A unique group of artists in Santa Barbara are opening up their studios to the public with their first collaboration of its type, the Uptown Studio Tour.
Artist Tal Avitzur put the group together for the show, which takes place on Saturday, July 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. He specializes in creating sculptures from found objects culled by scavenging salvage yards, scrap yards, and dumpsters. Inspired by childhood science fiction, movies, and comic books, Avitzur uses everyday household objects such as vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, tools, and kitchen supplies to make sculptures of robots, spaceships, and all sorts of creatures.
Avitzur describes the process as being like a jigsaw puzzle, as it takes a long time to look for the right parts. “I just put something aside and wait until the part appears, taking my parts, laying them down, seeing what looks good together and figuring how to fit them together with these objects that weren’t meant to be together.”
Over the years, Avitzur has met several artists who live within walking distance of his studio and create unique art. There is already a Carpinteria and Summerland studio tour, he thought, so why not Santa Barbara?
In addition to Avitzur, other participating artists for the first tour edition include Macduff Everton, Eric Saint Georges, Laurie Gross, Mary Heebner, Sol Hill, Daniel Elmer Landman, Becca Licha, Margaret Matson, and Nurit Ruckenstein. Although this is the first studio tour of this particular area in Santa Barbara, Avitzur is doing it for fun with no rules attached. “We’re just trying it for the first time. It doesn’t have to be every year; we could do it every few months.”
Avitzur also wants to include different artists for every studio tour.
The locations and information for the artist’s open studios can be found here.
