By Kristin Bonelli August 14, 2008

During an open studios tour, visitors have the unique opportunity to meet artists presenting work in personally cultivated spaces. Home studios are an important part of any tour, and this year’s Jamaica Plain Open Studios (JPOS) will feature over 50 artists who will show their work where they created it and where they live.

One such artist, George Anastos, has been participating in JPOS for over ten years. Anastos has recently turned his attention to the manipulation of color and texture in his studies of trees. Anastos said he enjoys sharing his work from his School Street home. “It is very rewarding showing out of my home,” he said. “I feel people make a connection to my work and the way I live by being welcomed.”

Painter Tasha Cough finds her work informed by her media selections—waxes, plaster, oils, house paint—and builds her bold, delicately complex layers upon wood panels. Although she may start out with a “plan,” her widely varied painting materials will often dictate the outcome of her pieces. Examples of her work can be found on www.fancypaints.net. This will be Cough’s third year participating in JPOS and she will invite several mixed-media artists to join her at her home. Though appreciating the convenience of melding professional and personal space, Cough admitted that, like many home studio artists, she finds that living among her supplies and samples “makes it hard to escape from work.”

The synergy of life and art will be on display at the Whitehaus Family home (www.whitehausfamilyrecord.com) on Seaverns Avenue. Participating in its first JPOS, members of this artists collective say they are excited to welcome new neighbors into their community.

Member Kate Lee described what life is like sharing a home with a group of artists in constant collaboration at Whitehaus: “Someone writes a sentence, writes a song, draws a picture or hangs an object on the wall. Soon someone else comes along and chooses to add, subtract, photocopy, rearrange the original action into a new action.” The fluidity is such that, “At our house, you cannot separate your life from the creation of your art and the communal art,” she said.

A visit to the Whitehaus yields surprises around every corner as pieces incorporate their way into the layout. “The Unfreakable,” which Lee described as “a three-story sculpture hanging in our stairwell, built out of broken musical instruments, organic matter, retired performance art pieces and other objects that have made their way into our house,” is one such piece.

JPOS is celebrating its 15th year as the premiere annual arts event in JP. JPOS showcases 220 artists at 75 sites. The event is open to the public and will take place Sept. 27 and 28 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information and to preview artists’ work, visit www.jpopenstudios.com or call 943-7819.

A complete guide and map to JP Open Studios artists, locations and events will be inserted in the Sept. 12 JP Gazette.

JPOS is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events.

The writer is a volunteer with the Jamaica Plain Arts Council.