Open Studios Art Tour 2022 • Aptos Art Studios

The 36th annual Open Studios Art Tour will take place as usual the first three weekends in October, bigger and better, featuring 321 artists across Santa Cruz County.

It’s free, as usual, and you pick which artists you want to visit. Get a free copy of the guide listing all the artists.

North County artists are Oct. 1 & 2.

South County artists are Oct. 8 & 9.

On Oct. 15 & 16, the encore weekend, 268 artist studios are open.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here is what’s new:

A new symbol in the guide indicates 45 artists participating for the first time. So, even if you’ve attended Open Studios in the past, you haven’t seen their work.

About 40 artists are requesting attendees wear a mask in their home studios for Covid safety so there is a new symbol for “Mask Required.”

All the participating artists received a lime-green KN95 mask – promoting the event in the same color as the lime-green signs for each artist’s studio.

Another new symbol in the guide indicates the artist speaks Spanish.

The Santa Cruz Art League at 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz, hosted a preview party — the first since 2019 — for more than 300 Open Studios artists and that exhibit is open the public through Oct. 16. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and 6-8 p.m. on First Friday, Oct. 7.

Open Studios Art Tour 2022 Aptos Art Studios

Aptos Art Studios will participate in Open Studios, Oct. 9-10 and Oct. 15-16, giving people a chance to view eight artists at one location, the Aptos Warehouse Complex at 800, 802 and 804 Estates Drive, Aptos, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The artists are neighbors to a surfboard company, a woodworker, and a tile store. Each artist has his or own artistic style and enjoys synergy with the others. Here is how they see their art in these interesting times. Suzanne McCourt: I take a breath as I step into my studio. I face a daily banter between my ‘thinking’ artist & my ‘child-like’ artist. I know it will be a roller-coaster of trial and error. Jo-Neal Graves I turn on my music, and a switch flips. I move, feel, and sometimes sing as It’s a great way to discover artists and my eye catches gooey colors of paint as plan your tour from there. Pop into the gallery, I engage with creativity. I adore palette find artwork that intrigues you, and make a knives & large brushes for slather of note of which studios you want to visit. paint on surfaces to create texture.

“Open Studios” page 16 “Aptos Art Studios” page 15