HWY 62 Art Tours: A Local Guide to Joshua Tree’s Open Studio Event
Every October, the Morongo Basin opens itself up through art.
For three weekends, artists across the Joshua Tree region invite visitors into their studios, homes, workshops, and creative spaces for the HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours. It’s part art event, part road trip, part treasure hunt, and one of the best ways to understand why the high desert has become such a magnet for artists, makers, collectors, and curious visitors. It’s not a traditional gallery experience. The point is not only to look at finished work on a wall, but to also see where the work is being made. You drive along Highway 62, follow a map down desert roads, step into studios, meet artists, notice the tools, materials, sketches, experiments, and unfinished edges that rarely make it into a polished exhibition. For art lovers, it’s one of the most rewarding ways to experience Joshua Tree.
Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours have become one of the defining cultural events of the High Desert. Organized by the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, the tours are free, self-guided, and spread across the Joshua Tree region over the first three weekends of October. In 2026, the event takes place October 3rd and 4th, October 10th and 11th, and October 17th and 18th, with studios open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The official map and catalog help visitors plan their route, but part of the magic is leaving room for discovery. One studio leads to another. A road you have never taken reveals a pocket of the desert you might have otherwise missed. A quick stop becomes a long conversation. You leave with a print, a ceramic piece, a photograph, a story, or simply a deeper understanding of the creative life that exists here year-round.
A Brief History of the HWY 62 Art Tours
The HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours began as a way to connect artists directly with the public and to celebrate the creative communities scattered across the Morongo Basin. Over time, the event has grown into what they describe as “Southern California’s largest open studio event” and one of the region’s most important annual arts gatherings. That growth says something important about Joshua Tree and the surrounding communities.
The art scene here has never been confined to one gallery district or one central street. It’s distributed across a wide and rural landscape: Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Pioneertown, Landers, Twentynine Palms, Morongo Valley, and other pockets of the high desert. Artists live and work in converted garages, custom-built studios, desert cabins, compounds, workshops, trailers, back rooms, and open-air spaces shaped by the harsh desert environment.
The tours make that geography visible. They remind visitors that the creative culture of Joshua Tree is not only something to consume on a weekend trip. It’s something people build here slowly, often privately, in the spaces where they live. For 25 years, HWY 62 Art Tours have helped turn that private work into a shared experience.
Why It Matters
The desert has always attracted people looking for space: physical space, creative space, and the freedom to make something outside the usual structures. The Art Tours show that spirit in real time. Instead of presenting the desert as a backdrop, they reveal it as part of the process. The light, silence, isolation, design, landscape, and distance between places all become part of the experience. You’re not just visiting studios, you’re moving through the creative geography of the Morongo Basin.
This is what makes the event so special. It’s not only about what you see, but how you arrive there. The drive matters just as much as the detours and conversations. The studio pets, dirt roads, desert views, works in progress, handmade signs, and unexpected stops all become part of the day. It’s an art event that could only really happen here.
How the Tours Work
The HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours are free and self-guided. Visitors can use the official map, app, or catalog to choose which studios they want to visit, then build their own route. Because the event covers such a large area, the best approach is not to try to see everything. Instead, choose a region, pick a handful of studios, and leave enough time between stops. Some studios may be close together, while others require longer drives. Cell service can be inconsistent in parts of the desert, so it’s helpful to plan ahead and keep the catalog or map with you.
Studios are generally open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the weekends they are participating, but it’s still worth checking the official listings before you go. Not every artist is open all three weekends, and some studios may share space with multiple artists. The experience can be as structured or as loose as you want it to be. You can make a list of must-see artists, follow a specific route, or simply choose an area and let curiosity lead.
Tips for Visiting
Start early. The days can fill up quickly, especially if you’re hoping to visit several studios in one region.
Pick a cluster rather than trying to cover the entire Morongo Basin in one day. This will make the experience feel more relaxed and allow you to spend more time with the artists.
Bring water, and maybe some snacks? You may be walking around more than you think.
Do not assume every road will be paved. Many studios may be located down dirt roads or in more remote parts of the basin.
Bring a card, cash, or digital payment options if you’re hoping to buy work. Purchasing directly from artists is one of the best parts of the event.
Ask questions. Most artists are happy to talk about their work, process, materials, and why they live or create in the desert.
Leave room for unexpected stops. Sometimes the studio you did not plan around ends up being the one you remember most.
How to Plan Your Route
If it’s your first time attending, start with one area rather than trying to do the entire tour. Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley are good options if you want to stay close to town and combine the tours with coffee, food, shops, and other local stops. If you’re more interested in the road-trip aspect, consider studios further out in Landers, Morongo Valley, or Twentynine Palms. These routes often give you more of the wide-open desert experience, with longer drives between stops and a stronger sense of the landscape.
Collectors may want to research artists ahead of time and prioritize studios where they already know they are interested in the work. Design lovers may want to look for ceramics, textiles, sculpture, furniture, photography, and mixed-media practices. First-time visitors may simply want to choose a handful of studios and let the day unfold. There is no single correct way to do the Art Tours, which is part of the appeal.
Make a Day of It
The best way to experience HWY 62 Art Tours is to treat it as a full day in the high desert. Start with coffee in Joshua Tree or Yucca Valley. Pick up or download the map, choose your route, and begin with a few studios close together. Take your time and talk to the artists, or not. Notice the spaces as much as the work. For lunch, build in a stop depending on where your route takes you. Stay near Joshua Tree or Yucca Valley, head toward Pioneertown, or make your way east toward Twentynine Palms. The tours are a good excuse to explore parts of the Morongo Basin you may not usually visit. In the afternoon, visit a few more studios, without overpacking the day. Art Tours are better when you leave enough space to linger.
If you still have energy, look for Art Tours After Dark events or local music happening during tour weekends. The daytime studios are only part of the experience. October evenings in the desert are their own reward.
Studios We’re Looking Forward To
One of the best parts of the Art Tours is choosing your own path. This year, we are especially interested in studios that feel connected to the materials, textures, architecture, and creative energy of the desert. We’re always drawn to ceramicists, photographers, sculptors, mixed-media artists, and anyone using the desert not just as a subject, but as a place that shapes the work itself. We are also looking forward to visiting studios that feel personal and lived-in, where the setting tells part of the story.
As we narrow down our own route, we’ll be looking for a mix of familiar names and new discoveries. That balance feels true to the spirit of the event: revisit the artists you love, but leave room to find something unexpected.
Why You Should Go
The HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours are one of the best ways to experience Joshua Tree beyond the national park. The park is often what brings people here, but the creative culture of the surrounding communities is part of what makes the high desert feel so alive. The Art Tours give visitors a chance to see that culture up close, not as a finished product, but as an active, ongoing process. You get to meet the people making the work. You get to see where they make it. You get to drive the roads between studios and understand how spread out, varied, and quietly ambitious the art scene here really is. It’s generous, informal, and might just surprise you.
2026 HWY 62 Art Tours Details
The 2026 HWY 62 Open Studio Art Tours take place over the first three weekends of October: October 3rd and 4th, October 10th and 11th, and October 17th and 18th. Studios are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the event is free and self-guided. Visitors can plan their route using the official HWY 62 Art Tours map, app, or catalog. The event is sponsored by the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, a nonprofit organization supporting arts and culture throughout the region.
For anyone interested in art, design, collecting, road trips, or simply understanding Joshua Tree from a more local perspective, this is one of the best weekends, or rather, three weekends, to be here. Go for the art, stay for the conversations, and bare witness to the creativity tucked into every corner of the desert.