Bronze sculpting studio being opened in Tugaske

Tugaske will become home to a bronze sculpting studio in the next year.
Artists Sarah and Laurie Afseth have moved from Corman Park near Saskatoon to the village, 45 minutes drive northwest of Moose Jaw.
Working day jobs and doing bronze sculptures "in what other people call their spare time" will hopefully end once the works is completed by next fall, Sarah said.
Opening their own full-time bronze works and studio has been a dream for the Afseths since they started sculpting under Prof. Bill Epp in the 1980s, she said.
"We got lucky finding Tugaske," she said. "We looked at small communities across Saskatchewan."
Tugaske is a safe place for their five-year-old son, and it is an affordable place to live, she said.
Being close to the Lake Diefenbaker tourist area offers a market for sculptures and an opportunity to do summer camps for budding artists.
"It will take a long time to do the renovations and build the foundry," she said.
The foundry will feature a window allowing visitors to see the molten metal process without being in the way.
"It's different. I've never seen anything like it in any other foundry."
Both Afseths are past presidents of the Prairie Sculptors Association and have public sculptures in downtown North Battleford.
The studio will display their work for sale along with an outside display for larger works.
The bronze works will be in the former two-sheet curling rink that has been unused for 15 years.
Sculpting for them has been put on hold until the new foundry is built, but they have work for sale online at www.afsethart.com.
"I'm just amazed at Tugaske," she said. "There are so many artists here."
And the farming community is supportive and friendly, she said.
"There's not a lot of difference between farmers and artists. Both get by on little money."
Mayor Clayton Cave, an artist carver himself, says the community has evolved with numerous artists living there over the year because it is affordable.
The artificial ice plant in the curling rink has only scrap value but a tender for sale includes maintenance equipment, curling rocks and measuring sticks.

Ron Walter can be reached at 691-1264.