It's an annual tradition you don't want to miss, taking place in beautiful Santa Barbara. Twenty-seven renowned artists in a variety of media will welcome visitors to their studios for a rare, behind-the-scenes look at their work and a chance to visit with the makers themselves.

The 21st Annual Open Studios Tour begins with a reception from 5:00 8:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street. Participating studios will be open from 11 a.m. 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. 2:00 p.m. on Monday. Tickets are $25 (children under 12 free) and available at the Community Arts Workshop (during the tour weekend only), or online (www.santabarbarastudioartists.com). All ticket sales benefit the Alpha Resource Center of Santa Barbara and Slingshot Art Gallery, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) by supporting families, creating opportunities, and fostering belonging.

The tour draws local, national and international collectors, decorators, gallery owners, and art lovers of all kinds for a weekend devoted to viewing and purchasing fine art. Santa Barbara is nearly as big a draw as the art and artists themselves. The self-guided driving tour unfolds at ticket-holders' leisure, visiting studios in the Spanish Revival downtown, winding through the Funk Zone, up into the hills of the American Riviera, and through the secluded estates of Montecito.

This year's featured artists include:

Danuta Bennett (https://www.danutabennett.com/), a Polish-born artist working predominantly in acrylics, oils, pencils, and photography.A co-founder of the Aeolian Center for Psychotherapy and Creativity, her work continually moves between realism, abstract representations, and surrealistic images. Currently, she is illustrating a psychology textbook about symbols.

Danuta Bennett uses expressive realism in her architectural and figurative paintings and drawings and brings a sense of mystery to her photographs, like this stunning image of the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

Dorothy Churchill-Johnson (https://www.churchill-johnson.com/) is known for her mural-size contemporary realist oil paintings, which are collected by museums, major corporations, five-star hotels, and private collectors nationally and internationally.

Dorothy Churchill-Johnson specializes in mural-size contemporary realist oil paintings like this one, entitled Country Meets Mid-Century Modern.

Cheryl Doty (https://www.doty-art.com/) studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and later founded her own signage and graphic design company, Doty and Associates. Her paintings include abstracts, portraits, still life, and figurative work.

Cheryl Doty travels the world for inspiration that is incorporated into her abstracts, portraits, still life, and figurative paintings.

Angela Ferraro (https://www.angelaferraro.com/) was classically trained in tennebrismo (light and shadow) oil technique in Italy, and she has also studied watercolor, collage and printmaking. Her portraits, landscapes, still life, and assemblages are featured in many private collections.

Angela Ferraro brings classic tennebrismo (light and shadow) oil technique to her portraits, like this one entitled Renaissance Man.

Betsy Gallery (https://www.elizabethgallery.com/) is a mosaic artist who combines classical handmade Italian glass smalti and 24-karat gold tesserae with recycled porcelain, ceramics and found objects. Her formal art training began at the Art Institute of Chicago and continued in Madrid, Spain, as well as Ravenna and Venice, Italy. Her mosaics can be found in many public murals, as well as in private collections in California and Spain.

Betsy Gallery's mosaic work incorporates handmade Italian glass smalti and 24-karat gold tesserae with recycled porcelain, ceramics and found objects. This piece is called Enrico Caruso as Rigoletto at the New York Metropolitan Opera House.

Rob Robinson (https://www.robrobinsonart.com/), a Santa Barbara native, is the grandson of the late Mildred Bryant Brooks, a prominent etcher of the early 1900s and a member of the Oak Group dedicated to the preservation of open spaces in Santa?Barbara. Specializing in plein-air, he has painted throughout Europe and the American west, emphasizing inland and coastal landscapes.

Rob Robinson's work features plein-air landscapes like this one, entitled Sisters on the Bluff.

Eric Saint Georges (www.ericsaintgeorges.com) was born in France, where he studied drawing and sculpture at the Ecole Nationale Sup?rieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, and then trained with famed French sculptor Petrus, from whom he learned the foundation of his clay technique. He specializes in charcoal, ink and watercolor drawings, and water-based clay for his sculptures, which he casts himself in bronze.

Eric Saint Georges specializes in charcoal, ink and watercolor drawings and water-based clay for his sculptures, which he casts himself in bronze. This sculpture is called Rita Reclining.

The complete list of participating artists also includes:

Wendy Brewer

Jane Hurd

Onno Ron? Kok

Pamela Larsson-Toscher

Laurie MacMillan

Kimberly Pratt

Joan Rosenberg-Dent

Francis Scorzelli

Ann Shelton Beth

Susan Tibbles

Dorene White

Pamela Benham

Kevin Gleason

Francine Kirsch

Marilyn McRae

Cathy Quiel

Ann Sanders

Kerrie Smith

Marlene Struss

Gerry Winant