This Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., plan a stroll around the Logan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods to check out the art studios of the Mid City Artists. Be sure to print out their map before you head out, wear comfy shoes, and take note of the specific times listed—the studios span nine square blocks and the opening and closing times vary. This week, DCist spoke with several of the participating artists, including Sondra Arkin, Brian Petro, Tanja Bos, Bridget Sue Lambert and Scott Brooks.

“Mid City Artists is defined by location, which means that there is no driving philosophy that binds our work together," co-founder Arkin said. "But overall, I think that it is a really nice mix. The open studios is a terrific free activity for folks to do to enjoy being out and about in the city — and to see how many people juggle and fit art into their life.”

An abstract mixed media artist and oil painter, Arkin and her bright, colorful works are represented by the Nevin Kelly Gallery. Her 32" x 32" encaustic Waterloo is pictured right. Arkin is also exhibiting seven new works alongside Willem de Looper at Dupont’s PASS Gallery until May 30. PASS will be open on Saturday, and you can also stop by Arkin’s studio a few blocks south of the gallery on Church Street to view a few of her new large pieces as well as a number of older, smaller works.

Brian Petro occupies a 320 square foot studio in the basement of Vastu on 14th Street, where he also exhibits three times a year. Brian’s work spans photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and mixed media, and he explains, “My mind is always trying to find new, inventive things. I can’t be stagnant.” Working on over ten pieces at once, his almost obsessive need to create results in the completion of over 200 new works annually. Petro is represented not only by Vastu, but by galleries in Philadelphia and New Orleans as well.

Bridget Sue Lambert’s studio is in the Radius building at 1300 N Street. A digital print and multimedia artist, Lambert photographs staged scenes of train set figurines against blurred images of places significant to her, as in Stop Worrying If He Is the One, pictured left. Personal experience and memories are key to Lambert’s art-making. For her current series, she constructed five smaller versions of the 30-year old dollhouse her grandfather built, in which she recreated scenes from the memories of her childhood and her grandfather. Unlike her photographic work, these houses are physical objects meant to be held and examined.

Tanja Bos describes her work as “mood evoking,” stating, “I like the viewer to get lost in my work as I get lost in the creation of the pieces,” and hopes that her work “give(s) you a moment of pause, a time to reflect and come to peace within yourself.” Spanning in size from a mere eight square inches to four square feet, over 20 of her soft-focused dream-like landscape oils will be on view in her studio at 14th and T Streets.

Once Tanja Bos' work eases you into peaceful relaxation, head to Longview Gallery on 9th Street for a bit of a jolt. During the open studios and until June 7, Scott Brooks’ most recent dark, figurative pop-surrealist paintings and drawings are on exhibit at the gallery. His very detailed work makes the viewer the voyeur in often creepy or sinister situations.