Teacher at Heart: A Q&A With Watsonville Artist Bonni Carver

Watsonville artist Bonni Carver’s work will be on display at her studio Saturday and Sunday but so will her process and infectious love for art and teaching.

“I have maybe over 30 sketch books where I’ve done some preliminary work and I’ve done some drawing. So I’m going to make them available,” said Carver. “I’m just going to put them out here on the table so people can look through them. The reason I’m doing it is so people will see there’s some research that goes into the paintings you create.”

Participating in the Cultural Arts Council of Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios Art Tour, Carver’s studio at 688 Delta Way, opens to the public Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8 and 9, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We spoke with Carver , , and what people visiting her studio can expect to see. Check out that lightly edited conversation below.

Patch: You’ve done Open Studios before, how does it differ from year to year?

Carver: Every year you change it because every year you learn something new. One of the things I’m doing this year, I do watercolors and I have some of my work matted and framed but I’m also offering it for people to purchase without being matted and framed so that it’s reasonable for them.

Patch: So this will make it more accessible to people?

Carver: I’m a really a proponent of adults being able to buy original art. We have it available through Open Studios and other venues. I think it has a different life, a different dynamic. I think if you buy original art you react to it more. It’s more important than just buying something off the wall. If you have that in your home it changes the whole presence. I’m an artist, what can I say. It can add a lot of richness to your home and to your life.

Patch: What do you like the most about Open Studios?

Carver: I enjoy the interaction with the people. I think every time people go out to an Open Studio event they can learn something and to give them what I know. People will have questions about how I did the art or that pieces look similar and I can tell them what I did; just to interact with them and give them what I know, share my heart with them about who I am and the process of really how I do it.

It’s to kind of take the mystery out because I think some people who don’t do art, they don’t necessarily understand that it’s focusing in on work.

This is really how it works, this is how it works for me and not every painting’s successful and that’s okay. But just to give them some pointers that might encourage them to do whatever creative thing is in their heart.