The final leg of the Long Beach Open Studio Tour takes place in East Long Beach this weekend, featuring more than 40 artists and a free shuttle bus. But wander through the vibrant Zafaria district, and you’ll find the Artist Co-op, which houses studio spaces for nine local artists and two communal galleries.
The co-op is tucked away among commercial buildings, residential homes, and small businesses, but you’ll find it by the eclectic, 60-foot mural called “PowWow” by artist Dave Van Patten next to Alex’s Bar. Inside the co-op, the narrow hallway is lined with cherry-red and baby-blue doors, each one opening into an artist’s creative world. Nearly every white wall has painted canvases and collages on display, as a sneak peek into each artist’s craft.
“There are a lot of connections that happen from being part of a collective,” said Max Allbee, one of the co-op artists. “It’s just more of a community feel.”
Here are four artists who will be showcasing their work in The Artist Co-op gallery as part of Open Studio Tour in the Eastside:
Cody Michael Lusby
Inside Cody Michael Lusby‘s studio, you’ll find a mixed-media portrait depicting his friend Kelly emerging from a pool with a painted replica of his daughter’s foot coming down from the top, and a blurred photograph of a trash bin and seagull in the corner. Mounted on his walls are handmade wooden-carved crows, spray-painted in black and stencilled in purple, and blue. On a small wooden stool is a display of lighters Lusby found on the beach, which he carefully stacked and glued together like a stairway.
Originally from Oregon, Lusby moved and grew up in Alamitos, and attended Laguna College of Art and Design. A visual artist at heart, Lusby expresses his work through photography, painting, mixed media, and collage. Two of the new pieces he is working on will be featured in this weekend’s Open Studio Tour and depict his two dearest friends.
“Both of [the pieces] happen to deal with relationships and friends,” he said. “One is more on the romance side about a one-night stand concept, and the other is about a friend of mine that came out to me as a gay man, and living that way of life and feeling comfortable.”
Max Allbee
Max Allbee wears a helmet and carries his bike as he walks into his studio in the late afternoon. Allbee is an art teacher at Wilson High School, as well as a full-time family man. At the front of his studio’s door are mixed-media wooden art pieces as well as an intricate mandala made out of lottery scratchers. The piece is meant to symbolize capitalism, but it also holds a personal memory of Allbee’s grandmother, who won the lottery when he was a young boy. His art is inspired by the cities that shaped him — from his hometown of San Francisco to Oakland’s East Bay.
“Finding my own creative outlets through graffiti and then later through muralism, I was being mentored by muralists in the Bay Area — specifically Susan Cervantes and Precita Eyes Muralists, so that was almost like a grad school type of experience,” said Allbee. Eventually, he did attend grad school at City College of New York, where he earned his Master’s in Art Education. He photographed the city’s bodega communities, which shaped his trajectory as a visual artist and muralist. Allbee’s works consist of driftwood, skateboards, found pictures, his own street photography, drawings, and found objects. He’s collected worn-out lottery scratchers from convenience stores and on the street, and bought 1,500 of them off eBay. One of his installations this weekend will be a large poster of a ballpoint pen drawing of a photographed graffitied bus.
Angelica Fegley
Over a decade in the shared studio space, Angelica Fegley has found it a beautiful experience to be among other artists. Her studio space exudes a sense of wonder and tranquillity — the carefully hung abstract oil paintings that cover every wall are hypnotizing. Outside Fegley’s studio door are abstract oil paintings of eucalyptus that reflect her perception and vision of the flowering tree. Inside, there is a white vintage fridge, a tempered-glass P.C. case with three painted grey 2-D human faces on it, and three small mosaic pottery vases she made with her husband. Fegley started painting when she retired and took art classes in her 50s. During that time, she’s created intuitive abstract paintings including portraits, landscapes, botanicals, and anything nature-related that inspires her.
“I let the painting take its course. When I get stuck, I just leave it and put it aside. I will not force myself on the painting,” said Fegley. Even if it takes her two to three months to return to her unfinished paintings, as an artist, she feels that it’s the painting that will tell her what it wants of her.
Katie Elizabeth Stubblefield
On a hot afternoon, Katie Elizabeth Stubblefield organizes her space ahead of the final Open Studio Tour weekend. Surrounding her are plexiglass frames painted with drawings in black, including three sculptures she’s created: “Ghost Nets,” that hang from the ceiling toward the back of the studio.
“The net process happens when merchant marines have to cut their nets and let them drift in the ocean, and they just perpetually catch fish and trash. So, it’s kind of a self-perpetuating disaster,” said Stubblefield. “But they’re beautiful and ghostly when you see them ebbing and flowing in the oceans.”
On the right side of the studio is one of her larger sculpture pieces, “Live Through This,” with craft-store pearls, manufactured parts of wedding dresses, old lace, and used supplies that helped her create “beautifully optimistic” pieces. As an artist, Stubbledfield loves anything that involves experimenting and using recyclable materials. Outside of the studio, Stubblefield teaches art survey and art vocational courses at Coastline College in Newport Beach.
Open Studio Tour’s final weekend is Saturday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 25, from 1 to 5 p.m. To see all the open studios, check out this map.