KDSN RADIO News
West Iowa Art Tour returns to Crawford and Carroll counties
(L to R) Randy Carrillo, Haley McAndrews, and Lee Shiney at Carrillo’s 2025 art exhibition at The Old Fashioned in Denison, IA.)
The 2nd Annual West Iowa Art Tour on April 18th will follow up on last year’s success, featuring 11 artists in six different locations. With stops in Carroll, Arcadia, and Denison, visitors will visit working studios, see recent artwork, talk with the artists, and see works in progress. The event is free and open to the public from 10am to 4pm.
Carroll will feature Cecelia Comito and Laura Comito in their downtown Artworks Studio, Sasha Backhaus Foley in her home studio, and Nick Trainer showing at the new West End coffee shop and venue. The old Ar-We-Va school in Arcadia is the studio and residence of Lee Shiney, and parked outside will be Haley McAndrews’ Mobile Art Gallery. Denison includes Denice Peters’ home studio, plus Randy Carrillo, Luis Guzman Montano, Ted Mallory, and Justin Tedford will be at Carrillo’s studio upstairs in the Donna Reed Theatre. A bonus for this year will be two group compilations of all the artists’ works on display at The West End in Carroll, and The Old Fashioned in Denison.
The idea for a tour of art studios was brainstormed in December, 2024 by artists Haley McAndrews, Randy Carrillo, and Lee Shiney. Their desire to make more connections with other local artists, and better connect with the public, led to the first event in 2025.
“This is not just about us sharing our creations, but also the processes behind what we do. There are local artists all around us in their studios working in all kinds of mediums” Shiney said. “and from there they follow different paths. Some are visible through brick-and-mortar storefronts, some are selling online, some are creating the next body of work for a gallery show, and some enjoy sharing their work with family and friends. The common denominator here is we all are working and communicating in our own ways, basically making things with our hands, and I think it results in a positive energy that benefits the local community.”
Plan your tour visits with the group’s website at westiaart.com. There you will find descriptions of all the artists, links to their own websites, examples of their work, and a map to all the locations.
