Artists to hold open house Artists to hold open house (April 27, 2001)

By Amy Goodpaster Strebe

Local artists will open their doors to the public April 28-29 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Mountain View during the 15th annual Silicon Valley Open Studios. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to view local artists in their studios and to purchase art work directly from its makers.

Jackie Krantz, a longtime Mountain View resident and watercolor artist, will be participating in Open Studios for her second year. Krantz, who has been teaching art to young people since 1988, is involved in the Arts in Action program that provides art education to area schools. According to Krantz, the fact that she's an artist herself goes a long way with her students.

"Kids are excited that I paint too," she said. "Artists are exotic to them, and it makes the idea of art more touchable for them."

Krantz will be showing her watercolor paintings at her home on Cuesta Drive over the weekend. She will have landscapes of scenes from abroad on display, as well as familiar scenes of such local places as Gamble Gardens and the boathouse at Shoreline Park. She will also have cards she has painted available for sale, and she will be donating 30 percent of the proceeds to bike ride that her daughter and husband will be participating in this June to benefit AIDS charities.

"This is a great opportunity for artists in the area to get their work shown," said Krantz. "With teaching it's hard to get a body of work together, but it's definitely a worthwhile event. The variety of work you see is awesome."

According to Krantz, Open Studios is a low-key event and a great opportunity to meet artists in their space. "Sometimes people feel intimidated when they go into a gallery," Krantz said. "But during Open Studios there isn't the expectation that you have to buy anything. It's just fun to see what your local artists are doing and to socialize."

Another fellow artist and art instructor, Susan Worley, will also be participating in Open Studios for her second year. "I went to Open Studios last year and thought it was so much fun that I wanted to be a part of it this year," she said.

A local ceramic sculptor, Worley teaches at the clay studio at the Sunnyvale Community Center and at Bullis Elementary School in Los Altos Hills through the Arts in Action program. "I love kids and love to teach them about art," said Worley.

Worley specializes in custom-made ceramic masks that she calls "essence portraits of a person."

"My custom 'portrait sculptures' are not the typical bust-like realistic portraits," she said. "They are created to capture more of the essence of the person, and sometimes their loved ones too."

To make the masks Worley said she first conducts an interview in the client's home and then returns for a second session to create a mould of the person's face.

"The process continues with various sketches outlining possible sculptures I could make utilizing the face to create a very unique and personal wall-hung sculpture for my client," Worley said. "The sculptures can be as simple as a face mask or as complex as a large fountain or a family gathering within an environment of the client's choice."

Worley, along with fellow Sunnyvale Artists' Cooperative members Linda Astill, Cindy Couling, Liz King, Phyllis Lee and Bob Nicholson, will be showcasing her work at 645 Cheshire Way in Sunnyvale during Open Studios this weekend.

"I love to work with clay because it's such a tactical medium," Worley said. "I do a lot of texturing, stamping and pattern work with my art." Maps to the Open Studios self-guided tours are available free of charge at Printers Inc., at 301 Castro St. For more information on the event, call 941-5337 or visit www.svopenstudios.org.<$>