By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — For many of the city’s creative professionals, home is where the art is. This weekend, over 70 local artists and craftspeople will open the doors to their work environments as part of the third annual Pawtucket Open Studios tour.

This year marked the tenth annual Pawtucket Arts Festival, and many of the area’s artists took part in the series of high quality visual, performance and participatory  events that were held throughout the city. On this final weekend of the festival, the focus is on truly seeing the artist in his or her element: the workplace and the gallery.
There are hundreds of artists, designers and craftspeople who have studios in the mills of Pawtucket and the surrounding areas, and the population keeps growing.
The artistic community is represented by a wide array of disciplines, including sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, installation, photography, video, jewelry, ceramics, woodworking, fiber, and performance art. Many of the artists will be showcasing their work in process, and the participants will be on hand for questions and conversation.
Len Lavoie, one of the main organizers of Pawtucket Open Studios, said the event was actually started a decade ago, in conjunction with the inception of the Pawtucket Arts Festival, but had limited success.
“In the first few years, there were a lot of artists and no buyers, and in other years, there were a lot of buyers and no artists,” said Lavoie. There was also some confusion about the use of trolleys and the logistics of getting people around to the various studio locations, he said.
However, Lavoie said that three years ago, a core group of artists working out of studios at 560 Main St., who had experience with open studio tours in other communities, became involved and helped coordinate and market the event. “They really got it going and helped it to be a much more successful event," said. Lavoie.
Lavoie and his partner, Peter Giroux, own Rhode Island Commercial Industrial Realty (RICIR), a management and brokerage firm. The two have been actively involved in working with landlords in the redevelopment and marketing of artists’ studio work spaces in both Pawtucket and Providence.
Lavoie said that many of these creative mill tenants, along with the landlords and developers who rent or sell space to them, are more than happy to be involved in the open studio events. “Everyone has been very responsive. It gives the mill tenants an opportunity to open up their studios and sell art, and it gives the owners the opportunity to expose their buildings to other people,” he said.
In addition to the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival, many of the artists also take part in a Holiday Open Studios that takes place each November, and a spring open studio event that focuses on the business community.
The artists and craftspeople, many of whom sell nationally and internationally, say they also enjoy meeting the public face-to-face. Gail Ahlers of Gail Ahlers Designs, a maker of giftware and jewelry, said, “I think it’s great for people to come and see the environment where the pieces are made. And, the direct interaction with the end-user is wonderful. You get new design ideas, sometimes, by talking to people.”
Ahlers, who organized a similar open studios event that was held for a decade in the former Rumford Baking Powder building in East Providence, added that when a customer buys from a local artist, it also helps the Rhode Island economy.
Jason Thompson, the owner of Rag & Bone Bindery, a national maker of photo albums, memory books and other handcrafted stationery items, also said he enjoys meeting customers from the local area. “It’s great to talk to people and hear from customers, many of whom have bought our books,” he said. Noting that he, too, usually sells on-line or ships products to other regions, he added, “It’s nice to be able to open our doors to the local community.”
The Pawtucket Open Studios event is a self-guided tour, with maps available either on-line at the event’s web site: www.pawtucketopenstudios.com, or at the Blackstone Valley Visitors Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Artists and their studios are listed according to a “downtown loop” or an “outside loop.” The downtown loop consists of studios at 225 Main St., 10 Exchange St. and 75 Montgomery St. in the center of the city along with 404 Roosevelt Ave. just across the line in Central Falls.  The outside loop includes studios in other parts of Pawtucket, including 560 Mineral Spring Ave., 1005 Main St., 1088 Main St., 250 Esten Ave., and 545 Pawtucket Ave.
Trolleys are also available at the Visitors Center, which can be used to take either the downtown loop or outside loop routes.
Pawtucket Open Studios will be held on Friday, Sept. 19, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 20, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In addition, Jill Davis of Henrietta Glass, 560 Mineral Spring Ave., will give glass-blowing demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday; and Paper Girls Studio, at 250 Esten Ave., will show how paper is made on Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.pawtucketopenstudios.com.