PASO ROBLES – Studios on the Park reopened Monday, June 15, after closing due to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-home orders for COVID-19 the past couple of months.
Studios on the Park announced this on its website — www.studiosonthepark.org — after the state said counties could enter Phase 3 of reopening on June 12.
“We are definitely excited to be open,” said Sarah Ambrose, Director of Development and Operations for Studios on the Park on Monday. “It’s great to have people in here again.”
Studios on the Park is a nonprofit open studio art center. It has six studios with 15 working artists, four galleries and a fine craft and fine art gift store.
Studios on the Park has the following guidelines in place:
• Requires masks to be worn by all artists, staff and visitors. The only exceptions are those who are unable to wear masks due to health restrictions.
• Asks that all visitors and staff practice social distancing.
• Will have the following guidelines posted in the front windows as well as at the front desk: Open and Safe, Face Covering Checklist and Instructions, CDC Hand Washing, CDC Social Distancing, and more. Studios also will have the state self-certification completed and available at the front desk.
• Upon reopening, Studios will only allow 12 visitors in the building at a time, excluding artists and staff. Only two visitors will be allowed in any studio at a time. As time progresses, Studios staff and board of directors will revisit this limit. Signage will be posted in all artist’s studios to remind visitors.
• Studios will require all visitors to follow a one-way path. The floors will have directional signs as well as postings on the wall.
• Studios on the Park has created a “no-touch” policy. If a visitor is interested in a piece of artwork, they will be required to ask a staff person or artist for assistance. All price tags will be visible in the Up Front Gift Store so that buyers need not touch anything.
• A plexiglass barrier will be put in place at the front desk to help limit person-to-person contact. The staff person at the desk will clean the point of sales system after every use with proper and CDC approved cleaners.
• There will be no COLORbar or kid’s area during the reopening of Studios on the Park. The board of directors will revisit this as state and county guidelines change. However, COLORbar and kid’s “on-the-go” kits will be available.
• Restrooms will be closed to visitors.
• Studios will run the HVAC on 100% outside air, and will maintain positive pressurization inside the building — more air coming in than going out will constantly push breathed air outdoors.
• Artists are not required to attend studios if they are uncomfortable.
• There will be no classes or events at Studios on the Park building until the state of California feels it is safe to move into larger crowds. Studios will continue to work on having lessons online.
The current exhibition at Studios on the Park is “Reweaving Our Social Fabric.” It features the art of four women and runs through June 29. The women address issues of resiliency and recovery through their pieces that can also be viewed at studiosonthepark.org.
Studios on the Park invited the four artists to offer imagery and insights for this moment of rebuilding. The featured artists — who work extensively with textile- and or cardboard-based materials, collage, stitch work and or weaving — include Marsha Shaw, a former SLO-based artist who now lives and works in San Francisco, Judy Johnson-Williams, a former Bay Area artist now living and working in Atascadero, Peg Grady, a New York-born multimedia artist currently living and working in Santa Margarita, and Corinne Lightweaver, a Los Angeles-based multimedia artist.
Studios on the Park is open from 12-4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 12 to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles.
Although Studios on the Park is not offering classes or events, it is making Art Smart boxes available for free to children. Parents can come by on Thursday and pick one up, Ambrose said.
