open studio

I’m drawn to the quiet serenity of First Saturdays, a monthly citywide open studio event here in Vancouver, Canada. Visitors come to my studio and we talk about art. It is a jumping off point that leads to conversations about many things.

Photo: Michelle Sirois Silver

When I began this blog post I did some research about different types of open studios and found several articles about how to host an open studio event. Terrific reading but not quite what I wanted to say about why I open my studio to the public the first Saturday of each month.

There have been a few times when I’ve walked into a gallery space or in my studio to discover an individual standing in front of one of my works and looking at the work for longer than the average 15 to 30 seconds. They’re having a moment, whatever that might be. I don’t interrupt.

Means of Production, CityScape Gallery, North Vancouver

In a gallery or an artist’s studio I look for the one thing. If I’m lucky I come across an artwork that resonates or challenges me. Stays with me long afterwards.

Tarpaulin 8. Betty Goodwin, Art Gallery of Ontario

Photo: Michelle Sirois Silver

Betty Goodwin’s “Tarpaulin 8”at the Art Gallery of Ontario comes to mind and Lara Favaretto’s, “Village of the Damned” at the Rennie Gallery in Vancouver.

Village of the Damned. Lara Favaretto. Rennie Gallery, Vancouver

Photo: Rennie Gallery

Favaretto’s work is compressed cubes of confetti placed on the gallery floor where after several weeks they disintegrate into piles. At the close of the exhibition the confetti is bagged and transported to the next venue and the process of shaping and disintegration are repeated.

Recently I acquired two small ceramic art pieces by BC artist Aura May. They hang in a prominent location in my home and I look at them several times each day.

In my research I came across The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum, New York Times, 2014 by Stephanie Rosenbloom. “When you go to the library,” said James O. Pawelski, the director of education for the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, “you don’t walk along the shelves looking at the spines of the books and on your way-out tweet to your friends, ‘I read 100 books today!'” Yet that’s essentially how many people experience a museum. “They see as much of art as you see spines on books,” said Professor Pawelski, who studies connections between positive psychology and the humanities. “You can’t really see a painting as you’re walking by it.”

I agree.

So back to open studio events. I like the more intimate, smaller open studio event. If my visitor numbers reach the double digits, that’s a good day. A single art work is pulled out and discussed, sketchbooks are gone over. Conversations about art and life are uninterrupted. Relationships are built.

Photo: Andrea Silver

When you come to my studio for a visit ask me what I’m working on. Ask what inspires me. Chances are I’ll ask you the same questions. The beauty of the open studio is the unpredictable path that a conversation will take.

Stop by the studio this Saturday, March 2. We'll be open from noon to 5:00pm.