08/14/2025
I'm so fortunate to be part of this great group of artisans.
Thickwood Hills celebrates 25 years of art
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By JORDAN TWISS
Shellbrook Chronicle Reporter
Sometimes, making art can be an isolated experience. But for the past 25 years creative spirits in Shell Lake and the surrounding area having been striving to build a community centred around art through the Thickwood Hills Studio Trail.
Held Aug. 9 and 10, the rural art tour offers art enthusiasts — and art novices — an opportunity to travel down rural Saskatchewan’s back roads, take in the prairie vistas, and meet and interact with local artists in their creative spaces.
The idea for the tour was spawned by Saskatchewan Order of Merit-winning artist Rigmor Clarke, who returned to the tour line-up to mark the quarter-century milestone, opening up her large but cozy Forest Raven Studio to guests.
Clarke says she got the idea for the Thickwood Hills Studio Trail while partaking in an art tour during a trip to Ottawa. At the time, she was teaching art at a community college and saw many students who possessed plenty of talent, but likely wouldn’t have the opportunity to show their art anywhere.
“I was thinking about how they could get their art out so the community could see it,” she said.
“The other thing that I thought would be really neat would be if rural and urban people could meet. This [tour] gives them a chance to see Saskatchewan and the people of Saskatchewan.”
Those who took the scenic drive out to Clarke’s studio quickly learned the 90-year-old still possesses the same creative spark she’s had since childhood. What’s more, she’s even dabbling in new art forms, having taken up encaustic art in the past year (melted wax and pigment on a surface).
“It’s something between a sculpture and a painting,” Clarke said. “It’s fascinating — challenging and fascinating.”
Over the years, other artists have taken up Clarke’s dream as their own, allowing the Thickwood Hills Studio Trail to thrive and attract guests from all over Saskatchewan.
In addition to Clarke’s return, this year’s tour featured a diverse mix of new and returning artists.
South of Mont Nebo, Carina Ong-Scutchings’ Studio 701 showcased her functional and decorative ceramics once again, as well as the works of two newcomers to the tour.
At one time from the Spiritwood area, paddle and oar painter Nancy Carlson says she’d been looking for an opportunity to return to the area.
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