Open Studios in Downtown White Plains

Open studios are fun. Visitors get to talk with artists, getting a glimpse into the creative process. According to Gail Freed, who rents space in the ArtsWestchester building at 31 Mamaroneck Ave., some of the artists even serve wine to their guests.

This weekend, the corner of Mamaroneck and Martine avenues is the place to be when a stretch of road is closed down on Friday evening for ArtsBash, held by ArtsWestchester, and an Open Studio event on Saturday. Tickets to the Friday fundraiser start at $65 to sample food from several area restaurants and the Open Studio event is free. Click here for more information and to purchase a ticket. The organization will also hold a Funny Money workshop for kids on Saturday afternoon.

Luka Brucaj, owner of Tre Angelina in White Plains for the last decade, owns another restaurant in upstate New York and is quite busy running both establishments. He will be serving food at the ArtsBash.

“I’m from White Plains and I’m interested in supporting the Westchester community," he said. "Though I’m pretty busy lately, this is a nice thing to do."

Over two dozen artists and other creative types rent space in the former bank building, which the organization moved into in 1999. The banking area, complete with a huge vault, is used for exhibits.

“It’s kind of like a little incubator, said Janet Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester. “The arts are about community and once a year we like to invite everyone in.”

Visitors will get to see young ladies at the Westchester Fashion Academy for Children make their own patterns and sew their own garments.

“There’s no home economics anymore, but they do have Ms. Proctor,” said the institution’s founder, Denise Proctor.

As a little girl growing up in the county, she was always drawn by the large gold doors in the bank building and told her mother that one day she would somehow be connected to the building. Former ad man Paul Plaine at BallparkPrints.com looks forward to the open studio afternoon.

“It’s good to meet people who connect with something you make,” he said.

He specializes in archival printing and as he speaks about baseball history in New York City, his eyebrows rise, the corner of his mouth curls into a half-smile and he gets a  glint in his eye. His photos of the old Yankee Stadium show a Spartan space where the monuments stood in front of the center field wall in the field of play. The Mets and their ballfields are also duly represented in his archives.

Jay Brodsky does impressionistic takes with jumbo oil pastel sticks on some of the country’s most iconic photos, including famous photos taken at Kent State, Woodstock and China, when former President Richard Nixon visited, creating what he calls “figurative abstractions.”

Rima Grad always has something new going on in her studio. She specializes in mixed media works on paper, including a series of self-portraits and books, or storyboards.

“I call them books,” she said. “It’s a series narrative, really. I call them books, but they’re not necessarily in book format.”

Abstract painter Kiyoshi Otsuka’s studio is crammed with canvases. Paint is splattered on the floor, on a folding chair and on a pair of sneakers.

For 25 years, Thomasenia Myers taught English literature at Purchase College and is now drawing inspiration from African-American literary influences to infuse her artistic creations.

A new work, called “Toni’s Pecola,” is inspired by Toni Morrison’s novel "The Bluest Eye."

“I feel like the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement [of the 1960s and 1970’s] is haunting me,” she said.

Despite her outsider status due to her relative lack of training, she is in the midst of a flurry of creativity. “I feel like I’ve been hemmed in and obedient all my life.”

The work of several artists will give kids a kick, including Wanda Behrans Horrell a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychoanalyst and photographer, who will display a desktop slideshow featuring dogs, some of which wear expensive jewelry.

Eileen Stodut, a former set designer, paints large-scale animal figures and environmental scenes in oil and acrylic. She shares a studio with Christina Berretta, whose celebrity silkscreen prints include a likeness of Justin Bieber.

Bryan Greene’s diorama will be a big hit with youngsters. The rural scene serves as a setting for his photos, which can be of a macabre nature, including a truck crashing into a building. He also creates colorful digital collages featuring skulls and flowers.

The studios and the proximity to other artists serve as a springboard for creativity.

“It’s such a pleasure to be here,” said Freed, a White Plains resident, as she prepared her large studio for the open house. “I can actually get work done.”

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