Throughout the course of my life I’ve travelled through two communities that each boasted of having the highest per capita of PhDs in America. One of them was Idaho Falls, Idaho (duh!), and the other was the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland) of Eastern Washington. While you might think that three against one is an unfair advantage, I’d prefer to draw your attention to the common denominator these communities share: nuclear energy.

The current of the Skagit River has long carried a strong creative rather than destructive energy in its unending flow. My friend and artist, Jay Bowen, could readily attest to this. His Upper Skagit ancestors were powerful healers and the Magic Skagit’s first artists millennia ago. But the power that drew them here, and where they remain today, has drawn many other such souls. In fact, I would argue that the Skagit Valley boasts an amazingly high per capita of artists. At the very least, I would steadfastly maintain that it punches above its weight in the art world.

If the above claim sounds like hyperbolic boosterism, I would invite you to simply click on the link below, then take a few minutes and get back with me on whether or not you think I’ve exaggerated my claims of the Magic Skagit’s embarrassment of artistic riches. Here’s the link I want you to click:

www.nwartbeat.com

Now, if you’re just getting back to this conversation after clicking the above link, I don’t think there’s much more I need to tell you about why you should put the 18th Annual NW Art Beat Studio Tour (this weekend, July 16 – 17, from 10am to 6pm) on your calendar — even if you have to call grandma up and cancel Sunday tea. By all means, bring the old dear with you. But do get out to the NW Art Beat Studio Tour.

If you haven’t yet clicked the link I shared (c’mon, you’ll be glad you did), I’ll risk a spoiler alert and explain why you should. NW Art Beat is a free, self-guided tour of Skagit Valley art studios. You heard me right. You get to go where the magic happens. But it gets better. The tour features artists from not only the Skagit Valley, but from Island, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties as well. Again, the artist per capita ratio is pretty much off the charts. How do you like us now, Santa Fe?

To quote the event website: We have an exciting and diverse line-up of artists showing work in ceramics, glass, jewelry, stone, pastel, photography, acrylic, watercolor, oil, graphite, quilt, mixed media, and woodcut print. 

The annual studio tour is the creation of Skagit Artists, an organization that formed 15 years ago with the goal of creating, “economic and networking opportunities in Skagit County for artists and art lovers.” The event website provides an interactive map of all the studios on the tour route (I counted 19), along with links to information about the artists, including their website addresses, should you want to see more of their work (which you probably will).

It’s one thing to have free access to a wide variety of local art. It’s yet another thing to encounter the people who create it — not to mention having that encounter where the art is actually made. This Saturday and Sunday, the 18th Annual NW Art Beat Studio Tour gives you an opportunity to do all of the above, and drive through the Pacific Northwest landscapes that no doubt inspired many of the artists you’re going to see.

Talk about a magical mystery tour!