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Susan Thurmond Hancey, a painter; Kristen Cederquist, a photographer; and Lynette Cederquist, a jeweler, are excited to show their works together through Open Studios Art Tour 2008. 

 

Open Studios is sponsored by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County and is countywide, with artists in various media showing their work. Kristen Cederquist said: “The cultural Council of Santa Cruz is an amazing resource for artists throughout the year.”

 

Hancey met Lynette Cederquist and her daughter, Kristen, through Open Studios in 2007. They invite you to see their art and participate in Open Studios.

The mother of four and grandmother of seven paints watercolors of local scenes: native grasses, dunes and wetlands around Monterey Bay. She finds their soft but rather bleak beauty quite wonderful.

 

“I loved to sketch and draw as a child but had no formal training,” she explained. “After many years of raising four children and having a very active and demanding real estate career, I finally committed to art when I was cutting back on work and getting ready to retire. I started taking drawing classes at a community college and watercolor classes at the local art center on the S.F. peninsula.”

 

When she travels, she makes many ink and watercolor sketches of what she is seeing. At Open Studios, she puts out a stack of her small sketchbooks for people to leaf through.

 

One of the pivotal art experiences for her was a 10-week course called “Watercolor: Beyond the Obvious,” taught by Mike Bailey. A couple of years ago, Susan began experimenting with abstract watercolor and took acrylic classes. 

 

Lynette Cederquist is a jewelry designer and goldsmith who makes one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. She chooses each stone individually at gem shows and creates pieces to show what she says is the natural beauty of the materials. 

 

For Open Studio, she is working on a series of 48 rings using the nearly forgotten wax casting method. 

 

The history of jewelry making interests Cederquist, and she’s been inspired by Etruscan civilization and ancient artisans. On trips, she regularly visits museums and galleries to see works of craftsmen who came before her. 

 

Cederquist quit her position teaching gifted children to work as a jeweler full time. Lynette raised her two children, Kristen and Kevin, to “follow their dreams” and explore their creative sides, kind of like following mom’s example. 

 

For two years, Kristen Cederquist has been creating photographic art pieces. She captures moments and experiments with woven and layered photographs to create textures and depth on her pieces. She likes to photograph people living life, the hustle and bustle of cities, and the calm of nature. 

 

In addition to her more abstract artistry, Cederquist is a double gold medalist in figure skating and is a figure skating coach in San Jose. She also does video analysis of ice skaters and horses and their riders. 

October artist on display

 

Artist Denese Matthes is the October artist whose paintings are on display at the Boulder Creek Library. 

 

Her acrylic paintings and watercolors are produced in her studio, which has a redwood tree growing through it. When Denese sits down to paint, she has no plan — she just lets her surrealistic fantasy art pieces evolve. Over the years, she has taught herself, taken classes and instructed art classes. 

 

Ten percent of her sales will be donated to the Boulder Creek Library.  

Fall classes: keep the chickens

 

Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond offers useful classes: winter vegetable gardening; container gardening with winter veggies; drip irrigation; one-pot herb garden; and backyard chicken keeping. 

 

Classes are taught by biodynamic Farmer Cynthia Sandberg. See www.GrowBetterVeggies.com.to preregister, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to get on the newsletter list, or call 588-3801 for information.