Alan Powell Brings Vintage Video and Creative Dialogue to AMR Open Studios

MARGARETVILLE — For the tenth year, artist and retired art professor Alan Powell opened the doors of his three-story Victorian home for the AMR Open Studios Tour, inviting visitors to experience art that spans decades of technology, practice, and collaboration.

Powell’s home served as both gallery and time capsule, with video installations built from 1970s equipment alongside the latest digital tools. Interwoven through the space were paintings and

More than simply showing his own work, Powell sees the tour as a conversation among artists. This year, he found inspiration in fellow participants Mina and Richard, whose recent creative shifts have been a joy to witness. Mina, once focused on digital Photoshop art, has been reconnecting with her family’s textile traditions, while Richard’s practice has flourished into bold new territory. 

Powell also spoke warmly of visiting other artists’ studios, such as Rick Mills, whose decade-long engagement with a meadow outside his home has become both subject and collaborator. Mills’ paintings grow from this sustained dialogue with the land, and his approach mirrors Powell’s own interest in the relationship between human presence and the natural environment.

Though Fleischmanns lies on the edge of the AMR map, Powell noted this year’s attendance was up, aided by nearby creative hubs and a growing recognition of his home as a destination.

For Powell, the tour is less about making sales and more about sharing process, place, and perspective. “People are beginning to talk about visiting this as a house,” he said, “as an opportunity to see not just the work, but the way I function in a studio.”