Kay Parsons would like to see Whidbey Island’s arts community become more unified.

That’s the basis of this year’s Summer Open Studio Tour, which for the first time is island-wide.

“This really is to try to make us a community,” Parsons said.

For the first time, Whidbey Working Artists’ annual summer studio tour is including stops south of Freeland.

Great care has been taken to make the Aug. 29-30 tour geographically balanced with 31 stops involving 51 artists from Clinton to Oak Harbor, according to Parsons, who is the tour’s coordinator.

Whidbey Working Artists was formed in 2004 to market and support artists in North and Central Whidbey but expanded its reach on its tour this year to help artists in South Whidbey.

Whidbey Working Artists became an umbrella organization of the Whidbey Island Arts Council this year, Parsons said, so broadening its scope fits with the council’s mission to support the arts throughout the island.

“With the economy the way it is in the arts, we all need to be working together,” said Parsons, a watercolor painter who lives south of Oak Harbor.

The Summer Open Studio Tour is a free, self-guided tour designed to give the public an intimate look at where working artists on Whidbey hone their craft.

Each of the stops is in a studio setting.

“There hasn’t been a tour for a couple of years on the south end so we decided to expand and accomodate the whole island,” Parsons said. “Let’s just hope it works. This is a long island.”

Parsons said it might be unrealistic to expect to make all 31 stops on the tour, which goes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. But the choices are many with the entire island represented.

Attendees will have a chance to visit with painters, sculptors, potters, jewelry makers, fiber and glass artists, printmakers, photographers, woodworkers and more.

“This tour brings everybody together,” said Patty Picco, an encaustic and mixed media artist from Coupeville.

“We all work together to make it happen.

“It’s wonderful for us and for the people who come through who are so interested in the techniques that we’re doing. It makes it really fun.”

Studio Tour

The Whidbey Working Artists Summer Open Studio Tour is a free self-guided tour that will take place Aug. 29-30 throughout Whidbey Island. The tour this year includes 31 stops and 51 artists from Oak Harbor to Clinton. Studios will be open for public view from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Artists include painters, potters, woodworkers, fiber and glass artists, photographers, jewelry makers and more. For more information on the tour, including a map of sites, go to whidbeyworkingartists.com