Evanston Made’s Artist Studio Tour Celebrates 9th Year
Evanston Made’s Artist Studio Tour is celebrating 9 years! Launched in June 2014, this annual event invites patrons and community members to tour artist studios throughout Evanston, IL.
This original map was designed by Steven Bialer and artist’s were listed here and on this totally vintage website published on blogpost.com – openstudiosevanston.blogspot.com/2014/. The event’s name was later changed to Evanston Made, to ease confusion with Open Studio Project on Sherman Ave.
Throughout the years the studio tour went through numerous design changes – adding and removing creative spaces like art galleries, adding and removing adjacent communities like Skokie, adding and removing a bike map, taking place in June and October, etc.
In July 2015, the studio tour was accompanied by the exhibit “Made in Evanston” at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, click here to see photos from the opening party. This was the year we had gorgeous portraits of artists in their studios taken by photographer Christopher Bradley.
The original vision and mission for the studio tour never wavered and that was/is/will always be to put Evanston Artists on the map – figuratively and literally.
We are grateful to the artists who keep this event going strong to include; Adriana Poterash, Alice George, Beth Adler, Carol Hammerman, Jennifer Present, Jill King, Joanna Kramer, Joyce Elias, Julie Cowan, Maggie Weiss and Sarah Kaiser-Amaral. These artists were all on the very first studio tour and have continued to support their own practices and Evanston Made’s growth. Not listed here are the hundreds of artists and volunteers who helped make this annual event a success, but that list is for our TEN year celebration in 2024 and because we are maximalists, it’s likely the Ten Year Celebration will last all year long!
We are also grateful to the original map designer Steven Bialer, who then passed the torch to Tim Sonder. We now use a Google map for the tour with an accompanying flyer.
It’s amazing that Evanston Made is turning TEN next year and to see the impact we have made for artists, the visual arts community and the culture of the City of Evanston. We believe investing in culture and supporting artists is essential and we are proud to continue this work.
Quotes from original participants:
“Evanston Made has been bringing people to my studio for their open studio events since 2015. It has been an amazing opportunity for artists to connect with the local community. It has facilitated connection with other artists in Evanston and resulted in many sales to local collectors. Can’t wait for October 7 this year!” –Beth Adler
“Evanston Made put the Evanston art scene on the map! So many of us have connected with kindred spirits, and now have a powerful venue to share our creative endeavours with the outlying communities.” –Jill King-Wynn
“Thanks to Evanston Made, I have connected with other artists who inspire me. I have shown with them, and we continue to grow and develop our careers. Also, I have had the chance to sell a great deal of my work both in their physical and virtual shops. This has enabled me to broaden my network of patrons. Finally, I have acquired new students who I met at some of the mixers. I’m very grateful to Lisa and Liz, the brains behind Evanston Made, who continue to build our creative community.” –Sarah Kaiser-Amaral
Artist Studio Tour 2023
Join us in celebrating Evanston Artists and attend this year’s studio tour on October 7, 12-5p, to see more than 45 artists in their studios and start your Evanston Art Collection. Use this Google map here to plan your self-guided tour of artist studios. Click here for event info. We are hosting a pop up exhibit of participating artists at 1100 Florence Gallery and would love to see you at the opening party on Friday, October 6, 5-8p. Click here to RSVP.
Gallery of participating artists
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