Somerville Open Studios (informally: ''SOS'') is an annual event where the artists of
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...
open their workspaces to the public. It is also the name of the
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organization which oversees the event.
Somerville Open Studios is the largest Open Studio event in New England, and the third largest in America.
History
Somerville Open Studios was begun by two local artists, Jonathan Derry and Laura Fayer. The first SOS (1999) featured over 80 artists exhibiting at 25 sites throughout the city. The event has been held every year since. Participation and attendance has grown every subsequent year.
Orange balloons have become a signature of SOS, where they mark an artist's studio which is open to be visited. Orange information kiosks have been introduced to provide more guidance. Several trolley-cars are also rented for the duration of event, on which volunteer guides direct people to workspaces and local landmarks.
In 2002 the organization introduced the Artist's Choice Exhibit at the Somerville Museum. In 2011 a Volunteer Art Show was initiated to reward those who volunteer at the event.
In 2012 was the first runway-style SOS Fashion Show, along with an SOS Film Festival for video artists.
As of 2015, SOS allows people to visit the studios of
painters
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
printers
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person or a company
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* Jam ...
,
glassblowers,
welders
In a broad sense, a welder is anyone, amateur or professional, who uses welding equipment, perhaps especially one who uses such equipment fairly often. In a narrower sense, a welder is a tradesperson who specializes in fusing materials together ...
,
woodworkers
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...
,
photographers
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
, and all manner of
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
,
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
and
performing artists. Participants have included
Taza Chocolate
Taza Chocolate is a Mexican-inspired stoneground, organic chocolate manufacturer based in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. The factory was founded by Alex Whitmore in 2005 and is home to over 40 different products that can be found in 2 ...
,
Vernon Street Studios, and
Artisan's Asylum
Artisans Asylum is a non-profit community workshop in Allston, Massachusetts. Artisans Asylum was founded in 2010 by an engineer, an artist, and friends who needed an affordable place to build and make things. Artisans was the first makerspace to ...
.
2020 saw the event on a virtual basis caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Organization and governance
Somerville Open Studios has been a registered 5011(c)3 nonprofit organization since 2004.
[ Its stated purposes is to provide "...access to artists and xposethe public to the wide variety of art-making activities taking place in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts." The organization's yearly budget is appx. $34,000 (as of 2012).]board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
composed primarily of participating artists. An executive committee is formed each year to organize the event, usually under the direction of one or more coordinators. This committee is assisted by approximately fifty dedicated volunteers and over one hundred on-site helpers during the event itself.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Somerville Open Studios homepage
Culture of Boston
Annual events in Boston
Recurring events established in 1999
Festivals in Massachusetts
Non-profit organizations based in Massachusetts