By Allyson Wenzowski, Special to The News

A new location on the 15th annual Dundas Studio Tour is the charming studio of Greensville potter Vida Cegys.

Cegys has been creating distinctive hand-formed pottery pieces for 12 years. She took up the craft after retiring from a 35-year career as a high school teacher at Orchard Park and Parkside high schools, where she taught both history and English.

“I started classes at the Dundas Valley School of Art and was completely captivated by the art form,” said Cegys. “I find working with clay tactile and relaxing with a large scope for creating. It is a very forgiving medium.”

Cegys makes her pieces using the slab work process. In other words, she does not use a wheel, but rolls and sculpts the clay by hand. One of her inspirations has been DVSA instructor and potter Barb Sachs.

Cegys creates whimsical bowls, mugs, masks, wall plaques, bird and toad houses and a variety of other ornamental and beautifully coloured sculptural forms. She usually draws the image of what she wishes to create and then rolls and sculpts the image from clay.

Cegys’ work has been purchased by buyers almost literally throughout the world — Europe, South America, China, Asia and North America. To contact Cegys, visit her website at vcegys.wordpress.com. This is Cegys’ second year as a Studio Tour artist.

Also showing at her studio at 112 Hillcrest Ave. are jeweller Evi Pertens, artist blacksmith Mark Korczynski and fashion designer Jannis Ruck, all of whom are new to the Dundas Studio Tour.

Always the weekend before Thanksgiving, the tour runs Saturday, Sept. 29 and Sunday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features six studio locations with 27 participating artists. Visitors can enjoy food samples, table-setting inspiration and fabulous pieces of art for purchase — pottery, photography, weaving, textiles, jewelry, blown glass and more — directly from the Studio Tour artists.

Admission to the tour is free and each studio offers a draw for a special prize.

For more information, call 905-379-7353 or visit the www.dundasstudiotour.ca.