Austin opens 300 studio spaces to public

The 2026 Austin Studio Tour opens Nov. 14, giving the public free access to more than 300 locations across the city. Organized by Almost Real Things, the self-guided event runs for two weekends, Nov. 14-15 and 21-22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year marks the largest iteration of the tour, with over 800 participating artists, groups, and hosts.

Almost Real Things took over the tour last year, merging previous East and West Austin events into a single citywide program. Organizer Natalie Earhart notes that the shortage of affordable studio space drives artists to work in alternative venues. She hopes the tour will remind residents that creative work continues in their neighborhoods and encourage support for local artists.

The tour’s website provides filters for medium, neighborhood, and venue type, along with curated routes for specific interests. Earhart suggests visitors start by exploring their own blocks, where working artists may live nearby. The event also encourages collaborations between different disciplines and local businesses, including musicians and bakeries partnering with visual artists.

Suzanne Wyss displays her work at Bolm Studios on Nov. 14 and 15, and at the Lirica apartment complex in East Austin on Nov. 21. Wyss pours concrete into sewn fabric molds, creating sculptures with rounded, swollen shapes. She has experimented with materials for more than two decades, influenced by her mother’s work as a tapestry weaver and the limestone formations of Central Texas.

Lisa B. Woods exhibits “Every Body a Water Body, Every Field a Clock” at Women & Their Work through Nov. 22. The piece investigates the Ogallala Aquifer using satellite imagery of center-pivot irrigation fields. Woods includes a floor installation called Machine Ballet, which features moving clock hands mirroring irrigation arms. Another component, The Ogallala, depicts the aquifer as a multiheaded female figure with bison hooves, inviting viewers to consider the water’s perspective.

Britt Wilder Moseley presents Metaphysical Maintenance at Co-Lab Projects, which runs through Nov. 28. The looping digital animation, inspired by the Windows 95 pipes screensaver, projects growing infrastructure onto a drainage culvert. Moseley also displays Transcendental Road Cone, a glazed ceramic sculpture that flattens a traffic cone into a fragile, impractical form. The work examines highway expansion and the rapid rebuilding of Austin’s urban landscape.

Ernesto D. Morales operates Object Solutions at dadaLab on Nov. 21-22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Morales portrays the CEO of a fictional corporation that sells products designed to optimize human life. During Oracle Sessions, visitors share everyday problems and receive custom inventions that subtly remove their agency. Morales, a branding studio owner, uses the format to critique consumer culture and the trade-off between convenience and personal autonomy.

Earhart describes the tour as an opportunity to see work in its unfinished stages. The event takes place in garages, storefronts, and offices, offering a look at the diverse environments where Austin artists create.