{"id":625103,"date":"2026-10-09T06:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T06:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625103\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T06:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T06:36:16","slug":"a-bird-a-disney-rabbit-and-a-hidden-message-inside-this-years-sonoma-county-art-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625103\/","title":{"rendered":"A bird, a Disney rabbit and a hidden message: Inside this year’s Sonoma County Art Trails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Celeste Duffy<\/a> has spent years combining images of people and elements of the natural world, drawing on her former career in graphic design and the landscape around her.<\/p>\n

This year, one of those paintings \u2014 a woman with a bird perched on her shoulder \u2014 appears on the cover of the Sonoma County Art Trails<\/a> catalog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never tire of painting the human face and often connect them with a natural element to try to capture that feeling you get when you see or touch the world around us,\u201d Duffy wrote in her artist statement.<\/p>\n

\"ArtArt by Celeste Duffy in her studio in Sebastopol on Monday, October 5, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)
\n\"ArtArt by Celeste Duffy in her studio in Sebastopol on Monday, October 5, 2026. Duffy\u2019s art is featured on the cover of this year\u2019s Art Trails catalog. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n

Duffy is one of 160 juried artists participating in the 42nd annual Sonoma County Art Trails open studio tour, which gives visitors a chance to see artists at work in studios throughout the county over two weekends, Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 17-18.<\/p>\n

Their paths to making art are as varied as the work itself.<\/p>\n

There is Duffy, who retired from graphic design to paint full time. Maggie Parr<\/a>, of Petaluma, spent three decades designing concepts for Disney theme park attractions around the world before turning more fully to painting. And Steve Scavo<\/a>, a retired federal architect, now transforms lumber scraps, old packaging and other discarded objects into three-dimensional collages.<\/p>\n

For all three, the work represents some form of looking at the familiar differently.<\/p>\n

\"ArtArt by Celeste Duffy in her studio in Sebastopol on Monday, October 5, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)
\n\"ArtArt by Celeste Duffy in her studio in Sebastopol on Monday, October 5, 2026. (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)
\nFinding nature in the human face<\/p>\n

Duffy\u2019s studio reflects the influence of her surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in west county, so being in this setting has inspired me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is why I focus so much on nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birds appear frequently in her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love birds,\u201d she said. \u201cThe bird is a symbol of resilience and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her process begins partly on a computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use stock images from the computer and manipulate them. Then I paint in oil on canvas,\u201d she said. \u201cI retired from graphic design to concentrate on painting.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is her third year participating in Art Trails.<\/p>\n

A Disney imagination, on canvas<\/p>\n

Parr brings a different kind of visual vocabulary to Art Trails.<\/p>\n

For 30 years, she worked with Disney theme parks, including Animal Kingdom at Disney World near Orlando, Florida, and parks in Shanghai and Tokyo. Her job was to imagine the places visitors would eventually walk through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI designed the concepts for theme park rides and attractions,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Castles, gardens, dragons and unicorns were among the imagery that passed through her work. Now, she brings some of that imaginative sensibility to paintings rooted in classical technique.<\/p>\n

\""Renaissance“Renaissance Rabbit” by Maggie Parr combines her training in classical painting with an imagination inspired by her work with Disney theme parks. (Maggie Parr)<\/p>\n

In \u201cRenaissance Rabbit,\u201d a rabbit wears an elaborate Renaissance costume \u2014 an idea that might seem fanciful until Parr explains the philosophy behind her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work is whimsical,\u201d she said. \u201cYou learn the rules so you can break the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parr, who also teaches painting, will demonstrate portrait painting for visitors during Art Trails. Her commercial art and design business includes murals, portraits, illustrations and architectural elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love working with people,\u201d she said. \u201cI bring in a sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The secret life of discarded things<\/p>\n

Scavo\u2019s materials are considerably less fanciful.<\/p>\n

They might come from a lumberyard or the packaging left behind after something has been opened and used.<\/p>\n

The Guerneville artist, who maintains a studio at the Fulton Crossing<\/a> gallery and studio complex in Santa Rosa, spent much of his career designing buildings as an architect for the General Services Administration, the federal agency responsible for managing government properties.<\/p>\n

Now he is making art from things that might otherwise be thrown away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve shifted away from a once highly regulated world to that of a free, liberated landscape of design and art,\u201d Scavo writes in the Art Trails catalog.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter a career as an architect working for the federal government’s General Services Administration, Steve Scavo has turned to a new life as an artist. (Dave Hall)<\/p>\n

His three-dimensional collages can hang on a wall or stand independently as sculpture. Some contain another layer that is not immediately apparent: hidden messages.<\/p>\n

Scavo incorporates visual references to Braille and Morse code into his pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every single piece has a secret message, but most do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The work asks viewers to look again \u2014 and perhaps a little closer.<\/p>\n

Open studios<\/p>\n

That invitation to look closer is part of what distinguishes an open studio tour from an ordinary gallery visit. The work is shown where it is made, and visitors can encounter artists whose careers have taken them through very different worlds before arriving at the same place: a studio, a blank surface and the question of what to make next.<\/p>\n

Visitors can choose their own itinerary using the event catalog and guide at sonomacountyarttrails.org.<\/p>\n

Art Trails is one of two annual open studio tours administered by the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. The other, Art at the Source<\/a>, was held in June and returns next year.<\/p>\n

IF YOU GO<\/p>\n

What:\u00a0Sonoma County Art Trails open studios tour<\/p>\n

When:\u00a010 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 17-18<\/p>\n

Where:\u00a0Studios throughout Sonoma County, featuring 160 juried local artists<\/p>\n

Admission:\u00a0Free<\/p>\n

Information:\u00a0sonomacountyarttrails.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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