In the Artist’s Studio is a recurring exhibition program that focuses on artists' studio practices, processes, techniques, and creative problem-solving.
As a small museum in close proximity to a major city with major museums, we see our success in being able to tell stories in new and different ways. Most people do not have the opportunity to visit an artist’s studio and learn firsthand how artwork is made – but more importantly WHY it is made. Artmaking is a response to environmental, cultural, political, and personal experiences. The issues that artists tackle and the way they rely on their creativity and resourcefulness to problem solve is not only fascinating but important to share. Artists are the arbiters of culture, telling us our history as we live it, years before historians can sort through and make sense of it. We intend this program to offer ideas and insight into this process and not the outcome – the artwork itself – and thereby share the creativity, intelligence and empathy that goes into the creative process.
This program gives insight into:
What a working artist studio looks and feels like – often not available to the general public
The influences and experiences, personal and cultural conflicts that inform an artist’s work
Innovative technical aspects such as how the work is made – use of materials, etc.
The creative process, problem-solving for creative solutions
Pragmatic concerns such as pursuing a career in the arts
Interactive opportunities – learning how to create and make using the techniques presented
In the Artist's Studio is generously supported by the Borgenicht Foundation. The Borgenicht Foundation works to promote the understanding of secularism as the way and hope for establishing peace in the world. In addition, the Foundation supports social justice, conservation and historic preservation, the arts, health, and education.
Upcoming In the Artist’s Studio Exhibitions
Past In the Artist’s Studio Exhibitions
Carly Slade presents miniature, mixed-media vignettes of real-world structures as they appear in digital images from satellite mapping cameras. Composed of ceramics, building materials, and needlework, the layers of planning and effort within these miniature artworks mirror the human effort and experiences that activate the location in the real world.
Holly Lane—In the Artist’s Studio offers a rare opportunity for access into Lane’s meticulous step-by-step artistic process. Hiking photographs, along with sketchbooks, design layouts, color trials, preparatory diagrams, drawings, and paintings, plus painting and woodworking tools, and works in process will provide invaluable insight into the studio of a contemporary artist whose methods are more closely aligned with a Medieval-era artisan’s workshop.
A solo show featuring artist Liz Harvey.
the lost ones: iterations and murmurs is an exhibition centered on the artworks, artifacts, and ephemera behind creating the lost ones, a multi-year performance project by Bay Area artist Liz Harvey. For the lost ones performance project, Harvey worked with a range of collaborators, including choreographers Mary Armentrout, Cherie Hill, and Megan Nicely, as well as, science editor Lauren Muscatine. The project featured myriad performers rotating through an embroidered performance garment on which participants were invited to stitch images of endangered plants in order to highlight overlooked species, untold feminist histories, and little-acknowledged art practices.
On view May 5 through Nov 12, 2023, In the Artists’ Studio: Featuring RREVV Studio will introduce visitors to the artists behind the Santa Cruz-based design studio, Rachel and Rigel Hunter. Dive into their shared creative process to develop and execute new works by following along with a piece of unique wearable artwork as it goes from concept to raw material, to a collectible object. RREVV Studio will discuss negotiating the tensions inherent in working between the realms of art and design, as well as the pressures that come with being practicing artists who manage businesses to support their work.
Kathy Aoki creates a faux-museum exhibit depicting a fictional character who collects and destroys artwork by Jeff Koons. The immersive satirical tableau, with a mesmeric diorama and new works on paper, brings the viewer in on the joke that reveals the hypocrisy and patriarchy of the art world, represented by Koon’s enormous financial success as a male artist who focuses on the banal.
Aoki uses humor to explore gender and beauty issues through mock historical artifacts and documentation. Leveraging the exaggerated authority of institutional settings, à la institutional critique artist Andrea Fraser, she includes wry, museum-style labeling to present the work.
This unique exhibition developed in partnership with Music at Kohl Mansion Burlingame, producers of the Violins of Hope San Francisco Bay Area Project, presents a virtual experience of the Tel Aviv violin workshop of Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein where the Violins of Hope are restored. The installation will share the story of the Weinstein family and the inspiration behind the Project, and highlight one of the 70 historic instruments in the collection.
In the Artist’s Studio
Charlotte Kruk
April 26-September 1, 2019
Charlotte Kruk’s wearable sculpture, Image courtesy of the artist
In the fourth installment of In the Artist’s Studio, NUMU invites you into the studio of San Jose-based sculptress Charlotte Kruk for an introduction to her work, creative process, and life as an artist. Best known for her wearable sculptures crafted from repurposed food and candy wrappers, Kruk transforms discarded materials (candy wrappers, cookie boxes, paper, sugar bags, and plastic spoons and forks) into fine art. In this exhibition, visitors will see examples of her vibrant and colorful wearable sculptures and playful ceramics. Kruk’s work is a response to environmental, cultural, and personal experiences. Also on view are some of Kruk’s art making tools and personal items, along with photographs of private studio spaces, which are rarely open to the public.
To read an interview with the artist, click here.
In the Artist’s Studio: David Middlebrook
June 28, 2018 – October 21, 2018. Free admission for all visitors.*
Internationally renowned Los Gatos-based artist David Middlebrook is featured in NUMU's In the Artist's Studio exhibition series that invites visitors to experience a virtual studio visit of local artists. The exhibition presents an introduction to his work, creative process and life. Visitors will see Middlebrook’s sculpture, view art making tools and personal items, and photographs of private studio spaces, which are rarely open to the public. In David Middlebrook’s studio, and in his installations around the world, he brings to his art practice his life experiences, skill, imagination, passion, humor, history and, most importantly, the magic that occurs only in the artist’s studio.
Middlebrook’s studio is nestled in the hills of Los Gatos, surrounded by ancient oak trees. The building where he does much of his work is a large barn-like structure accented with unique salvaged windows. The space is filled with an assortment of supplies, tools and works in progress, as well as found objects, personal mementos and memorabilia from childhood. Middlebrook’s artmaking spreads outside into an adjacent open-air studio where huge pieces of stone and metal sit under the trees waiting to be transformed into large-scale, site-specific works that encompass all shapes and sizes.
NUMU’s In the Artist’s Studio exhibition series supports NUMU’s mission to share stories in new ways. Most people do not have the opportunity to visit an artist’s studio and learn firsthand how artwork is made, and more importantly why it is made. Through this series NUMU offers insight into the practice of artmaking and shares with the community the ingenuity, intelligence and empathy that goes into the creative process. NUMU introduced the series in January 2018 featuring the studios and practices of San Jose-based artists George Rivera and Kristin Lindseth.
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*Does not include exhibition related programs
More information including high res images for download may be found on our Press Resources Page. Read press coverage for the exhibition on the NUMU in the News page. Sign-up to receive our Press Releases.
Interested in other exhibitions at NUMU?
NUMU’s rotating exhibitions means there will always be something new to see, learn, and explore. Check out what is currently on view and all related exhibition programming at the museum!
This exhibition will showcase the work of this local metalsmith, jewelry artist, and glassblower.
Gaumer’s (Un)Wearable series fuses these ornate ancient crafts to broach sometimes painful conversations about expectations of beauty, feminism, power, and self-worth. The adornments she has styled combine materials that simultaneously project strength and fragility, inspiring the viewer to imagine how it would feel to be in the position of the wearer. NUMU visitors will get an intimate glimpse into the handbuilt workspace that Gaumer has fashioned, as well as the process she developed to create the lux glass respirator.
Exhibition curated by Julie Ericsson.