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Scrap wood is the medium of choice for award-winning artist Josef Twirbutt.
“It’s a very interesting material. It comes in different textures and colors and shapes,” Twirbutt said. “It caught my eye that something can be done with it.”
The 96-year-old Danville resident has seen his work displayed in over 20 exhibitions and two solo shows.
Twirbutt is also among the artists set to participate the weekend’s in the fifth annual Tri-Valley Artist Studio Tour.
Poised to be the largest TVAST to date, this year’s self-guided tour includes over 80 artists across 30 venues such as home studios, gardens and collectives.
Free and open to the public, the route features a range of mediums including paintings, ceramics, glass, photography, textiles and jewelry.
The tour offers a way to build connections between creators and visitors, glass artist and TVAST participant Emelie Rogers told the Pleasanton Weekly.
“The beauty of an open studio tour is the public can interact face to face with the artist,” Rogers said. “They can learn about the artist’s technique, inspiration and their personal artist journey.”
Twirbutt’s journey began in Lithuania, where he was born in 1929.
He earned a master’s degree in architecture in Poland, escaped the country for political reasons and moved westward to France.
It was there where he began making art for pleasure.
“When I arrived to Paris, I didn’t have any money,” Twirbutt told the Weekly. “I was only in a T-shirt and shorts and I had to start my life from the beginning.”
While searching among garbage for food, Twirbutt said something else captured his attention.
“I could see some broken furniture, some wood stuff and somehow also it caught my eye,” Twirbutt said.
After moving to New York City in 1958, Twirbutt dove into his artistry. He worked mainly with wood, inspired by sculptor and colleague Jozef Stachura.
During 1992, Twirbutt was involved in an accident. He lost both of his legs and retired from his day job to become a full-time artist one year later.
In addition to talking with artists like Twirbutt during the Studio Tour, attendees can also catch demonstrations being put on by the creators.
Rogers plans to show off the use of a silkscreen to apply an image on glass.
During an interview with the Weekly, she likened the process to printing designs on shirts.
“Instead of using ink, I use a very fine powdered glass. I press it through the screen, much like you would ink,” she explained.
“Unlike paint, you can’t merely mix different colors of glass and have an expectation that they’re going to be similar to as if you mix paint,” she added.
Rogers has been participating in TVAST since its inception.
“I always walk away feeling, ‘I think I got more out of this than I put in,’” Rogers said.
Rogers will be set up at her home studio in Pleasanton along with artists Lynda Meikle and Sharon Stanton.
On nearby Main Street, Gallery da Vinci is set to host several artists as well including Rita Mei Choy and Malavika Oak, Laura Davidson, Victoria Evanoff and Shalaka Mulherkar.
“The Tri Valley Artist Studio Tour is the premier and major art event in this entire Tri-Valley region,” TVAST participant and event publicist Marc Casad said.
“You can spend a lot of time talking to just one artist, or you can spend half a day talking to a dozen artists,” Casad said.
He is among the 16 artists planned for stationing at the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore.
TVAST attendees will also be able to find 10 artists at the Dougherty Station Community Arts Center in San Ramon.
Heading north to Danville, Tricia Grame plans to present her two- and three-dimensional depictions of the female figure.
Exploring iconography of women, Grame said the symbol is changing through time.
In works such as the “Woman in Stone” series, Grame has used stone as her medium, resembling something unearthed.
“I chisel, carve and stain with copper, siena, gold, ochre — earth tones that enabled me to create a primitive form representing the pure, bare essentials of a female, excavated from the natural processes of the sun, energy, minerals, erosion, sediments and weathering,” Grame wrote in a message.
TVAST attendees are encouraged to visit studios in any order. Most of the art along the tour is for sale at studio prices.
All studios are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (May 2-3). Private home studios are scheduled to open early from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday (May 1).
TVAST is sponsored by the Alliance for Visual Arts, a nonprofit organization that promotes local artists.
For more information about TVAST, including specific venues in Danville, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore, visit the AVA website at allianceforthevisualarts.org.
