"Open" Studios

*“Tioga Road, Yosemite”, black and white digital photo*

It’s that time of year when we can’t believe it is “that” time of year, again. At Casket Arts, we’re barely recovered from November’s Open Casket weekend and now planning for our last open studio event of the year, our Holiday Market on December 13 (see below); and I will be opening my studio for an informal open house on December 6 (see below). 2025 has been a challenging year in the arts generally (and other areas of life!), and at Casket Arts we have considered some changes for 2026. Most notably will be eliminating our monthly “Second Saturday” open studio events and, instead, hosting four “Open Studio Saturdays” (February 14, April 11, May 9, October 10), in addition to our three big events, Art-a-Whirl (May 15-17), Open Casket (November 13-15), and Holiday Market (December 5).

You might wonder why we eliminated the summer open studios. Not only has our attendance been way down during the summer, our artist participation has decreased as well. Of course these two facts are inter-related—fewer visitors decrease artists’ motivation to open their studios, and fewer open studios discourage repeat visitors. At the same time, there are more and more competing art-related events during the summer and early fall in the Twin Cities. You can find an outdoor art fair somewhere in the metro area every summer weekend—and a number of Casket artists participate throughout the season. Many artists (including me) will continue to be open by appointment throughout the year and may also schedule “pop up” activities in our studios (see below regarding my upcoming Open House). I might do a summer open house in 2026 –stay tuned. At Casket we will re-evaluate our changed schedule in the fall. This is a one-year experiment.

Painting With Light or Acrylic

You probably noticed that my monthly newsletter image at the top (“Tioga Road”) is not a painting, but a photograph. Although not taken in December (it was actually October), this black and white digital image from a 2014 trip to Yosemite suggests early winter in the Midwest—shades of gray, bare trees, even suggestions of snow, yet beautiful in its own way. While I didn’t start painting with acrylics until 2017, I “painted” with my camera for years, actually from the time of my 8th birthday when I received a Brownie Star Flash from my parents. My passion for photography grew over the years; my first studio was a shared space at Casket Arts in 2016, where I presented my increasingly abstract photography. “Seeing” abstraction ultimately led to my first experiments with paint. (The first time I tried painting since a high school art class…and that was not experimental!) The next logical next step was to push photography into the background in favor of acrylic and mixed media on canvas. The timing was really ideal, as 60 years of toting increasingly heavy cameras was catching up with me. A palette knife and brush are much easier to work with. (On the other hand, photos, especially digital, are much easier to store and carry!) Yet I am convinced that, even when I am at my easel, I am still a photographer, imagining what I don’t actually see through the lens.

December: Open House, Holiday Market
Hoping you can come to one or both of my upcoming “open studio” events at Casket Arts: On December 6, Noon – 4 pm, I am hosting a Studio Open House. The building is open on Saturdays so it is easy to plan an individual studio event. I’ll have mostly newer art on display, along with sets of my notecards and assorted hand-painted flower pots (which work as well holding pencils and small tools as holding geraniums). From 1 pm – 2:30, I will also host one of the top jazz and Brazilian guitarists in the region, Joan Griffith. There will be some treats as well—cider, wine, goodies. Conversation and music surrounded by art. That’s my idea of a perfect Open House!

And our last building event of 2025, Casket Arts invites you to Holiday Market on December 13, 11 am – 5 pm. This is like a one-day version of Open Casket without the food trucks – Corner Coffee will have hot beverages and cookies on the first floor of the main building, and individual studios will have a variety of treats. We will have live music—Larry McDonough and Joel Shapira (piano and guitar duo) at 12:30 pm, followed by Patrick Adkins and Alma Engebretson (piano and cello duo) at 2:30 pm, in the fourth floor lounge. But most important, we will have fresh art throughout the campus, ranging from small gift items and jewelry to various sizes of framed and unframed paintings, drawings, prints, photography, textiles, ceramics and more. There will also be some artist demos in some studios—information will be posted in the lobby. Original art makes a unique gift—for loved ones and for yourself! I also offer a gift certificate for Studio 218—if you are nervous about selecting art for someone else. You select the amount. No expiration date (unless of course the studio expires!).

On Exhibit

Wyoming Creative Arts Community, Hallberg Center for the Arts 11th Annual “That’s Why Eye Saw” exhibition, November 20-January 17; opening reception November 20 5-7:30 pm. This is an annual nonjuried show of photography, film and digital. My two digital prints, “Red Railing” and “Shades of Gehry”, will be hanging with the rest. 5521 E. Viking Blvd, Wyoming; open Tueday-Saturday; www.wyomingcreativearts.org

White Bear Center for the Arts Annual Members Exhibition, November 17-January 23, Ford Family Gallery, Exhibition Hall, and Atrium; opening reception December 4, 4-8 pm. An annual nonjuried show of members’ work, there will be a parallel “junior” exhibition in the adjacent Community Hall for young artists age 6-15. My “Summer Quilt” mixed media work is included this year. 4971 Long Av, White Bear Lake; open Monday-Saturday; www.whitebear.org

Don’t Miss…
This deserves repeating. The mid-career retrospective of MacArthur “Genius” grant honoree and local artist Dyani White Hawk (“Love Language”) fills four levels of the Walker Art Center through mid-February. White Hawk’s work blends indigenous traditions with modern western abstraction, creating unique, beautiful work unlike anything I have seen before. I’ve gone through this show twice already and expect to go back several times. I learn something new each time, and have found the audio and video enhancements well worth it. You can learn a lot more about this artist and her work on the Walker website; see interviews and a round table discussion (www.walkerart.org)

If You Are in the Neighborhood…

Do plan to visit me in the studio this winter. If you can’t make it to my Open House or Holiday Market, make an appointment, bring a friend, spouse, child or grandchild. Art can brighten a gray winter day—on your walls or mine! I can make a cup- of hot tea (and if I replace my semi-broken Keurig, a cup of coffee) and sunny winter afternoons are actually quite warm in Studio 218. Let’s catch up, talk about art…or not!

Andrea
612-501-8812
andreacanterartworks@gmail.com

Andrea Canter
Artist and Owner
andreacanterartworks.com

Andrea Canter Artworks
The Casket Arts Building
681 17th Ave NE, Studio 218
Minneapolis, MN 55413

December 2025Rachel HoldgraferNovember 30, 2025