lopez island artist studio tour

Inspiring Works From Rural Farms, Forests, & Charming Villages on the Salish Sea

2022 Lopez Island Artists’ Studio tour

• July 6, 2022

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Lopez art tour spotlights island ethic and aesthetics

The artists of Lopez Island in the San Juans welcome visitors to tour their studios and get a close-up view of island artwork Sept. 4 and 5, Labor Day weekend.

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LOPEZ ISLAND — Christa Malay’s art studio and home are up a long, one-lane gravel drive, the type of isolated country lane, part in shade, part in sunshine and disclosing only a portion of itself, that she often captures in paintings.

Malay sometimes paints portraits and re-creates old family photos, but it is her quiet landscapes of country roads, orchards and hay bales catching late summer light that have made her one of Lopez Island’s most iconic painters.

The German-born artist is gracious and charming in person, but says she is most comfortable in the solitude of her studio and wandering this rural island of 2,200 full-time residents.

“I love being able to go for a walk and not see anybody, of having a whole beach to myself. Usually I take just a camera and a sketch pad and sometimes climb up those staircases from the beach, not knowing what’s up there. And if someone is at home, well, I just wave my pencil and pad. Most people here know me,” Malay said.

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Malay’s solitude will be broken — willingly, she said — during the two-day Lopez Island Art Studio Tour Sept. 4 and 5. Malay’s studio is the first stop in the annual Labor Day weekend event that features 25 studios showing the work of 36 artists.

Touring the studios

The self-guided tour stretches from the island’s north end, where Washington State Ferries makes a first stop in the San Juan Islands, to the less-frequented south end, which offers its own scenic beaches, day parks and artists working in a variety of mediums.

Although Lopez is one of the smaller of the ferry-served San Juan Islands, at 30 square miles, the studio tour is spread out enough to require some mode of transportation. Because it’s one of the least hilly of the islands, Lopez attracts bicyclists, and on a sunny weekend biking would be an excellent way to see some of the art studios and to experience the rural roads, ruminating sheep and ripening blackberries.

But most visitors will want to come by car, to see more artists and to comfortably shuttle back and forth to Lopez Village, the small town center about four miles from the ferry landing where most of the islands’ amenities are located, including the popular Saturday market where the island’s farmers, artists and craftspeople sell their wares.

That’s where photographer David Svilar could be found on a recent weekend, greeting friends and new customers who paused to look at his framed color landscapes of remote Lopez beaches and Washington mountain peaks. Svilar, whose studio will be stop No. 3 on the tour, grew up in Snohomish, but his parents bought property on Lopez 35 years ago and spent weekends and summers here over the years. Although he now lives and teaches in Leavenworth, he calls Lopez home.

To capture a striking sunset image at the island’s popular Shark Reef Park, Svilar visited the rocky outcropping on Lopez’s west side more than 200 times. The result is a dramatic combination of light and tide that occurs, he said, only in winter. The rusty bronze of sunset is caught in the reflection of a tide pool and in the moody overhang of clouds.

Svilar said he wanted not a recognizably scenic landscape, but a photo that captured the emotion of what he calls a sacred place.

“Ninety-nine percent of pictures are taken from the same few locations and they’re all the same pretty picture,” Svilar said. “It’s really gratifying when someone from Lopez looks at the photo and says, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen this,’ even though they’ve probably been to Shark Reef dozens of times.”

Intimate with wool

The island’s natural beauty and rural character make their way into many of its artists’ creations, perhaps none quite so completely as those of the owners of Island Fibers, Maxine Bronstein and Debbie Hayward, stop No. 18 on the studio tour.

The couple know not just the sheep farmers on the island, but individual sheep, the feel of their wool, its crimp and luster. Their large studio, originally intended as a two-car garage, is crammed with wool in its many varieties, from coarse, oily tufts to soft, silky skeins.

Bronstein and Hayward skirt and sort freshly sheared wool each spring, removing burrs and chaff. They wash and scour the fleece by hand and spin the fibers.

Hayward, the weaver, creates rugs and blankets, many in the style of the American Southwest. Bronstein knits sweaters, mittens and farm-animal tea cozies that fly out of the studio and are sometimes irreverently worn by their new owners as hats.

“I think there’s a hunger among people for genuineness, for wanting to know where things came from and to have a connection to an actual place when so much today is mass produced,” said Bronstein, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Of their work with wool she says, “It’s so sensory. The smell, the feel, the natural colors of the fleece. It’s very time consuming, but every bit of it we love.”

Art is public, too

Ron Norman is a fourth-generation Lopezian and for more than 20 years ran a mechanical-repair shop on the island. Ten years ago he started creating large steel sculptures full-time, drawing on his familiarity with the island’s natural world. He fabricates many of his works — such as a relief of migrating salmon or a meditative heron — just outside of his studio, No. 19 on the tour. Many of his larger-than-life sculptures can be seen around the island. An arching salmon that seems to swim through a rusty circle stands in Lopez Village, near the bakery and barber shop. Another Norman sculpture, which incorporates iron wheels salvaged from a century-old salmon wagon, stands outside the Lopez Community Center, a gift to the town from several local families.

Norman’s wife, psychotherapist Danáh Feldman, said her husband never went through the typical artist’s period of obscurity and self-doubt. His metal sculptures sold almost immediately, even with prices up to $15,000.

“He has a remarkable feel for animals. He can capture their essence, whether it’s in steel or wire,” Feldman said. “He’ll go out to feed the chickens and not come back for 45 minutes. He just gets caught up observing things.”

Many of the art studios on the tour, including Norman’s, are located in beautiful gardens that seem extensions of the artists’ creative life. Many of the artists also make use of found and recycled materials in their work and homes. They say that life on an island makes them even more conscious of the finiteness of resources, of the need to conserve and reuse.

Malay, who built her house and studio with her husband, Corwin Martin Cuff, said that not so long ago the way she lived — with solar panels, a water-catchment system and clothes from the local thrift shop and the beloved Lopez dump — was considered an “alternative lifestyle.” Now, she says, it’s a way of taking a stand against climate change and of honoring the island they call home.

Visitors will be able to share their beautiful island, and the art it inspires, on this year’s studio tour.

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or [email protected]

Lopez Island Art Scene

Visual arts.

Lopez Island is the least populated of the three main islands but still has plenty to keep art-lovers happy.  The Lopez Artist Guild produces exhibitions through the year at the Lopez Center and The Hamlet.  During the Lopez Island Studio Tour in September, visual artists open their studios to visitors, letting you get a behind-the-scenes look at this creative island.

Performing Arts

The many musicians on Lopez play frequently, whether it be at a local bar or a barn dance. Lopez Center for Community and the Arts and historic Woodmen Hall are great venues to see a concert or performance. The Salish Sea Early Music Festival and Island Stage Left’s Shakespeare Under the Stars also hold performances on Lopez Island.

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16th Annual Lopez Studio Tour

In 1996, Lopez artists Christa Malay and Corwin Martin started the Lopez Island Studio Tour with a few artists who all agreed to open their studios to display and sell their work, while showing the public where they worked.

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Christa Malay

Christa Malay works with watercolor, oil paint, and pastels, as well as etching, monotypes, and silk screen techniques, to create art that is collected regionally, nationally and internationally. She was instrumental in creating the Lopez Artist Guild and establishing the annual Lopez Island Studio Tour two decades ago. Her contribution to Pacific Northwest landscape art was honored by a year-long exhibition at the Washington State Governor’s Mansion in 2010.

For the past thirty years, the names Christa Malay and MARTIN & MALAY STUDIOS have been synonymous with Pacific Northwest serigraphy. Artist partners Malay and Martin designed and hand-printed limited editions of collectible promotional artwork for festivals and resorts across western North America.

Her studio and gallery are open to the public.

“I became interested in painting the landscape one day in late childhood, when I noticed how the colors of the green trees faded to blue, the railroad tracks appeared to meet in the distance, and small roads curved to create cool sha dows. I spent long summer days in my family garden plot, where low fences, gates and pathways connected a rambling patchwork of city gardeners. My memory of climbing into the metal water barrel after a hot day of garden work is vivid even now. The cool earthy smell and the reflection of my face on the water’s surface gave me a profound feeling of peace and abundance. When I create art, I draw from these early memories.”

1998 – 2018 Zinc plate etching collaboration with Island International Artists and Black Raven Press, Guemes Island, Washington

1981 Applied Visual Arts & Graphic Design Program, Outstanding Student Scholarship; graduated cum laude, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, Washington

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Gallery 10 Fine Art, Lopez Island, Washington, 1999 - 2007 

Galeria La Manzanilla, La Manzanilla, Mexico, 2006

Darvill Gallery, Eastsound, Washington, 2006

Crow Valley Pottery and Gallery, Orcas Island, Washington, 2001 - 2003

Logan Gallery, Friday Harbor, Washington, 2001

V alley Bronze Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon, 2000  Childers/Proctor Gallery, Langley, Washington, 1995 Nelson/Rovzar Gallery, Kirkland, Washington, 1995 Paperworks Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1994

Selected Group Exhibitions

Whatcom Museum of History & Art, Bellingham, Washington, 2008 Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, Washington, 1999 - 2007 San Juan Islands Museum of Art & Sculpture Park, Friday Harbor, Washington, 2005

Public and Collaborative Projects and Shows

Light, Space & Time Online Art Gallery, 2019

A.I.R. Gallery Annual Postcard Show and Fundraiser, Brooklyn, New York, 2015 - 2017

Washington State Governor's Mansion, featured artist, 2010 - 2011

Lopez Artist Guild, Lopez Island, Washington, 2005 - present

National Museum of Women in the Arts, archives, Washington, D.C., 2003

Established Christa Malay Studio & Gallery, Lopez Island, Washington, 2002 Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, Lopez Island, Washington, 1999 - present Lopez Island Chamber of Commerce, Tour de Lopez promotion, 1998 - present Created Martin and Malay Studios, with fellow artist Corwin Martin, Lopez Island, Washington, 1987 Limited edition serigraphy, North America, 1986 – 1993 Freelance illustration, graphic design commissions, Pacific Northwest, 1981 - 1986

Community educator; drawing and watercolor techniques, Washington State, 1977; 1983 - 1985

Honors and Awards

2001 Skagit Art Association, Best of Show, Artist of the Month, Mount Vernon, Washington

1999 Pacific Rim International Art Exposition, Booth Award, Seattle, Washington

1998 Southeastern Pastel Society, International Open Juried Exhibition, Lilburn,  Georgia

1997 Manhattan Arts International Exhibition, Showcase Award, New York, New York

1995 Northwest Pastel Society, 10th Annual Exhibition, Bellingham, Washington

1995 Pastel Society of Oregon, 9th Annual Exhibition, Roseburg, Oregon

1994 Stockton National Print and Drawing Exhibition, The Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

1989 National Watercolor Society, 69th Annual Exhibition, San Pedro, California

Selected Bibliography

International Artist Book Publications , Volume 1, “100 Ways to Paint Seascapes, Rivers and Lakes,” 2004

International Artist Magazine , showcase of master pastel artworks, 2003

Manhattan Arts International , 6th Annual Artist Showcase Award Winner, 1997

Annual Lopez Island Events

There are several very special events on Lopez that occur throughout the year that appeal to a variety of interests.

The Annual Tour de Lopez

Started in 2004, this event happens on the last Saturday in April. This is a non-competitive rural road tour with marked short and long routes (3.1, 5, 10, 18, and 31 miles), on public county roads through the scenic landscape of Lopez. It is typically preceded by the Bite of Lopez on Friday evening – music, tapa type dishes, and regional beer. Saturday is the ride, a picnic lunch, more music, and beer, plus ride related items for purchase. Sponsored by the Lopez Chamber of Commerce, proceeds go to the maintenance and operation of the Village Park Restrooms/Showers. A great spring event and a wonderful cause!

Procession of the Species

The Lopez Island Procession of the Species is a unique small-town parade that takes place in celebration of Earth Day, paying tribute to all species, both real and mythical. Islanders eagerly participate by crafting their own costumes during workshops leading up to the procession. This creative tradition, which began in 2004, offers a wonderful opportunity for individuals to express their connection with the natural world and foster a spirit of togetherness.

Great Island Clean Up

This is another event held in conjunction with Earth Day. Small groups of adults and children disperse around the island and spend the better part of the day picking up litter. Hundreds of pounds of refuse are collected each year – rain or shine – and is coordinated by the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District.

The Fourth of July

Lopez Island has a special way of celebrating the Fourth of July. It has become one of Washington State’s most treasured celebrations. Visitors come from all over to participate in this unique small town event.

• The day begins with the  Fun Run/Walk , sponsored by the Lopez Lions Club. Starting in the Village, there is a 5K route and a 10K route, as well as a short “1 Mile Romp”. Prizes are awarded, but for the most part, it is just a fun way to start the day.
• The old-fashioned small town parade starts at 11:00 a.m. and is also sponsored by the Lopez Lion’s Club. Come join us either in the parade or to watch along Fisherman Bay Road starting between the Galley Restaurant and the Islander Resort, winding through the Village on Lopez Road ending at Week’s Road and Fisherman Bay Road.  Any organization or individual may participate. Entries can be elaborate (for Lopez) floats or simple costumes and posters. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. between the Galley Restaurant and the Islander Resort on Fisherman Bay Road.
• You can spend part of the afternoon at the Annual Lopez Library Book Sale,  a book lovers dream.
• The day ends with our  spectacular evening fireworks display , presented by the Lopez Community Fireworks Display Committee.  See our  Community Calendar  for other activities over the holiday weekend.

Lopez Studio Tour

Labor Day weekend. This is a free, self guided tour to a variety of studios around the island.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the beauty of Lopez Island while discovering the talents of our local artists. This amazing event is arranged by the Lopez Artist Guild.

Lopez Home Tour

The annual Home Tour is a crucial fundraiser for the Lopez Community Center, typically contributing around 15% of its annual budget. However, it’s not just about raising funds; it’s a fantastic opportunity to explore island homes and foster community connections! Enjoy this special event that supports our community while providing a delightful glimpse into our island’s unique home styles!

Holiday Gathering and Village Lighting

Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving we celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with a community gathering in the Village with a torchlight parade, cocoa, cookies, caroling, and lighting of the lights of the Village. It’s a delightfully warm and friendly evening, regardless of the weather. We gather at Village Park next to the historic water tower. The village businesses all coordinate so the lights are all turned on at the same time. It’s spectacular! Dress warmly – we have a great time no matter the weather!

Other holiday happenings include the Preschool Holiday Bazaar the day after the Village Lighting, the annual Lions Club Christmas Ship that brings Santa to Lopez in early December, the annual Thrift Shop Christmas Sale, the annual Jingle Bell Dinner the day after Thanksgiving, as well as various craft fairs. For details on any of these events, visit our Community Calendar .

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