Tucson Weekly: Studio Boogie (November 13

Some 70 Artists Will Open Their Doors For A Free Public Tour.
By Margaret Regan
NOT ONLY DO 27 trains roll by the Splinter Group Studios studio every day, say sculptors Ed Davenport and Ted Silverman, the trains honk. Loudly. And long.
Last week, as the two artists were making preparations for this Saturday afternoon's Arts District Open Studio Tour, one of those 27 trains rumbled by. The vibrations gave the Quonset hut that lodges their studio and gallery a good shake, rattle and roll, but the sound of the booming horn was even more disconcerting. The engine had already crossed Main Avenue just south of their North 13th Avenue digs, but it still tootled enthusiastically, pre-empting all conversation. But the congenial pair of stone sculptors didn't seem to mind. As a matter of fact, they welcome the trains as a camouflage for their activities.
Review "We make a little bit of noise, a little bit of dust," explained Davenport. "The train takes care of it."
The studios, sandwiched between Barrio Anita and Estevan Park, are at the northern frontier of the Arts District, a two-square mile area where on Saturday some 70 artists will open their studio doors to the public free of charge. Real-estate agents might shake their heads at the Splinter Group's neighborhood on the west banks of the train tracks, populated by warehouses, ancient adobes and the remains of the old Dunbar Junior High. But for Davenport and Silverman, the accommodations are heavenly.
They rent 1,050 square feet in the Quonset from owners Kevin Mills and Janelle Curry, who have a studio and an office of their own in the adjoining warehouse. The artists get along well with their neighbors, who much prefer to have the sprawling place occupied, they said. They pay what Davenport calls a "reasonable rent" for a space big enough to divide into studio and gallery, and they have the freedom to work in the open air when they lug their stoneworking tools onto an aluminum-covered ramada.
Then there's what they call the Grove, a thick stand of trees sheltering a picnic table at tracks' edge, and room outside for a small quarry of heavy stones, not to mention a bevy of hens and a fine marble sculpture high atop an old telephone pole. It's one of those quintessentially Tucson studio spaces, and it even has an art history.
"I came to town in '71," says Davenport, who nowadays plays bass with the Titan Valley Warheads. "Around '72, a number of craftsmen and artists moved into these buildings, the main building and the Quonset hut...It was called the Splinter Brothers and Sisters Warehouse. There were potters here with kilns. Most of them were carpenters...They lived in trailers and shacks. They were all good craftsmen."
When such craftsmen as David Nelson, Saul Lieberman and John Sartin moved on to other studios in the early '80s, the Splinter's legendary parties went with them (Davenport played the parties in the Summer Dog Bluegrass Mariachi Swing Ensemble). The place metamorphosed into storage space. Its art renaissance began in 1996, when the new owners bought it up. Last January, Silverman and Davenport hauled their tools and blocks of stone and mountains of dust into their studio, but not their personal belongings. These days, the studios offer just working, not living space.
"Ted and I were the first tenants," Davenport said. "It's picking up all the time. There's a lot of room in the warehouse...A number of buildings in the area will potentially be art studios...Things are moving in this direction. The art scene is moving this way. "
Other artists now working in the Splinter studio include mixed-media sculptor Elizabeth Frank, painter Alan Burke, sheet-metal sculptor Leon Allemon and lighting artist Mills. Artists all over the tour, which extends from the Dunbar neighborhood in the north to Barrio Historico and the edges of South Tucson in the south, will offer demos and exhibits in their eclectic studios. Davenport, for instance, will wield his high-powered pneumatic hammer, making incursions into a block of marble now weightily positioned outside. Inside, he and Silverman have organized a show of some 50 of their abstract and figurative works in stone.
"It will be spotlessly clean by this time next week," promised Silverman, casting a glance at the dusty by-products of stone chiseling. Retired from a California printing and packaging business, he moved to Tucson two years ago with his wife. He loves Tucson's heat, he said, and loves its art community even more.
"The people in the art scene here are warm, noncompetitive and willing to help," he said. Both artists also praised the Tucson/Pima Arts Council and Tucson Arts District Partnership for the help they give local artists, in the form of grants, art patron lists, Phantom Gallery shows and outreach programs like Saturday's tour. (The Partnership is the tour sponsor.) Neither man, however, relies entirely on art for his income. Silverman supplements his art sales with his retirement funds and Davenport continues with his music and his Friday job as a massage therapist.
"Tucson is not a great place to sell art," Davenport said. "But I think it will be, maybe even like Santa Fe. Lots of artists are grabbing up studio space. The arts community is growing. Hopefully, the consumer community will grow."
The Arts District Open Studio Tour will take place from noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, November 15. It's a free, self-guided tour. A brochure and map of all the studios on the tour was published in the Arts District Quarterly in the October 31 issue of the Tucson Weekly. For maps on the day of the tour, go to Sixth Street Studios, 44 W. Sixth St., at the corner of Ninth Avenue. For more information call 624-9977 during regular business hours.
The Splinter Group Studios are located at 911 N. 13th Ave., two blocks south of Speedway, and one block west of Main at 2nd Street. Other group studios on the tour include Steinfeld Warehouse, 101 W. Sixth St,; Lucky Street Studios, 520 N. Ninth Ave.; 58 E. Fifth Street Studios; WomanKraft, 388 S. Stone; 518 S. Meyer; and a variety of studios on East Toole, including numbers 14, 19, 31, 191 and 197.

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