Melrose Open Studio Tour - The Melrose Messenger

Melrose Open Studio Tour Showcases Artists Across Town

This upcoming Saturday and Sunday, November 16th and 17th, the Melrose Open Studio Tour (MOST) will provide the general public with the opportunity to meet artists, see where they work, and look at samples of their work in the context of their studios.

MOST is a free, self-guided tour, and audience members can use the map (see map at right) to visit as few or as many artists as they choose, from 11am to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Artist demos will take place on both days, allowing the public to see several artists at work. (See schedule at left)

MOST is an offshoot of Melrose Arts, which runs the annual Melrose Arts Festival in the spring. It started in 2017 with 27 participating artists; now running for the 8th year, it has grown to over 40 artists.

Rebecca O’Brien Pani, who has organized MOST for the last four years, pointed out that many towns in the area that have vibrant art scenes like Melrose’s also have some kind of open studio tour. In some towns, there may be one large building that many artists work out of, while in others, most artists might work out of their own homes. Melrose, she pointed out, has both of these, since a number of artists work out of Follow Your Art Community Studios, while many others work out of smaller spaces.

Some artists will have work for sale during the tour, while others will simply have their work on display. “While the original intent of the tour is to allow people to see where the artists work and their process,” O’Brien Pani pointed out, “shopping is also a great perk for the artists and the people who are visiting.” So while some visitors may be interested in buying art while they are on the tour, there is no expectation that visitors purchase anything.