By Brett Ashley Hawkins
Editorial Intern
Last Saturday and Sunday, several homes and businesses in Long Beach became part of Long Beach’s Open Studio Tour, for which local artists within the Wrigley, California Heights, and Bixby Knolls areas of Long Beach opened up their studios to the public eye. The month of October, having been dubbed “Arts and Culture Month” by GLOBAL (Greater Long Beach Arts Lab), sparked this event as its primary celebratory feature.
From 11am to 5pm on the days of the showcase, sculptures, paintings, ceramics, photographs, and mosaics were all on display in the artists’ studios. Participating artists included Caryn Baumgartner, Tina Burnight, Monica Fleming, John Fox, Gisele, Mary Gracie, Ricardo Guitidiaz, Susan Erikson Hawkins, Paula Burns-Isenberg, Akinsanya Kambon, Dawn Morishige, Douglas C. Orr, Teresa Peralta, Daniel Quinonez, Erin Regan, Mario Reynozo, David Rodriguez, Robin K. Smith, Phillip M. Smith, Erika Elizabeth Soliz, and Jennifer Tenance. Live music was played at some venues, and on the first night of the event, films by local filmmakers Tony Alosi and Anthony Puente were presented.
Wrigley-based Lisa Wibroe organized the tour, which granted free admission, and transportation between the various art studio locations was provided by a free trolley in an effort to make the tour more environmentally friendly. Wibroe was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. “There were a lot of activities going on [that weekend in Long Beach],” said Wibroe. “People have a lot of choices these days.”
Assisting Wibroe in pulling the event together was Greg Watson of GLOBAL and artists Baumgartner and Burnight. “[Baumgartner] did the brochures and created our logo,” said Wibroe. “This took a lot of people to make this tour such a success.”
The artists showed their creations at their respective studios, and some of them had their pieces for sale. Robin K. Smith sold her own unique jewelry creations while also showing her art pieces that were not for sale. “It was interesting,” said attendee Rhonda Pace. “There were different angles and perspectives each of these artists worked out of. There was art as beauty, art as truth, art as commerce, and many more depictions of art seen by all these different visionaries.”
