Artists opening their studios, virtually
Open Studios Art Tour continues despite ongoing coronavirus pandemic
CHICO » In years past, the Open Studios Art Tour was Chico Art Center’s biggest fundraiser. It perhaps was also the biggest art event around.
This Butte County tradition allows artists to share their private studios with the public.
It is being held again this year, but in a bit of a different format. It generally lasts two weekends. This time, it will last through July 2021. Artists choose whether to allow visitors to stop by in-person by appointment or see their work online at chicoartcenter. com.
The tour features about 50 local artists, including Cris Guenter, who’s been part of the tour since day one.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the event’s inception. Guenter has only missed it twice.
She is a retired Chico State professor emerita from the School of Education. She has taught many who now teach art all around California.
She hasn’t seen herwork transform too much over the years because she’s always been busy working. She still teaches art, but at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
“If you teach it, you want to explore it,” she said. “Now that I’ve retired, I’ve had more time to expand and try different things.”
Her style is colorful with great attention to lines, shapes and composition. Most of her work is based on nature.
“I’ve built up an array of local scenes,” she said. “There are things all over Chico that can be discovered that are pretty phenomenal.”
The works depict Big Al’s, Bidwell Park, Humboldt Road, Kendall Hall, the Senator Theater and Duffy’s Tavern, among others. She mostly works in watercolor, acrylics, oils and digitally.
Guenter was the first art commissioner of Chico. She’s been teaching for 43 years, 32 of which have been at Chico State. She remembers when Chico Art Center first moved into its train station location.
“I commend the board of directors of the art center for coming up with what I consider a very innovative solution,” she said.
Those at Chico Art Center surveyed the artists way back in the spring to see if they would want to participate again this year, and in what format. Each artist got to upload their own work to the website.
The categories are split up by medium: clay, craft, digital, fiber, jewelry, mixed media, painting and drawing, photography and sculpture.
Bobbie Rae Jones is exhibiting art in two forms. Her paintings are a mix of figures and fantastical environments. Her purses are knitted and felted with silk lining.
She once used brilliant colors. Now, they’re more subdued. That’s because Jones works in disaster recovery. The Camp Fire caused a shift in her style.
“When I was trying to paint from memory, all I could see was flames, so, that’s what I was painting. It was very dismal,” she said.
She processes local disasters by sweeping color across a canvas. Her studio features the more vibrant work she created before the Camp Fire, and the transformational work since. She recently obtained her teaching credential so she can teach art herself.
Previously, the public got to purchase a $15 program with a map to follow. This year, $15 programs can be purchased at Ellis Art Supply, Art Etc. and Chico Paper Company in Chico and at Broken Color Gallery in Oroville.
Inside each is a slip of paper with an individual code that allows people to access the website. Another option is to go straight to the website and pay $15 for the code.