Art lovers visiting Mérida this winter will find a special invitation waiting for them: a chance to step inside the city’s thriving creative world during the Mérida English Library’s annual Artist Studio Tour, taking place February 20–22.
Now in its 13th year, the three-day event opens the doors to more than 40 studios across the city, offering an intimate look at the working spaces of over 60 local and international artists. Many studios are located in Mérida’s historic Centro district, making the tour an easy and enriching way to explore both the city’s architecture and its artistic energy.
.jpg?length=300&name=2402%20MEL%20(1).jpg)
Visitors can meet artists in their own environments and discover a wide range of disciplines, from painting and murals to ceramics, weaving, papermaking, photography, and fused glass. It’s a rare opportunity to see how—and where—Mérida’s creative spirit comes to life.
The flexible schedule allows travelers to explore at their own pace:
- Thursday, February 20, from 4 to 8 p.m
- Friday, February 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m
- Saturday, February 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Each ticket includes a detailed map to help plan routes by neighborhood orartistic medium.
Tickets will be available starting February 3!
Each ticket includes a helpful map of all the studios. Priced at 500 pesos, one ticket covers all 3 days and can be purchased at:
- Merida English Library located at Calle 53 #524, x 66 y 68, from 9 am to 1 pm, Monday through Saturday.
- Soho Gallery, Calle 60 #400-Ax 43 y 41, Centro
- Centro Cultural Hartii, Av. del Rogers Hall 135 por 36 y 38 Campestre
- Online at the MEL Shop.
For travelers seeking culture beyond the beaches and ruins, the Artist Studio Tour offers an unforgettable way to experience Mérida—through the eyes of its artists.
Get to know some of the artists you can meet this year
Joshua Arfaxad
Joshua Arfaxad is a graduate in Visual Arts from the Autonomous University of Yucatán, and showed creative talent from an early age, with a marked inclination toward painting. His practice is characterized by a strong engagement with abstraction, while he currently explores everyday and figurative imagery, complementing his more conceptual and abstract work.
Throughout his career, Arfaxad has traversed multiple artistic disciplines, including photography, collage, ceramics, engraving, screen printing, and textiles. In addition to traditional media, he engages deeply with fashion and clothing, often sourcing vintage garments and reworking them into new creations, blurring the boundaries between art, craft, and wearable design. This interplay between visual art and textiles reflects his interest in materiality, transformation, and the reimagining of everyday objects.
Manuel Martinez
Manuel Martínez began his academic path in biology before leaving it to pursue painting, developing his practice through self-directed study and specialized diploma courses in drawing and experimental painting at UADY with artist and printmaker Suemy Vallado. His work reflects a fascination with form, gesture, and the tensions between observation and imagination—an echo of his early scientific training. Martínez has participated in workshops such as Líneas Explícitas: Dibujo Erótico at the printmaking studio Calle Estampa, which deepened his interest in expressive line and the body. His recent exhibitions include Circuito: Muestra de Pintura Reciente en Yucatán at the Centro de Artes Visuales (CAV) in 2022. He continues to expand his visual language through ongoing experimentation.
Ariel Guzman
Ariel Guzmán, born in Mexico City, creates a visual world grounded in an undefined figuration where color, texture, and graphic elements intertwine. His recurring symbols—ladders, bridges, and fleeting impressions of imagined cities—form a personal language that blurs memory and invention. Trained in Painting and Sculpture at La Esmeralda in Mexico City, in Graphic Design at the University of Hessen in Germany, and in Interior Design at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, he brings a multidisciplinary foundation to his practice. With more than 80 solo and group exhibitions across Mexico, Germany, Sweden, Cuba, and the United States, Guzmán approaches abstraction as a space of deep, intangible connection between artist and viewer.
Barbara Archer
Former gallery owner and museum curator, Barbara renewed her practice in ceramic arts here in Mexico. Her sculptural ceramics are devoted to form and color, most recently featuring bold saturated primary colors with a powdered stain finish. Her work has been exhibited by galleries in the U.S. and is featured in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA among other U.S. museums.
Benne Rockett
Benné Rockett holds a dual BA in Multi-Disciplinary Art and Pre-Law from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and earned her MA in Art Therapy alongside an MFA from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. She spent two decades in Austin working as an art therapist before returning to focus fully on her studio practice. By employing the transparent layering of encaustic, Benné highlights our fragility and encourages a deeper communal understanding of our role in conserving the natural world. Her artistry serves as a bridge for meaningful conversations and moments of connection. For the past ten years, Benné has lived and worked between Mérida, Yucatán, and her native New Orleans
Related articles
