Photo by Greg Barnette / Record Searchlight

Lucas Juarez sits in his studio downtown in Sherven Square where he creates his artwork. His work will be part of the Shasta Artist Open Studio tour this weekend.

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There will be something for everyone during the annual Shasta Artist Open Studio Tour, as artists all over the county throw open their doors and put down the welcome mat.

Nearly 40 artists are inviting visitors to their studios from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 11-12), although some are joining together at some of the larger studios. For example, at two locations off Placer Road west of Redding, some eight artists will be on hand at Jan Scanlin Glass and Queen Bee Studio, making it a productive stop for tour-goers.

"If I weren't participating as an artist, I would definitely go on it," said Raette Meredith, an acrylic artist who will be at Jan Scanlin's studio showing pieces from her latest dance series. "You get a feel for what the artist is all about."

This is the third year Meredith has participated in the tour, saying it's very well organized by sponsors Turtle Bay Exploration Park and the Shasta County Arts Council. Maps for the free tour are available at both locations or may be downloaded from www.shastaartiststudiotour.com.

Katie Nichols is one artist who will be in her own studio, a gardenlike haven behind her mother's home in south Redding where she has both a gallery and work space. Nichols credits her participation in last year's tour for getting her involved with the local art community.

For an artist, exposure is everything, and the studio tour provides that, Nichols said.

"It's motivating when other people are noticing your work. It validates it when other people appreciate it," said Nichols, who works in mixed media and encaustic.

Nichols will show her work (see a sample at www.theartofkatienichols.com), including some pieces from her "weird, quirky" doll series, a body of work she had just begun prior to last year's tour that attracted a lot of attention. She also plans to demonstrate how she creates art by painting with melted, pigmented wax.

In her pop series, Nichols alludes to women's issues, such as stereotyping and gender roles, often using materials from past decades (such as old dress patterns and magazines) to create her art.

"It's never my intent to state a specific opinion," she said. Rather, she says she's asking people, "What do you think about that?"

She enjoys hearing others' perceptions. "Often, they notice things I've never thought of," she said.

The artwork of Lucas Juarez, a relative newcomer to the north state art scene, is also bold and provocative. Working in construction by day for Nathan Peterson, who owns Sherven Square in downtown Redding, Juarez heads to his small studio in the Market Street complex when his work is done.

"I've been working overtime in the studio, trying to get enough to show," said Juarez, who moved to Redding two years ago after bouncing back and forth between here and Long Beach, where he was in a band.

He attracted the attention of studio tour organizer Tina Casebeer from Turtle Bay Exploration Park some weeks ago during the monthly Art Hop, when he did "a gorilla hanging" in a Sherven Square breezeway.

"She bought a piece off of me and told me I was going to be in it (the studio tour)," Juarez said with a laugh.

A graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Juarez said he's always been serious about his art, which some have described as "neo abstract expressionism."

He aims for power and meaning in his works that sometimes contain elements of graffiti, politics, social struggle, and even the construction trade.

"I work mostly in acrylic or latex. The construction end comes out; it just crosses over," he admits. "For awhile, I got my art supplies at Home Depot."

As he works during the day, sometimes he's inspired by practices as simple as making a chalk line.

"It came out really elegant," Juarez said of the canvas he created with the technique.

Dee Hubbard is another artist who enjoys coming up with her own way of doing things. The Redding resident creates flamed-worked jewelry and beads with a propane-oxygen torch. She said she tries to never make the same bead twice.

"Why would you want to do that?" she quipped.

Using eight to 10 glass rods, she manipulates and twists them, sometimes incorporating precious metals, ultimately creating her own combination that becomes its own rod. Then she makes a bead.

"All my beads are kiln annealed," she said, adding that the process gives them strength, durability and integrity.

"I kind of have an organic look to my beads. I have a style," Hubbard said. "They look kind of earthy."

Although she's been concentrating on her glasswork for the past six years, Hubbard said she'll also have some of her watercolors and pastels at Jan Scanlin's studio for the tour.

Betty Lease is a freelance writer from Shasta.