Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
Glimpsing the artist’s life Palo Alto Studios and other spaces open their doors for Silicon Valley Open Studios
There are 26 artists working in 18 spaces at Palo Alto Studios; visitors climbing steps inside can get a bird’s-eye peek into the downstairs studios. story by Rebecca Wallace photographs by Kimihiro Hoshino
W
ith high ceilings and concrete walls, this boxy space seems all industrial ambiance at first. Squint, and you can imagine the Palo Alto building in its previous life, as a distribution area for Old Navy apparel. But now 4030 Transport St. contains canvases instead of camis, tubes of paint instead of tunics. Old Navy bowed out of the space when the economy faltered in 2001, and the artists started moving in two years later. Now these walls house Palo Alto Studios: 26 artists working in 18 studios. Like many other artists up and down the Peninsula, the folks at 4030 Transport have company coming soon. The month of May brings the annual Silicon Valley Open Studios event, when visitors can peer into creative spaces all over the area. This weekend, May 8-9, Open Studios is in southern San Mateo County, featuring studios in Menlo Park, Atherton and nearby towns. On May 15-16, Palo Alto Studios and other spaces in Palo Alto and north Santa Clara County will open their doors. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some studios are one-artist affairs in the home, while larger spaces show and sell a range of works in one building. In Palo Alto,
Page 24ÊUÊ >ÞÊÇ]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii Þ
these multi-artist sites include Cubberley Studios, the Pacific Art League and Gallery House as well as Palo Alto Studios. “Since we have multiple artists, we get a lot of visitors. We’re pretty lively,” says Leslie Lambert, whose ink drawings, paintings and collages share a capacious room in Palo Alto Studios with painter Jane Peterman. She sees Open Studios as a chance for many people to experience a working artist’s studio: kids whose school art programs have been cut, adults who think they could never paint, and artists who don’t yet dare to rent their own space. It’s Lambert’s fifth time showing at Open Studios. Hosting artists get to mingle with the public, adds Peterman, who’s taking part in Open Studios for the seventh time. And, she says with a smile, “Number one, it’s an opportunity to sell art.” On a recent morning, Peterman and Lambert wander through their convivial space with a couple of journalists. Peterman’s dog Kaja follows, surprising the visitors by batting their fingers with a cold nose. Peterman’s side of the studio has some of her bold abstract acrylic paintings hanging on the wall. Brushes, palette knives and other tools cover a table. Her work can have print elements: She likes to apply paint to plastic strips, draw patterns in it, then rub it onto the canvas. Spraying the paint with water or alcohol changes the texture.
Brushes and other tools pack painter Jane Peterman’s table. On the other side, Lambert’s table is awash with fabric and paper scraps and glue for her collages. She affectionately fingers bits of shiny paper cut into lacy patterns with a laser cutter. Then she holds up her figurative drawings, lush with ink.
The two artists — who have known each other for years, since their kids were in school together — set up shop here in 2007. Before that, Peterman recalls, “I used to do open studios in the front yard of my house.” Peterman has a background as a certified public accountant. After starting art classes in 1999, she came to find painting “all-consuming.” She’s also a member of Gallery House. Lambert worked in various galleries, then let her art slide after getting married and having children. She’s now come back full circle. Whereas Lambert’s art is compact, Peterman found that moving into Palo Alto Studios allowed her to spread out. Her canvases grew until she found the optimal shape, 52 by 54 inches. Why this particular size? She spreads out her arms to demonstrate her artistic wingspan. “It’s enough.” Now, muted conversation from other artists carries over from another studio, but the place is mostly quiet. Many of the artists have other jobs and come here only on nights or weekends. Some studios are larger doubles like this one; others are smaller single spaces. Upstairs, there’s a print studio that six artists share, coming and going. Down the hall, Hedda Hope, one of Palo Alto Studios’ original artists, shares another spacious studio with fellow painter Gertie Mellon, who has been here almost five years. The patterns and shapes in Hope’s abstract