October 3, 2007
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Penny Kavan begins the outline of a silk scarf in her Portland studio, which opens to the public during
the annual Open Studios self-guided tours this month. Kavan paints faces with a range of cultural and
historical time periods.
See
Art Being Made
During annual Open Studios tours
W hen local artists open th eir
studios to the p ublic th is m onth
you can look out fo r ev ery little
detail in an artists' studio fo rc lu e s
on the g erm in atio n o f ideas and
th e ir tra n s f o r m a tio n in to a r t­
w orks.
O f course you can see the fin­
ished artw ork hanging on a wall,
adorning a person or standing on a
sculpture stand. But it is the artist at
work that lets you see behind the
scenes o f the creative process.
During Portland O pen Studios,
an annual self-directed lour ol 98
artists w orkplaces on Oct. 13 and 14
east o f the W illam ette River and
O ct. 20 anti 2 1 on the W estside, you
can see i t al I. Art ists wi 11 have brush,
chisel or torch in hand right before
your eyes.
It is not surprising that Penny
Kavan's work has an international
focus; the artist was born in the
Republic o f Ireland and grew up in
N orthern Ireland.
T he w orld is ev ery w h ere in
K avan's studio, most notably the
scarves she paints with faces from
a wide range o f cultures and histori­
cal time peritxls. She fills the scarves
with patterns from costum e, je w ­
elry and body decoration from
around the globe.
Painted with fluid lines the faces
becom e even more anim ated when
the scarves are worn. W edding
C erem o n ies, V an ish in g A frica,
Peoples o f the W orld, and Living
Tribes are just a few o f the titles
filling K avan's bookcases and w ait­
ing to inspire her for her next series
o f scarves and paintings.
M any o f the artists are related
to each o th e r by the m edium s
they use or by the k in d s of ideas
that they v isu a lly ex p re ss but
Penny and C ibyl K avan are re la ­
tives. C ibyl K avan, born in P aris
and raised in the Isle o f W ight
and M alta, is P en n y 's ste p d a u g h ­
ter. A ltho u g h they d o n ’t share
g en e tic co d e - Penny a n d C ib y l's
fath e r have been d iv o rce d for
m any years — the tw o w om en have
rem ain ed very clo se and share a
passio n for art. T h ey reg u larly
draw to g eth er, are both part of
the sam e w o m en 's art gro u p and
ex h ib it to g eth er. At C ib y l's s tu ­
d io you w ill see larg e en erg etic
bold ab stra ct p ain tin g s full o f
te x tu re and em o tio n . D on't m iss
C ib y l's garden, not a direct source
o f in sp iratio n , but a place to c o n ­
te m p la te the next artw ork.
T o visit these artists' studios
and the other 96 on the tour, you
need the 2007 Portland O pen Stu­
dios T our G uide — w hich includes
two tickets for all days (children are
w elcom e and free ). a 2(X)8 calendar,
a map to the studios, and contact
inform ation forall participating art­
ists. The guide is available at Art
M edia stores. New Seasons M ar­
kets. W eir's C yclery, and other lo­
c a l r e ta il o u tle ts lis te d on
p o r tla n d o p e n s tu d io s .c o m . an d
costs only $15.
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