Studio Tour SOMA returns for its 21st year
Judy Targan creates "fantasy landscapes" with oil paints on wood; Kennis Baptiste specializes in drawing, mixed media and painting; Helena Chywski translates her synesthetic experiences into visual art; Cat Delett is a painter who will be showing acrylic, watercolor and mixed media; Leslie Goldman of Wild Cherry Art is a fine artist known for her exuberant, vibrant artworks; Ben Niles creates mixed-media paintings.
It’s intriguing to get an inside view of neighbors’ homes. Seeing how people use their spaces, how they paint the walls and decorate their rooms is interesting, especially in a community whose houses are decidedly not cookie-cutter. It’s probably why people will flock to a neighbor’s open house to get a peek when it goes on the market.
A different kind of open house will take place in our towns in November. There’s no need to be shy about going, because we’re all invited. Called Studio Tour SOMA, it’s a chance to see the home studios of local artists and the art they make. Who knows? One of the artists might even live next door to you or down the street.
Other creatives will show their art in one of six public spaces. The event will feature 110 artists.
Artist Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon, who specializes in block printing and mixed media, says, “I had always heard of SOMA’s vibrant art community, so when I moved here I was able to join that community by taking part in this two-day event. It’s inspiring to show people what I’ve been working on and tell them in person a bit about my process. The studio tour really gives collectors and art enthusiasts a chance to connect with the artists and appreciate their work on a deeper level.”
Now in its 21st year, Studio Tour SOMA has been an annual event since 2003, when it was run by the South Orange Department of Arts and Culture to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of culture and aesthetic interests that tie our communities together. Twenty artists displayed their art that first year.
With time comes change, though, and by the end of 2019 the artists found their event had no home. Believing in the importance of holding a function that connects friends of the arts with visual artists, a committee chaired by Jennifer Crohn that included Leslie Goldman, Sybil Archibald and Wendy Bellerman saved the event. When the pandemic struck, members got even more creative and took the tour outdoors and online.
This year, the tour will take place the weekend of Nov. 2-3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s managed by a planning committee of eight artists. Jenn Malone, chair of the tour, says,
“The mission of the studio tour is primarily to create a marketplace for local artists to sell their work and secondarily to assist artists by providing programming.”
The latter includes seminars such as a particularly useful one that taught artists how to organize their artwork digitally.
Putting the tour together takes a lot of work, so each member of the committee has a discrete area of responsibility. As the fundraising chair, Wendy Bellerman is in charge of recruiting sponsors to the event. Magie McGowan handles social media to draw artists and visitors alike. And someone has to manage and communicate with the artists, so that’s the job of Denise Hardie.
Malone explains that this year for the first time, Studio Tour SOMA is “offering scholarships for [five] high school kids and waiving the [registration] fee for them and mentoring them on how to show and participate with professional artists.” She adds, “One of our greatest patrons, Pat Bell, just passed away, and we’re naming the scholarship in her memory.”
To further strengthen their community outreach, she says the tour is also waiving fees for five artists in SOMA to make it possible for them to participate. Certainly, the tour is growing every year with such a large number of artists exhibiting. Malone says, “There are a lot of local collectors. I think awareness of the tour has increased, so we have gotten a wider audience.”
They expect about 1,000 people to attend but are always looking for ways to expand their reach. Word of mouth is important. We can help by telling our neighbor or friend in a nearby town. Inviting the public into their private studios is a fun experience for many of the artists.
Painter Leslie Goldman, promotion and graphics chair, has participated since 2019 and says, “It’s really fun to have them come into your studio to see where the magic happens. They ask a lot of really interesting questions that, as a creative doing it for so long, I don’t even think about, like, how do you do this? It’s a really nice way to engage and educate and create connections and support for the art community.”
Ken Stanek, who describes himself as a representational watercolor artist, sets up his work under a tent in his driveway. He says, “It’s another excuse to get your work out there, because you just have to keep doing that all the time as an artist, just to remind people that you exist.”
Since Studio Tour SOMA is a self-guided event, a bit of planning makes the experience easier. Simply go to studiotourSOMA.com, look over the artist profiles and decide which ones you’d like to see. Then view the online map and plot out your visits to see a variety of art from painting to collage, ceramics, fiber art, photography and more.
If you want to preview some of the artists’ work, you can visit SOPAC’s show called “Unveiled.” Curated by vice chair Jeremy Moss, it runs through the end of November. Or you can rely on serendipity to discover local artists.
Recent Books by Artists on the Tour
About Town SOMA, by Ken Stanek
Ken Stanek has made it a habit to observe and draw the hustle and bustle of local businesses in Maplewood and South Orange. He has been a fly on the wall at places such as Village Coffee Shop, Yellow Rose Bakery, The Order, A Paper Hat and the South Orange pool, sketching a scene for about an hour and then painting it at home in watercolor. After creating so many of these scenes, he has now collected and printed them up in a hardbound book. Page through it and see which businesses you recognize. You may even know some of the faces. Copies are available at studionumbernine.net.
The Inner Life of the Artist: 900 Monotypes in 900 Days, by Sybil Archibald
Gravely ill from a rare autoimmune disease, South Orange resident Sybil Archibald was wasting away. She was unable to swallow and had been on a liquid diet for three years. Still, she took herself to her studio every day to create a monotype print. She posted on the internet about her experience in the studio, often pairing her art with sacred poetry that inspired her.
After a time, Archibald realized she had kept up this practice for 100 days and vowed to continue creating. As she did, her health began to improve and the colors and symbols she used reflected the positive change. Slowly, she started eating solid food again.
The end result was 900 monotypes for 900 days with the artist never missing a day, even when she was in the hospital for three weeks. “I feel the project saved my life. Being in that creative flow just healed me,” Archibald says. “A lot of the writing is about the creative process and what it’s like to be in the studio and the issues that artists are up against and the joys as well.”
Archibald has collected her art, writing and poetry in a book called The Inner Life of the Artist: 900 Monotypes in 900 Days, giving insight into the healing nature of her practice. She explains that augmented reality is embedded in some images to create movement when viewed with an app. She calls it the secret life of a monotype. Copies are available at sybilarchibaldart.com.
Stinkers Volumes 1, 2 and 3, by Adam Gustavson
After years of working in traditional drawing and painting media, Adam Gustavson, an educator, found himself with a handful of students who saw themselves as digital artists, often dismissing his advice outright with, “Well, you're a painter, this is different.” He would have liked to come back with, “Well, I'm a digital artist, too, so...” T hat changed during the pandemic when Gustavson learned to use an iPad. “If you're going to learn a new artistic medium, you kind of need something to make pictures of. I landed on puns,” he says.
“There’s a particular challenge to them: if a word means or implies two things, which one do you draw? If the wordplay relies on a misspelling or combining of words, how do you spell it, and how does the spelling tie into the picture?” Thinking he would draw four or five puns and then run out of ideas, Gustavson says, “By the time I hit the 100 mark, I figured that the only thing to do was to make a book. And then another. And another. I think my Instagram currently has close to 450 illustrated puns, so Volume 4 is sitting on my hard drive ready to go.” Copies are available at lulu.com.
Ellen Donker likes art and open houses. She looks forward to visiting as many studios as possible.
Thanks for showing me useful information on your blog.
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