A ginormous THANK YOU to everyone who came out and helped me celebrate my last Open Studios in Santa Cruz! We counted over 1000 people coming to the studio over both weekends and lots of art left the studio. I’m grateful for all the hugs, well wishes on our next adventure and art purchases! You guys are amazing!
Welcome to everyone who joined the mailing list for the first time, I look forward to keeping in touch with you as we make the move to Baja and set up the new studio there.
If you came by the studio the past two weekends, you got a sneak peek at the progress on A Feast of Flowers, my public art project for the coastal rail trail. Two of the flower heads are finished and even got to experience their first rain. In the week in between Open Studios weekends, I’ve been working on the patina for the stems. I still have the four other flower heads to finish the patina surface on and then they will all be ready. The patina process is exhausting and exciting to see the acid change the surface of the galvanized metal instantly. I love the organic quality of the surface and the variety of reactions it has to the different areas on the metal.
before the patinaafter the patinadetail of the patina surface
THE STUDIO OPENS TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE LAST TIME THIS WEEKEND- DON’T MISS IT!
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY OPEN STUDIOS 2023
OCTOBER 14, 15, 21 & 22 | 10am – 5pm | ARTIST #297
EARTH ART STUDIO | 2523 C MISSION ST | SANTA CRUZ
Please join me for my 18th and LAST year of participating in the Santa Cruz Open Studios Art Tour! The studio is going to be packed with art; new and old, big and small, so come find a treasure for your home or garden. Looking forward to seeing y’all soon!
AND if you’re on my mailing list be sure to bring your bonus coupon from your October email!
All of the Feast of Flowers parts came back safely and super shiny from the galvanizer last week and after a little bit of clean up work, I was able to get two of them coated in a brown patina. The patina process was new to me and a little nerve-wracking as they are acid based products to clean the surface and then patina the surface. I don’t have any pictures of it but I was fully suited up with all my protective gear and a good respirator. The cleaner and patina actually smoke and bubble when they are put on the surface of the metal and then need to be doused with water to stop the process. I created troughs with plastic sheeting in the studio to collect all that run off so it can be disposed of properly – which was also a source of stress through the process. The final coat is a water-based sealant that gave a little shine to the surface as well as protect the patina and is graffiti resistant.
After I got the studio cleaned up from looking like a haz-mat site, I got to work attaching the ceramic flowers to their metal flower heads. These two are taking up a huge chunk of the studio space right now, but I think they look great. Two down and only four more to go!
And if you come by this weekend for Open Studios, you can see them up close and in person, we’ll be rolling them outside the studio so you won’t be able to miss them!
The Santa Cruz Chapter of the Awesome Foundation picked its seventh winner! We love reviewing these amazing, creative ideas – keep them coming Santa Cruz! $1000 micro-grants are given out monthly.
A few sneak peeks of the studio as we get ready for the last hurrah!
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY OPEN STUDIOS 2023
OCTOBER 14, 15, 21 & 22 | 10am – 5pm | ARTIST #297
EARTH ART STUDIO | 2523 C MISSION ST | SANTA CRUZ
Please join me for my 18th and LAST year of participating in the Santa Cruz Open Studios Art Tour! The studio is going to be packed with art; new and old, big and small, so come find a treasure for your home or garden. Looking forward to seeing y’all soon!
All of the metal parts for A Feast of Flowers have been fabricated and are now on a field trip to the galvanizer. Huge thanks to Kirk McNeill for helping load them up and to Fox Welding for transporting them for me. It was quite a puzzle getting them to fit onto the truck and arrange them to be safely transported. Although it may look like a daddy long leg spider convention on the back of the truck, we figured it out.
Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that they make the journey to the zinc dip and back to the studio again without incident. I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ll look with the patina that will go over the zinc coating. Always an adventure making art!
I’ve shared that I’m moving my studio south of the border, but I haven’t shared pics of my new studio actually being built yet and some of you have been asking about the progress, so here ya go…
We worked with architect Kevin Wickham of Taller de Terreno Arquitectura to create this unique space. Here’s his model of the space, the big open windows will face our huge ocean views and look out over the small arroyo that runs through our property.
So far our builder has cleared the site, transplanted the trees that were in the way to another area of the property and has started building the footprint of the space, which will be a huge open space with a small baño and mini-kitchen with a long deck that runs the length of the building. We will also have a shipping container for more tools and storage alongside the building. Since we will be entirely off the grid here, we will add a solar system for power and a cistern for trucked in water added as well. I’m really excited to see this nearly 900 sq ft space take shape, here’s a few pics…
