2013 Tacoma Studio Tour Preview: Part 4

This is part 4 in our series highlighting the artists participating in the Tacoma Studio Tour this November.

This year’s tour features 60 artists and collaborative studios and allows the general public the opportunity to see the spaces in and tools with which local artists create their work, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. All studios will feature demonstrations of the artistic process or will have hands-on activities for visitors. Check out ArtAtWorkTacoma.com for the full list of artists, schedule, and an interactive map where you can plot your own custom tour course.

What: Tacoma Studio Tour
Where: 39 studio locations around Tacoma – map your course at ArtAtWorkTacoma.com
When: November 2 & 3, 11 am – 5 pm
Cost: FREE!

Here are this week’s highlights:

Lucia Harrison

    
Lucia Harrison’s hand made paper, drawings, paintings, and artist books focus on an appreciation for the natural and human history of the South Puget Sound. She hopes to inspire conservation of nature and an appreciation of the cultural history and contemporary conservation work of the peoples of South Puget Sound. Most recently she has been collaborating with Deborah Greenwood making paper from local plants.

Deborah Greenwood, Greenwood Studio

    
Repurposing old postcards, paper and ephemera has led Deborah to experiment with and embrace paper making as part of her endeavor to source interesting papers for her collages. After finishing a workshop on papermaking two years ago, Lucia Harrison and Deborah Greenwood partnered up to learn more about the craft and transform what most consider garden waste into delicate but durable papers for drawing, painting, printmaking, and collage.

Hilltop Artists

    
Using glass art to connect young people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds to better futures. Established in 1994 with the help of Dale Chihuly, Hilltop Artists is a 501(c)3 non-profit glass arts program that provides classes and individualized instruction for over 500 students each year. Hilltop Artists provides youth, ages 11-20, with hot glass instruction, related arts training, and adult mentors focusing on increasing students’ academic and interpersonal success.

Mauricio Robalino, Artpeople

    
Mauricio has been working as an artist and art teacher since 1986. Mauricio wakes up each day curious about what he will discover and create. He also likes being responsible and responsive as it helps him to be successful at creating quality art and to set a good example for his children and students. Mauricio loves to dream up and create art that is unique and original regardless of medium.

Leah Fitts

    
Leah Fitts creates abstract paintings using acrylics, oil pastels, and other mixed media. Her original paintings on canvas are inspired by mid-century and modern design, as well as her love of nature. By combining modern design with natural aspects, Leah strives to create original, textured, and vibrant works of art that will add energy and harmony to any space.

Jan Karroll, KarrollART

    
Jan Karroll is a multimedia artist who creates unique wooden jewelry embellished with vintage buttons. The pieces are completely hand crafted from selected wood and finished to enhance the qualities of both the wood and the buttons. Fasteners are fabricated of shaped and sharpened brass wire and each piece is mounted in a custom frame.

Beverly Naidus

    
Beverly Naidus is an internationally recognized artist on the faculty at UW Tacoma where she teaches interdisciplinary studio courses in art for social change and healing. Conceptually based and socially engaged, she works in many mediums, allowing the content to determine the form. Themes in her work have included the ecological crisis, fear of difference, nuclear nightmares, unemployment, consumerism, body image and her dreams for a reconstructed world.

Benjamin Davis

    
Benjamin Davis first started making art in a little red schoolhouse in the middle of a Fife farm field. From finger painting on the fertile valley soil to currently being active in the local art scene with groups such as the Jet Artist Cooperative, the Cartoonist’s League of Absurd Washingtonians, and the weekly Frost Park Chalk-Off, Ben Davis believes art is a verb.

Check out these other artists on the tour and watch for future previews:
Studio Tour Preview: Part 3
Studio Tour Preview: Part 2
Studio Tour Preview: Part 1

Art at Work Month is sponsored by Click! Cable TV, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, KPLU, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma Weekly, and Premier Media Group.