The UW–Madison Art Department is hosting its Annual Open Studio Day on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 12 to 5 p.m.

Over 50 artist studios will be open at this annual autumn arts celebration event. Meet student artists, see their work, and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Art Department’s classrooms and studios.

The event will also include a variety of demonstrations in the Art Department’s media labs and workshops and self-guided tours throughout the two art buildings.

For prospective undergraduate students who are considering pursuing a BS or BFA in art at UW–Madison, there will also be a guided tour with an academic advisor from 1 to 3 p.m. Sign up for this special tour opportunity via Visit Bucky.

All activities, which are free and open to the public, will take place in the UW–Madison Humanities Building (455 N. Park St., sixth and seventh floors) and the Art Lofts (111 N. Frances St.).

Read on to learn more about what you can discover in just a few of the many artist studios that will be open to the public on Open Studio Day. The following four artists are all current MFA students at UW–Madison.

Mark Almanza

Almanza, whose focus is photography, will share his project working through family archives.

“Memory plays a big part in my work, and I’m using converted tapes and creating four-color CMYK screen prints with them,” he says. “The four different layers of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dot patterns come together to create a rendition of the full color image.”

“Precision and patience are key to lining things up,” he adds. “Open Studio Day has been really fun and helpful in connecting with the community and hearing people’s perspectives regarding the things I’m working on.”

Casey Fletcher

Fletcher, a sculptor and painter, is working on a series of pieces documenting the history of Chamberlin Rock, a 42-ton boulder formed by glaciers thousands of years ago that was removed from campus in 2021.