Once a year, in the name of art, Darsie and Chris Beck move out of their house on Maury Island. For two weeks beginning with the Holiday Studio Art Tour, the Becks turn their living quarters into Waterworks Studio, an art gallery with a stable of 19 artists. They hang paintings and photographs on the family room walls, display crafts and jewelry on kitchen shelves and porcelain pottery on racks outside under the shelter of their large, covered patio. But the kicker? The night before the tour officially begins, they throw a festive community preview party — with 200 to 300 people stopping by over the course of the evening.

“I love being able to open the place up during the tour for people to see how we live,” Darsie said. “It is a lot of work, but the personal reward is just great.”

For Chris, the highlights belong to the day they set up the crafts and to the potluck they hold with the artists after the tour concludes.

“We are a true collective,” Chris said. “Everyone has a say. We meet twice a year. We go over the layout for the tour, the food and the theme for the Christmas tree ornaments.”

A dazzling evergreen packed with ornaments made by each of the 19 artists greets visitors just inside the Beck’s house-cum-studio.

“We call it the artists’ tree,” Chris said. “It gives people a chance to buy some inexpensive art. It also makes the artists think outside the box.”

The ornament theme this year is “The Stars Come Out,” an apt title for a group of artists that Chris calls stellar.

“They are all the best,” Chris said. “That’s the criteria for belonging. We’ve added Donna Romero, Sudzology and Cobwbelles this year.”

Darsie adds that it’s a good mix of artists, that nobody overlaps mediums with another.

Indeed Darsie, who is also a sculptor, has cornered the market on travel journals. As a former sales rep whose territory covered the Northwest, Darsie began sketching what he saw on his trips. After collecting over 1,000 drawings, Darsie started putting them into journals. He now leads workshops and classes on creating the travel journal and has designed a special sketchbook bag to sell at the request of his students.

Chris is both a potter and photographer and a former private investigator. Her fine porcelain pottery is sold at Heron’s Nest and in shows in the Northwest as well as Waterworks.

Though the duo works with different media, Darsie said they inspire and critique each other.

“But most of all, we love to collaborate on Waterworks,” Darsie said.