HOBOKEN -- How much artwork can you fit in a square mile?

Jersey City resident Ximping Zhu – along with his daughter Milan, 10, and son Milo, 7 – intended to find out as they embarked on the 2019 Artists Studio Tour.

“We started really early and are about halfway through,” Zhu said, laughing. “So far, this being our second year attending, I would say we’ve enjoyed a lot of the paintings, sculptures and photography. It’s improved since last year [and next] I’d like to see more video components.”

The walking tour, which kicked off with pre-events Friday, featured the work of over 100 artists, photographers, poets, performance artists, and musicians throughout the weekend. The walkability of the Mile Square City was on full display as attendees dipped in and out of spaces where one could only guess at what was waiting around the corner.

Zhu and his kids started at The Barsky Gallery, where curators recently added works by artist Kevin Connolly. The drawing and painting talents of the Johannesburg, South Africa-native – and son of Robert Clyde Gillespie – were on full display. A 24 karat gold leaf and diamond dust did wonders to make one artwork of a rhinoceros pop.

Just a few blocks away at Neumann Leathers, arrows directed tour participants toward a gamut of art shows and exhibits. These included ceramics, oil paintings, watercolors and acrylics. Among the stops along the tour: Field Colony, PROTO Gallery, the Riog Collection at the W Hotel, the Hoboken Historical Museum, the Hoboken Public Library and Little City Books.

Live music and spoken word were also available at various locations.

Fabio Esteban spearheads the Atelier DF – Visual Narratives showcase on the fourth floor of Neumann Leathers. He said the tour was a chance to introduce himself and his work to the community.

“We’re newcomers and already know a lot of artists here. We thought this was the best time for us to get involved with the community,” he said, explaining that he deals in photographic and alternative art prints.

“We want to create a community that enjoys the process of creating art through photography,” he added. “We use traditional analog methods but then add techniques created 150 years ago with different types of chemicals in order to create photo-sensitive surfaces. The beauty is that every image will be completely different, so you’re creating unique works of art every time.”

While the walls of the exhibit were populated by classic New York images, Esteban said it’s only a matter of time before he begins drawing inspiration from Hoboken landmarks like Lackawanna Terminal.

Issa Sow, who is no stranger to the Hoboken art scene, opened his gallery at 300 Observer Highway in 2012 and has participated in the tour since it launched.

“The tour is a great opportunity to promote your space and tell people what else you have coming up,” he said.

In the case of Issyra Gallery, that is international musician Abdoulaye Toure. Toure, originally of West Africa, who has been playing the drums since he was 10 – mastering djembe, kenkeni, sangban and dundun drums and krin.

On the other side of town at the Monroe Center for the Arts, Paul Hanh walked throughout an exhibit that included the work of paper-cutting artist Hiro Takeshita.

“I’ve only lived in Hoboken for two years and happened to see in passing that the tour was available for my wife and I,” he said. “My favorite part has been being able to explore buildings in Hoboken with so much going on that I wasn’t aware about before. I think this is a chance to show at a lot of what the city has to offer.”