Maps to the art stars: Artists open up on the 14th Annual Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour

"It's a great opportunity to meet new clientele and to showcase my new series," says artist Michele Zuzalek of the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour. This is the 14th year that local artists have been opening their studios to the public. Kenneth Song/News-Press photos
“It’s a great opportunity to meet new clientele and to showcase my new series,” says artist Michele Zuzalek of the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour. This is the 14th year that local artists have been opening their studios to the public.
Kenneth Song/News-Press photos

Buyers, collectors, fellow curious artists, locals and art tourists: all will be converging this weekend for the 14th annual Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour. With over 30 painters, sculptors, photographers and mixed media artists opening up their studios to visitors, it’s a chance to see these creative beings in their natural habitat, their studios.

That might be a converted garage or a guest house or a barn or a shed. And the artist might be working in organized chaos or be impeccably neat. But the studio tour remains endlessly fascinating to many.

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Studio Sessions – Artist tour allows a look behind the curtain

From landscapes to abstracts, artwork has been at many times inspired by Santa Barbara and its environs, either as a subject or simply as a place to work. Painters, sculptors and multimedia artists live and work invisibly in plain sight. The woman at the farmer’s market buying a basket of vegetables for the week may be going home to finish a huge canvas. The windows looking out from the Riviera may be artist studios. For those who join the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour this weekend, all will be revealed. Secret locations will be open for exploring, and one may just catch the art bug.

Now in its ninth year, the weekend-long open house features over 40 artists who live and work in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria. Some work downtown. Others work off in the wilds, or as wild as we get here.

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