After being canceled last year due to COVID-19, the 2021 Art in the Woods studio tour will be taking place at venues across North Kitsap this weekend.

The event gives local artists the chance to showcase and sell their work while offering background and insight about their creations.

The event is sponsored by nonprofit Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest and is a self-guided studio tour, according to their website. Studio sizes range from single-artist to groups in larger venues. There will be 18 art studios participating, ranging from Poulsbo, Kingston, Suquamish and Indianola. All studios will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day Friday through Sunday.

Event coordinator Leigh Knowles said “the delight of visiting studios, meeting artists, seeing what they do and asking them questions about process” is the purpose of the tour. “Hopefully finding things of beauty that they go home with. It’s not just about selling, it’s about sharing.”

The tour has been around for about 20 years, Knowles said. The idea for the tour was conceived by Wally and Wendy Hampton of Poulsbo. Wendy was a ceramic artist and Wally was a photographer. They have since retired.

Knowles and her Knowles Studio in Poulsbo has been a tour site for over 15 years. She shares the space with painter Robin Weiss. For this year’s tour, Knowles said she will be converting the studio into mostly printmaking such as etching, woodcutting, lithography and monotype. Besides, Knowles and Weiss, other artists who will be featured at Knowles Studio are ceramic artist Wanda Garrity, metal sculptor Dick Strom, silk artist Rebecca Parker, printmaker Tina Juvonen and painter Ruth Maupin.

Knowles said she and her husband built the studio in 2002. “This is our labor of love. It’s open generally all the time,” she said.

One of the perks of the tour is that it allows folks to peruse the studios at their leisure. Knowles said over the years there are often people who try and visit all of the studios over the three days.

“That’s the fun of it,” she said. “They can just toodle around in their cars. They can visit as many or as few as they wish. I would say it would be really difficult to visit all the studios in one day.”

Knowles said a big attraction is that it occurs so close to the holidays, and people are looking to purchase art gifts. She said many studios have told her that sales and overall interest in their work improve each year the tour is held. “Even some of the smaller studios have seen 250 to 300 people in a weekend.”

Another key element is that most of the studios are located in rural areas of North Kitsap that don’t see as much traffic as others in more centrally located areas like downtown Poulsbo. Knowles said some of the studios are also homes of the artists.

“It is really about bringing people to the artists,” she said. “People come back year after year; they just love to visit.”

Of the studios, Knowles said the art will consist of two-dimensional such as painting, drawings, printmaking, photography and collages, while three-dimensional art will consist of ceramics, glass, jewelry, metal sculptures, stone sculptures and mosaics.

The studios include:

•Kingston: Mud Club Pottery, 21994 Seatter Rd; Bob Wahr Creations, 11152 NE Tulin Rd; Kingston Artist Tree, 8690 West Kingston Rd; Ray Hammar Industrial Arts Studio at Savage Plants, 6810 NE Hwy 104; Magdalena Studio, 5941 NE Timberland Dr; A 47-6-West Photography, 29403 Gamble Pl NE; Two Dogs Studio, 28015 Hansville Rd NE; Kingston Woodworking, 12540 NE Marine View Dr.

•Indianola: Fern Street Pottery, 20505 Fern St; Fernwoods Studio, 21072 Fern St.; Indianola Pottery, 20649 Chief Sam Wilson Way NE; Joi de Vie, 22450 Miller Bay Rd NE; Miller Bay Clubhouse, 22125 Sunridge Way NE; Spirit Bird Studio, 22425 Sunridge Way NE.

•Poulsbo: Ice House Studio, 2889 NW Parris Road; Knowles Studio, 20432 Noll Rd NE; Studio Wide Mouth Frog, 3577 NE Lincoln Rd.

•Suquamish: Rosie Creek Studio, 6421 NE Middle St.

Local ceramics artist Wanda Garrity has been in the studio tour for many years and will be again this year.

A map showing all of the venues for the Art in the Woods studio tour.

A wider shot of Knowles Studio during a previous year’s tour.