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Local artists needed for inaugural Berthoud Open Studios

April 20, 2018 | Local News

By Shelley Widhalm

The Surveyor

Three Berthoud artists wanted to open their studios to the public and figured Berthoud should join other towns and cities that already have open studio tours.

Nicole Jenkins, Lory Ohs and Charlotte Zink organized the inaugural Berthoud Open Studios on Aug. 4 and are seeking artists to open up their studios for the event. The deadline for artists to register is April 30.

Photo by Shelley Widhalm – Berthoud artists Lory Ohs, left. and Nicole Jenkins helped organize the inaugural Berthoud Open Studios tour Aug. 4. Artists have until April 30 to sign up to be a part of the tour.

“We said this year we’re doing it. If there are 10 or 50 of us, we’re doing this,” said Jenkins, co-founder of the tour and a graphic and jewelry designer and owner of Aero Design, Print, Art in Berthoud. “Every town has an open studio except for Berthoud.”

Berthoud Open Studios will be a free walking and driving tour of the studios and work spaces of artists, plus a few public spaces where artists also will be showing their work; including the Berthoud Community Library District, City Star Brewing, and Lefthand Print Works. Artists who may not have studio spaces also will be able to show their work at the studios of other artists.

“It allows artists to open their workspaces to show their work and sell it,” Jenkins said.

The tour is open to as many artists who are interested in participating, but the hope is for 20 to 30 artists.

“It’s grassroots,” Jenkins said about using simple posters and signs to market the event to keep costs down. “We’re not here to make money. We’re here to get artists together and allow artists to show themselves.”

Prior to the tour Da Bean Coffee House, 434 Mountain Ave., will display the artwork of the artists in July for a preview art show, and a reception will be held there 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 4. The tour will follow the next day 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The public will be able to get maps of tour stops at the library, Da Bean, Wildfire, and the Berthoud Area Chamber of Commerce, along with other places.

“You can see where they produce their work,” said Ohs, executive director of the Wildfire Community Arts Center and a potter and jewelry artist and owner of Ohs-Art in Berthoud.

Visitors will be able to see the artistic processes of the artists, their sources of inspiration, and the tools they use, plus who they are as artists.

“It really gives you the back story of an artist,” Jenkins said. “You get the life of an artist.”

Jenkins, Ohs and Zinc, a painter and metal artist and owner of Zink Metal, also are part of the tour.

Jenkins found signing up for the tour gave her motivation to work on a line of industrial jewelry. She plans to show the results, plus her prints and print blocks.

“For me it was my motivation to get my collection going,” Jenkins said.

The tour also is a way for artists to collaborate together. “There’s lots of artists in town I’d like to see come together and come out,” she said. “It’s collaborating with other artists.”

Ohs likes showing where she does her work, which is in her home studio.

“We want people to come to us to see where we create,” Ohs said. “It’s building the artist community and expressing that to townspeople who are moving in, ‘Hey, we’ve got a lot of creative people here.”

The studio tour is sponsored by the Berthoud Arts & Humanity Alliance. For more information or to join the tour, email [email protected].

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