Artists' Blog
Brian Berman: The End is Just the Beginning of Something Else
After 11 years living here is Ojai, Lisa and I will be leaving for our new life and work in Poland.
Lisa Skyheart Marshall: Feeling attachments to nature
feelings about certain flowers
Gayel Childress: Newest Paintings on Why are the Butterflies Disappearing??
Painting this series I might call attention to the Butterfly’s plight
Christine Beirne: Plein Air Painting is Not for the Fainthearted!
I recently went on a painting trip to the high Sierra’s. I planned to paint plein air as well as explore other techniques in my motorhome. Before I left, some well-meaning friends said things like: have fun! Enjoy! How I envy you!
Joce Aucoin: Learning Through Doing
Through the process of creativity, of doing, of playing, we can turn our disappointments, wounds and burdens into gold.
Martha Moran: In Memoriam at Ojai Valley Museum
In Memoriam pays tribute to women who died getting illegal abortions before Roe v Wade. I added tags with names of women who died, dating back to 1870.
Leslie Clark: Memories and a paintbrush
Memories have provoked new images from past inspirations.
Leslie Plimpton: Winner of the Judge’s Award
I am excited to report that my Dry Point Etching, “The Face of Fashion (Anna Winter) took the Judge’s Award at this year’s Ventura County Fair in the Professional Artist’s category.
Emily Brown: Glaze Techniques
The uniqueness of my pottery is due in part to my glaze techniques.
Leslie Clark: On the crest of a dune
Alal on the crest of a dune at Erg Chegaga, Morocco
Bruce Grabin: Pre Dawn and Dusk Plein Air Paintings
Plein air – pre dawn, and dusk oil painting from the Ojai area.
Spark Taylor: Why Plein Air?
I am a plein air painter—an observer of nature's beauty all around us. I describe my work as contemporary impressionism—modern, but reaching back to the inspiration of the pioneer impressionists of the late 19th and early 20th century—the folks who rode a horse or a...
Hallie Katz: Reinventing Myself
What have I been doing lately? Re-inventing myself! I ran a gallery with my husband in downtown Ojai for many years. When we closed HumanArts exactly two years ago to retire from the retail biz, we were ready to change course. Immediately we started renovating and...
Mariana Peirano: Interview with Shoutout LA
I was recently interviewed for the online magazine Shoutout LA. Shoutout is designed to help get the word out about great local businesses, artists and creatives. They featured my studio and Norman took the opportunity to pose. To view the interview please visit:...
Leslie Plimpton: Painting with Mixed Media
Have you ever noticed how much packaging comes with our on-line purchases? I purchase all my clothing on-line and notice there is an overabundance of tissue paper, tags, and sometimes even a personal note from the seller thanking me for my purchase. It can be...
Patrish Kuebler: 3D Encaustics
The Last of the Second Saturday Open Studio visits in 2022 is in the Oak View / West End areas of Ojai - on Saturday, August 13! I invite you to visit my studio to see new and older works - pastel and encaustic. My newest endeavor is putting a 3-D twist to my...
Stephen Edwards: Fragility and Friction
I have been a working sculptor and educator for 50 years. I have always made work about what is around me. In the past, my pieces were about the beauty of nature and our interaction with it. Then my life took a dramatic change. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease...
Carlos Grasso: Contemporary Art
I usually greet collectors, curators and visitors to my studio with a “welcome to my playground!” My art requires the essential element of play, whether designing my own colorful modern mandalas on paper and canvas, cutting and shredding painted the canvas by hand, or...
Amy Lynn Stevenson: Songbird
Songbird In her gaze, time stands motionless. In her eyes, I see the eyes of someone long ago. The creative muse is frantic when I sleep. She thinks I am giving away her secrets, In songs, in sighs, in painted smiles. But I know these are my dreams waiting for me...
Leslie Clark: Traveling Closer to Home
My work has always been based on travel. Covid has shrunk it to a smaller scope. I just finished three weeks exploring California’s Parks; Sequoia, Yosemite, Shasta, Tahoe, Redwoods, Pinnacles. What a glorious state we live in. The mighty Sequoias were my first...
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Karen Lewis: Once Upon a Time in Mykolayiv
My daughter-in law, Olga, took this photo of her parents on the streets of Mykolayiv in 2017. Whether in the Spring or the Fall I can’t be sure, but, I promised her I’d paint their portrait using this photo. This promise was made 5 years ago. - Both of Olga’s parents...
Sylvia Raz: Pondering
Please visit me on Saturday the 9th of July. As usual, I'm pondering about our lives and what we do with them. I'm a heavy one, hopefully not too heavy, because I'm fun. hope to see you! Sylvia Raz
Wyatt Amend: Symmetry
My work revolves around symmetry. In my sculptural works and functional pottery I use the pottery wheel to create fine forms consisting of sharp lines and smooth curves. I use many layers of glaze to create ‘weavings’ of color while using the raw clay texture as a way...
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend: Fused Glass
The Ojai Studio Artists’ Tours offer visitors, folks who are curious about art, the opportunity to see what Ojai artists are up to in their studios. Most often, the artists are working on series and small works that are made available on these special weekends. I have...
Katie Van Horne: A Mystery and a Gift
“Any creative idea is vulnerable to being shot down. But my friend breaks the circuit.” Hrishi Hirway What are we really here for? What are we focusing on? What are we learning and cultivating? How is what we’re about drawing us nearer to what is reality, intimate and...
Richard Amend: Drawn from Taft Gardens
Recently, I participated in the Taft Gardens’ En Plein Air program. Observational Sharpie drawings quickly executed in a small Moleskin sketchbook, and then large-scale black pastel drawings, completed enough to finish later in the studio. Although abstraction is...
Lucinda Yates: When You Come to my Studio
I hope I see you at my studio July 9, 2022 for the OSA Second Saturday tour. If I met you at a bar, I would probably ignore you. Does that sound harsh? Well, that is how I met my husband. It’s not that I am or am not interested in you, The thing is, that I figure...
Duane Dammeyer: Twists and Turns
The world is full of twists and turns. My recent sculptures are also full of twists and turns. I recently completed the largest ever of my “ribbon” sculptures, Ribbon III. I have also been working on one of my favorite shapes, the mobius. I have nearly completed a...
July 9th Mini-Tour Features 11 Artists
Mariana Peirano: Connecting People to the Planet Through Art
I'm honored to have been selected as one of the Women of the Ojai Valley 2022. The article, by Pamela Zero, appeared in the Ojai Valley News insert in May and it was titled Connecting People to the Planet Through Art. It gives a bit of background and it highlights my...
Vera Long: The Spontaneity of Color
"MoTown art trip...where the elite meet" So thrilled to get to converse and share with you wonderful art travelers again. During the Second Saturday tour, I will be showing some new six foot spontaneous paintings created at live events, mixed media...
Eilam Byle: New Work
This Second Saturday tour i aim on showing projects and ideas that i have been recently working on: different approaches to coffee tables, stained glass "one step removed", cutting boards, wood turnings and paintings.
Theodore Gall: New Series
This spring I went for a walk to the river bottom. Found some great driftwood. Tripped and fell into the water and got really wet. It started a new series. Please visit my studio June 11th and see the results. Ted Gall Studio #10.
Martha Moran: Herons
My herons were so popular at the OSA/OVLC "Art in Nature's Wonderland" event, I am making more! They're fabricated out of beach wood -- the "bodies" from wood that washed down from the Montecito mudslide after the Thomas Fire, as well as driftwood from north of...
Sooz Glazebrook: A Spring Haiku
many hollyhocks. a few flower like peonies leave no seeds no repeat next year just extra special a magic in-glaze lustre with flowering bloom same recipe refuses to repeat itself
Andrea Haffner: Evolutions
After having shifted into a somewhat quieter mode during the past two years, 2022 has been a full and busy time for me and my work. I recently had the honor of exhibiting at the Smithsonian Craft Show at the historic National Building Museum in DC. It was an amazing...
James Robie: Mixed Media
I’ve been on this incredible journey of making art for over six decades and exploring abstraction since the early 80s. Throughout these years I have developed a visual language that has enabled me to create a variety of different works using different media that has...
Myra Toth: Making the Intangible Visible
To make the intangible visible and somewhat tangible - I have always had a love and fascination for nature's many worlds. Interacting with plants and animals of all sorts have mingled and inspired my life and art. My ceramic art has given voice to the amazing...
June 11 Mini-Tour Features Meiners Oaks Studios
JUNE 11, 2022 MINI - TOUR in Meiners Oaks On Saturday June 11, 2022, 10am-5pm, artists in the Meiners Oaks area will open their studios to the public. Studios from many of your past favorites, plus one artist new to OSA this year.
Robert Larkin: Based on a True Story
I'm a firm believer in that art need not be a battle to create or find meaning in. After 20 plus years as a self-taught, representational painter, I went back to school in my 40s and got a BFA in studio art, and an MFA in studio art with an emphasis in critical...
Dorte Bistrup: Treasures of Fantasy
My studio is my sanctuary where I can get lost for hours working on one project for a while and then moving on to another while listening to music or Audible (highly recommend “Circe” by Madeline Miller). I usually have three very different works in progress at all...
Christopher Noxon: Transfixed and and Grateful
There’s something magic about seeing artwork in the place where it’s created - it’s like climbing a tree to get a look inside a bird nest. Or touring a factory to see all that goes into something you previously thought of as a single simple object. I'm never not...
Linda Taylor: Working in Woodcuts
Because of the isolation caused by the pandemic, I have reached out to other printmakers across the U.S, in a group hosted by Julie Lapping Rivera through Zea Mays Print Studio in Florence, Mass. It has been very gratifying to share inspiration and techniques with...
Kristen Clawson: Ceramics Studio
This is my first year on the OSA tour and I am so happy to be a part of this amazing group of truly talented artists. And here we are with my first event, May 14th called Second Saturday! I’ve been making ceramics, mostly functional, for almost two decades now and...
Wrona Gall: Cloudscapes
In my art I manipulate color and texture to explore our individual responses to our collective experience. CLOUDSCAPES express the energy of the sky. My textures eventually exploded off the two-dimensional plane to create my sculpture series, LAND FORMS. I hope to...
Emily Brown: Letting Go
I took my first pottery class in college in the early 1980’s. I sat at my wheel as my instructor talked me through throwing a cylinder. It was a challenge; my pot was small, misshapen, and had taken me an hour to make. And it was precious to me. He then told me to...
May 14 Open Studios
JOIN US ON MAY 14, 2022 FOR OUR FREE, MINI SECOND SATURDAY TOUR! On Saturday May 14, 2022, 10am-5pm, nine artistsnestled in Ojai's eastern reaches will open their studios to the public. Visit five artists new to OSA as well as new work from some of your past...
ALL PLAY and NO WORK
Crazy me, I volunteered to do table decorations for an upcoming event. It has a nature theme, but no materials or budget. I worried and stewed about it. A lot. One day I had the idea of making paper flowers. I played with crepe paper, dazzled by the pretty colors. I...
Christine Beirne: Looking forward to seeing you this Saturday!
Spring is peaking out in bits and pieces: one minute it's cold and you turn around and it's...
Sandra Torres: In Person
I've been amazed of how resourceful everyone has been amid the ever challenging COVID situation. Modern technologies opened opportunities to switch some operations to an online mode, which allowed many of us to stay afloat and healthy. While it has been amazing to...
Shahastra Levy: Simplistic Beauty
Can color be medicinal? Can images create a spaciousness for deeper reflection? Can they give us another sense of the simplistic beauty of life? These are the questions I am mining with my series “LOVE POEMS.” I am using the ordinary—birds, trees, water, flowers—to...
Lisa Skyheart Marshall: Butterfly Dreaming
My latest painting was inspired by a magnolia tree I encountered -- it's bumpy, gnarly branches covered in exquisite pink magnolia blossoms. As I watched, petals were slowly falling even as buds prepared to open. I added the Black Phoebe I see often in this particular...
Bruce Grabin: First Time Studio Open to Public
This coming Second Saturday Mini Tour marks the first time that my working studio, hung with framed oil paintings, will be open to the general public. In the past my studio has only been shown by appointment only. In the previous tours I moved my studio's six large...
Carol Shaw-Sutton: Come See What’s Sprouting in my Studio
New work. Old work. Lots for sale. Some to wear. Some for the walls ... including natural dyed (cochineal & indigo) wool beanies, felt coasters and ice dyed waffle cotton robes along with the more Arty Art! See you April 9! ~ Carol Shaw-Sutton
Handmade Party Favors for OSA & OVLC Spring Gala
When artists gather - the creative fun begins! Ojai Studio Artists gathered at Linda Taylor's studio to decorate wooden animals, representing the creatures living in Ojai Valley Land Conservancy's Ventura River Steelhead Prerserve. Of course, everyone brought their...
March 2022 – Map of Studios for Mini Tour
Julie Grist: First Timer, Studio Tour
I'm a new member of OSA, so I believe I'm allowed to call myself a First-Timer, and enjoy it for what it will be. I'd like it to be PERFECT but imagine, as usual, I won't be quite ready and will still be sealing frames and printing out logos right up until my doors...
Soni Wright: Welcome!
Hi everyone – when you come to my studio on Saturday, March 12, you’ll see some new stuff. I’ve been having fun creating glass fusion jewelry this past year. Many of my pieces are in the gift shop at Beato, but I’ll have five new pieces on display on Saturday. Hope...
Karen Lewis: Getting Ready
Karen Lewis, painter, will feature new work in the March Second Saturday Ojai Studio Artists tour, March 12, 2022.
Mary Neville: Refreshed
My creative inquiry lately has been creating paintings that emotionally fuse my past, present and future. Allowing for subtle shifts of thoughts and action. Less devoted on the horizon line of the future outcome. I am anchoring myself in the present with anticipation...
Picking and Painting Oranges
I help glean fruit for Food Share of Ventura County. There's nothing like doing a bit of labor outside, amongst the orange trees flush with both fragrant blossoms and glowing oranges, knowing the fresh pick from local backyards, orchards, and hillsides will be donated...
New Berman Glass Sculptures – March 12th Mini-Tour
"Manna VII C806" I love this glass which is a light shifting color. It ranges in color from amber to green depending on the light source. Here it is showing the green as the light is coming through my window and the amber on the left. At night with incandescent...
Matter of Gravity at the Maloof Foundation
OSA member Martha Moran, known as Ojai's Rockstacker, is celebrated in an exhibition titled "Matter of Gravity" at the Maloof Discovery Garden in Alto Loma, CA. The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts is a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and...
ACE VIRTUAL SHOW-LIVE THIS WEEK
The American Craft Exposition, a Virtual show, from September 20 through the 26th is now live! Take a peek - lots of beautiful art! There’s sure to be something for everyone in this event! And, if you don't see me there, I'd love to...
Carlos Grasso @ “The Next Big Thing” show
Dear Collectors and Art Lovers:I’m honored that amidst hundreds of entries, my piece “Frame Free!" (from my Canvas Deconstruction” series was selected by the juror Peter Mays to be included in THE NEXT BIG THING show at the Studio Channel Islands in Camarillo. The...
Leslie Clark Blog
I miss traveling. The basis for most of my work for 30 years has been exploration of the planet. Now I am exploring in mind only, but reliving those travels through my journals as I write my memoir is almost as fun—painting them takes me there. Jodhpur Market,...
OSA Blog
My tech advisor who passed away continues to mentor me. My best friend, OSA photographer David Baker passed away 3 years ago. He continues to mentor me from the other side. Here’s the story of how this came about recently. I am represented by an online gallery. They...
Live From The Field
Growing up in Argentina I heard many songs and poems about Pachamama. It wasn’t until these last few years that her name has come to mean so much to me. Climate change is now widespread, seems to intensify each year and some of the damage we have caused is now...
Greetings from the Nest!
Here, for your consideration are some photos of a new series of ceramic sculptures I began during the turmoil. They are an extension of my work with traditional painting elements raised to the third dimension. Hope to see you on the tour. Stephen Carter Lure Inscape...