5th Melrose Open Studio Tour to Spotlight Artists Nov. 20-21

The following was submitted by the Melrose Open Studio Tour:

Melrose, MA – Mark your calendars for this year’s Melrose Open Studio Tour (MOST), taking place November 20-21 across the city. At this annual arts event, now in its 5th year, artists will showcase their creative spaces and sell their works to tour-goers across two days, 12 noon - 4 pm each day.

Over 40 artists will participate this year in several neighborhoods across Melrose. A map of 18 locations will highlight individual studios in artists' homes and garages, as well as group sites at the Beebe Estate and Follow Your Art Community Studios. A stamped "passport" will encourage visitors to tour multiple locations throughout the weekend.

With each year, MOST has grown in scope and breadth. MOST organizer, Demi Dubois, says that this year is no exception. "It is always exciting to discover new artists working in Melrose as well as returning to visit established artists on the tour to view their latest inspirations."

Hannah Niswonger, a ceramic artist who recently moved to Melrose, will display her functional pottery in her restored barn near Melrose Cedar Park. An instructor at Mass College of Art and Design, Niswonger also founded Pots on Wheels, a mobile outreach clay education and exhibition space. Karim Badwan, whose studio is in his garage off Upham Street, also joins the MOST lineup this year. A lighting and production designer for film and theater, he creates custom light fixtures from reclaimed and repurposed goods. "In an age of planned obsolesce, I've made sustainability and long-lasting contemporary design the cornerstones of my work," says Badwan.

The annual fall arts event, first organized by Dubois in 2017, has attracted dozens of participating artists and hundreds of supporters and patrons. “We modeled it on open studio tours in other towns,” participating artists and hundreds of supporters and patrons. “We modeled it on open studio tours in other towns,” says Dubois, “as a way for members of the public to visit artists in the spaces where they create and to build a stronger arts community in our neighborhoods.”

Despite the pandemic in 2020, MOST organized a vibrant virtual celebration of local artists (still viewable on YouTube) and convened outdoor arts markets on the Beebe Estate lawn, a tradition continued in 2021, with two Summer Arts Markets. MOST has also launched nine “tiny art galleries” across Melrose, housed on front lawns of participating artists, which can be toured via a map on the MOST website.

Ahead of the November 20-21 weekend event, Melrose Open Studio Tour artists will be the featured exhibit for the month of November at the Beebe Estate, with an opening reception on November 5 from 7-9 pm. Each participating MOST artist will have one or two representative pieces on display through November, so residents can get a sampling of all MOST artists in one visit before planning out their trek around the city.

The MOST exhibit will be open during gallery hours at the Beebe, 235 West Foster Street, for three Saturdays (November 6, 13, 27) with additional pop-up sales and arts demonstrations, 11 am - 3 pm.

For more information on participating artists and sites, visit www.melroseopenstudios.org. Please note that masks will be required indoors. The Melrose Open Studio Tour is made possible by grants from the Melrose Messina Fund for the Arts and the Melrose Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency; plus, sponsorships from Melrose Arts, Crosscut Sewing Co., and Miter Biter Frame Co.