The courtyard of Le Chêne French Cuisine was bursting with artistry and creativity at the 12th annual Santa Clarita Artists Association’s art show on Sunday.
Attendees enjoyed the day as they walked through the courtyard and visited different artists’ booths, enjoyed some local wine and coffee, and listened to music.
Jane Mick, who chaired the event for the second year in a row, said she enjoys seeing the different artists and the community members who attend.
“And because not everybody, I think we’re 170-something members. And not everybody knows each other. And this way, you get to know a few more artists and their work, and plus, for me, as an artist, I like to see where the buyers gravitate to like, ‘Oh, they like this? OK.’ Because my style kind of varies,” Mick said.
Mick’s art style usually involves mixed media on her bigger pieces, but mainly acrylic in her other artworks.
Featured artist Jamie Santellano had paintings, jewelry and prints at her booth.
Santellano said she loves going through the process of creating an art piece just as much as the end result.
“I mean, I absolutely love the end result because it’s, you can stand back and go, ‘Wow, look, I did this.’ But at the same time, for me, it’s also the process. There’s a zone that you get into artistically, and it’s very meditative and it’s very calming,” Santellano said. “It’s actually very therapeutic. So, I feel like I get angry if I don’t create. I find myself getting restless and agitated. So, it’s very, very much therapeutic and um, something I can’t ignore.”
She added that she works in alcohol inks, watercolors, and has begun using oils and uses Sterling silver and 18-karat gold for her jewelry pieces.
Santellano said that artificial intelligence does not give the same feeling like a real person would when it comes to creating art.
“Especially with the whole movement of (artificial intelligence.) It’s going to … a lot of artists are really afraid that that’s going to kill it (art), but I believe that we have soul. AI doesn’t. And we’re the ones who are feeding AI. So, we got to pull it back, and again, get back to the roots, use our hands, use our brain, that tactile stimulation is so important, and feeling, feeling that through your veins. It’s so important,” Santellano said.
Caitie Velasco said it was her first year selling her ceramics at the art show, and she was excited about it.
Velasco said her process varies for each of her pieces, and it could sometimes take up to a week.
“I either hand build or slab build each piece. And I make a drawing for each piece to a simple line drawing that I kind of try to make emote a certain way, a certain way I felt or like a character that I can imagine. So, I draw that drawing and I actually carve it into the piece,” Velasco said about her pottery process. “And then once that’s a little bit dry, I fill it with a colored slip and it creates the line, and then I scrape away all of the excess, and it kind of like reveals itself to me.”
She added that she usually adds some stripes of some kind or solid border and then glazes it.
Velasco said she hopes that people who see her work get inspired and want to create their own work.
“Maybe people will see my stuff and maybe they make art on their own and like inspire them to become part of the association and bring their stuff out here. Because I think, you know, a lot of people, for a long time, I just made stuff and then it would like sit in my garage and you know, nobody would see it,” Velasco said.
Carlos Torres, who came with his wife, Stephanie, said he enjoys going to the art show to see what the artists have to offer.
“I think there’s a singularity to each of their works, and my wife just picked out, just by seeing something that looks like nothing that we bought before, but she saw it, and she said, ‘I think we know this artist, you know?’ Which is kind of a fun thing. It’s like we didn’t create it, but we can recognize the things in people’s artwork,” Torres said about the art.
He added that he and his wife have been supporters of the arts for the past few years and have bought from people at the art show before.
