Edmonds artists open studios for annual tour

From her pastel-drawn grain elevator to her linocut city skyline, Sue Smith cuts a wide swath with her artwork.

She uses pens, pencils, print-making and, most recently, gouache, which is an opaque water color. Her styles run from wonderfully simplistic to layered and complex. Smith has even done some medically inspired art.

Smith admits she'd probably do a lot better in galleries if she could narrow her focus. But that's not what drives her creative engine.

"For me, it's hard to contain, hard to do just one style," said the 45-year-old artist. "I haven't been able to do that well. I like jumping around."

But that jumping around has produced a delightfully eclectic selection of work.

Visitors to the Edmonds Studio Tour this weekend can watch Smith do some of her linocuts and catch dozens of other artists weaving, sculpting and painting.

The free, self-guided third annual Edmonds Art Studio Tour will run Saturday and Sunday and includes 41 artists in 19 studios throughout Edmonds. Visitors can go from studio to studio to see works in progress and buy finished pieces made from glass, wood or fiber.

Smith will share studio space with acrylic artist Kathleen Johnson and fiber artist and ex-math professor Heather McGilvray, who will have her looms running.

"It's amazing when you see her stuff, how mathematically motivated and inspired it is," tour chairwoman Barbara Childs said of McGilvray's work. "She'll have four looms going at once and you'll go into her studio and see these looms and you're just shocked."

Childs is a potter who shares studio space with her sister Molly Winton, who sculpts in wood. The two complement yet tease each other and visitors might catch the back-and-forth as Childs argues how her stuff can go in the dishwasher but her sister's can't. Both sisters, however, gain inspiration from their surroundings.

"All my stuff is botanical or Northwest-inspired, sea creatures or things like that, and it's all right in our back yards," Childs said.

Artist Kathleen Moore not only will show her intricate floral pastels but also will offer family-friendly activities in her "art tent" for those who want to create their own art.

Owner of Axis Mundi Arts, Moore says she believes "we're all artists down inside." She taught K-12 art classes, high school-level art history and produced an annual school art show. Currently, she gives private lessons.

Artist Smith is still learning her trade, such as getting more expert at gouache because she had to give up the oils when the fumes starting getting to her.

Smith started out with a bachelor's degree in anthropology but didn't really use it. She went back to school and did graduate work in scientific illustration and photography and picked up those super detail-oriented skills that she puts to use in her more complex pieces.

After her mom got sick four years ago and eventually died, Smith turned to producing medically inspired art, as a catharsis for her emotions and to use humor as a way to heal. There's one gouache on paper called "Successful Surgeon," where the doc has pulled out the offending organ and two nurses are in the background giving each other a high five.

"I don't think people are running out to buy art work about pulmonary fibrosis, but I have learned about other people's experiences," Smith said.

Smith, who will have a variety of art work for sale during the tour including loose prints that are more affordable, is hoping that people share their stories and their feelings about her artwork during the studio tour.