Open Studios, strolling on Saturday afternoon

Open Studios on Saturday afternoon is even more enjoyable with artist Kathryn Schnabel. And encountering artistic friends along the way, like Michael Zeimer, a former co-worker at Kinko's. And now Kathryn and Michael are acquainted. It sounds cliché, but "it's all good."

Kathryn and I focus on the West End (also known as the Arts District or Village of West Greenville) discovering and rediscovering. In "the flatiron" - those ingeniously designed pieces of architecture that defy the box and embrace the triangle - are a series of studios that flow into one another through sets of doorways, yet remain separate. Joseph Bradley's painting studio anchors the building's apex, followed by Patricia Kilburg's encaustic studio, Janina Tukarski Ellis's painting studio, and finally the painting studio of husband/wife duo Signe & Genna Grushovenko. Of particular delight is watching the wide-eyed children, perhaps budding artists already.

Strolling down the street, stopping along the way in a vanity gallery, another space more rental-venue than gallery, and then a sit-down restaurant that began as a food truck, alongside a blues café, Kathryn and I make our way to the next destination: the new studio of painters Dabney Mahanes and Denise Waldrep. Dabney shares a highlight of her day: a visit by a former resident of this house-turned-studio. In fact, the space Denise now occupies was once his bedroom as a 10-year old.

Onward to Artbomb! Fourteen years ago, Artbomb was the only art venue in the neighborhood but appropriately named as its artists intended to spark a movement. Today is testimony to the explosive impact.

One last stop: tucked in the neighborhood behind the Greenville County Art Museum is 10 Central Studios. A visit to jeweler and mosaic artist Laura Kennedy Aiken in her business-office-turned-studio highlights the stark contrast, in terms of light (no windows in the studios at 10 Central) and scale (low ceilings and small) to Artbomb. Nonetheless, creativity is not bound by the inches or feet of a wall or ceiling.

Last year I participated in Open Studios, but I missed the touring. It's a sentiment I hear the OS artists expressing today. Hmmm, how to be in two places at once? This will require lots of creative problem solving!

While the Open Studios' "12x12" exhibition awaits like a visual smorgasbord at the Metropolitan Arts Council gallery, my visit needs to be another day. It's time for tea and coffee, and digesting the experience.