Spotlight: Artists open studios near Lake Minnetonka, in North Loop

Saturday: Spring brings out the hospitality in artists. Fifty of them are opening their studios this weekend to show and sell their work. The Lake Minnetonka Studio Tour features 28 artists at 11 studios, including Mary Anne O'Malley, whose finely detailed botanical watercolor of an ear of colorful corn is shown here. She'll share her studio space with fiber artist Jeanne Rostad and jeweler Cheryl Shohet. Other participants, whose studios are mostly near Hwy. 7 east of Lake Minnetonka, will show pottery, paintings, clothing and tabletop sculptures (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.). Add a night of art at the 20th anniversary of Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art, 250 3rd Av. N., Minneapolis, where 22 artists — painters, photographers, sculptors and conceptualists — will open their studios Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m. (Both events free. Info at www.lakemtka-studiotour.com and www.trafficzoneart.com.)