Applications Due Today!

It's hard to believe, but North Coast Open Studios Applications are due today!

Applications are still available. You can download one from our website: www.northcoastopenstudios.com. Or, you can pick one up at the Ink People's office (517 Third Street, Suite 36, Eureka). The Ink People office is open until 5 pm today.

Applications need to be dropped off to the Ink People office before 5 pm.  Have questions?  Call or email me! contact@northcoastopentsudios.com or (707) 834-6460.

Taffy, NCOS Coordinator
(707) 834-6460
contact@northcoastopenstudios.com

North Coast Open Studios 2013

The Fifteenth Annual North Coast Open Studios (NCOS) will take place over two weekends, Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2 and 8-9, 2013 from 11 am to 5 pm. NCOS showcases local artists and art businesses, drawing thousands of local and regional visitors to more than 100 studios, workshops, galleries and businesses.

NCOS registration is open to serious working artists, fine crafts people, arts manufacturers, art organizations, art businesses and cultural site in Humboldt County. Artists must have a safe and reasonably accessible studio and must agree to stay open for one or two weekends of the event. Listings are also available for artists in the guidebook for artists who will not be open during Open Studios.

NCOS participation includes a full color listing in our annual guidebook, the option to participate in the NCOS Preview Art Show & Reception, access to artist personal marketing assistance and much more for only $95!

Deadline for North Coast Open Studios registration is Tuesday, March 26th. For more information on Open Studios contact Taffy Stockton, NCOS Coordinator by email at contact@northcoastopenstudios.com, or by calling (707) 834-6460. Find more information and a downloadable application form on our website at www.northcoastopenstudios.com.

Feedback Needed!

Did you attend Open Studios, and want to let us know what you thought? We would love to hear from you!

Please take a couple of minutes and fill out our online survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BK68977

We will use the feedback we get to help plan for future events. And, as an added bonus, when you complete the survey, you are entered to win one of four great prizes donated by Bon Boniere and Arcata Exchange!

All you have to do is complete the survey by June 27th, which takes less the five minutes, and provide your email address so we can contact you if you win. It's that easy.  Questions? Contact us at contact@northcoastopenstudios.com.

Thanks from all of us at North Coast Open Studios

Open Studios Starts Next Weekend!

Have you ever wondered what goes on in an artist’s studio? Have you questioned how they create the pieces you see hanging in a gallery? Here’s your chance to find out. 

The Fourteenth Annual North Coast Open Studios (NCOS) will take place over two weekends, Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3 and 9-10, 2012 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  This is your chance to meet the artists firsthand... explore types of work that are both familiar and new to you... and purchase work directly from the artists!

NCOS give you a unique opportunity to visit the places where art is made as Humboldt County artists open their studios and their creative process to you. Here’s your chance to see art in action, ask questions of your favorite artist, and see what techniques, tools and inspiration go into making art.

Visitors to North Coast Open Studios will be treated to displays of art in both traditional and non-traditional spaces throughout Humboldt County. During this free showcase for the arts, mid-career and emerging artists working across a broad spectrum of fine art styles and craft media – including painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, glass, fiber, jewelry, furniture and ceramics – will display and sell their work to the public.

There will be more than 100 artists, businesses and galleries participating, including favorite artists from past years and artists that are new to Open Studios. In fact, more than 20 of the artists on the tour are brand new this year! The guidebook has complete information about each participating artist, including an image of their work, their contact information and address (with a handy map), their open weekend, and much more. You can find the 2012 North Coast Open Studios Guidebook in the May 30^th issue of the North Coast Journal, at the Ink People Center for the Arts, and in many arts friendly venues throughout Humboldt County. Or, you can view the guide online at www.northcoastopenstudios.com.

For more information, contact Taffy Stockton, NCOS Coordinator by email at contact@northcoastopenstudios.com, or by calling (707) 834-6460.

Art in Our Community

There are lots of reasons why North Coast Open Studios (NCOS) is a great event. You get to visit artists’ studios and inner sanctums. You can chat up your favorite artist and get to know them as person. Many artists are offering one of a kind deals on artwork. Artists make money from art sales. Artists get to interact with their admiring fans and receive unvarnished commentary about their artwork. It’s a great event to share with visiting friends and relatives and to show off the area’s creative, as well as environmental, beauty.

The list goes on to add up to a rousing hurrah for creativity, economy and quality of life. This is the kernel of what makes Humboldt such an amazing place to live.

Over the years, many people and institutions have worked hard to bring arts and creativity to the fore. We have worked with businesses, governments, and unending economic development agencies. We have attended meetings ad infinitum to remind people that the arts are an important part of the economy here. Creative workers are embedded in every industry designing, crafting, tooling, and innovating.

Few artists can support themselves through sales of their artwork, so they represent a significant part of our creative economy working in other jobs. Some of us have grown to love and cherish those opportunities to make a living and impact our community in creative ways. Others struggle with reconciling the ways they have to earn money with their passion to make art.

No matter where your favorite artists fall on that continuum, supporting them by visiting their studios is a way of giving back to artists for the sacrifices they make in the love of art, because artists don’t make art because they like to, but because they have to.

Libby Maynard, 

Executive Director, Ink People Center for the Arts,

NCOS Steering Committee Member and Participating Artist

Open Studios Preview Art Show & Reception

The North Coast Open Studios Art Show and Reception is coming up next Friday, May 5 (Arts! Alive) – don’t miss it! 

The show will feature works of art from many of the artists participating in Open Studios, including paintings by Jo Pritchett (Stellar Jay - pictured above) and Renee Thompson (First Touch - pictured below). In addition to paintings there will be woodwork, jewelry, glass art, photography, sculpture and more. 

Get a preview of the fabulous artwork you’ll be seeing during Open Studios, enjoy live music, desserts/appetizers and a wine bar. The show and reception will be held at the Ink Annex located at 47B West Third Street in Eureka. If you are out and about Old Town for Arts! Alive be sure to include the Ink Annex in your stops for the evening. 

The show will be up through May 30, and the Ink Annex open hours are available on their website: www.inkpeople.org.

Preparing for Open Studios

Only a little over a month until Open Studios! So much to do and so little time. I need to have postcards printed to send out to the wonderful people on my mailing list, get a Press Release together, print some business cards and most importantly begin to clean and organize my studio.

On the positive side - I have silk screened some fabulous "very limited edition" T shirts using an image from one of my paintings - it's an old madrone tree. Very fun! My guests seem to enjoy having unusual odds & ends that they can purchase at reasonable prices. Some of my other gift items include note cards, sketches and watercolor studies.

I just finished a new painting and am looking forward to it's coming out party! It's such fun seeing return visitors and greeting them with refreshments and having the opportunity to show them paintings never seen before. Many of these paintings are sold at Open Studios, so the purchaser ends up owning a rare item indeed.

Yvonne Kern, painter
NCOS Artist and Steering Committee Member