Portland Open Studios 2016...DON'T MISS OUT!

PORTLAND OPEN STUDIOS

Saturday and Sunday, October 15-16, 2016.

Once again it's time to visit the studios of working artists. 

Poke around and ask questions. Watch his/her process and try it yourself. It's practically free and happens so seldom. Phone apps with maps are available from Apple and Android App stores, some free.

We visited half a dozen studios last weekend, way fewer than is usual, but we cut a wide swath across the city, from NW Germantown Rd. to Oregon City. This year I decided to visit only the studios of artists in my art group, and what a good decision that was.

Marilyn Joyce was my grand kids' art teacher at Glencoe High in Hillsboro. She works with maps, making some absolutely gorgeous non-representational collage using strips of maps, as well as drawn paintings that she calls "mappings" which grow out of her daily walks. Marilyn has a dedicated studio behind her house that's a study in the art of Zen. Simplicity at its finest. 16835 NW Germantown Rd. Portland, 97231, just south of Kaiser Rd.  marilynjoyceartist.com

Scott Conary is an oil painter, a master of his brush. His studio is a converted garage behind his home at 5105 NE 18th Ave. Portland, OR 97211.  He's working on several medium-large paintings that I find very intriguing. And he has "orphans" for sale (name your price, he says).  http://www.scottconary.com

Mona Cordell draws with apple twigs and charcoal, and paints animals and figures in acrylic. There's no way I can accurately describe Mona's beautiful work. Go see for yourself. Many of her paintings combine an animal figure with a human figure on a divided panel. And for several years she has had access to two local ballet companies whose practice sessions she attends in order to fill sketchbook after sketchbook with gesture drawing of the dancers in motions. Visit her studio at 4650 NE Ainsworth St. Portland, OR 97218. Don't miss it! monajonescordell.com


Ruth Armitage works in her home studio at 21288 S. Leland Rd. Oregon City, OR 97045. Ruth was one of my early watercolor teachers, chosen because I loved her images which were then based on family photos. Ruth is now painting the family farm using her enormous talent and acrylic paint,. The series is called "Down on the Farm" and depicts her memories of the farm, done is a highly abstracted and colorful way. Her studio is lined with many of the pieces she's painted this year, some of which have won national awards.  http://rutharmitage.com

 

Then back in my own neighborhood we stopped to see Annie Salness who paints with water-soluble oils. Annie does lots of commission work which often includes favorite pets and she just completed a commission for a family member, a stack of her relative's favorite books. Each year Annie publishes a calendar. Her 2017 calendar features 12 different vegetables, printed from the originals which were done on  12 x 12" canvases. She published both a wall calendar and a desk calendar and has the calendars and the original oil paintings for sale. Annie's story is amazing. She was a bio-medical illustrator for many years until a recent stroke that left her paralyzed on her "good" side, forcing her to switch to being a leftie. Now she draws and paints with her left hand, loosely and with great courage and control. You need to meet Annie. 12545 NW Coleman Dr. Portland, OR 97229.  anniesalness.com


You wonder why I'm not participating this year. It seems God had other plans for me. I applied to PDXOS but wasn't chosen. I also applied to Washington County Open Studios and it was a go until the day before the deadline to withdraw, and withdraw I did because we bought our new home and I knew I couldn't get ready. It's fun to participate, to talk to friends, old and new, and to encourage other artists.

Even though the weather forecast for tomorrow and Sunday is grim please don't let that stop you from visiting my friends or other artists who've gone to such effort to open their studios to the public. This is the last weekend. Portland artists are joined by Washington County artists, so there'll be lots of opportunity all over the city to go see some good art.  I'm going out again.

Here's some artists whose studios are quite interesting, too.
Gretha Lindwood 1830 NW 138th Ave. Portland, 97229
Kitty Wallis, Christopher Mooney, Sara Swink, Marcy Baker, Marla Baggetta, Therese Murdza, Jesse Reno, William Park, Linda Baker, Susan Gallacher-Turner.

When you see a bright yellow sign with a black arrow pointing toward an artist's studio simply stop for a visit. You'll be welcome, guaranteed.

Portland Open Studios 2015

 

It's down to the wire for me... the Portland Open Studios Tour begins in two short days and I'm close enough to ready that if someone came to my door this afternoon I'd welcome them with open arms.  Of course, I'll welcome ALL visitors who stop by Saturday or Sunday, this weekend or next.

The walls of my studio, living room and dining room are covered with artwork and I'm ready to do some interesting demonstrations of some of the processes I use in creating my collages. I'll show a couple of ways I paint papers, work on several collages, talk about the rabbit trails I followed to get to this point in my artistic life, and be ready to shoot the breeze about whatever questions you might have.  Do stop by between 10 and 5 any of the 4 days that my home and studio will be open. There's lots of art to admire and buy and I have some nice blank cards available, too.

This year's tour guides make it easy to navigate your way from one studio to the next, and in Cedar Mill where I live there are 6 artists whose interesting art is on view.

 Jo Reimer

Annie Salness

Gretha Lindwood

Linda Sawaya

Marilyn Joyce

Michael Mason

The printed tour guide is a spiral bound book featuring all the artists whose studios are open this year, grouped by community. I'm in Community 4, page 33. The only ways you will know how to find the studios is to buy a guide book or the phone app (see links below). The guide book is available at New Seasons, The Muse Art and Design, I've Been Framed, Collage, or Tickets West. I have a couple of copies I can sell early birds. They're $15 and serve as admission to all the studios.

 

Phone apps are available for IOS and Android. 

The $4.99 iPhone app is available here.
The free iPhone app is available here:  
The $4.99 Android app is available here:
The free Android app is available here:



The phone apps have red pin drops showing the location of the studios; the blue pins are local eateries who paid for the pin drop. 
 
See you on the weekend. 

Jo Reimer

11990 NW Maple Hill Lane, Portland, OR 97229 
Highway 26 west to Murray Blvd. 
Right on NW Cornell Rd
Left onto NW 119th Ave.
Left onto NW Maple Hill Lane
Second house on left. 

Or from downtown Portland take Lovejoy and Cornell up and over the west hills. Right onto NW 119th. Left onto NW Maple Hill Lane.  

VISITING ARTIST'S STUDIOS IN PORTLAND OREGON 2015

I'm a bit of a voyeur... in a good way. I love seeing people in their own element, especially artists in their studios. So when Portland artists banded together 17 years ago I jumped at the chance to visit other artists' studios to see where they work and learn how they do what they do.  Portland Open Studios is an annual event that takes place the second and third weekend every fall. This year there are 105 studios open to the public and you can visit every one of them if you have the stamina. 

I usually tour with two or three other women. We buy a guidebook or a phone app which describes each artist's work, complete with pictures, and has maps to get us there.  We choose 12-20 studios we want to see and often see them all in a single, very full day.  We find it's easiest to tour by area to avoid backtracking. Printed guide books are available at New Seasons, Muse Art & Design, or from individual artists. Both the free phone app and the $4.99 app have GPS coordinates to help you plan your route. (The apps haven't been released yet. Don't make a mistake and buy last years app.) 

We usually start at a studio in our neighborhood, often that of a friend, and branch out from there. Bright yellow signs with arrows are placed at intersections pointing you to the closest studio. Park, leave your shoes at the front door if that's requested, and walk right in. It will be clear where to go. Poke around, ask questions, watch the artist at work, leave your contact information if you want notification of his/her future events, and move on the the next studio. Many of the studios are in the artist's home but some are in commercial spaces, all interesting, all worth seeing.

Each tour artist sells their work so if you see something that fits in your home or place of work buy it directly from the source. I've purchased some of my favorite pieces this way, complete with the story about how and why it was created. Some artists have greeting cards, calendars, or books for sale. Art makes a grand gift for a loved one.

Don't count on finding work that's ready to hang, not when you're buying directly from the maker. You can take the work to a professional framer and have it framed the way you want it done, saving money and ensuring that you get frames that go well in your home. This year I'm making an effort to have most of my work ready to hang, but don't count on it. I'd rather make art than prepare it to hang.

I'm also participating in the Washington County Open Studios Tour which coincides with the Portland Tour, the third weekend of October. These are artists who live farther away from Portland and include artists in Cedar Mill, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Banks, Sherwood, Tigard, North Plains. Guidebooks are available at Art on Broadway, Village Gallery, and from individual artists. There is no cost for this tour guide. Start touring at my house and get a guidebook from me. There are two other artists in Cedar Mill who are participating in both tours, Annie Salness and Gretha Lindwood. Click on their names to see their amazing artwork.

Which Way Up  was chosen as cover art for the Washington County Studio Tour Guidebook.

So, how and why am I a participant in the tours this year?  It's all because friends egged me on with assurances that people would be delighted to see my studio and learn something useful from me. So I decided that there's no better time than now.  Participating isn't automatic; these are juried for admission so I feel especially honored to be part of both tours. So last spring I filled out a form, send images of recent work, crossed my fingers and said a prayer and waited to find out if I made the cut... and I did.. and the work began. 

Putting on the tour is a cooperative event with each artist paying a fee to cover publicity, printing the guides and designing the apps and signage, as well as putting in volunteer hours to see that the behind the scenes work is done.  All this on top of continuing making art. This year my extra hours were spent working in the Portland Open Studios booth at Art in the Pearl and helping with the beta testing of the iPhone app.

Click these links to learn more:
Portland Open Studios October 10-11, 17-18.        10am-5pm.
Washington County Open Studios October 17-18.   11am-5pm

What I Learned by Hosting an Open Studio

What I learned by opening my studio to the public:

I need people. That’s nothing new but it is an awakening to my need to craft more ways to share my work. We artists need isolation in which to create. But we also need opportunities to talk with interested people. An open studio accomplishes that. I sure enjoyed this party!

Being open six hours for two days isn’t terribly taxing. The hardest part was preparing and thanks to friends that wasn’t so bad either. I will do this again.

It would be better to be open two weekends to better accommodate people’s schedules. Early fall is a good time to do this.

It was a good idea to publicize the event on Facebook and my blog as well as an email blast. Next time I'll mail invitations, too.

People have good taste. They bought my best work and passed on some works that I shouldn’t have even offered for sale. Limit what I show.

I thought that framed pieces would sell better than works that weren’t framed. That didn’t happen, perhaps because unframed work is less expensive even though I charged only what the frames cost me to buy and assemble.

There was great variety in the work I displayed, perhaps too much. I think I’ll narrow my focus.

Work larger. I’ve been doing small works because of storage issues but if I grab more opportunities to show work larger pieces will be an advantage.

Several professional artists who were here convinced me that my work is worthy and that I should seek gallery representation and enter shows.  I will do just that.

People like to see something to hang their hat on. Purely abstract work didn’t interest buyers for the most part, but the abstraction of reality was appealing. They like flowers and trees and horses. My map series were quite a draw because people are used to reading maps to navigate so they moved in close and ‘read’ my paintings.  They try to read words. They are highly interested in the stories that are reflected in the paintings and loved to hear me talk about the back-story of each work. Since my work tends to be narrative and personal it’s easy to talk about it.

Gosh, I loved doing this open studio. Thanks a bunch to you who attended and I hope that more of you will come visit me someday.

People were interested in seeing me demonstrate some of my collage techniques.

I am planning to start teaching again, probably something to do with collage. I can handle up to 5 students in my studio and if there’s a larger enrollment I’ll rent space.  Let me know if you want to be added to my student list. There’s no commitment either way. When I decide to teach I’ll send an announcement and you can sign up if it suits you.

Jo Reimer Open Studio

It's happening tomorrow.

At the Reimer home, between 11 and 5. Come on by.

There's lots of art for all tastes and wallets. I take cash, checks, major credit cards.

Y'all Come! Jo Reimer's Open Studio Oct. 4-5

Y'all  Come!

October 4 and 5, 2014. 11 am to 5 pm. 11990 NW Maple Hill Lane, Portland, OR

Park in the driveway or on the street, but be sure to set your brake. It's steep up here on the hill.

Preparing for Open Studio

Gathering and preparing artwork for the coming Open Studio has been a mixed bag of fun and frustration. With the help of a good friend I've made real progress with grouping and hanging framed works and creating other areas where unframed work is displayed. I still need to make and attach labels and do some deep cleaning so right now the studio is a mess, but by Saturday morning it'll be show-worthy, waiting for your visit.  Do come by either Saturday or Sunday.  Hours are 11 until 5.

Here are some photos of the setup so far:

Collage Paintings on board (in living room)

.....art doesn't need to match your couch. If you like it, hang it where you see it.

 

Stairway to my studio with recent art

Oldies but goodies in the studio.

Numbers might reference an important date

Jo Reimer Open Studio October 4 and 5, 2014

Open Studio: October 4 and 5

You're invited!

I don't do nearly enough to promote the sale of my art so I've decided to remedy that by hosting an open studio. I work in my home and have hesitated to join the Portland Open Studios tour which is held each year in October because it means opening my front door to lots of strangers. But this is different because I'm issuing personal invitations to my friends and to those who follow my blog or Facebook page.

If you're in the Portland, Oregon area on October 4 or 5 please drop by to see where I work, how I work, to meet me for the first time, or to lend support if you know me well. I'd love to see you.

And I'd love to have you buy a piece or two of my art work for your home or office or as a gift. Christmas is just around the bend. There are lots of works that no one has seen and many older works will be discounted 25%.  I'm simply running out of storage.

How to prepare for Open Studio.
 
So, how does one prepare for an open studio? I've only done this once before and worked entirely too hard at making things perfect. This time I'm aiming for simple and casual. I'll de-clutter the studio somewhat but mostly you'll see it as it is on a normal workday.

The first thing I did once I made up my mind to proceed was to grab my studio journal and make a Mind-Map plan, jotting down anything that came to mind. Then I prepared a project sheet and started a list of things I need to do before I open the door on Saturday Oct. 4. It's quite a list. But since I've decided that this will be a casual event I can drop my usual obsessing and just get ready for the party, one step at a time.

Items to Do, culled from my mind-map: 

• Plan promotions (blog, FB, email, mailing, handouts)
• Order invitation postcards. 
• Line up kitchen and studio help
  
• Choose art to display and create an inventory sheet
• Frame as much as possible, mount and bag the rest in clearbags.
• Update email list
• Prepare studio: de-clutter, remove extra furniture and personal stuff, set up sales area, select soft background music,
• Hang art in public rooms and studio. Set up display racks.
• Prepare refreshments 
• Prepare demonstration station 
• Welcome guests
• Follow-up and review

If any of you dear readers have gone through this before and have some suggestions for me please contact me at joreimer at comcast dot net. I'd be so appreciative of any advice you have to offer.  Now please excuse me while I choose art to share.

If you need directions to my home email me at the above address.