Pilsen artists to open studio doors to the public

A bevy of artists on the Lower West Side will open their studios to the public this weekend for the 20th annual Pilsen Open Studios event.

The event includes 31 home studios and gallery spaces this year. It started Friday night and continues Saturday and Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m. both days. No registration is necessary. Free mural tours leave the Pilsen Arts and Community House, 1637 W. 18th St., at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The home studio remains integral to the event while the number of participating galleries has increased since 2003.

“When you go into an artist studio you see all the stuff you’re not really supposed to see, all the unfinished thoughts,” said Denise Trujillo, a surrealist mixed-media painter and five-time participant.

The event received $5,000 from the city to pay for activities such as mural tours and live music. A map of the event can be found on the Pilsen Arts and Community House website.

“We want our community members to have that experience of the arts that they might get by only going out of the neighborhood,” said Teresa Magaña, executive director of the community house.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.