"Gosh, that's... uh, interesting."

Also last weekend was the first of three consecutive weekends of Open Studios, where local artists open their studios (and often their homes) to display their wares, discuss their work and hopefully make a few sales in the process. This is one of my favorite events because you get to meet artists who live in your town, and are working away in homes you drive by every day. We got a map of the studios and hopped on our bikes to check out some of the art in our neighborhood.

My two favorites were Bob Barbour and Tom Kennedy. I've admired Barbour's work for years and was delighted to discover he lives in my neighborhood. His best-known images are shots of waves, which he often shoots in the water. He explains on his site:

"As my career progressed, my interest was drawing me "into" the water. I wanted
to create unique and timeless images of the ocean, directly from the ocean,
giving viewers a perspective that most would never have the opportunity to
experience. These photographs are captured while I'm swimming or floating on a
mat, oftentimes in extreme conditions. To protect the camera, I design and build
my own custom water housings."

The Open Studio at Bob's house was set up really well. He has a studio/office in his backyard and had refreshments and chairs set up. When we were done peering, we I turned around and looked at his house. A smallish Victorian style home, it is painted a bright blue with white trim. The house is wave colors. Very cool.


Next we went to see Tom Kennedy's paintings. We hadn't planned on stopping here, but we were riding by and saw the bright green sign that designates an open studio and decided to check it in. There were easels set up all through the backyard and inside the studio. His paintings are modern and non-representational, so it was great to actually have the artist there so you could talk to him. When it comes to really modern work, it's hard to just look at a canvas. "Hmmm... lots of... colors... what is it, exactly?" Tom invited us to sit down in the shade and we chatted for a while, and then he showed us some of his favorite canvases, and talked about how he'd created the paintings, what he thought about them. In addition to being friendly, he was incredibly honest about his work, telling us about what he felt didn't work well and his concerns about the works and the art "industry" generally. This is my favorite thing about this program - being able to stand there and have someone explain their work - how they got involved, what it means to them. Art on a wall doesn't mean much to me. I want to see where it comes from, who made it and where, what they think of it, what do they want people to know about it...

Tom had taken apart a book on modern artists and pasted the pages on a board that was hung by the entrance. As you came in, you could check out mini-bios and an example of the work of the best-known modern painters, like Kandinsky and Pollock. It was a great reference and I think it helped place the paintings in the context of modern work generally.

We stopped by a few other places, someone who did prints with woodcuts, another person who printed on textiles, more painters and a woman who does mosaics with little pieces of ceramics. It must be hard to put all your artwork out there for people to just walk in off the street and judge. I tried to go out of my way to say something nice to each of the artists, although in one case I was so befuddled I just ended up gingerly retreating out of the house when the artist was in another room.