know, teach them about or even give them a space to create work in. We got some pretty state-of-the-art metal sculpture labs, jewelry labs and woodshops.”

Robertson, the Visual Art Department chair at YC, will present Life Drawing demonstrations from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, in Building 1, room 205. In that same room, Art teacher Saveria Judge will present Life Drawing demonstrations from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7. Then, also in the same room, instructor Ken Ottinger will demonstrate Painting and Drawing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8.

“Life drawing is drawing a figure, so a person, a model,” Robertson said. “In this case, you know, it’ll be clothed, so it won’t be like a nude model session. So, it’ll be drawing a person from one of our models in the department.”

YC students’ artwork will be available for purchase and they’ll be demonstrating their techniques throughout the Tour. It’s an interactive and educational experience for art lovers of all ages, giving patrons a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship behind each piece.

For a full breakdown of events and maps to help plan your tour, visit www.prescottstudiotour.com.

For complete information on Yavapai College’s Visual Arts offerings and a schedule of demonstrations, visit https://ycvisualarts.com/studio-tour-at-yc.

Jesse Bertel is a reporter/videographer for the Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter @ JesseBertel, email him at jbertel@prescottaz.com, or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2043.