A NEW BLOG

WE'VE MOVED!
Please visit our NEW and IMPROVED Open Studios Art Tour blog called OSAT Spotlight (http://osatspotlight.wordpress.com/)

On this blog, you’ll find amazing content, photos, inside peeks, and special announcements about participating Open Studios Art Tour artists. Use the blog to get to know artists in the area, plan your Open Studios visits, and get endless inspiration!

Visit the OSAT Spotlight daily, as it is our mission to post as offen as we can, featuring a new artist or gallery each time!

If you are an artist or gallery on the Open Studios Art Tour, are you interested in becoming a featured artist on the OSAT Spotlight blog? ARTS Obispo is looking to publicize this year’s Open Studios Art Tour artists and galleries every way we can! This blog will put the spotlight on an artist or gallery each day (starting in March) until the 2011 Tour!

In order to get this going we need artists to jump on board. Feel like sharing a before and after shot of your work? What about highlighting the tools you use to create your art? There will be a number of themes featured on the OSAT Spotlight blog. If you are an artist who will be participating on the 2011 Tour and are looking to publicize your studio more, contact AO’s Program Director now!

12x12(x12) - Shoes It Yourself!

This is one of the last fund-raising 12x12(x12) workshops for the 2010 Open Studios Art Tour - Check it out!

Shoe It Yourself! January 22 — 1 to 4 p.m.

Come learn how to transform your old shoes into fabulous new ones with the new leather paints and Margot Silk Forrest’s expert guidance.

In this three-hour workshop, you’ll learn how to transform ordinary footwear into wearable art for your feet! With Margot Silk Forrest’s guidance, you will create a pair of one-of-kind shoes of your own design using her collection of 26 colors of gleaming and metallic leather paints. You will also learn how to glue or stitch on embellishments, add glitter to your shoes, and adapt these same techniques to handbags.

Margot will bring numerous examples of shoes she has created, plus all the paints and other supplies you will need for painting your shoes. There is a materials fee of $8, which includes a set of three paint brushes you will take home.

When you come to class:

Wear or bring a painting smock or old shirt to protect your clothes from the paint — it’s permanent!

Bring a pair of new or used shoes, sandals or boots. They should be made of leather, man-made “leather” or fabric. (Note: Many people bring athletic shoes to paint and are disappointed when they find out that they can’t paint the soles. Paint simply won’t stick to that kind of plastic. However, if you want to paint the upper part of the shoe and are okay with leaving the soles their original white or black, go ahead and bring them.)

If you’re not sure which shoes will work best, bring multiple pairs and/or email Margot at margot@sassyfeet.com.

Call ARTS Obispo now to sign up! 544-9251

For ideas and inspiration, look at the shoes on Margot’s blog. Or on Margot's website.
Margot also has a book you can check out: Sassy Feet! How to Paint, Bead, Bedeck and Embellish Your Shoes, which is available in her online store and in the San Luis Obispo library system.

2010 Review & Looking to 2011

Catalog Numbers

• 2,500 catalogs were printed & distributed throughout the county – free for the first time in 2010! (50 were sent out to surrounding county arts councils, in hopes to encourage out-of-county visitors)

• 1,200 catalogs were downloaded in the month of October from the ARTS Obispo website

• Catalogs are available online, adding thousands more ad impressions to the basic printed distribution

• All advertisers in the Open Studios Art Tour catalog are listed on our website as a clickable link from Sept. 2011 through Dec. 2011

• The 2011 catalog will be available to download from Sept. 2011 – May 2012

Website Numbers

• The Open Studios Art Tour page on the ARTS Obispo website received 3,500 unique visits during October

• The Online Visual Artist Directory (where all OSAT artists have 4 or more images) received over 6,000 unique visits in October

• Over a 6 month period our website traffic increased by 2,150 unique visits and we sustained a half million hits during the same period (Summer/Fall ‘09 and Summer/Fall ‘10). We anticipate these numbers will increase with the launch of our new website in early 2011.
  

Visitor Numbers

• Based on catalog distribution, an estimated 3,700 – 7,400 visitors toured Open Studios last October

• Based on artist surveys; there were over 500 out-of-county visitors to Open Studios.

• These visitors came from as far away as Alaska, Chicago, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and North Carolina, and as close as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, the Valley, San Francisco, and San Diego

Demographic Numbers

• Based on visitor surveys; 63% of Open Studios Art Tour visitors are over the age of 55 leaving 37% to the visitors age 54 and below

OSAT 2011

SAVE THE DATE!
Open Studios Art Tour 2011
October 15-16: South County
October 22-23: North County
October 29-30: Encore Weekend Countywide

Directional Signs - How to post them without breaking City Laws

Does your city have strict rules on sign postage for things like yard sales or OPEN STUDIOS? Do not worry! We have some alternative ideas for you!

The easiest would be to buy a few (or make a few) sandwich boards and tape an OSAT Directional Sign to each side - see above.

The other is to:
1. get a bucket... any size
2. pour concrete into the bucket (follow directions for making the concrete)
3. stick a wooden peg/stick into the concrete before it drys
4. tape/glue the OSAT Directional Sign to the wooden stick.
You can then put your signs on any corner without breaking City rules!
Please see above for images of these steps.

All of these supplies can be found at hardware stores like Miners ACE Hardware, Lowes, and Home Depot.

Locations where you can pick up a FREE OSAT Catalog!

2010 Catalog Locations: Free catalogs available September 15, 2010

North County

Atascadero
The Artery – 5890 Traffic Way. (805) 464-0533
Cambria
Cambria Chamber of Commerce – 767 Main St. (805) 927-3624
The Vault Gallery – 2289 Main St. (805) 927-0300
Los Osos, Morro Bay
Art Center Morro Bay – 835 Main St. (805) 772-2504
Volumes of Pleasure Bookstore – 1016 Los Osos Valley Rd. (805) 528-5565
Paso Robles
Studios on the Park – 1130 Pine St. (805) 238-9800
Templeton
Joebella Coffee – 8793 Plata Ln. (805) 461-4822


South County

Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Nipomo
Lund’s – 133 E. Branch Ave. (805) 473-1184
Old Town Nursery – 323 A, W. Tefft St. (805) 929-1084
Seaside Gallery – 580 Cypress St. (805) 773-8057
San Luis Obispo
ARTS Obispo 570 Higuera St., Ste. #165. (805) 544-9251
Cal Poly University Gallery One Grande Ave. (805) 756-1571
Gallery at the Network –778 Higuera St. (805) 788-0886
SLO Museum of Art –1010 Broad St. (805) 543-8562
SLO Chamber of Commerce - 1039 Chorro St. (805) 781-2777
Santa Maria
Gold Coast Art ‘n Frames – 613 E. Main St. (805) 346-6099