Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Rick Waltonsmith will open his Saratoga studio during the Open Studios on the weekend of April 25-26.

Open studios show artists at work

By Shari Kaplan

In celebrating a dozen years of bringing artists and the public together in an informative yet informal setting, the former Open Studios of Santa Clara County is now Open Studios of South Bay Artists. The title includes the south county cities of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy as well as several cities in nearby San Benito County.

For four weekends--April 18-19 to May 16-17--painters, sculptors, potters, metal- and woodworkers, photographers and jewelers showcase their works and techniques as visitors filter through the artisans' studios, which often are in their homes.

April 25-26 is the weekend for the 94 artists participating in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, as well as Campbell, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and West San Jose.

Saratogan Ellen Kieffer's artistry consists of monotypes, intaglio and digital imagery. Her first taste of art, she says, involved printmaking, although she didn't know it as such at the time.

As a young girl in Missouri, she frequented a botanical garden and took an art class there one summer. When she learned how to use paints to make delicately detailed prints of leaves, she fell in love with the creative process.

After various professions over the years, Kieffer says, she decided to concentrate on art because it's what she does best. "It was more a matter of elimination than anything else," she recalls.

She enjoys monotypes, which are one-of-a-kind images printed from painted plastic plates, because each one is different and cannot be reprinted.

"It seemed to fit the lifestyle of microwaves and instant gratification," she adds. She uses the digital wizardry of her computer for her etched intaglio work. After placing transparencies on light-sensitive plates, she exposes them to sunlight and then washes them with water. The transparencies consist of images taken from her photographs, which she scans and manipulates on the computer.

Rick Waltonsmith has a more hands-on approach to his art, which consists of abstract outdoor sculptures crafted in metals such as bronze, brass, stainless steel and Corten steel, which rusts to a degree and then forms a protective coating over itself. He calls his works "overscale," which means they are larger than life-size.

Among his early influences was outdoor Native American art he saw growing up in Puget Sound; he also did woodcarving at a YMCA camp and sculpture in high school.

"All of my pieces are in the same style: It's a linear type of structure, and you can always see what's on the other side. I think it's presumptuous to have outdoor art that you can't see its natural surroundings through. I want to participate with the natural landscape," he explains. Visitors to his home studio can take in some 20 pieces of this art on his property.

Artists in Los Gatos and Monte Sereno opening their studios are Janet F. Bajorek, Nahda Balaa, Lou Bermingham, Forrest Butler, Mark W. Dawson, Lisa DeWilde, Marian Gault, Ned Gault, Ruth Geredes, Elke Groves, Deborah Haeffele, Oneida Hammond, Dolly C. Johnson, Judith Juncker, Amy Konsterlie, Anne Lamborn, Hugo Lecaros, Ed Lucey, Michelle Mickelson-Ruffo, Maralyn Miller, Bette P. Mohr, Lyn Orona, Shirley Preuitt, Mercy Smullen, Ruth Tunstall-Grant and Martha Zappe.

Artists exhibiting in Saratoga are Donna Alongi, Rosemary Berwald, Jeffrey B. Bryant, Ruth R. Condit, Kay Duffy, Howard Jameson, Edith Kallman, Kieffer, Nancy Koch, Yoju Kondo, Sharon Lips, Marylin T. Mori, Richard Osborn, Linda B. Spencer, Mariko Suzuki and Waltonsmith.

Free maps are available in Saratoga at The Mitre Box, 20605 Third St., and in Los Gatos at Los Gatos Art Supplies, 61A Victory Lane, and Encore Gallery/Virtual Gallery, 59A N. Santa Cruz Ave. Catalogs with artist biographies and art reproductions are available for $12. For more information, call 650/964-6575.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]