Open Studios Art Tour brings art lovers to the source

The 2014 Open Studios Art Tour, organized by the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County is approaching its final encore weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18 and 19, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This encore weekend will feature artists throughout the northern and southern parts of the county, including the San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley communities. Over 150 artists will be showing their art and craftsmanship in the North County alone.
Stephanie Heit – Scotts Valley
Encaustic and oil painter Stephanie Heit uses oils and hot wax to portray emotional messages to the viewer. The encaustic process involves painting with wax in layers, something that Heit began experimenting with about 10 years ago, she said.
“I have always liked layers – Layers of information, layers of emotion – and the wax is a great medium for that.”
Heit admitted that any good artist, including many artists that live in the Bay Area, heavily influence her work.
She said she is always looking for the newest artistic trend and loves the new art that young people are creating; trying to wrap her head around why they are doing what they are doing and then incorporating those aspects into her own artistic vision.
 “I am always trying to grow and change, but mostly it is what impacts me emotionally in my life that ends up on the canvas,” Heit said.
Marc Shargel – Felton
Marc Shargel’s journey as a marine life photographer began when he started diving as a student, nearly 36 years ago.
He took a camera into the ocean about five years later, and used those photos to share the experience of the ocean with those who would never see it, he explained.
“It became a way to communicate,” Shargel said, “and ultimately — years and years later — to advocate for marine conservation.”
Shargel joined the Open Studios tour as an artist and photographer approximately 15 years ago.
With special photographic equipment and a dry suit, he visits Point Lobos at least once a month and monitors ocean conditions there.
Jennifer Hennig – Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond
Sculptor and Ceramics Director at Mountain Arts Center, Jennifer Hennig works with high-fire stoneware clay. All of her pieces can be displayed outdoors and she sculpts her work and or uses a wheel to throw by hand.
“I was an environmental studies major and I kind of got seduced into my husband’s family’s work,” she said. “They sucked me into their artwork and it seemed like a gentler form of communicating.”
Originally planning to become an environmental lawyer, Hennig discovered her passion for ceramics and sculpture around 20 years ago.
The environment has played a large role in her work, which is represented through her use of animals and other symbols that her art incorporates.
“I really enjoyed this (ceramics) and had a knack for it and it’s another way of communicating and having compassion for the planets inhabitants.”
Raf Strudly – Ben Lomond
Raf Strudly is a craftsman specializing in wood turned vessels and dishes.
While most of the wood types he uses for his crafts are locally grown and harvested in Aptos, he said, he often employs the use of many exotic woods as well.
“You basically get a log, you cut it to the shape you want, trim it, mount it on a lathe, and it turns in revolutions and you start using either a scraper or a gouge and you form your bowl,” Strudly explained. “Then you hollow it out and finish it.”
This is Strudly’s first year as an Open Studios artist and he began practicing the craft about three years ago.
Some bowls take five to six hours while some may take 20, he added.
Sometimes, the shape of the wood is predetermined, but occasionally the drying and shaping process takes on a mind of its own.
“(Sanding) is the part that I enjoy the least, but the part that I do enjoy is letting the wood more or less speak to me if you will.”
For more information about the Open Studios Art Tour, as well as additional local artists whose studios will be open to the public, visit http://www.artscouncilsc.org/open-studios/