Astoria Open Studios Tour map

The 14th annual Astoria Open Studios Tour over the last weekend in July will see more than 50 artists offer a glimpse of their creative process to the public. The free, self-guided event is a chance to meet local artists and see and buy their work right where it was made.

Lifelong sculptor and painter Robert Paulmenn has been part of the tour since he first moved to Astoria 12 years ago.

He will turn his studio, located in the former Fornas Grocery space on Grand Avenue, into a miniature gallery for the event, with paintings and drawings on walls and shelves, showcasing the scope of his work.

“Open studios gives people an opportunity to see where I work, see the things I do, and purchase things that may not get into the gallery,” Paulmenn said, referring to Astoria’s RiverSea Gallery, where he exhibits his work. “I go through two different phases of what drives me to paint.”

Joanne Lumpkin Brown will participate in the tour for the first time this year. “I never considered myself an artist,” she said. “I considered myself a working painter.”

Lumpkin Brown worked in the motion picture industry for 30 years as a production and scenic painter.

Her credits include “Training Day,” with Denzel Washington, and “My Girl,” with Macaulay Culkin, as well as the third installment of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” which brought her to Astoria in 1992.

“I worked with William Shatner, Betty White, Candace Bergen … they were all wonderful,” she said, adding that working in the movies “was rough and things weren’t always perfect, but it did give me a bunch of good calluses and some good lessons that have brought me this far.”

For the tour, Lumpkin Brown will exhibit her drawings and paintings, which represent but a sampling of her work. “I just do things, I hop around,” Lumpkin Brown said. “I have done many murals in town, I do art, I do signage, I fix artwork and antique frames.”

Lumpkin Brown is joining the tour at the encouragement of Astoria Visual Arts executive director Annie Eskelin.

She said, “I love (Astoria Visual Arts) for how they are welcoming and they let people slash artists do their thing, and it does bring out the best in some people who might not fit into the gallery scene.”

Another such artist is woodworker and builder Tim Kennedy, who will be opening his longtime workshop on 18th Street. “My bread and butter is kitchen cabinets and tables,” he said.

Kennedy was inspired to join the tour based on his own experience attending the tour for many years.

“I always make a point to go to five or six studios, people whose work I really admire, and it’s interesting to see where they work and what their environment looks like,” he said. “I’ve never really seen another woodworker.”

Kennedy’s studio will feature custom-made tables and doors, bandsaw boxes, mobiles, and sculptures he makes from salvaged materials.

Another tour location this year is Clatsop Community College, where ceramicist Brad Menninga will show work alongside college art department students.

The college’s ceramics club will also be organizing a community art project between 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday that lets participants create clay fish to contribute to a communal ceramic fish tin.

The free, family-friendly studio tour weekend is a program of Astoria Visual Arts. An interactive tour guide is available online and a printed version is at many locations throughout downtown Astoria.

Participating artists from the Saturday and Sunday tour are also being featured in “Artists of Astoria,” a group exhibit at the Astoria Visual Arts gallery on Duane Street through Aug. 4.

Astoria Open Studios Tour

Astoria Open Studios Tour

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

“Artists of Astoria” on display at Astoria Visual Arts, 1000 Duane St., through Aug. 4

Find the tour map and a full list of participating studios online at

www.discoverourcoast.com