© 2013 Hurst Media Works
Picture yourself participating in a visual-arts driving tour within the Allegheny
Mountains at this time of year. Here’s the question: When does that art experience begin
– when you walk through the door of the artist’s studio or when you start your car?
Art and autumn are a natural fit here. While any season can inspire fine art, fall is art – created by the Almighty’s hand.
Stripped of their cloaks of chlorophyll, leaves reveal their true colors as dying statements.
Countless intricate brush strokes on a canvas stretching to the horizon, they change the ageless landscape daily (for an all-too-brief time), painting it with hues that we imitate but never quite duplicate.
Fall is art on a massive scale: Hillside by hillside, each scene varies in endlessly creative ways. Certain trees become masterpieces upon being touched by God with just the right palette-combination of sun and rain and temperature.
Our otherwise mundane drives turn inspirational, as we contemplate the colors and patterns. We find ourselves feeling better for these encounters with a beauty that is beyond us.
Expressive, emotive, creative and inspirational, isn’t that what art is? What better setting could there be than this season of artistry within the Alleghenies to schedule events that celebrate and support visual art?
And while we can’t always predict exactly when the peak of our leaf-peeping season will be, the peak of the art-viewing time will be the weekend of October 18-20.
The largest of the events takes place just south of the Pennsylvania border in the
Frostburg and Cumberland areas of Maryland, where on October 19 and 20, and again on
October 26-27, you can participate in the Mountain Maryland Art Sale and Tour.
For more than a decade now, art patrons have been wandering among the Allegany
(Marylanders spell it the old British way) ridges at this special time of year, enjoying creativity in the visual arts.
A total of 41 artists are participating, specializing in media that range from wood, metal, glass and paper to oils, acrylics, pastels and photography. You can drive from studio to gallery, see where artists work, talk to them about their art, and buy a piece or two if so motivated.

The best way to begin this event is to visit www.artsaleandtour.com
. You can consider which artists to visit and download maps and directions. For more information, call (301)
777-2787.
While the Maryland event is the largest, it is not the only art-event happening within the
Alleghenies that weekend.
An Indiana County Potters Tour also is scheduled for October 19-20. Based upon a similar, self-guided tour concept, the potters tour will offer the opportunity to stop by 11 studios, talk with 21 potters (some of whom are “guest” potters in others’ studios), see demonstrations and ponder purchases. Visit www.potterstour.com
for directions and call
(724) 286-9555 for information.
As part of Latrobe’s Autumnfest, on October 19, there will be an “Art in the Park” event along Ligonier Street from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. You will find artists at work, art activities for kids, live music, a farmers market, and other vendors. www.latrobeartcenter.org
or
(724) 537-7011.
And October 18 will be the final day of display for the Somerset County Artists’
Association Members Show at the Philip Dressler Center for the Arts in Somerset.
County artists brought in their best work in a variety of mediums. Call (814) 443-2433 for information.
Remember that all of these events will be framed by your travel amid the artistry of autumn. This will be like visiting a variety of galleries within one massive exhibition.
But this exhibition is limited to one weekend each year – a weekend when art and life combine to create a unique Allegheny (or Allegany) experience.