Open Studio Tour 2025
For forty years, the annual Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour has been a beloved and much-anticipated event. If you are not familiar, Open Studios is a free, self-guided, countywide art tour presented by Arts Council Santa Cruz County. Artists open their studio doors to the public the first three weekends of October. The first weekend is South County, the second weekend is North County and the third weekend is All County.
This year, I am excited to be participating in Open Studios! As Open Studios is held in artists' studios, homes, and artspaces, I will be opening up my home studio (and my entire apartment) to the public the second and third weekends of October. I’ve spent the past 6 weeks working tirelessly on getting a body of work together for the event. I have had a lot of work to do preparing my apartment as well.
While I have done a few makers’ markets during my time as a quilt maker, I have never participated in an event of this magnitude. First off, this is a 4 day event spanning across 2 weekends. Also, while a component of the event is the buying and selling of art, it is also a showcasing of the spaces where artists make. I will have my studio set up to illustrate my process as a quilt maker.
In all honesty, I am a bit apprehensive about opening up my studio space to the public. Usually, my studio is a very chaotic space - I’ll have multiple projects going on at once, with ones at highest priority at the top of the pile. Fabric scraps and batting pieces fill boxes on the floor and scribbled notes are pinned up on my design wall. It’s a space that I usually apologize for when friends come over: “I’m in the middle of a commission, don’t mind the mess!”
As I am preparing for Open Studios, I am cleaning up my studio, but also trying to maintain my authenticity as an artist. I am a messy, chaotic, frenzied and unfettered artist and my space reflects that. So while I’m not going to actually show how disorderly my space can get, I don’t want to clean it up to a point of being dishonest.
Since I am also a teacher of quilt making, I am excited for quilt makers and former students to see how I probably have a more humble studio than they do. I love this because I love modeling how you don’t need lots of space, fancy gadgets or a Pinterest worthy studio to be a good quilt maker. Still, I want my studio space to look inviting, full of creativity and a space where I look at home.
October 11 (the first day my studio will be open) is 12 days away. I’ll be working around the clock until then, but I can’t wait! I feel so grateful that I am participating in this event. Please come check it out if you are in the Santa Cruz area. And if not, I’ll be sure to update you all with a post about how it all went. As always, thanks for your support!
For more information: https://openstudios.artscouncilsc.org