50 artists open their studios this weekend

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Open Studios Tour reveals the diverse ways artists pursue their passion

As any artist knows, there's incredible satisfaction in actually creating physical objects with your own hands. This is the real attraction of the studio - not just for the artist but everyone who encounters an artist in their place of work. Yet now we live in a world where an artist's livelihood, career, or business success depends increasingly on effective use of the web.

Visitors to this fall's Clark County Open Studios Tour will find a broad cross-section of artists and artisans, many of whom are finding their own way of striking a balance between their art making and the digital world. Studios on this fall's Clark County Open Studios Tour are scattered far and wide, from Woodland to Washougal. While there are 50 artists on the tour each year, there is always a different 50. In fact, 15 of the artists are entirely new to Open Studios this year. Among disciplines represented are wood turners, ceramicists, printmakers, fiber artists, glass artists, and many others.

Business-savvy artisans like leathersmith and painter Kathleene Kavanagh or textile artist Deb Spofford, while working with old-world crafts, are optimizing their success through personal ecommerce websites.

World traveler and second-generation leather worker, Kavanagh combines her father's craft with an understanding of what an artist or journaler wants in a book. Her pieces are one-of-a-kind heirlooms, crafted by hand, yet her online store shows that she is as connected to the web as she is to the ground. (Kavanagh lives in a canvas Sibley Bell tent as "artist in residence" on a farm in Brush Prairie.) Though she prefers meeting face-to-face with her buyers and handing out her business cards at Night Market Vancouver, it's her website with beautiful photos of each product, that can close the deal. "I wanted the website to be true to my nature, simple and honest," she says.

Spofford, a self-acknowledged member of the "slow fashion" movement, developed much of her knowledge of textile design and block printing from her time living in China. She now produces beautiful hand-printed textiles in her rural Felida studio, successfully marketing them through her "Made on 23rd" website. A first-time visitor to her classy website would be surprised to learn that every item is made in her small studio. "Actually it's been hard," Spofford says, "to balance looking so professional with getting people to understand that everything is done by real human beings and not printed on a big machine in China." Her solution: Creating and sharing a stop animation video on Instagram to show how her block printing is done. A hands-on traditional craft is made sustainable thanks to the tools of the web.

Fine artists are finding ways to use new tools as well. Artists Paul Solevad and Noah Matteucci both have supplemented their more exploratory, creative work with work that can be marketed with an effective presence on the web.

Solevad is an accomplished painter working in a style he calls "cartoon expressionism." With a background in both fine art and illustration, he is able to evolve his fine art painting while positioning himself on his website for illustration work with stunning examples in the form of graphic posters. His work speaks to this moment. "I think I'm reflecting these times," he says, "just the way artists have always created work that's a reflection of the world around them." In doing so, he subtly injects his own commentary on what's going on in the world.

The Cultural Congress and Confab, a 3-day conference hosted by Washington State Art Alliance with support from the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA), brought together art educators, advocates, students, non- and for profit art groups to address some of the most relevant issues affecting the arts in Washington state. This year's conference ran from October 11-13 and offered panel discussions, presentations and entertainment. Arts of Clark County board members Sharon Svec and Jean LaCrosse attended 13 different sessions in total, collecting information and resources to help further our advocacy for the arts in our community. There was a wealth of information at the event. Here, Sharon and Jean document some of the themes that captured their interests, including Gallery One, legislative advocacy, and culture and heritage.

Get your free guidebook!
Join the preview exhibit and artists' reception this Friday, November 2, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the CAVE Gallery, Pick up your Open Studios tour guidebook, see works from each artist, and plan your tour.  

 

Art at the CAVE Gallery

108 E. Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver

 

Opening reception: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., First Friday, November 2.

Art on the Boulevard

210 W. Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver

 

"During a career that has spanned more than seventy years, Battle Ground Washington, artist James Lee Hansen has produced more than seven hundred sculptures ranging in size from small studies to monumental works of public art. Working primarily in bronze, Hansen's sculptural series relate to his ideas about human origins, existence, identity, and reality."

-- Courtesy of Maryhill Museum of Art

View a select group of sculpture studies for one evening only. This is a rare opportunity to meet world renowned James Lee Hansen, who makes his home here in Southwest Washington.

 

Opening reception: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., First Friday, November 2. 

501 Main St., Vancouver

 

Magenta Theater

1108 Main St., Vancouver

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic is Thursday, November 8, at 7 p.m., and will feature Ann Tweedy, author of The Body's Alphabet. Originally from Massachusetts, Tweedy has lived in many places in the Midwest and on the West Coast. She currently makes her home in Washington State, where she works as an in-house attorney for the Muckleshoot Tribe.. Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver, Open Mic sign up begins at 6:30 p.m. and closes at 7 p.m.