You're invited to my studio for the Open Studios Art Tour! Artist #173
Last Weekend-Saturday and Sunday October 16th & 17th
OPEN 11am-5pm All County weekend
Hello art lovers of all shapes and sizes! Finally, as a community we come together, although socially distanced, through art! I’m pleased to invite you all to what used to be my yearly event, Open Studios Art Tour 2021 at my home studio October 9th and 10th, and again Oct. 16th and 17th.
There has been a flurry of creativity at my studio in the last four months and there’s not a day that goes by I’m not creating. If it isn’t this it’s that. And really it’s my happy place so I’m creating room for all of it… I will be exhibiting my fused glass art, my new textile line, cards, and I’ll be doing some demonstrations.
We’re expecting lovely fall weather, so I will be showing safely outside in the breeze, but please bring your masks so if we have a flurry of visitors everyone can feel safe. (for more info). Please note that my helpers and family and I are all vaccinated, will be masked and following Covid precautions!
About the Tour
Open Studios is the first three weekends in October with more artists to see than you will have time for— So plan ahead! You can check out the Preview exhibit at the Santa Cruz Art League, starting next weekend. Featuring 301 artists from all over the county it opens at 5 pm on “First Friday” October 1. You’ll be able to roam around town and see other art that night too. Check out the FREE Open Studios Artists Guide wherever The Good Times paper is found and other places around town... or you can check out the virtual Guide online and note which artists you want to go see…. Then flip to the back to check out the maps or download the Open Studios App — pack a lunch, and off you go!
If you can’t make the preview exhibit, find the participating artists on the Visual Arts Network site by filtering by Open Studios 2021. If you can’t make it to Santa Cruz this year, look for my work on Etsy or randiesilverstein.com after the Tour.
After a full days tour, for a psychedelic light show and a delicious meal, visit Oswald Restaurant @121 Soquel Ave. for dinner— “We Are Stardust” hangs in the restaurant windows and features colored rotating lights after dark. Reservations are recommended for Saturday night. Closed Sundays but exhibit is open!
Studio News
It’s hard to reach out from isolation, and I imagine some of you have gone through similar changes that I have, some of you have had to continue working in difficult situations, while juggling kids and school and work— all while navigating a global pandemic. It has not been easy. In many ways it’s gotten even harder, but what’s different is we are learning how to deal with it, stay safe, and go about our lives with a modicum of normalcy.
In the lockdown, we went about our lives in much the same way we had been doing because Steve and I both worked from home. So initially we didn’t mind the quiet. Steve retired mid 2019, and I designed “We Are Stardust”— a glass and light installation revolving around scientific concepts. We were getting used to that life when Covid hit. Then one by one all my exhibitions and shows were cancelled. The lack of venues pushed all my ideas back up into my brain as I was starting to do bigger more conceptual pieces and I finally I started to just slow down and start to sketch, dream, design and plan projects instead of actually making them.
When I next looked up 18 months and a puppy later, I was quite literally answering the phone, agreeing to create a large piece of Public Art for a new building’s lobby in Hollister, CA as a commission for the Community Foundation for San Benito County! Life’s been all about early mornings, loading the kiln before bed, and learning how to peek into the kiln at process temperature! “Dawn’s Early Light” will be an 11 disc fused glass wall piece in pale blues and mossy greens with an undulating horizon line down the middle spanning all the discs in an almost 8’ long and 3’ high sculpture. Planned for over the couch in the lobby of a new building aptly named “Epicenter” that will house the Community Foundation and several other non-profits. Installation is in November. I’ll be in the middle of producing this piece during open studios and you can see my process and follow the designing of it.
This year you’ll be able to find some moon panels, a few hanging panels and if you’re lucky and get here early enough, you might find a sun panel or two. I’ll be featuring bowls this year, with the option to make into wall pieces, my glass disc series, coasters, a lamp or two, Christmas ornaments and a few experiments like my hanging leaves and my new textile line of Mandala prayer flags. And finally, if you’re too overwhelmed to choose, a full line of greeting cards of all my designs!
Watch for news about projects still on my horizon this coming year into next, including a public art installation at Big Basin Vineyards Tasting Room coming to downtown Santa Cruz before years end, a line of shades for ceiling light fixtures, and hopefully a trip to Italy for a family celebration and to see as much glass as possible! Thank you for being interested in Randie Silverstein Glass! See you in a few weeks!
Email me for the address, or get your Open Studios Art Tour Guide at one of many local outlets in Santa Cruz County. Next week an app should be available for Open Studios through the app store.
--Randie
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