Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a modest art tour around Mancos.
Some time last year, Keith Williams had the vision to create one countywide and call it the Four Corners Studio Tour. It’s coming up June 6 to 8.
Williams explained how he tsed to have a gallery in Santa Fe, where there was a successful studio tour.
“I do my own art, I’ve always enjoyed studio tours,” he said. “I thought it was a good idea to bring here.”
So he did.
He first approached the Cortez Cultural Center, whose partnership helped bring the idea to fruition. Folks at the center encouraged him to connect with the LOR Foundation, and their funding helped greatly, he said.
By the start of 2025, fourcornersstudiotour.com was up and running, and a few local artists stepped up and created art to advertise the event that’s “free and open to all.”
The tour’s opening reception will be at the Cortez Cultural Center, 25 N. Market St., on June 6 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All participating artists will have sample art on display, and it will remain on display until June 28.
The open studio tour will be on June 7 and 8, and all 23 studios across the county will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Williams said that artists will display their work in their studios, and some may take the opportunity to do a demonstration. Artwork will be for sale, though it’s not required.
The only requirement to be part of the tour is that the artists are based in Montezuma County.
“There’s such a broad selection of artists and a lot of different crafts,” he said. “It’s a good mix, I think.”
Some of the destinations are “group sites” since not all 30 artists have their own studio space to welcome people into.
The first site listed, for instance, is the Cortez Chamber of Commerce. Five artists will be there, at 20 W. Main St., June 7 and 8. At the Mancos Common Press, the final site listed, eight artists will be on hand, doing a demonstration.
Local artist Sarah Drummond created a map to show where each studio is geographically. Addresses and artists are listed, too.
“Most of the studios are centered around Mancos, Cortez and Dolores,” Williams said. “There’s not any out in the county, really.”
Participants are free to navigate the studios in any order, though they did try and make it flow from studios in Cortez, to Dolores and then Mancos.
“It’s cool to be part of,” said Glen Shoemaker, a landscape artist in the tour. “The community and traffic (from the event) will be really nice. As artists, it’s good to have another platform.”
Williams said he’s received a lot of positive feedback already from the tour, specifically from participating artists. If all goes well, he hopes it’ll be an annual event.
“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been very rewarding,” he said.
Dai Salwen, a local painter and printmaker who created some of the tour’s advertising artwork, remembered first moving to the area, and how “I never expected to find a thriving art community here.”
“Over the years I’ve watched this community grow in its commitment and excitement for the arts. I feel honored to be a part of the Four Corners inaugural studio tour,” said Salwen.
To more easily navigate the tour, printed maps are available at the Cortez Cultural Center, the Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez, the Mancos Visitor Center, the Mancos Common Press and the Dolores Visitors Center.
“The Four Corners Studio Tour is a great chance for you to meet some of these artists in their working environment,” said Mike Pfotenhauer, a woodcut printmaker in the tour.
