Kate Favetti keeps the art scene alive on Ingleside’s Ocean Avenue.
Artmaking has been a passion for Westwood Park resident and San Francisco native since she first painted with oils at 12 years old. As she got older, she developed a love for painting in watercolor and acrylic. Along with giving back to the community, art is something that stuck with Favetti well into her retirement in 2007, when she began displaying her finished pieces publicly. While she still exhibits her work, Favetti also uses the opportunities as a chance to let other artists shine through activations like Art Span’s yearly Open Studios.
“I've gone to City College of San Francisco,” Favetti said. “I've gone to SF State, but for the art, it was so important to me because I look at Ocean Avenue as such a wonderful place to be. We have cool air with our fresh fog, but that also means we have a very significant diversity in our neighborhood, which has always been something I appreciate. And as I say, as a retired person, I feel like it's important to give back to the community.”
The studio art crawl first began in 1975 and made its way to Ocean Avenue in 2015 with Favetti’s help, who also serves on the city’s Civil Service Commission and hosted the neighborhood’s first session at the former Caffe D'Melanio.
Though she doesn’t take full credit for bringing it to Ocean Avenue, noting how community leaders like Dan Weaver, Maria Fe Picar and Al and Mary Harris have worked to bring other art activations to the neighborhood, Open Studios is something that she strives to bring back year after year.
She shared that at times funding and finding a place to host the event can be a challenge, but it is still something worth pursuing because there are few open studios in this part of the city and it brings people from all over together. Favetti hopes that through Open Studios they can continue to build community.
“People say, 'Well, art, what does that mean?” Favetti said. “It's more than just a painting or a photograph or ceramics; it's the interaction and the community building. That’s what it’s about.”
This year’s Open Studios on Ocean Avenue featured nine artists, including Favetti, and took place at the Ocean Avenue Association.
The Ingleside Light caught up with Favetti to learn more about her artistic journey.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does your art process look like, and where do you draw inspiration from?
The world; it's basically nature. I would say basically nature. I don't always know what I'm going to do when I start off with a brush. I have no idea. Oftentimes I have no clue, and the worst thing I can do is say, “OK, I'm going to do a mountain.” That's the last thing I can do because then it's, “Oh my gosh, is the mountain right?”... It's mostly what I see around me.
How would you describe your art style?
Every canvas is a journey. That’s the way I look at it. I start with a blank canvas. I don't necessarily know what I’m going to have when I finish it. I start out with an idea. I think the best way to describe it is one of the paintings that I did: “Mountain Waters.” I had extra paint on my brush. It was Hooker's Green, a little bit of Hansa Yellow Light and a little bit of titanium and I had gessoed over and put a little bit of fiber paste on a canvas, and I rolled it over and all of a sudden, these colors started appearing, so I moved from the bottom to the top, putting in purple mountains, and it's one of my favorites. I would say I'm not conversant in styles necessarily.
I would say that it is an intuitive style.
As I was younger, I was always internalizing, “What is the meaning of life?” I remember one of my paintings; I was about 18, and I had just read “Steppenwolf,” and so it was like the forces between us, but now it's more “I want space, I want peace, I want joy.” If you're going to describe it, it's vibrant colors, it's movement and it's joy.
Do you have a favorite memory from being a part of Open Studios thus far?
Shrey Purohit and I were looking for space for Open Studios. Where are we going to show? Because that was when we got together, where are we going to be? Where is there going to be access? Where is there going to be enough air? Because at that time [during the pandemic], it was such a concern, right? We found 1507 Ocean Ave. Our eyes popped open, and Shrey got the idea to open up the Ingleside Gallery. It was Open Studios that had us searching for a space, which resulted in the Ingleside Gallery, which was a venue for so many people to show their art and it brought people here.
What is one piece of advice you have for other artists who want to start showing their art?
Don't be afraid. You are sharing with the world a personal part of you. But it makes the world a better place. You're going to meet a lot of good people. You're going to hear a lot of opinions, and if anything, that helped me. The first time somebody said, “Oh, gee. Well, what do you do? Do you draw lines and then you color it in?” People are trying to understand and so it's a matter of explaining. You have this opportunity to talk about what your meaning is, what you are wanting to offer to the world.
