2009 Santa Ynez Valley Artist’s Studio Tour through the Wildling Art Museum

In Events by Zoe Nathan

Meet the artists of this year’s Wildling Art Museum studio tours. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to all 26 of the artists houses in the two days of the event, but hopefully the following pictures and descriptions will inspire you to seek out these artists and come on the tour next year! I started in Los Alamos at the house of Mackenzie Duncan. P1090451 Mac with one of her “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” inspired series. P1090450 P1090449 Still thinking about purchasing this portrait from “Once Upon a Time in the West.” P1090452 I then went to Karen Gearhart-Jensen’s studio, and saw her prints and photo collages and Kam Jacoby‘s historical photo composites. Both very different and great to see and learn about. P1090453 Kam completely knew the history of the woman in the historic photo based on entries of her in the Lompoc public records. Interesting to get acquainted with someone long passed! P1090456 C. Wood’s studio was in a beautiful rustic setting, also in Los Alamos. She had many pictures of farm animals in bold inviting colors. P1090455 P1090470 Anna Jud Hallauer’s home and studio was far off the beaten track, but well worth the trip, both for the art, the artist’s explanations of her work and process, and the beautiful views of her and her husband’s vineyards. Her husband is also an artist and had a collection of clay figurative sculptures. P1090474 Most of Anna’s work is made with the dollar, like this pillar. P1090471 Anna also shows her work in her native country, Germany. P1090478 Seyburn Zorthian‘s painting and calligraphy art studio can be found right next to the family tasting room for Buttonwood Winery, where her art is on display. Definitely worth a visit! P1090480 P1090481 P1090490 Patricia Hedrick’s charcoal pastel work was mistaken for photography by a few visitors while I was touring her Solvang studio. From figure studies to water abstractions, they were lovely and showed her incredible blending skills at work! P1090485 P1090489 The artist’s pallet! P1090488 Patricia with artist Sonya Fairbanks, who also does exquisite work in charcoal pastels. P1090483 P1090506 The second day, I started off at the home of colored pencil and water color artist Teresa McNeil Maclean.  From mountain-scapes to trains disappearing into the horizon, her distinct style holds the viewer with its colors and forms. P1090499 P1090517a Being a fervent lover of clay, I made sure to make the trek out to the lovely home of Donna and Wesley Anderegg in Lompoc. I can hardly describe what a delight it was to see the enormous collective body of work this artist couple had created! Donna’s functional flatware showcased her ability to draw through delicate carvings and her eye for design in both the glazing and composition of her many vases, cups, and other vessels. Wesley’s sense of humor and observation of human idiosyncrasies were evident in his many ingenious clay figures and sculptures. P1090518 Donna Anderegg amongst her pottery. P1090529 Delicately carved motifs on vessels. P1090528 One of Wesley Anderegg’s figuritive pieces. P1090520 P1090521 P1090522 P1090516 A whole wall of Wesley’s hilarious and imaginative busts. On the floor, “The Victom,” a satirical piece of a figure with three knives in it’s back, in a cage led by a two-headed dog…? Completely over the top! Loved it. P1090540 Bird brain and two other figures. Detail from the wall-case of figures. P1090530 Global Warming and other pieces by Wesley. P1090548 P1090559 P1090567 Rebecca Gomez in Los Olivos had large landscape paintings and some abstracts of trees that captured the area quite well. Her husband had some neat photography up, as in the photo below. P1090566a Allen Koehn with some of his photography. P1090573 Lovely landscape and floral paintings abounded in the studio of Christine McCowan. P1090579a Rise Delmar Ochsner had many large scale brilliant paintings of equines, dogs, landscapes, and portraits in her charming, well-lit studio in Santa Ynez. P1090580 P1090581 P1090583 P1090585 Mike Magrill, a wood artist, was kind enough to explain some of the processes of making wooden bowls and composite vases. It was interesting for me to learn how the methods of making vessels in wood and clay bear some commonalities. P1090586 Gene Inglis-Ward, multi-media artist and teacher, had a wide variety of art in many different mediums and genres. (She also had an awesome collection of pottery, which I enjoyed hearing about! Thanks, Gene!) P1090596 William Cates photography captured the beauty of the Santa Ynez Valley and of his previous home, Virginia, with landscapes, animals, nudes, and much more. I wish I could have explored more, but had to race to another engagement afterward. Next year! P1090597 Gwen Cates paintings of Santa Barbara County and of her previous home, Virginia, were at least as lovely as the landscapes they portrayed! UPDATE: It’s January 23rd, and I’ve just managed to get the new photos together for this post. Let the tour continue! P1090709 Rick Hubbard and some of his paintings, in his and Judi Stauffer’s lovely home. P1090730 Judi Stauffer by two examples of her digital photographic art exploring the Inka concept of the three worlds or planes of existence. P1090691a Rick’s Breakthrough series: humorous, meaningful, and relational. P1090682a Another clever example of how Judi portrays the three worlds as conceived in the Inka tradition. P1090722 Hot off the press: a new cardboard piece hanging in the studio. P1090927 Mike Brady in his wood sculpture studio, brimming with plein air sculptures that are just too precious to really leave out in the elements! P1090924 P1090913a More of Mike’s whimsical works that reference the craft arts of the South and are mostly kinetic, designed to move in the wind. P1090918a P1090853a Renee Kelleher in her charming studio, reminiscent of the south of France. P1090844 Paintings of interiors, rural landscapes, and domestic animals carried my visual interest across all of the walls of Renee’s studio. P1090848 [Any artists that I did not see, but would like to be included, please email me. I’d be more than happy to update this post and have fun seeing your studio!]