Drawing a crowd
Art On The Edge studio tour showcases coastal creativity
By Eliot Sekular
For the TODAY
The event’s dimensions are impressive. For three days, 70 artists will exhibit work in some 25 mediums at 24 locations spread over a distance exceeding 50 miles, from Toledo through Newport and Lincoln City and up through Neskowin and Cloverdale.
By any measure, the Art On The Edge self-guided studio tour, running from Friday through Sunday, May 20 through 22, offers a sprawling feast for the eyes. For intrepid collectors looking for a special piece, families seeking a fun weekend outing or artists looking to compare notes, the tour presents a broad survey of some of the best work being produced by the Central Coast’s creative community.
The exhibition will encompass paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor; drawings in pastel, charcoal and colored pencil; various types of prints, fiber art, ceramics, metal sculpture, mosaic, photography, glass blowing, handmade jewelry, reclaimed assemblage art, driftwood furniture and more.
“It’s like a visual treasure hunt,” said Krista Eddy, who organizes the annual event for the Lincoln City Cultural Center. “It’s a very inspirational way to see art. You get to meet local artists and learn about their processes. A good percentage of our sites are actually studios in artists’ homes or garages which are private most of the year. So, the public gets a sneak peek into the creative lives of artists and the artists have the opportunity to interact directly with the public.”
The 2022 Art on the Edge tour will be the sixth annual event, though the 2020 tour was canceled during the pandemic lockdown. The tour was resumed with a more limited scope in 2021 but this year’s expanded event signals an important rebound for the art community. And though some artists and sites might still be requiring participants to take COVID-related precautions, the spirit and sheer dimensions of this year’s tour signal a return of the vitality of the coast’s art scene.
Many of the artists participating this year are veterans who have shown their work in some or all previous years while others are exhibiting for the first time. Painter Katia Kyte, whose home lies just a few yards west of Highway 101 in the heart of Lincoln City, has exhibited at all of the past events. Although she is best known as a plein air artist and some of her work is created outside in nature, many of her pieces are created in her tidy garage-studio, hung with rows of her paintings and neatly lined with easels — a space that provides a window into her creative process.
“Earlier, I wanted to have a studio that was perfect where I could show my work but now I understand that the imperfect is okay,” Kyte said. “Just being authentic, showing the way that I paint and how I live allows me to connect more to the people who come to visit on this tour.”
Visitors to her studio might not notice that her laundry is just behind a wall of paintings and that the space is arranged to allow for simple household storage.
“I hope visitors are inspired by the way this small space is organized to accommodate supplies and a space for painting,” she said. “It took me years to make this space work effectively. Oftentimes, artists visit my studio during this tour or people who just want to take up painting. I like showing them how to make it work in such a small space. And my friends and collectors come and see a side of me they might not know. It deepens my connection to them.”
Among the tour’s first-time exhibitors are the artists of Cloverdale’s Eagle Ridge Studio, a neatly laid-out space adjoining the home of artist Diane Devens in a beautiful setting just off the Little Nestucca River Highway, also known as Oregon Route 130. Devens, who paints with acrylics, shares the studio space with fellow artists and neighbors, fiber artist Kathleen Marin and painter Stephen Marin. With its bright daylight and high ceilings, the studio well reflects the work and process of the group’s collective efforts, all of whom will be Studio Tour participants.
For Devens, sharing the space with other artists has been a rewarding experience.
“It’s fun having several people in the studio because you can bounce ideas and build off each other,” she said, noting that painter and noted ceramic artist Sam Jacobson also makes use of the space, though her work will be separately featured at her own studio near Three Rocks Road in Otis. “I’ve started adopting some of Stephen’s techniques and it’s stimulating to work with artists whose work is fueled by different things. My own work is fueled by places of nature and the edges of things; I’m trying to imitate life. Sam’s work is fueled in part by her political ideas and Stephen is more of what I would call a paint engineer. We learn from each other.”
Participation in the Art on the Edge event prompted all of the Eagle Ridge artists to produce more work and prepare finished pieces for exhibition. And like many of the tour’s participants, Devens looks to the tour as a means of affirming and expanding a sense of community and an opportunity to receive input and exchange ideas with other artists, art-lovers, neighbors and casual visitors.
“I’m looking forward to having a chance to talk to people about our work,” she said. “The discourse is a very good thing.”
In selecting artists and sites for the tour, organizer Krista Eddy was able to draw from a large pool of potential exhibitors.
“A lot of creative people move here to the coast and we have a rich art scene,” she said. “And rather than the show being highly juried, it’s more filtered by artists who have a safe, friendly and suitable site, enjoy interacting with the public and have work they want to sell. There’s a great variety, not just of mediums, but of style. A lot of it is new and outside-the-box thinking. Although much of the work is influenced by this gorgeous place, I wouldn’t want people to stereotype the work that’s produced on the coast as just driftwood and seascapes. It’s not. In many cases, it’s very contemporary.”
Eddy views the range of this year’s tour as an added attraction.
“You can’t find a more beautiful drive than what you’ll find along our coastline,” she said. “The views, as you drive from studio to studio, are absolutely spectacular. You just can’t get that from other studio tours.”
A showcase exhibit presenting pieces by all of the Art on the Edge artists is on display at the Chessman Gallery in the Lincoln City Cultural Center through June 6.
Art on the Edge studio maps will be available at the cultural center, located at 540 NE Hwy. 101, and at the individual locations. For more information, go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org.