In one of Dick Mueller's first years hosting Hidden in the Hills, his house was still being built. As he told the Cave Creek/Carefree Independent, the contractor promised the windows would be in before the tour. They weren't. Mueller covered the openings with cardboard and slept in the kitchen overnight to protect the art, his own and his guests'. He remembers it being very cold.
This month the Sonoran Arts League runs the tour for the 30th time, and Mueller is still hosting. He is one of seven artists who have taken part every year since the start. His Coyote Crossing Studio overlooks Grapevine Wash in Cave Creek, and this is his 29th year hosting there.
The tour covers Cave Creek, Carefree and north Scottsdale, but the official map starts in Cave Creek. Studios 1, 2 and 3 all have Cave Creek addresses. This year the opening Friday and Saturday also bring a gallery night, a first-time art fair and a market to the stretch of Cave Creek Road between the 6000 and 7100 blocks. For anyone who lives in town, the first weekend is the one to plan around.
The basics for 2026
The 30th annual Hidden in the Hills Artist Studio Tour runs Friday through Sunday on Nov. 20–22 and Nov. 27–29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Admission is free, and you set your own route. The Independent reports about 150 artists at 38 studios and calls it Arizona's largest and longest-running artist studio tour.
The second weekend is the Friday, Saturday and Sunday right after Thanksgiving. That makes Nov. 20–22 the only tour weekend without a holiday in it.
Studios 1 through 3 are in town
The map numbers studios in order, and Cave Creek has the first three. Here is what each one offers, using the official 2026 map:
| Map no. | Location | Address | Who's there |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Information Headquarters & Youth Art, Sonoran Arts League Studio, Stagecoach Village | 7100 E. Cave Creek Road, Suite 144 | The tour's hub and its youth art location |
| 2 | Coyote Crossing Studio | 38611 N. Grapevine Road | Host Dick Mueller with Robert Elenbaas, Larry Emmott, Celest Michelotti, Gedion Nyanhongo, Leonor Pisano and Sarah Foster |
| 3 | Judy Bruce Studio | 7162 E. Stevens Road | Host Judy Bruce with Jim Bruce and Mike McDonald |
Coyote Crossing has seven artists, including Mueller as host. About two-thirds of his work is now colored pencil, often Western scenes, wildlife and people. "Brushes dry out, but pencils don't," he told the Independent.
Cave Creek also has another of the original seven. Robin Ray hosts Robin's Nest, Studio No. 28, later in the map's numbering. Over her career she has worked in painting, tapestry, papier-mâché, murals, sculpture and ceramics, and she taught visual art at Cactus Shadows High School for 25 years.
Stagecoach Village is where to start. Free printed maps are available at the Sonoran Arts League Studio there and at the League Gallery at 30 Easy Street, Suite A, in Carefree. Pick one up. The map itself says it is not to scale, warns that Google Maps and GPS may not show the area accurately, and suggests calling a studio if you need help. Several of these studios are on residential roads in the foothills, where that warning matters.
Friday, Nov. 20: the tour closes at 5, Finer Arts opens at 5
On the first day, the studios close at 5 p.m., and that same hour the Finer Arts Gallery at 6137 E. Cave Creek Road opens its monthly Art Affaire. The gallery holds the event on the third Friday of every month, summer included, and Nov. 20 is this month's third Friday. It runs 5 to 7 p.m., admission is free and refreshments are served. The Cave Creek Guide listing says the gallery shows work by more than 50 local artists and that most of them attend to talk with visitors.
That gives Friday a simple shape. Visit the Cave Creek studios during the day, then end at Finer Arts for two more hours of art from local artists, a few blocks down Cave Creek Road from Stagecoach Village.
Saturday, Nov. 21: a market, a new fair and the tour hub on one road
Saturday adds the most new events. On top of the studio tour, three other art and maker events are scheduled along Cave Creek Road, and the Finer Arts Gallery from Friday night sits on the same corridor.
- The Meadery Market, 6061 E. Cave Creek Road, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. The Cave Creek Guide lists local vendors, live music, food, mead and handmade goods.
- The Cave Creek Art Fair, 6702 E. Cave Creek Road, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. This is the fair's first year. The City Sun Times describes it as an intimate community fair with about 15 artists and makers, including painters, mixed-media artists, jewelry designers, fiber artists and woodworkers. The venue is Holistic Hollow in the True West Building, and the list of participants is at CaveCreekArtFair.com.
- Miguel Camarena Art Gallery, 6710 E. Cave Creek Road. This is the next address after the fair. A September City Sun Times feature describes the gallery as Camarena's working studio, where visitors can meet him and see work in progress. It sells original work and giclée prints and takes commissions.
- Sonoran Arts League Studio, 7100 E. Cave Creek Road, Suite 144. The tour headquarters at Stagecoach Village is open on its regular tour hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., so you can pick up a map on Saturday if you skipped Friday.
The addresses run from the 6000 block to the 7100 block. Starting at the Meadery Market in the morning and working east gets you to the art fair around midday, with time left for Stagecoach Village and a drive out to Grapevine Road or Stevens Road before the studios close at 5. The Meadery Market closes an hour before the art fair, so it belongs at the start of the day.
Sunday, Nov. 22: the studios alone
Sunday has the tour's regular 10-to-5 hours and none of Saturday's extra events. That makes it the better day for the studios farther from Cave Creek Road, or for a drive into Carefree and north Scottsdale for the rest of the map. On the north Scottsdale side, Studio 15 belongs to Jeanne Bonine. Her oil painting "Welcome to My World" is on the cover of this year's artist directory, and she will show it at the studio along with new oils, giclées and hand-painted glass ornaments.
The directory itself is 164 pages. It costs $10 if you pick it up at the League Gallery at 30 Easy Street in Carefree, or $30 to have it mailed, through the Sonoran Arts League. The free map gets you from studio to studio. The directory is for anyone who wants to read about each artist before going.
The second weekend, after Thanksgiving
The tour reopens Nov. 27–29 on the same hours. In Cave Creek, the extra events that weekend fall on Saturday, Nov. 28, and are less about art:
- The Cave Creek Farmer's and Craft Market at 4250 E. Carefree Highway, starting at 10 a.m., according to the Town of Cave Creek community calendar.
- The Cave Creek Museum's AZ Gold Mining Experience, 10 to 11:30 a.m., a program on the area's mining history listed by the Cave Creek Guide.
The museum program ends at 11:30 a.m., which leaves the afternoon for studios. That weekend also gives you a second chance at the Cave Creek studios if the first weekend's Saturday filled up with Cave Creek Road events.
Old hosts and first-timers
The Independent notes that the 2026 tour includes first- and second-year participants alongside the seven original artists. This year's group also includes artists from Goodyear, Tucson, Chandler, Queen Creek and Fountain Hills. The Cave Creek part of the map reflects that range. At Coyote Crossing, the same host has opened the same studio over the same wash for 29 years. Down on Cave Creek Road, the Cave Creek Art Fair is in its first year. Both are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21.
A tour that takes you onto Grapevine Road and Stevens Road also takes you past foothills properties of very different lots, layouts and builds. If a weekend of studio visits leaves you curious about what a working studio or a casita on a desert lot involves, Nick Steffes is glad to talk through the construction and property side over coffee. Let's Connect.
