Jennifer Monet Cowley’s downstairs studio. Photo courtesy of Jas Kirk.

Artist and curator Jennifer Monet Cowley has put together a new art experience in our neighborhood. 

The first Art Excursions: An Oak Cliff Home Studio Tour, presented by Blessed Spirit, LLC, will take place Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nine home studios will be featured with art available for sale. 

“I want to carve a special niche just for those artists that live in Oak Cliff with studios in their homes, because a lot of times artists get the short end of the stick,” Cowley said. “And a lot of artists just simply cannot afford studios outside their homes. And then also you have those artists that just prefer to work at home, right? So I want to do something specifically just for those artists.”

One featured home on the tour is the preserved studio of Arthello Beck Jr., on view on Sunday only. Beck passed away in 2004 and was known as “one of the leading Black artists in the Southwest.”

“It’s important for people to see that particular building. It was his studio and his home for a long time before him and his wife bought a home in the area where I live … It’s like a time capsule,” she said.

Part of Jennifer Monet Cowley’s studio. Photo courtesy of Jas Kirk.

Other featured studios on the tour include Cowley’s own studio, LaKeem Wilson, C. Paige Furr, Frank Franzier (Sunday only), Victoria Brill (Sunday only), Padilla Gallery – Daniel Padilla Studio, Marilyn Jolly, and Vanessa Meshack (Saturday only).

Tickets are available online before the tour for $35 per person. The ticket pick up is hosted by Grady Investments, LLC at 1729 Boca Chica Drive from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase each day of the tour for $40 per person.

Additionally, a charitable donation will be made to the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts from this year’s event, with plans to make a donation to a different nonprofit organization each tour.

“I feel strongly that this is going to be extremely successful,” Cowley said. “It’s going to continue to grow year after year.”