Gulfport's ArtJones To Host 5th Annual Art Gallery Tour Dec. 4-5

GULFPORT, FL — In its first five years, Gulfport fine arts collective ArtJones has become a holiday shopping staple for arts lovers in the region and established itself as a premier artist collective on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The group celebrates its fifth anniversary Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Dec. 5 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with its most creatively diverse group of artists to date, a growing emphasis on emerging artists and the group's inaugural ArtJones Scholarship Award recipient, an award designed to welcome underrepresented voices into the arts community.

The two-day, self-paced tour features 28 fine artists from across a wide variety of mediums, including painting, glass art, ceramics, woodworking, photography, jewelry and fiber art.

ArtJones founder Brenda McMahon says there’s a new sense of enthusiasm on this year’s tour.

"I have not been this excited about the ArtJones Open Studio Tour since it first began," she said. "Our expansion of the professional artist base, along with our Emerging Artist Program and our scholarship program puts this tour and our professional arts community exactly where I envisioned it seven years ago when the seed of this idea began taking root."

ArtJones announced earlier this fall that glass artist Michelle Ingram is the inaugural recipient of the new scholarship, joining emerging painters Amy Howell, Paula Roy and Deserie Valloreo on this year's tour.

The group has redesigned the Open Studio Tour in 2021, clustering artists to provide visitors fewer stops while seeing more artwork. Each of the 12 studio locations with one exception will host two to four artists, with all safety and social distancing protocols in place. For more information and to download a map for this year's ArtJones Open Studio Tour, visit artjonesstudiotour.com.

ArtJones is an independent artist-run collective. The rotating list of artists is selected by invitation.