T10.12 SMAS Yossi Kristahis Saturday and Sunday, celebrate nine years of the Santa Monica Studios annual Open Studios Tour. It wll be a busy weekend for SMAS. Not only will the artists of the arts center open their studios, but also a new exhbition entilted “Multifarious Architecture” opens.

In Arena 1, the group exhibition, “Multifarious Architecture,” curated by Yossi Govrin and Krista Augius, will feature the work of architects, sculptors, and both video and installation artists. Artists included are: Robin Hill, Tanja Rector, Berenika Boberska, Oona Gardner, William Ransom, Jeff Garrett and Krista Augius. http://yossigovrin.com http://www.kristaaugius.com/

For this weekend’s event Yossi Govrin will be featuring his “NIghtwatch Series” which consists of forty 7-8ft. sculptures accompanied by large-scale oil paintings.

Another artist, Lulu Camp will be opening her studio at 7C. “I have been an artist there for two years,” says Camp. “I love the community and support i feel when I am painting there. It is mostly definitely my home away from home.

She dPOWSMAS LuluCampescribes her process, “I paint portraits of people and animals. I sometimes blend them with my photography. This weekend, I will mostly be showing the portraits I have recently painted. If you enjoy colors, and mystical ideas, then my studio is one to visit!” http://lulucampart.com/

Luigia Martelloni has had a studio at SMAS since it’s inception. She will be showing her latest installation called “Ode to the World.” Martelloni admits she created “Ode to the World” to remind people of the infinite gratitude to this wonderful world. She explains, “It Is also a more intellectual significance of the piece that involves my relationship with art history, my own process of creation and the idea in it and the natural world, how often I used organic materials.”

10.12 POW LuigiMartelloniMartelloni has included the image of “Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe” of Edouard Manet in the installation. She explains, “When this painting been presented to the jury of Official Salon in the 1863, was rejected! and shown to the Salon des Refuses…it was a scandal!! But it was a revolutionary piece that broke the tradition of the 1800…The light, the materials and the nude lady on the ground it was totally shocking the mentality of the time. It became the most famous painting in modern history.”

The installation is an homage of the first sign of modernity in art history. Stop into Martelloni’s studio (#8). http://www.luigiamartelloni.com

Special guest photographer and artist J.J. L’Heureux has been asked to participate in SMAS all weekend art event.

L’Heureux made her first expedition to Antarctica in 2000 and returned with a newfound love and the stars of her first book and photography series, Faces of the Southern Sea. She continues her trips yearly to do research, find inspiration and document her adventures with intimate photos of these cold weather animals.

It was her 2nd expedition that she introduced to abandoned whaling stations. Like the previous trip, she eagerly anticipated her chance to capture images of penguins, seals, sea lions, etc., when the reality of the past appeared before her like a bitter pill to swallow.

“With tlowres 10.12 SMStudiosJJLHeureux 3 Albertaheir giant chains, boilers and cemeteries I often feel the presence of the former inhabitants,” recalls L’Heureux. It was over one hundred years ago when whales were first hunted as a source for oil. L’Heureux has experienced an inside glimpse of the desecration of a vital species. This symbolic wasteland of the past has propelled her to create her “Bags of Bones” series.

“I feel we may be creating a “dead world” if we do not make concessions,” says L’Heureux. “The whales have never returned to the bays in South Georgia Island where they were killed then rendered into oil and shipped off in barrels to the cities of the world. Bone meal was the final evidence of the whales that were harvested in the Southern Ocean.”

L’Heureux’s work is currently featured in numerous museum exhibitions across the globe. In addition to doing speaking engagements all over the world about her work and adventures, she also lectures about the grave importance of saving wildlife that she has grown to love on such a deep personal level.  http://www.jjlheureux.com/ http://www.penguinspirit.com/

Artist Gregg Chadwick’s studio will be open for business.POW Sat10.12 SMAS GreggChadwickRevolutions

See image: Gregg Chadwick, Revolutions 48″x36″ oil on linen 2013

“My artwork is inspired by sources spanning from Greek myth to the Occupy movement, I explore not just how things look, but how humanity hums beneath the surface,” reveals Chadwick.

The artist has been resident of the Santa Monica Art Studios for the past nine years. Chadwick adds, “I remember walking in with the directors of the space into an open, windblown arena bereft of walls and furnishings. Light fell from the skylights above onto a proposed space on the blueprints which we rolled out on the oilstained floor. That light picked my studio space. And I knew that I was home”

POW SMAS Pamela Simon-JensenPamela Simon-Jensen will be showing a series of abstract expressionist paintings.

She explains, “These paintings are intuitive gestural abstractions. Color, line and texture describe rhythms, movement and emotion – dynamic cycles from explosion to contemplation.

I’ve been at SMAS a couple of years now and it’s a wonderful environment with really warm people.”  http://www.pamelasimonjensen.com/

On view: Oct 12th – Nov 23th.

What: Reception
Where: Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. 90405.
When: Saturday, Oct.12 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm; Sunday, Oct. 13, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Phone: 310.397.7449
Website: http://www.santamonicaartstudios.com