JP Open Studios returns this weekend

This weekend, Jamaica Plain artists will open their doors in the 18th annual Jamaica Plain Open Studios (JPOS).

The free event showcases the artwork of over 230 artists at 52 sites including artists’ studios, the historic Eliot School on Eliot Street, the Sam Adams brewery complex on Amory Street, and the Arnold Arboretum.

This year’s JPOS will also feature its first bicycle tour, themed “(Re)Cycling thru Work.” It will include a dozen local artists who use recycled materials and reclaim garbage to create art and will be led by local nonprofit Bikes Not Bombs’ youth volunteers.

“I have been showing out of my home [on School Street] on and off for the past fourteen years,” George Anastos, one of the participating artists, said in a press release. “Open Studios is about community. I love having people come in my home…It allows people who have been walking for a while to relax and focus on one artist’s work.”

“The event’s unique energy arises from the public’s interaction with artists in their individual studios,” JPOS Coordinator Mariana Negron-Quinones said in the release.

Hyde Square Task Force is hosting a kick-off breakfast that will feature performances by youth in their program as well as treats by numerous JP bakeries. The breakfast will take place at the Cheverus Building, behind Blessed Sacrament Church, 365 Centre St.

Negron-Quinones said she is “thrilled that the Hyde Square Task Force and Hyde/Jackson Main Streets have engaged the Latino community in JP to become a larger part of Open Studios.”

Free maps will be distributed at local JP businesses and are available at information booths during the event at the Brewery (284 Amory St.) and JP Licks (659 Center St.).

Studios will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat., Sept. 24 and Sun., Sept. 25.

For more information and to preview artists’ work, visit www.jpopenstudios.com.

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