On October 14 & 15, 2017, you are invited inside the working studios of 70 local artists to learn about the artistic process, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. Plus, you can even win some fabulous items hand-crafted by a selection of artists on the tour just for getting your Studio Tour Passport stamped at each studio address you visit. All studios will feature demonstrations or will have hands-on activities for visitors. It’s family friendly and free!
Check out TacomaArtsMonth.com for the full list of artists, schedule, your Tacoma Studio Tour Passport, and an interactive map where you can plot your own custom tour course.
Pick up your passport at Spaceworks Gallery, or any Studio Tour locations. You’ll find artist details, and contact information, as well as Studio Tour Passport. Get 8 or more stamps to enter drawing for prizes made by local artists.
Studios are open 11am – 5pm. We encourage you to bring cash or check for any purchases you would like to make.
Here’s a short list of some of the artists and entrepreneurs that have worked with Spaceworks over the years, although there’s much more to see:
Alice Di Certo
Sunday – As an artist, Alice Di Certo is interested in photography, jewelry, and sculpture. Through art she explores social and environmental issues as well as her personal view of beauty. In jewelry she experiments with different techniques and materials including natural objects and spices instead of traditional gems. During the studio tour she will show her jewelry and photographs.
Visit Artist Studio →
Enter through alley, second garage on right.
Kyle Dillehay
Sunday – Kyle Dillehay finds alternative historical processes and the objects they produce totally seductive. They have aura, they make him think of alchemy and how it influences the often unpredictable results in image making. He has a renewed interest in tactile, permanent stuff in the face of ephemeral digital culture. Alternative processes reignite some of the magic of photographic objects that the massive volume of digital imagery can cause us to forget.
Visit Artist Studio →
Enter through alley, second garage on right.
Chandler O’Leary – Anagram Press
Saturday & Sunday – Chandler O’Leary is a RISD graduate and the proprietor of Anagram Press, specializing in lettering and illustration. Chandler is the author and artist of the illustrated travel blog, Drawn the Road Again, and one half of the collaborative team behind the Dead Feminists book and broadside series. She is currently working on her next book, an illustrated atlas of the West Coast, to be published by Sasquatch Books in 2019.
Visit Artist Studio →
Use front door. Reserve driveway for visitors with mobility issues.
Susan Thompson – Susan’s Kiln
Saturday & Sunday – Susan Thompson’s fully functioning pottery studio is set up in the basement of a private residence in the North End. Susan is a retired school teacher who makes functional pieces for others to enjoy in their home.
Jessica Spring – Springtide Press
Saturday & Sunday – Springtide Press was founded in 1999 by proprietor Jessica Spring, who designs, prints, and binds artist books, broadsides, and ephemera incorporating letterpress printing and handmade paper. Small, finely-crafted editions and one-of-a-kind books explore historical topics, popular culture, and typography from a unique perspective. The shop motto, “where we always print damp” recognizes the Pacific Northwest as a fine place to print, where the damp climate helps make a good impression.
Katie Dean – Little Green
Saturday & Sunday – Katie Dean is a letterpress artist who focuses on multi-layered linoleum block printing. Mainly using floral and nature themes, she enjoys studying, experimenting and exploring unique color combinations. A sketch of her idea starts the process and she hand carves the design into a linoleum block. Each color requires a separate block and most of her work is printed with a Chandler & Price 10×15 letterpress.
Steve Lawler – rePly Furniture Co.
Saturday & Sunday – Steve Lawler’s furniture incorporates two passions: the first being the creative process itself, the second is the respectful use of our planet’s resources. Steve strives to apply equal weight to form and function. Using recycled materials is both a push and a pull, it forces him to find a unique expression for these sometimes odd and limiting pieces of raw material. It is at the same time challenging and incredibly stimulating.
Jeff Libby & Adrienne Wicks – birdloft
Saturday & Sunday – Jeff Libby and Adrienne Wicks design and make custom furniture with reclaimed wood, steel, and air. They produce a handful of pieces each year, nearly all of them made-to-order, for people who have sought them out with a piece in mind. It’s a pragmatic way to create a small amount of sustainable, functional art in the world.
Jennifer English – SPUN Clay Arts Studio & Gallery
Saturday – Jennifer English explores the connections between heart, hands, and clay bodies. Since starting with sculpture at the age of 15, she likes to mix wheel-thrown and hand-built techniques in order to create fun and exciting pieces. SPUN celebrated its three year anniversary this August and is proud to be on the studio tour again this year.
April Sanders – SPUN Clay Arts Studio & Gallery
Saturday – April Sanders is a ceramic artist from Tacoma. She spent her earlier years on charcoal portraiture, acrylic paintings, and sculptures. In 1998, she studied ceramics at the Seward Park Clay Studio in Seattle and has spent the years since concentrating on mastering techniques for wheel throwing and teaching.
Naarah McDonald – Revisioned, an Urban Boutique & Productivity Parlour for Artful Living
Saturday & Sunday – Naarah McDonald has produced costumes and clothing for 30 years. Her studio is an active learning textile maker space, in addition to a personal work space. From contemporary clothing and historical costumes to cloth accessories, she offers a wealth of experience and resources for developing skills or commissioning custom work. Offering classes and alterations, the studio complements the retail space.
Kris Crews – Crews Creative
Saturday & Sunday – Crews Creative assists local businesses and independent artists in the creation and delivery of digital media including photography, video production, and web design. Kris Crews is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and multimedia artist. His work has been featured at a variety of local venues including The Grand Cinema, Fulcrum Gallery, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, Tacoma Film Festival, Tacoma Art Museum, and Seattle Art Museum.
Visit Artist Studio →
Located inside 1120 Creative House, Studio #208. Take elevator or stairs to 2nd floor.
Becky Frehse
Saturday & Sunday – Becky Frehse’s mixed media paintings explore musical themes as they suggest visual patterns and color relationships. Many layers of textured modeling compounds and paint create luscious, colorful surfaces – sometimes on repurposed musical instruments.
Visit Artist Studio →
Inside F.S. Harmon Building, 2nd Floor. Steele St. accessed only from Center St. Enter through yellow door on east side of building
Yoshiko Yamamoto – The Arts & Crafts Press
Saturday – Yoshiko Yamamoto has been making woodblock prints and letterpress greeting cards for 20 years. Yoshiko was inspired by both the historic Arts & Crafts movement that advocated the importance of handwork in everyday life, and the beauty and craftsmanship in traditional Japanese woodblock prints. Lover of outdoors and gardening, her inspiration comes from her daily walks, occasional hikes with her family, and the time spent in her garden.
Visit Artist Studio →
Enter through red door on right side of building
Jason Sobottka
Saturday – Jason Sobottka’s current work, Adventures Through the Anthropocene, depicts multiple organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship. Symbiotic mutualism rather than parasitism. Flora and fauna work so closely in tandem that they nourish or protect each other. His illustrative and ornamental work focuses on detailed figural renderings, often shifting in between different dimensions. Often the drawings gradate from detailed naturalism towards abstraction. While there is great whimsy there is also dark humor.
Visit Artist Studio →
Located inside 1120 Creative House, Studio #207. Take elevator or stairs to 2nd floor.
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NEW THIS YEAR! Tacoma Satellite Studio Tour
Add the Satellite Studio Tour to your Tacoma Arts Studio Tour! Several artists grouped at four core Tacoma locations will show work on the same dates/times as the main tour.
Christopher Paul Jordan and Kenji Stoll (1212 S. 11th Street)
Lisa Kinoshita and Nicholas Nyland (MINKA, 821 Pacific Avenue)
Dion Thomas, Umi Wagoner, and Perris Wright (eTc, 907 Pacific Avenue)
Ed Kroupa, Carolyn Osborne, Sharika Roland, and more (Creative Forces at Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway Plaza)
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