A two-day treasure hunt, billed as the World’s Greatest Studio Tour and Art Sale, was free to the public Saturday and Sunday in Bowling Green and Alvaton. Twenty-one locations displayed the original work of local artists. One-of-a-kind ceramics and pottery in stoneware, porcelain and raku were abundant, as well as hand-crafted jewelry, woven wall hangings, drawings, paintings, photographs and stained glass.

Four artists were exhibited in the Houchens Gallery, located on the main floor of the Capitol Arts Center on the square. Laura McGee, Western’s interim department head of modern language, laid out her hand-painted velvet and silk scarves and small wall hangings. She demonstrated silk painting with the assistance of 11-year-old Annabelle Cooper.

“It was pretty neat, pretty fun. We overlapped the leaves to make it look like a collage,” said the 6th grader at Butler County Middle School. Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the gallery window, Cooper uses an oil paint stick to rub leaf stencils onto a black silk scarf, working next to artist McGee.

The Houchens Gallery is currently hosting a two-person exhibit through Nov. 17, displaying work of associate art professor Joon Sung and visiting art instructor David Marquez. The retail clothing hangers, arranged on the window through which Cooper is seen working, is a part of this ongoing gallery exhibit.

Cooper’s favorite experience was buying a hand-turned wooden pen from David LeNoir, who was also displaying his turned wood bowls and bottle stoppers made from domestic and exotic woods.

McGee said of the entire weekend, “My favorite time was getting out and visiting other artists and I did most of my Christmas shopping!”

“A Thousand Words” is a weekly photo essay that tells untold stories on the edges of campus.