Artistry of the Guitar coming to Artist Retreat Center

Ken Bonfield and Steve Davison will rekindle their national touring under the banner “Artistry of the Guitar” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at The Artist Retreat Center in Bella Vista. Tickets are $10 at the door.

This is an in-the-round musical evening with the artists playing solos and duets while on stage together. The music will be far-ranging, from Celtic to classical and including blues, folk, country, and some good ol’ Travis thumb-style fingerpicking. As always, they will be played on some amazing instruments: Bonfield’s Alan Carruth 11-string harp, high-string and baritone guitars, and Davison’s Tony Yamamoto 12-string and Sheldon Schwartz Oracle guitars.

Finger-style guitarist Ken Bonfield has performed throughout the United States for more than 20 years. Based in Gloucester, Mass., Bonfield is a regular at guitar festivals, concert series and acoustic venues across North America. Today, his sophisticated Americana compositions feature a solid dose of Celtic, jazz and traditional folk influences that might best be described as American Baroque.

In his open-hearted, welcoming concerts, workshops and master classes, he shares new guitar dimensions and sonic explorations with his listeners. His compositions are performed with his unique “chamber ensemble” of handcrafted instruments. Steve Davison, also a finger-style guitarist, composes on both the 6- and 12-string guitar. Davison has previously performed at The ARC with the trio “Fingerfood.” His compositions are built around simple, melodic structures and focus on the intimate qualities of the wooden guitar and the tonal possibilities of alternate tunings that give the guitar such an extraordinary range.

His influences range from the jazz piano stylings of Claudia Burson to the work of finger-style guitarists such as Leo Kotke, Ed Gerhard, Ken Bonfield, Peter Janson and Stephen Bennett.