Roslindale artists show their work at City Hall

Janice Williams, a participating artist as well as one of the organizers of the group show, said the variety is one of the things that makes for an interesting exhibit as well as a successful open studios weekend.

“We have a really good mix of people working in different mediums, which is exciting and which makes for a good open studios,” Williams said. “There’s sculpture, there’s jewelry, there is photography, there is a quilt, there’s a fabric artist who is participating. And that’s one of the beauties, I think, about a group show like this, is that you get to see different mediums, not just different styles of photography, not just different styles of oil painting.”

Around 100 artists participate in Roslindale Open Studios each November. Many live in the neighborhood, but others come from around the region to show their work in group spaces set up for the weekend.

This is the artists’ first exhibit as a group outside the open studios weekend, now in its 7th year. Williams, a longtime champion of the neighborhood’s art scene, said it took about that long to make it come together.

“For years, Jamaica Plain Open Studios was the only one around,” she said. “We knew we had a lot of artists in Roslindale, and it actually took us about seven years to get this off the ground, to get enough momentum, to get enough volunteers to help out, and to attract the artists.”

Over time, the event has grown and developed a dedicated following, Williams said.

“We have collectors that come to buy work from our artists, and now after … six years, we have a lot of the same artists have come back to us, because people are coming and buying their stuff,” she said. “So they build up a clientele.”