Sonoma County artists welcome visitors to their studios for Arts at the Source tour

As Sonoma County’s visual arts community gradually emerges from the long coronavirus shutdown, with public venues like galleries and museums reopening with limited hours and safety protocols in place, there is a whole class of venues that should be not be ignored.

During this summer’s annual Art at the Source self-guided artists’ studio tour event, running June 5-6 and June 12-13, local artists will at last be able to open their own spaces to the public.

Armed with maps showing the location of participating studios, available at artatthesource.org, art lovers can fashion their own self-guided tours. A total of 90 artists will participate.

“During Art at the Source, people discover how rich this county is with artists. People don’t have to go to San Francisco to see art,” said Sally Baker, watercolorist and former Healdsburg High School art teacher.

“People who come to the open studio tour like the fact that it’s not pretentious,” she added. “Some people get nervous about going to a fancy gallery or museum. Sometimes they feel like they can’t afford or understand the art.”

In an artist’s everyday work space, the atmosphere is informal and visitors can ask questions. The encounter is more relaxed and intimate.

Like most arts organizations, Sebastopol Center for the Arts endured during the pandemic by substituting online equivalents for its open studio events, including Art at the Source. But the effect was incomplete, said Catherine Devriese, creative director at the center.

“Last year, we had a virtual event, but that wasn’t the same. This year, Art at the Source is a combination of virtual and physical. This we’re taking the best of both,” she said.

“When you see the art online, you don’t feel the work,” Devriese added. “The artists put their souls into the work. You can feel it. There is something about original artwork and communication with the artist that can’t be replaced with a virtual exhibit. What was missed was the personal contact.”

Peter Wolf, participating in Art at the Source for the first time, has built a special structure outside his Sebastopol studio for the event.

“My gallery is a shelter inspired by native designs and made of branches,” Wolf said.

Wolf, who is a jewelry designer, wilderness instructor and coach, returned to working with ceramics after an injury that affected his balance and his awareness of the position and movement of the body.

“I used ceramics to reconstruct my life,” he said. “It’s not just clay; it is a movement art. I want to make something that captivates someone’s imagination.”

Baker, who was one of the more 750 Bay Area artists invited to show her work at the “de Young Open” exhibit last fall at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, is known for her vivid and precise watercolors. She has participated in Art at the Source since it was founded in 1995.

“I’ve never missed a year,” she said. “Artists spend so much time in isolation. Feedback from other people is a necessary part of the process, and a culmination. It makes you see your own work through other people’s eyes.”

In addition to the self-guided tours of artist’s studios, Art at the Source includes exhibits of work by participating artists at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts and several other satellite venues, including Corrick’s stationery store and art gallery in downtown Santa Rosa.

“What’s nice is people can go to one place and see work by multiple artists and decide if they want to see more work by a particular artist,” said Keven Brown, co-owner and manager of Corrick’s. “Then they can plan in advance and decide which artists’ studios they want to see.”

Even as Art at the Source returns as an in-person event, current Sonoma County and California COVID-19 safety guidelines will be followed.

“We expect that people visit an artist’s studio, they will be asked to wear a mask,” Devriese said.

The Sebastopol Center for the Arts also will present the annual Art Trails open studio tour, coming in September.