What is the Westside Art Hop? Is it an art fair? A historic home tour? A block party?

Well, it’s all of those things plus a nice stroll, and it’s scheduled for Saturday, May 13, from 10 am to 5 pm on the streets and in the homes, garages, porches, and artists’ studios of Ann Arbor’s historic Old West Side.

The district’s resident artists, friends, and neighbors will be showing off -- and offering for sale -- a broad array of paintings, ceramics, blown glass, photography, and assorted fine crafts. On hand to greet visitors and converse will be the artists themselves. Organizers of the free event describe Art Hop as “artists supporting artists … rooted in the local community. We present high-quality art and hand-made crafts for sale to the public in a festive atmosphere.”

Art Hop will provide visitors a unique opportunity to talk to artists about their work in an informal and friendly setting. At the artists’ discretion, Art Hoppers may be invited to visit an art studio or to walk into a charming back yard to see their creations in an intimate domestic setting very different from the more formal atmosphere of a gallery.

This twice-yearly art walk has proved to be both durable and popular: the May 13 event will be its 10th iteration. Sophie Grillet, one of the founding members of the walk, recalled how the whole thing got going: "Art Hop started when I was looking to participate in the Ann Arbor Gallery Walk about 5 years ago and found it had been discontinued. I spoke to my neighbor, painter Laila Kujala, about doing a neighborhood event and we asked if anyone else wanted to join in."

A core group composed of Susan Major, Lucie and Larry Nissen, along with Grillet and Kujala, organized the first event, which included 11 artists. The rest, as they say, is history.

This spring’s art walk will include over 36 artists and crafts persons, which demonstrates Art Hop is healthy and growing. Many visitors to the event return year after year to catch up with their favorite artists and to purchase additional work.

“Every year I have people coming back to buy glasses for themselves, their family members, and their friends,” said glass artist Larry Nisson. He and his wife, Lucie, an accomplished mosaicist, will be opening their art-filled home, garden, and studio to the public again this year.

Many of the participating artists are friends of the neighborhood residents and will be showing their work alongside them in backyards, porches, and garages, contributing to the festive and friendly atmosphere.

With so many artists represented, it is impossible to single out and describe the work of every individual, but a few caught my eye as promising potential stops along the tour.
Carol Furtado, a prizewinning fiber artist, will be showing her sophisticated wearable art at 705 Mount Pleasant. Sophie Grillet will show her own painterly abstractions and will also share her space at 802 Mount Vernon Avenue with painter Inty Muenala, photographer Todd Marsee, Kara Marsee, and Gary Nola. Art lovers who enjoyed the 2014 ArtPrize Grand winner Intersections by Anila Quayyum Agha, might want to take a close look at Nola’s exquisitely detailed laser-cut lamps.

Whether the goal is finding first-rate art to buy or exploring the domestic architecture of the Old West Side or just taking a pleasant spring walk, Art Hop will satisfy appetites of all kinds for a grassroots Ann Arbor community experience.

K.A. Letts is an artist and art blogger. She has shown her work regionally and nationally and in 2015 won the Toledo Federation of Art Societies Purchase Award while participating in the TAAE95 Exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art. You can find more of her work at RustbeltArts.com.

The Westside Art Hop happens Saturday, May 13, from 10 am to 5 pm. Download a map here. Click here for a full list of artists and addresses.