GULFPORT — Gulfport’s ArtJones Open Studio Tour will celebrate its seven-year anniversary as a premier artist collective on Florida’s Gulf Coast this December with a growing emphasis on emerging artists and the inclusion of fellow creators from the greater St. Petersburg art community.
ArtJones has become a must-see and must-shop event on the region’s abundant holiday arts calendar for its intimate look inside the working studios of some of the area’s finest artists.
The event will take place on Saturday, Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and features 28 professional artists at 11 stops. The participating artists represent a variety of artistic mediums, including painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, jewelry, and mixed-media art. Art lovers are invited to visit ArtJonesStudioTour.com to download a map of the stops and brochure of the tour or pick up postcards and brochures with a map at several businesses throughout Gulfport and St. Petersburg.
ArtJones is committed to supporting the next generation of artists and creators and welcomes three emerging artists to this year’s tour. Silversmith Ashley Wix will be making her debut, having been selected as the recipient of the Larry Enlow Emerging Artist Scholarship. Also joining the tour is illustrator Riley Pitzen, who is sponsored by Kathleen and Peter Forde, and sculptor Ashley Rivers, sponsored jointly by Brenda McMahon Gallery, Jill Rice from Zaiya ArtiZen Market, and Echo Bartlett.
“I have not been this excited about the ArtJones Open Studio Tour since it first began,” said ArtJones founder Brenda McMahon. “Our expansion of the emerging artist program, along with our professional artist base, puts this tour and our fine arts community exactly where I envisioned it years ago when the seed of this idea began taking root.”
Of the 28 participating artists in this year’s event, eight are making their ArtJones debut. Newcomers Cal Brown, Debra Campbell, Hoa Penghe, John Doyle, and Melissa Rogolino join the aforementioned emerging artists showing with the group for the first time. They’re joined by ArtJones veterans Brenda McMahon, Ray Domingo, Nancy Poucher, Joyce Burkholder, Melissa Zodda, Amy Howell, Bobbi Pratte, Don Stafford, Eric Folsom, Cynthia Dugat, Deserie Valloreo, Paula Roy, Dawn Waters, Katherine Zehnder, Judith Villivisanis, Monika Watson, Denny Howard, Patricia Burrows, Margaret Foy-Minehart and Crea Egan in a lineup of fine and emerging artists representing nearly all mediums of visual art.
For information on the artists and to download a brochure with a map of this year’s ArtJones Open Studio Tour, visit ArtJonesStudioTour.com.