James Fendenheim works on a silver piece at his studio on South Meyer Avenue. His studio and Alex Streeter's nearby studio will be on Saturday's open-house tour.

Dean Knuth / Arizona Daily STar

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It was just another day at Alex Streeter's trendy workspace in the SoHo district of New York City when Streeter first encountered Tucson-born silversmith James Fendenheim.

"James burst into the door and said, 'Hello. I'm from Tucson, Arizona. I'm a silversmith. Can I use your polishing equipment?' " recalled Streeter, 59. "I couldn't say much to that. He had been rushing to get his work done for a show, so he finished up and we sat down afterward and talked."

The chance meeting forged a friendship that the two have shared for more than a decade.

They will hold their first joint open house, dubbed the "Saturday Night Silverado," at their Tucson galleries this weekend, featuring local and national artisans, as well as the classic-rock cover band, the Renegades.

"James and I have been thinking about this for quite some time," said Streeter, who fell in love with Tucson after visiting Fendenheim and eventually purchased a home across from Fendenheim's Barrio Viejo studio on South Meyer Avenue.

Streeter converted the space into an art studio and now divides his time between the Big Apple and the Old Pueblo.

He added: "It is kind of like the old biker build-offs when you have a competition between two workshops. Like a silversmith consortium. Just a group of friends who are really great authorities in their fields."

Among the artists attending will be Tohono O'odham silversmith Rick Manuel, bone carver Terry Williams, stone artist Sonny Grant and adobe whisperer Anthony Guzman.

Then there are Streeter and Fendenheim, both national names in their own right.

Streeter rose in the ranks as one of the first studio owners in what is now the SoHo arts district of New York. His articulate pieces have been big sellers for years, and his work has been featured in magazines ranging from Newsweek to Vogue to Rolling Stone.

Fendenheim was inspired early to create by his grandmother, Tohono O'odham folk artist Frances Manuel. His silver works incorporate influences from animals, like the coyote, along with the mountains, the desert landscape and the traditional Tohono O'odham "Man in the Maze" emblem.

Fendenheim believes there is a lot of potential within Barrio Viejo.

"When I first moved around this area, it was all heroin addicts and squatters," he said. "Downtown was the same way. Now it is like uptown here. Alex believes that Meyer is making a comeback because the same thing happened when he was in SoHo."

"We hope to hold this event every year," Streeter said. "We want people to see that these traditional crafts are still very much alive and that they come back with the idea of coming back. We want to imprint the idea of how many craftsmen are in the barrio making things happen."