Sandia Heights artists open their doors this weekend to show off their studios

By Sara Atencio-Gonzales, The Paper. – For one weekend in September, homes throughout Sandia Heights will open their doors to art lovers as 40 local artists share everything from oil paintings and pottery to jewelry, woodworking and mixed-media pieces.

The annual Sandia Heights Artists Studio Tour brings artists together across 13 stops in the neighborhood, giving visitors a self-guided opportunity to see their work and meet the people who created it. The free tour includes artists from Sandia Heights as well as a limited number of guest artists from elsewhere in the Albuquerque area. 

Rebecca Whitecotton, publicity coordinator for Sandia Heights Artists, emphasizes that interaction is an important part of what separates a studio tour from viewing artwork in a gallery.

“At the studio tour, I’m there and I see people come in and sometimes immediately connect with a piece that I’ve made, and that’s just very meaningful for me as an artist, because I can see how connected people are to the work that I’ve done,” says Whitecotton. 

Sandia Heights Artists President Claudia Mitchell explains that the tour began 23 years ago and has grown into a regular part of Albuquerque’s art community. Its relatively small geographic area also allows visitors to see numerous artists without traveling long distances between stops. 

Mitchell, an oil painter who will have 41 paintings on display this year, says visitors can expect a wide range of work throughout the tour. Organizers intentionally place different types of artists together at each stop, offering visitors several mediums to explore at one location. 

“I’d like to impress upon the public that these local art tours have a lot to offer art lovers and art appreciators,” says Mitchell. 

For mixed-media artist and writer Ariel Lynn, this year’s tour is also an opportunity to unveil work she has intentionally kept out of recent shows. Lynn creates surrealist collages that begin with acrylic painting before she adds materials such as paper, fabric, foil, beads or glass. Her work also incorporates poetry, and Lynn explains that visitors will see both new writing and older poems finding their way into paintings for the first time.

“I’ve been doing a lot of shows recently, but I haven’t been bringing my new work with me. Kind of saving it for the studio tour, so there’s quite a lot of new work,” says Lynn. 

Rather than telling visitors how to interpret that work, Lynn hopes they form their own connections. “Come experience it. Whatever you get out of it is great,” says Lynn. 

The 2026 Sandia Heights Artists Studio Tour will take place Sept. 12 and 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the Sandia Heights neighborhood surrounding the Tramway in far northeast Albuquerque. The tour is free, requires no tickets and can be completed in any order. Visitors can download a map and brochure online at sandiaheightsartists.com, while printed brochures will also be available at each stop and at the Sandia Heights Homeowners Association office (12700 San Rafael NE #3).