(Oakland, Iowa) – The Southwest Iowa Art Tour is gearing up for its eighth year connecting rural communities through art. Mark your calendars for Friday, September 17th, Saturday, September 18th and Sunday, September 19th this year. In 2014, a group of southwest Iowa artists came together to pull off a regional event to connect their rural communities – a self-guided ‘Art Tour’ that would showcase their artworks, studios, galleries, and hometowns. The first year included nine participating communities and thirty artists. The success of the Southwest Iowa Art Tour has grown the eighth annual event to twelve communities, fifteen Gathering Places, and more than seventy local artists.

This self-guided tour allows participants to begin and end where they would like, come and go from location to location at their leisure, and explore diverse art forms – including fiber art, sculpture, pottery, painting, metal works, jewelry, glassware and much more from over seventy artists. The fifteen unique stops, some familiar and others new this year, will be located in the following Southwest Iowa towns: Avoca, Clarinda, Council Bluffs, Essex, Glenwood, Harlan, Macedonia, Malvern, Neola, Red Oak and Villisca.

The event is traditionally held the third Saturday and Sunday in September. In 2019, an additional Friday “Sneak Peek” was added at select locations. Last year the tour was modified due to COVID-19 and featured less locations and hours only on Saturday. For 2021 the Southwest Iowa Art Tour has returned as a three-day event, which will allow the public time to hit all 15 Gathering Places over the weekend! This year’s Friday “Sneak Peek” hours are from 4 to 7 PM on September 17th at 10 of the 15 locations.

This will provide attendees with the additional opportunity to explore the Gathering Places in Clarinda, Essex, Macedonia, Malvern, Neola, Red Oak and Villisca a little early – whether you can’t make it the other days or just need additional time to visit all locations over the weekend. The Five One 8 in Red Oak will also be having an ‘after hours’ with live music by Tica Perri from 7 to 9 PM. The hours for all locations are from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, September 18th and from Noon to 4 PM on Sunday, September 19th.

The Southwest Iowa Art Tour is coordinated by Golden Hills RC&D of Oakland and the collaborative efforts of local participating artists. Because of ongoing COVID-19 concerns, Gathering Places will be exercising precautions that may include outdoor displays, social distancing measures and extra sanitizing to ensure the health and safety of our artists and participants. Please be respectful of individual Gathering Place guidelines, and of course please stay home if you are not feeling well.

For more information be sure to check the “Southwest Iowa Art” Tour Facebook page (with individual Facebook Events for each Gathering Place) and visit the website: www.swiarttour.com, or contact Becca at rebecca.castle@goldenhillsrcd.org. Come support our artists in Southwest Iowa, and be a part of “connecting rural communities through art.”