Over a dozen Central Oregon artists will open their studios to the public on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, for the third annual Bend Artists’ Studio Tour. This free, self-guided event runs from 11 AM to 4 PM both days and is presented by SageBrushers Art Society, Central Oregon’s oldest arts organization.
The Tour offers something a gallery cannot: the room where the work is actually made. Visitors will find easels mid-project, tools in use, and finished pieces alongside the ones still being created. Artists will be present at every stop, available to talk about materials, process, and the long practical business of making things by hand.
The range of work is deliberately wide. Participating studios include bronze and ceramic figurative sculpture, fused glass and mosaic, pastel, oil, watercolor and acrylic painting, photography, and handmade drums. No two stops resemble each other, and visitors can move from a garden studio to a garage workbench to a north-facing spare room over the course of a single afternoon.
A special feature of the Tour is the SageBrushers Gallery and Studio, located in the Southwest Crossing neighborhood. SageBrushers Art Society of Bend is a non-profit organization with over 220 members. The building is a 1940’s cottage converted to a gallery, library, and studio. Member artists will be working in the studio during the Tour.
“There’s a real intimacy to a working studio that I don’t think people expect,” said Melissa McGlenn, tour team lead. “It’s in the palette more than the painting, in the tools worn down where the hand goes. Some of these rooms are extraordinary and some are as ordinary as a kitchen table, but every one of them is sacred to the person who works there. That these artists have opened those doors to us feels like a gift.”
Now in its third year, the Tour has grown into an annual point of connection between Bend residents and the working artists living among them. Many participating studios sit in ordinary residential neighborhoods, unmarked and easily passed without notice.
The Tour is free and open to the public. No registration is required. A complete studio map and artist list is available at sagebrushersartofbend.com/artists-studio-tour-2026.
EVENT DETAILS
What: 3rd Annual Bend Artists’ Studio Tour
When: Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, 11 AM to 4 PM
Where: Working studios throughout Bend
Cost: Free, self-guided
Info: sagebrushersartofbend.com/artists-studio-tour-2026
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Barbara Alford, pastel
Jesica Carleton, mosaic and fused glass
Scott Dyer, oil
Steve Gevurtz, bronze and ceramic sculpture
Susan Hood, oil
Nancy Joy, acrylic, gouache and mixed media
Elizabeth Kolstad, oil, watercolor, acrylic and collage
Sally MacAllister, acrylic
Judi McAlpin, pottery, lampwork, photography and painting
Melissa McGlenn, mixed media and handmade drums
Kenneth E. Meyer, photography
Denise Rich, acrylic, watercolor, pastel and mixed media
Laura Jo Sherman, pastel
Deborah Stevens, watercolor
