Placitas Studio Tour expands to three days for 29th year

Placitas turned Mother’s Day weekend into a villagewide art crawl, with 62 local artists welcoming visitors into 48 studios across the Sandia foothills and turning private workspaces, neighborhood roads and nearby shops into a short-term economic engine.

The Placitas Studio Tour ran Friday, May 8, through Sunday, May 10, with studios open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The expanded three-day format gave buyers more time to linger, compare work and move between stops without rushing, a change organizers made after visitors and artists said one weekend was not enough to see everything.

Nancy Holley, who has led the tour for a decade, said the landscape is part of the attraction as much as the artwork. That mix of high-desert views, changing light and a dense concentration of artists is what has helped the tour endure for 29 years, even as larger regional events compete for attention.

This year’s lineup remained intentionally nonjuried, with work ranging from painting and photography to jewelry, sculpture, glass and ceramics. The tour’s local-only rules also kept the event rooted in Placitas: only artists who live in the village or maintain a full-time studio there could participate, reinforcing the event’s role as a showcase for makers who are part of the community year-round.

Organizers said the tour’s mission is to support and promote the Placitas artist community by expanding the audience and collector base for the fine arts and crafts made here. It is also registered as a domestic nonprofit in New Mexico, a structure that underscores how closely the event is tied to local commerce and community identity.

Before the weekend opening, the Placitas Community Library hosted a preview exhibit in the Gracie Lee Room from April 14 through May 10. Each participating artist contributed a piece, and the tour donated $1,000 to the library in gratitude. A separate exhibit also went up at Albuquerque Sunport, extending Placitas’ reach beyond the village and giving the tour a wider public face.

The 2026 brochure cover artist was M. Kyle Hollingsworth, and organizers said the cover selection was competitive. Studios were grouped into seven color-coded neighborhoods on the map and brochure, a practical detail that helped visitors navigate the route more efficiently across the village.

Among the names attached to this year’s tour were M. Kyle Hollingsworth, Kevin Hendricks, Furman Kelley, Lynne Hynes and Colleen Gregoire. For Placitas, the result was more than a weekend of open doors: it was another reminder that the arts remain one of the clearest ways the community defines itself and draws outside money into local hands.