Portland Open Studios is one of those events that rewards a bit of planning. For the next two weekends, more than 100 local artists are opening their private workspaces to the public for free, so you can walk right into the studios where the work actually gets made. The tour runs this weekend, October 10 and 11, and again on October 17 and 18, with studios open from 10 am to 4 pm both weekends. There's no admission fee, and you build your own route using the online directory and mobile maps.
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The scale is the first thing worth noting. With over 100 studios spread across the city, you won't see everything in one go, so it helps to pick a neighborhood or two and work from there. The tour is broken down into seven communities, which makes planning a lot easier: Outer Southwest, Inner Southwest, Northwest, North, Northeast, Outer Southeast, and Inner Southeast. Each one covers a distinct slice of Portland, from the West Hills and St. Johns to Alberta and Sellwood, so you can keep your wandering within a manageable area.
Because these are working studios and not galleries, the experience is different from a museum visit. You're seeing the tools, the half-finished pieces, and the actual environment where the work comes together. The artists are asked to include an educational element — something like a demonstration of their process or documentation of their methods — so you'll walk away with a better sense of how the work is actually made, rather than just looking at finished pieces on a wall. It's a chance to talk to the artists about their practice in the space where it happens.
It's also worth knowing who you're about to run into. The roster pulls from a lot of different backgrounds: Beth Yazhari, a mixed-media painter in the Outer Southwest; William Hernandez, a painter from Lima, Peru, in the Inner Southwest; Natasha Ramras, a painter trained in Russia, in the Northwest; Nathan Sandberg, a glass artist on North Columbia Boulevard; Gesine Krätzner, an animator and character designer who moved here from Germany in 1995, in the Northeast; Elena Markova and her son Trifon Markov, third- and fourth-generation artists in the Outer Southeast; and Thérèse Murdza, an abstract painter in the Inner Southeast. That's just a small sample of the range you'll find across the seven communities.
If you're an artist yourself, the tour also gives a glimpse into how the whole thing comes together. The application opens in February, with a jury that looks at four images and an artist statement, and the participation fee goes toward the promotion and infrastructure that keeps the tour running year after year. There are scholarships involved too, like the Kimberly Gales Emerging Artist Scholarship for artists under 30 and the Molly Cliff Hilts Scholarship for artists from historically marginalized communities, both of which waive the participation fee.
Whether you're a serious collector or just looking for something free to do on a Saturday, it's an easy way to spend a few hours. Pick a neighborhood, pull up the map, and let the studios guide your morning.
Published Date
10 October 2026
