Next weekend, Dartmouth artists will open their studios for public tours as part of the South Coast Artists Open Studio Tour. Last week, Dartmouth Week talked to painters, before catching up with a sculptor, a potter, a maker of clothing, and one more painter for good measure. Visit southcoastartists.org for a complete listing and schedule.

Heather Cronin

Outside of her day job as a Dartmouth High art teacher, Heather Cronin has created a whole other world in her backyard studio. She describes herself as a “scainter:” a word she invented to describe herself as a sculptor, painter, and ceramicist.

Her mother, Kathy Kelm, was the founder of the Nantucket School of Art and Design, where she grew up. Dozens of her improvisational works line her three-story barnlike studio -- she almost never goes in with a plan.

“The plan is the feeling, the human experience, and the material, and then it all comes together,” she said.

Diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, her time in the studio was indispensable as she dealt with the disease.

“My work was relating to what was happening inside my body,” Cronin said.

Now, she is a year into remission, and turning back to nature to inform her work through organic clay and organic forms, like an octopus-like creature currently in progress.

“That’s what I feel like in life when I’m teaching-- like I need ten heads,” Cronin said.

Janice Kissinger

Janice Kissinger makes clothing, which she describes as “sculpted not sewn.” Her work combines vintage silk saris with a blend of silk and merino fibers which she felts to create her unique works.

Felting wool allows her to make clothing that is sculptural and organic looking, and suitable for a body that is changing in shape and size. Kissinger does custom work, which she likes because it allows her to craft pieces with the right fit, without closely following a pattern.

She studied Art History at UMass Amherst, and went on to work in nonprofit arts management, where she focused on promoting the work of others and improving access to the arts.

“I used to think that I didn’t have anything to say,” Kissinger said. “But then I turned 40 and realized I did have something to say, and I wanted to make art.”

She decided to turn her long time obsession with textiles into a career, and started by studying under the best felt makers she knew. Kissinger also makes small sculptural pieces, housewares, and rugs.

Amy Thurber

Amy Thurber of Dove’s Foot Pottery makes unique functional pottery that is literally shaped by the nature that surrounds her.

An avid gardener with a background in farming, she was looking for a way to combine her passion for plants with her creative work as an illustrator, graphic designer, and potter. She took classes in handbuilding pottery, and has taught classes in it for the past 20 years.

Thurber only works in the spring, summer, and fall because leaves are an integral part of her work. She uses the rhythms of the natural world too, like when the rhubarb leaves will be full and healthy, and when the slugs will start to get to them.

Thurber begins her work day by gardening and gathering leaves, before rolling out clay and figuring out what a particular leaf is best suited for: a vase, a plate, a ring dish, or surface decoration on a more standard vessel. She also supplements the leaves in her work with fanciful details, like a trio of snails supporting a bowl, or a caterpillar serving as a small handle.

Marianne Boucher

Marianne Boucher has been painting since she was 12 years old, introduced to the art work after stumbling into the art studio of her childhood friend’s father. At that moment, she knew she wanted to be able to do the same.

“I felt like I could stand on my tiptoes looking at them forever,” she remembered.

Now, Boucher and her husband have transformed her grandfather’s cow barn into a gift shop, The Vintage Barn, which also serves as her studio, and a gallery for her work.

Boucher has an easel set up behind the counter of her shop, next to a bed for her dog Bailey, who is also her “painting buddy.”

“Painting is my escape,” Boucher said. “I want people to be drawn into the painting, and for all the stresses of the day to melt away.”