From Ceramics to Cider to Tattoos, North Coast Open Studios Allows You to Experience Art and Artists

Press release from North Coast Open Studios:

The 18th annual North Coast Open Studios is coming up the weekends of June 4-5 and June 11-12, from Trinidad to Hydesville, and east to Blue Lake. Artist studios are open from 11am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday, with rare exception. More than 100 artists and artisans around Humboldt County open up their creative spaces, share their passion and give demos to art fans of all ages.

For 2016, North Coast Open Studios organizers are excited to feature creators that include ceramics to painting, tattoo artists to cider and wine makers. Nearly one-third of this year’s participants are new to the event.

Watercolor painter Cheryl Peterson Rau has participated in North Coast Open Studios for five years, and served on the NCOS steering committee for four years. This year, she will open her studio for both weekends of the event. Rau says a highlight for her is the number of return visitors who come to see her most recent works.

Around this time last year, Rau had a stroke, which rendered her right hand unable to so much as hold a paint brush. As she [sought] treatment in the Bay Area, she was encouraged to learn to use her left hand to paint, and was eventually able to re-teach the muscles in her right hand to hold the brush and create art.

“It seemed hopeless at first,” says Rau, “but some good came of it. Now, I can enjoy painting in a different way, without the pressure to perform.”

Rau continues to create, enjoy the process, and her work has become more free flowing, meditative, and sometimes whimsical as a result.

North Coast Open Studios happens during the first two weekends of June, each year. Event guidebooks are available at art-supporting businesses throughout the county, including Wildberries Marketplace in Arcata and Pierson Building Center in Eureka. Searchable artist listings are available at www.northcoastopenstudios.com. NCOS is also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

North Coast Open Studios is a DreamMaker Program of the Ink People Center for the Arts and would not be able to possible without the financial and community support of its participating artists, Pierson Building Center, Wildberries Marketplace, and many more local businesses and organizations.