Dozens of artists host studio tours
"A ton of new artists," are participating in this weekend's Studio Tour, says Lisa Degliantoni, founder and co-director of the arts organization Evanston Made.
She said there are about 40 artists participating in this year's 10th annual tour, including the first timers. Participating studios are scattered throughout the city, but many are either at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center or on Florence Avenue near Evanston Made 's headquarters.
The tours, which started Saturday, continue from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Degliantoni said that paintings and drawings are popular among many participating artists. However, some delve in more unusual mediums, such as Maggie Weiss, who is "repurposing colors and fabrics on new pieces...she has an eye towards a more sustainable practice to art, traditional textile but with a twist."
Weiss, a former art teacher based in Evanston, said that she dyes, paints and prints fabrics "with synthetic or natural dyes...then I either create complex images on the cloth to give the impression of depth, or I tear them up and use them in quilts."
She said that most of her projects end up as wall art, but she sometimes creates scarves using this technique. She often uses a stiff-feeling commercial silk for her creations.
Bonnie Katz works in the dual mediums of large charcoal drawings and ceramics. Most of her work on display during the tour features rabbits. She likes drawing animals because they demonstrate movement in the charcoal imagery she produces.
She started working with ceramics in high school, and found the medium was a natural for her. She began painting when she was older, and initially used her art to record family life. She currently teaches at the Evanston Art Center.
Photography is usually not a staple medium on this tour, but Evanston photographer Jennifer Schuman offered an extensive display of photography. Many of the photos are of family members and friends, some of whom are also involved in the arts. "This is kind of a legacy studio...it's been very exciting to participate."
Her latest project is "40 Women over 40," a series of portraits of older women, including a 97-year-old dancer who poses like a Vogue pro. Still, Schuman says that celebrating children through photography is "part of my essence."
Lynne Miller Jones does oil paintings from photographs. She said it can take "a couple of months" to finish a painting.
She drew and painted through most of her early life and reclaimed her interest in art about 15 years ago. This was her first studio tour, and she said it has been a "positive experience."
She said she likes doing pieces featuring water because she likes the way shapes are distorted in water. "I like the way things get abstracted," she said.
