6 artists’ homes and studios you can tour

HOW TO VISIT: Chesterwood is open May through October, Thursdays through Mondays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided and self-guided tours are available; purchase tickets online or in person at

the admissions desk ($20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for grounds only).  Murals by Clementine Hunter at Africa House / Courtesy Melrose Plantation ​MELROSE PLANTATION, MELROSE,

LOUISIANA For all the somber notes of African American history evoked at this preserved antebellum plantation in central Louisiana, visitors also come away with indelible memories of the

deeply moving paintings of Clementine Hunter (ca. 1887-1988). Born on a nearby plantation, Hunter moved to Melrose with her sharecropping family at age 12 to work as a field hand and later a

domestic servant. But in her 50s, and already a grandmother, she began to paint using leftover art materials she found, and during the second half of her life she sold her naive, folk-style

works to collectors who sought her out. Today in her cabin, you can see her worn work table, her brushes and paint tubes, and the photo of John F. Kennedy she kept. But in another building

you’ll encounter her masterwork — nine radiant murals of washing day, a funeral, a honkey-tonk and other scenes of the plantation life she knew so well. HOW TO VISIT: Historic Melrose is

open to the public Thursdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guided tours last about an hour ($15 for adults, $13 for seniors and veterans, $10 for a self-guided grounds tour). Note:

Walking up and down multiple staircases is part of the tour. Call 318-379-0055 for reservations (not required). Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts / David Litschel /

Alamy Stock Photo ​SAM AND ALFREDA MALOOF FOUNDATION FOR ARTS AND CRAFTS, ALTA LOMA, CALIFORNIA What’s it like to live inside a work of art? The house that America’s most renowned

contemporary furniture craftsman, woodworker Sam Maloof (1916-2009), built about 40 miles east of Los Angeles is a marvel of wood shapes, finishes and joinery. Maloof purchased it in 1953 as

a six-room house in a lemon grove, and slowly expanded it without plans or drawings; in 2000, threatened by a new freeway, the entire structure was moved three miles to its current 6-acre

location. Visitors can roam the wild-feeling garden and take a guided tour of the interior, where they’ll encounter Maloof’s touch everywhere — from a humble kitchen spice rack to an

ethereal spiral staircase and the near-sculptural benches, tables, music stands, rocking chairs and other furniture usually seen only in museums. The tour ends with a rare treat: the chance

to run your hands over, and sit in, one of Maloof’s chairs. HOW TO VISIT: Docent-led tours are available Fridays and Saturdays, at 10 and 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Reservations are

recommended ($25 for adults, $22 for 65 and older). A self-guided tour of the Maloof Water Wise Discovery Gardens is free and open to the public Thursdays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4

p.m.