12-stop Gallery Hop: Self-guided tour of Chattanooga's visual arts is Saturday

Not all of the stops on this year's Gallery Hop are galleries per se, but you'll still find plenty of art.

Ten of the 12 stops are spread among Chattanooga's City Center, North Shore or Southside districts. The two outliers are in Hixson and Brainerd.

Larry Bullington, owner of The Masters Studio in Hixson, says this is his first year to participate in the Gallery Hop, a self-guided tour meant to showcase Chattanooga's visual arts.

He says a stop at his gallery will be a different kind of experience. "You pull up outside, and it seems like a house," he says. "Inside, there's $40,000 hanging on the walls.

Photo from Miki Boni / Works such as "Latin Spark," an oil on canvas from the artist's Dance Series, will be on display at Miki Boni Studio, 1611 Mitchell Ave., during Saturday's Gallery Hop.

It is his and wife Judy's actual home, but he says his output and that of his all-ages clientele have somewhat taken over.

"My wife gave up the dining room and den, and we built two studios. The spare bedroom ended up being a hippified break room, and half the garage is dedicated to art," he says.

"We do paintings and soap making and wood burning and glass melting. We do all different kinds of stuff, and we do that on purpose. I'm always trying to add to it. I don't want to be in one mold."

Carolyn Insler, whose stained-glass studio Visions Gallery is in Brainerd, says she has previously participated in the Gallery Hop but is in a new location.

"I recently moved my business from Main Street to Brainerd Road," she says.

Her involvement goes back years, she explains, "as I was a member of In-Town Gallery, then my home studio on Oak Street, then my business on Main Street in the Clear Story building."

Gallery Hop hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16. Each location on the tour will have a stamp card. Participants who get the card stamped by at least 10 galleries can turn it in at their last stop for a chance to win a gift basket.

Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.