York Open Studios runs next month, with art on show all over the city. Before that a taster show whets appetites, writes CHARLES HUTCHINSON.

THE 2015 York Open Studios will run on April 17 to 19 and April 25 and 26, but first comes a taster exhibition by 44 of the artists at Blossom Street Gallery, Blossom Street, York, that has opened this week.

“This event is packed with art and artists taking part and offers a flavour of the variety of work in the event all under one roof,” says publicist Jane Redfern. “It’s a chance to spot the art you like and help you to decide which studios you would like to visit.”

Next month, over the two weekends, more than 90 artists, including painters, printmakers, sculptors, jewellers, photographers and furniture makers will be opening their studio doors and taking part in this annual free event.

York Open Studios offers the chance to discover a different side of York by creating an art trail exploring the city, from historic streets to leafy suburbs and surrounding villages, with the help of a free event guide available from yorkopenstudios.co.uk. Art lovers can pop into studios, have a chat and perhaps a cup of tea with the artists and uncover the stories behind their work, and even travel home with a new artwork.

Every studio offers something a little different to surprise and delight; a painter’s fresh depiction of a well-loved landscape; the chance to learn the secrets of technique from a master printmaker; young up-and-coming artists making their Open Studios debut; living rooms stuffed full of fascinating art-inspiring objects. At some venues, such as Rogues Atelier Studios on Fossgate or Bootham School Art Centre, several artists will exhibit work together.

You can discover new work from artists opening their studios for the first time this year, such as Emily Stubbs’ brightly coloured ceramics and Helen Drye’s silver and glass jewellery inspired by natural forms. Or you could learn how printmaker Gerard Hobson – featured in last Saturday’s Life and Times in The Press – creates his lino prints of birds and animals when he gives artist demonstrations at his studio during the event.

Or why not let Richard Barnes’ dramatic and colourful landscape paintings enrich your experience of North Yorkshire’s wild moorland. Or contemplate the quieter expression of emotions in Sudeshna Chattopadhyay’s contemporary paintings and drawings, which she describes as pages in her diary.

Many Open Studios regulars will make a beeline for the latest work from oft-published printmakers Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton in their atmospheric home in The Mount, a work of art in itself and filled to the brim with the intriguing collections of ephemera that inspire their paintings, prints and collages.

Further suggestions are to take a trip around villages surrounding York; visit award-winning jeweller Sarah Chilia; be inspired by the paintings and ceramics of Ann Decker and Tim Pearce at Warthill; or fall in love with Ruth King’s ceramics at Shipton by Beningbrough and Chris Rymer’s tactile wood vessels at his Haxby studio.

Studios will open on the opening Friday from 6pm to 9pm, the two Saturdays from 10am to 6pm and the two Sundays from 11am to 5pm, while the taster exhibition will run until April 26, open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 5.30pm and on Sundays from 10am to 3pm.

• To find out more about the artists taking part this year, visit yorkopenstudios.co.uk or look at the event facebook page. For a free copy of the event map, register online, email info@yorkopenstudios.co.uk or call 01904 706123.