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- Hello, and welcome to Spotlight on the Arts.
I'm Mark Mclemore.
Getting an inside view of the artistic process
and making a wide range of locally produced
works of art available to the public,
that's what Open Studio Tours are all about.
The Arts Foundation for Tucson in Southern Arizona
has organized two different self-guided tours
during the first and second weekends in November.
Here with me now,
are Elizabeth von Isser and Tony von Isser.
Both, local artists who will be among
more than 150 creatives that you can
visit during the next Open Studio Tours.
Thank you for being here.
Elizabeth, tell me, what's the origin of your connection
with Open Studio Tours?
How far do you go back with this?
- I began painting in 2006
and did, I think, my first Open Studio Tour in 2008.
- What are some comments you get back,
and what makes it something that you want to do each year?
- I think that one of the nicest parts about it is that Tony
and I are pretty introverted and so,
having people come to our studios
as part of the Open Studio Tour is a great opportunity
for us to be in a space that we're comfortable.
And I think, having our studio space in our home
makes it comfortable for the people
that come to visit us too.
- So Tony, how do you describe
the creative work that you do?
- I've been accumulating metal pieces, junk, scrap,
dumpster diving for many years.
And I like to take those things
and create something out of it.
It's very rewarding to take what most people
will think is scrap and turn it into something
that's sort of whimsical or fun and artistic.
- Do you ever find yourself holding on to an unusual
piece that you're looking for a way to work into a sculpt?
- There, I used to say,
"I'm gonna save this for something special."
And now I'm saying,
"I'm just gonna use it if I have a use for it."
And yes, I've been doing that for a long time.
And I have quite an accumulation of rusty relics
and I'm using quite a few of them now.
- How far do you go back with the Open Studio Tours?
- This is my fourth year I think.
I retired five years ago.
And now that I have more time,
I'm participating with my wife doing this.
We have a lot of fun.
- Mm hmm.
- Do you feed off of each others creativity?
What kind of support have you been called upon
in the past maybe to provide for Tony's work Elizabeth?
- When either one of us gets stuck
we'll call the other one in and say,
"Okay, I need, I need you to take a look at this."
You know, "What do I do here or how do I fix this?"
Or, ya, you know, if he gets stuck he'll say,
"Do you have a couple of minutes"
and I'll go out to his--
- I'm calling on Liz quite a bit
and she'll come out and I'll have something
laid out and she'll say, "Well, try this."
And she'll move it around a bit.
And it makes all the difference.
So, I have my own built in consultant and it's wonderful.
- Well, what about the potential of a collaboration?
Have you done that yet?
- We actually have done that.
- Yeah, we have.
I did a painting of a bobcat
and the face of it is the painting
but then Tony did metal work to complete his head.
It really turned out very nice.
- For people who have never taken the self-guided tours
and explored this artistic side of Tucson,
what advice would you give?
- You can meet a lot of great people.
And, get a lot of great ideas.
And there's lots of studios that are open.
And, lots to see.
And, the weather is always nice in November.
And, it's just a great time to get out and meet
people and get some ideas and get inspired.
- Yeah, there's maps and lists of all the different artists.
And what Tony and I do on,
for instance weekends that we're not doing the tour,
but other people are,
we'll go through the listings and we'll say,
"Oh, that looks interesting."
Or, "Oh, I think I'd like to see this person's work."
And, we'll create a little map for ourselves
of where we're going to go.
There's so many different studios to go to.
So many different artists to see.
And, you, I mean, you can't do it all.
But, you can pick and choose
which things look most interesting.
- Thank you so much for coming to share your perspective.
Elizabeth von Isser and Tony von Isser.
There are two different Open Studio Tours
being offered in November.
The first are for studios that are located
North of Grant road.
And that happens on November 2nd and 3rd.
That'll be followed by the studios South of Grant road.
Those tours are on November 9th and 10th.
You can plot your own route by using
the digital map at artsfoundtucson.org.
Thank you for watching Spotlight on the Arts.
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