Open Studio Tour artist Teri Jo Summer shares her abundance

If today was all you had, how would you choose to show up?

That is the question that artist Teri Jo Summer asks herself every day. And browsing the exquisite clothing and accessories in her studio, it’s certain that Summer is quite present most days.

Summer is one of the artists welcoming the public into her Clinton studio for the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour, coming Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 29 and 30.

Summer is a designer of art couture including coats, silk separates, hand-dyed scarves, bags and belts.

Some of her garments have been featured in museum exhibitions. Many of her designs are sold in the finer boutiques all across the United States and Canada, as well as in Europe and Japan. Even Oprah Winfrey owns one of Summer’s designs.

Her work is as stunning as the artist; a tall, fair-haired beauty with a welcoming demeanor and a penchant for avoiding small talk and going directly to the deeper conversation.

In the seventh-grade, Summer was at her full height and needed clothes that would fit her lanky frame.

“I had the benefit of not having any formal training in sewing and of not being aware of what I didn’t know,” Summer said.

“I was inspired when I watched my mother making a tepee for my brother.”

This led to a delving-in to creating designs which she honed further when living a secluded life in a Northern California commune. The way Summer tells it, a serendipitous moment of exposure in San Francisco led to a meeting in New York City, a sale to a buyer in Milan and everything spiraled from there.

Eventually, Summer found herself with a successful gallery just outside of Boston, Mass. and a lifestyle that had her dining with the Queen of England.

“Though, she doesn’t actually eat in front of anyone else,” Summer explained.

After an epiphany, when she realized she was mired in a certain corporate-style world of fashion where women actually were having the bones in their feet altered in order to fit into the latest trend of pointy-toed shoes, Summer followed her instincts and went after a dream.

She moved to Whidbey Island in 2004 and re-directed her self.

“I got back to the core of what I’m up to with the clothes; that connection with nature,” she said.

Indeed, the clothes on display in Summer’s studio seem beautiful beyond the realm of the man-made. Her coats blend the styles of some romantic age, perhaps Elizabethan mixed with the ’40s, using color and pattern to adorn the body like the beach is adorned with shells or the sky with clouds. Hand-dyed color, rich tapestry-infused fabrics, texture in all things, surprise beads inside a purse, an elaborate gemstone belt-buckle or the small detail of a braid on a coat all lend themselves to the distinct hand of this particularly detail-minded artist. It is as if she believes all women are beautiful and should be adorned accordingly.

These pieces are works of art and it is readily apparent why a curator would have them in a museum. They are expensive; but understandably so.

The success of her abilities with textiles seems to have fed the font of her motivation to send her good fortune out into the world.

Without leaving what she learned behind, Summer’s goal has been to combine the experience of her success in the high-stakes world of fashion with helping other artists reach that place of “manifesting abundance.”

It seems what is forward in this artist’s mind is the positivity that can be paid forward to those with whom she deals.

Having partnered with numerous artists and designers for more than 25 years, Summer has evolved through a myriad of approaches to creativity and business.

“I met people whom I would never have met otherwise,” Summer said.

“The nature of this business is a slippery slope, but if I care then other people will care, too.”

To that end, Summer has put her previous experience in the business world to good use by offering consultations to artists and entrepreneurs in successfully marketing unique items.

It’s the living from imagination rather than from observation model — an idea purported by Albert Einstein — that inspires Summer to stay on the edge of creativity.

“I’m always pushing the envelope,” she said. “That’s what keeps me exploring, taking risks; it’s my learning edge.”

That edge is fed by knowing she is surrounded by an enclave of artists in the area. It’s like a forcefield of positive energy for her as a creative person.

“Anybody who is living a creative life is part of the solution,” Summer said.

The Open Studio Tour is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30.

Teri Jo Summer’s studio is at 6350 Wintergreen Drive off Campbell Road in Clinton. Her Website is www.terijosummer.com, or call 341-3009.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.