The artist's studio has always held a special allure. As the primary locus of the creative process, it's where abstract ideas are given physical form by practiced hands.

That means it's a little mundane, as all workspaces are, but tinged with a kind of magic and mystique that's easy to romanticize.

For the past 17 years, the Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour has offered a glimpse into those spaces for a small group of artists who've found themselves drawn to the same rural riparian area northeast of the city. On the final Saturday of every September, a handful of them host handpicked guest artists from around the region and then open their doors to the public for an entire day.

Gina Freuen, the ceramicist who co-founded the event, says that tour visitors are routinely surprised b

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