Mid-October marks the start of the 15th Annual Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST), Philadelphia’s leading autumnal visual art exploration, presented by the Center for Emerging Visual Artists. Art lovers can find themselves in all of the far-flung corners of Philly by following the guide, which consists of more than 300 visual artist studios, culminating in the largest and most comprehensive tour of artist studios in the region. This year marks the first sponsored by Visit Philadelphia and With Art Philadelphia, and the month-long festival provides plenty of free art programming, including hands-on workshops, gallery exhibitions, demonstrations, artist talks, receptions and, of course, the self-guided tours for which POST is best known.

Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.

As in the past, two weekends will split the studios and galleries open for view by way of their orientation to Broad Street. On October 11 and 12, all of the locations West of Broad will be highlighted, including Center City West, Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, East Falls, Roxborough, Manayunk, Fairmount, Francisville, Germantown and West Philadelphia. The weekend of October 25 and 26 will include venues East of Broad: Center City East, Kensington, Fishtown, North Philadelphia, Northern Liberties, Old City, Port Richmond, The Northeast, Queen Village, Bella Vista and South Philadelphia. All self-guided tours are free and run from 12-6 p.m. Guided trolley tours will be available on each Sunday of weekend tours, October 12 and 26, for those who want an itinerary that stops at some noteworthy locations, but spots are limited.

Many faces of the Philadelphia art community that will also be participating in POST. Image courtesy CFEVA

This is the 15th year of POST, and the events will receive a kickoff event at the brand new Sononesta Hotel Art Bar on Thursday, October 9 from 6-9 p.m. Featured at the anniversary celebration will be a special exhibition of artworks by Michele Kishita, James B. Abbott and Michael Yoder.

A number of featured exhibits are also being singled out by POST, including “In-Between,” a site-specific installation by Sun Young Kang at CFEVA that consists of rolled paper tubes that explore themes of light and shadow, life and death; Lauren Boilini’s “The Fugue,” which was painted on the walls and floor of Metropolitan Gallery over the course of a week; “Colossal Cosmos” by Heather Ujiie, which utilizes digital and traditional techniques to create allegorical narratives based in iconography from around the globe; and “David Lynch: The Unified Field” at PAFA, which serves as the filmmaker’s first major museum exhibition in the United States.

For more information about POST and its upcoming busy month that lies ahead, visit philaopenstudios.org and check out information about their free mobile app and smartphone guide in partnership with ici at icihere.com.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists is located at The Barclay, 237 South 18th St., Suite 3A, Philadelphia; [email protected]; philaopenstudios.org.