Rose Garden Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Making Art: Shannon Amidon works on a piece of art in her Rose Garden studio, which will be open to the public during the Silicon Valley Open Studios weekend May 13-14.

Local artist opens home studio for public viewing during art show

Shannon Amidon is among those featured in 'Open Studios'

By Mary Gottschalk

Shannon Amidon is an artist who took her time finding the right medium.

"As a child and teenager, I was always creative, but I didn't have a specific outlet for my creativity," she says. "I was always frustrated because I had no natural ability for painting or drawing, and at that time, I thought that was what art was."

Today the 30-year-old Amidon knows there is more to art than creations done with a brush, pen or pencil.

Amidon will open her studio on May 13 and 14 and invite the public in as part of Silicon Valley Open Studios 2006. The annual event exposes artists up and down the peninsula on three consecutive weekends by opening up their studios to the public.

This is the third consecutive year Amidon has opened her studio, converted from a garage at her home at 1108 Delno Ave., off Newhall Avenue.

"I really like being able to open up my studio and invite people in to see what I do," she says. "It's a more comfortable environment than a gallery."

Amidon will be exhibiting her work in assemblage/collage, mixed media and photography. A former roommate who was a professional illustrator introduced Amidon to assemblage and collage artwork.

"We were living on a ranch, so I'd go out and pick up found objects like old rusted nails. I'd sew and glue things. I really enjoyed doing that as a way of expressing myself," she says.

While Amidon enjoyed dressing up her younger brother and sister and photographing them when she was younger, she didn't get serious about photography until she met her husband, Robert, in 1977.

"He had a really good camera, and he encouraged me to take a photography class," she says. "After taking a few classes, I was hooked. I loved seeing my photographs emerge from the developer."

Still, Amidon felt something was missing.

"I began reading about alternative-process photography and fell in love. It allowed me to use non-silver and alternative techniques that I felt gave life to my work," she says. "Using processes like Polaroid transfers and liquid emulsion, I could print my photographs onto different surfaces such as metal and wood."

Amidon calls one of her ongoing series "Subtle Meditation."

She starts by soaking a color print of one of her photographs in water for two to five minutes to soften the emulsion, then she removes it and pats it dry.

Next, Amidon distresses the print, using sandpaper, toothpicks or other abrasive objects to scratch the work. She then rinses the print again to remove any debris or emulsion from the distressing process.

Once the print is patted dry again, Amidon applies a solution of sodium hypochlorite in whatever manner she feels like using, from spraying, brushing on or stenciling over.

As the solution will immediately eat through the emulsion, she usually has less than 30 seconds to decide if she has the effect that she wants.

"I immediately rinse the print to remove any solution," she says. "It is then put into a vinegar bath to neutralize the sodium hypochlorite. When the print is dried completely, I handpaint it using concentrated watercolors."

Another technique comes into play in the Phosphene series where Amidon photographs a white background with color slide film to obtain a blank, transparent slide. She then handpaints each slide with concentrated watercolors. Using a slide printer and Polaroid film, she creates a print that she mounts on watercolor papers.

The Lucid series focuses exclusively on jellyfish, and her new Lumen series uses organic materials, including flowers such as plumaria and hibiscus that she worked with on a recent trip to Hawaii.

Most of the images Amidon uses are ones she's photographed herself.

A few feature insects and butterflies, photographed from her own collection.

While Amidon loves her artwork, sales are not yet enough to pay the bills, so she works full time as the marketing department coordinator at San José State University.

The number of Open Studios visitors Amidon attracts has increased each year. Her first year she had about 150 people stop in, while last year she had about 200.

"A lot of people aren't exposed to art, so if they come in, I'll talk to them about the pieces and tell them about how I do them. It's like a social kind of gathering, I welcome anybody."

Local artists featured in
Silicon Valley Open Studios

For Silicon Valley Open Studios 2006, the following area artists are opening their studios on May 13 and 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

* Shannon Amidon, 1108 Delno Ave., alternative-process photography, assemblage/collage, mixed media.

* Cheryl Battiato and Joseph Battiato, 1228 Sierra Ave., paintings and ceramics.

* Trieu Dao, 1490 Park Ave., painting, sculpture, calligraphy, assemblage/collage and pottery.

Group Showing

Alameda Artworks, 1088 The Alameda, is a collective of studios, and most of the artists who work there open for this event. They include:

* Kathy Aoki, prints, works on paper and 3-D installations.

* Deanna Beye, mixed media.

* Nathalie Galvin, paintings.

* David Lazarony, drawings, paintings, pastels.

* David Lippenberger, paintings.

* Simone Raoux, portraits and still-life paintings.

* Hongyun Suriwong, paintings.

* Ginger Crawford Tolonen, paintings, printmaking.