Portland Open Studios Tour
This is the first year I am participating in the Portland Open Studios tour. During this city wide annual event that takes place on the second and third weekends of October, more than 100 artists open their studios to the public. Any other year there would be a tour map that sends you all around town to get an intimate look at the creative spaces and processes of the local makers. And you’d discover new neighborhoods and a new favorite coffee shop or a brewpub along the way.
“Connecting with artists in their studios gives you the unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their art and where it comes from”
With this year's challenges, the tour had to adapt and go online just like so many other cultural events have already. At first I was pretty bummed because I was so looking forward to welcoming visitors into my space, showing my paintings, talking about my ideas and process. And as the year went on and pretty much all of my art presentation was happening exclusively online, I realized that there are great advantages to a virtual open studio tour.
Advantages of virtual artist studio tours
For one, I could invite my friends and collectors from all over the world to participate. I absolutely love my Portland art community. It has been nurturing and supportive ever since I started my journey as a painter 7 years ago. But I always want to take my art to other places, both nationally and internationally, so what a better opportunity to do it in a novel and intimate format of an open studio tour.
Talk about open: Open to the whole world! I love it.
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Technical Challenges and Solutions
I moved studios just a few months ago and while I love this space, it presents a few challenges. The main one is that there is no natural light. And coming from a large industrial loft with a wall of windows, it's quite a change. There was a lot of trial and error. I finally figured out how to light my work space properly just to discover that what is more than sufficient for painting, is woefully dark for video.
It feels like an eternity since the last time I installed a show, and I can't wait to get all these small but mighty ladies up on my studio wall. It is so much fun to see them all together.
Installing artwork: A wall of babushkas
I am often so consumed by my projects and ideas, always working toward something new, pushing forward, that I forget to take a step back and take it all in. And installing artwork for this event gave me the opportunity to spend time with all these paintings and just be in their presence. It’s been a great experience, and new ideas and connections I haven’t noticed before emerged as a result.
You might wonder how long it took me to install this wall and honestly I didn’t count the hours, and it didn’t take days. Having curated a gallery for a few years, I have a lot of experience installing shows. My process might appear haphazard, but in reality it’s just a very intuitive approach to artwork installation. I hang shows the way I paint: I respond to the subjects and materials: I don’t think, I just move. And the same way as I am not afraid of mistakes on a painting (there is always more paint!) I am not concerned about trying a layout just to find out it doesn't work (there is always putty for the walls and more nails in the box.)
Here’s a little sneak peek of the Babushka Wall. Please forgive my less than stellar camerawoman skills. I recorded this while picking up the camera on the tripod and moving the whole cumbersome contraption around. Which made me realize something I never thought I would have to do, but: I have to buy a selfie stick for the official IG Live event! Yup, a selfie stick. They have stabilizers, so it will be less bumpy and woozy when I move around the studio.
Visit my studio virtually with IG Live
And you can see them all together, from afar and up close and personal if you tune into my IG Live on October 18th at 1pm Pacific Time. I am @postsovietart on Instagram. Here’s a link to my account and if you follow me, you’ll get a notification when the livestream begins.
You have to have an Instagram account to watch the broadcast. If you don’t or aren’t available at that time, send me an email contact@tatyanaostapenko.com and we’ll set you up with your own private studio visit.
But hurry, this orderly and well organized wall of babushkas will descend into the usual chaos of a working artist studio shortly after this Sunday open studio tour. 🙃
