Last Thursday, Sept. 14, after the business of the city was done, crowds continued to stream into Seaside’s City Hall. They came to its Walter Avery Gallery for the launch of the 27th Monterey County Artists Open Studio Tour.
Arts Habitat took over the annual self-guided tour from Artists Equity in 2015 and re-launched it – bigger and more inclusive – in 2016, re-integrating Salinas, Salinas Valley and South County artists and arts organizations, and spreading it out over two sets of weekends.
Last year they held an art opening at Pacific Grove Art Center for the Peninsula and Carmel Valley portion of the tour, and another at Hartnell College Gallery for the other areas. This year they consolidated with one joint opening.
“It looked like [PGAC] was having a rocky future when we were looking to book,” says Arts Habitat administrator Shirmaine Jones. “And Avery Gallery is more centrally located.”
Each artist of the studio tour – wherein artists and art centers allow the public into their work spaces to look and talk – has one piece at Avery. The artworks, 87 of them, fill the inner and outer walls of the hallway gallery space, a microcosm of the coming two weekends.
From her remote dome studio gallery, Sofanya White works a mystical approach on portraits that start with meditation to “tap into the energy of the colors.”
Emily Underwood uses her science background in the foreground of her art: science illustrations and maps, kayaking expedition sketches for the U.S. Forest Service, prints and oils of landscapes that look like Pop Art album covers.
Both of these artists create compelling artworks that invite curiosity and questions, but White lives on Palo Colorado near Big Sur, and Underwood was artist-in-residence in Royal Oaks in the upper reaches of North County. Visiting either can be a commitment – it’s an hour’s drive between the two, without traffic.
Paola Berthoin is out in Carmel Valley, just off Mid Valley Shopping Center: “I’ll get a flush of people, then it’ll be quiet,” she says. “No rhyme or reason.”
Planning will pay off for visitors. A functional map is included in this issue of the Weekly. You can preview work at Avery Gallery before committing time and gas. And some artists are participating in mini group shows along the tour – Greenfield Cultural Center, Sol Treasures in King City, Hijos Del Sol in Salinas.
The tour is an opportunity to scratch any itch of curiosity about the art that colors the walls of the county.
27th Annual Monterey County Artists Studio Tour is 11am-5pm Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23-24 (Peninsula and Carmel Valley), and Sept. 30-Oct. 1 (Salinas, Salinas Valley, North and South County). Free to attend. 624-6111, artshabitat.org.