La Jolla and Pacific Beach studios tour opens artists’ homes to 1,200 locals
More than 1,200 people visited two dozen local artists in five of the artists’ homes in La Jolla and Pacific Beach on Sept. 18, viewing art, gardens and studios in the first self-guided San Diego Coastal Art Studios Tour.
The tour was free, though all the artists offered their works for sale. The event also provided donation boxes at each location to collect money for the Village Arts and Education Foundation. The tour raised $1,239.
At Jane Fletcher’s home on Alta La Jolla Drive in La Jolla, visitors were treated to Fletcher’s wooden front doors, which the artist carved herself. Throughout the home, hundreds of her paintings were displayed for sale.
Fletcher said she was pleased at the number of people who stopped by to look at her art.
La Jolla resident and tour visitor Dave Abrams said he really wanted to see Fletcher’s work. “She’s really quite prolific. I like her wood doors and so forth. It’s just so organic.”
On Fletcher’s back patio, painter Betty Hock said participating in the show was “freeing my creative desire to have people enjoying my work.”
Jewelry maker Victoria Ward said the tour was a “positive” experience, with people saying “they’re amazed at the quality of art here.”
One of the tour’s organizers, Dot Renshaw, opened her home on Beryl Street in Pacific Beach to seven artists, who, with Renshaw, displayed their works, from paintings to sculptures.
The tour was well-received, Renshaw said, with many visitors asking about the history of her home and the additions she made.
“People are getting ... to talk and find out about neighborhood and history,” she said.
Renshaw also showed visitors her paintings and her studio, including her flammable-liquids refrigerator.
She said she wanted to have this sort of art and studio tour after participating in one 25 years ago through a different organization.
“There hasn’t been anything since then,” she said. “I go, ‘I’m tired of waiting. Let’s just do our own.’”
Cherry Sweig, a La Jolla resident and painter who helped organize the tour, had her paintings set up in one of Renshaw’s rooms and said she was receiving “a lot of traffic.”
“It’s really fun to be with all the different diverse works,” Sweig said.
Kyle Pearson went to view Sweig’s paintings and said she intended to visit the other stops on the tour. “I love [tours like this],” she said. “It’s nice to see what’s currently being done with art.”
Renshaw said she hopes the tour will become a yearly event. ◆
