The Bay Area Reporter has published a curated list of over 20 arts and nightlife events taking place from May 21 to May 29. The article serves as a local guide, highlighting a range of cultural activities including visual art exhibitions, performances, and nightlife gatherings in the San Francisco Bay Area.
NEXTpittsburgh's November gallery guide highlights several new exhibitions opening across Pittsburgh. Shows include "Frank Harris: Born to be Wild" at Groove Gallery, featuring music-inspired portraits of icons like Jerry Garcia and David Bowie; "Ground Shift: Four Artists Navigate a Shifting Landscape" at Spinning Plate Gallery, with works by Paul Rosenblatt, Ann Rosenthal, Michel Demetria Tsouris, and Briget Shields addressing environmental threats; "Picture This: A Photo Exhibit Celebrating Intergenerational Connections" and "Peju Alatise: I Will Belong to Only Me" at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center; and "Neither/Nor" by Rum Hansra and Sayak Mitra at Atithi Studios, coinciding with Diwali.
Denver’s art scene is preparing for a busy spring and summer season with a series of exhibition openings, market events, and institutional announcements. Key highlights include the selection of six fellows for the 2026 Clyfford Still Museum Institute Residential Fellowship, a nationwide open call for the Dairy Arts Center’s 2027 season, and several new gallery shows featuring artists such as Stacey Steers, Kim Dickey, and Deanne Gertner. Local advocacy is also in focus as the RiNo Art District supports Colorado Senate Bill 26-133, which aims to establish a formal legal structure for artist-led companies.
NEXTpittsburgh's September art guide highlights a packed month of gallery shows, art fairs, and festivals across Pittsburgh. Key events include A Fair in the Park (Sept. 5-7) featuring 101 artists, the Firebox Art Party in Carnegie, the Pittsburgh Latin American Art Festival, and the Pittsburgh Art Book Fair at Carnegie Museum of Art. Major exhibitions opening include Yasmine El Meleegy's 'Red Gold' at the Mattress Factory, which examines Egypt's sun-dried tomato industry, 'Black Photojournalism' at Carnegie Museum of Art showcasing 60 pioneering Black photojournalists, and 'Forum 91: Charles Harlan' featuring the Georgia-born sculptor's work with found objects.
The AOY Art Center in Yardley, Pennsylvania, is launching its 14th annual Juried Show, featuring 137 selected works from over 425 regional submissions. Curated by Amanda C. Burdan of the Brandywine Museum of Art, the exhibition spans various mediums including painting, sculpture, and photography. The show opens April 10 with a public reception and includes specialized honors such as the Frumi Cohen memorial award for wildlife art.
Veteran Sacramento artist Tony Natsoulas, whose ceramic sculptures are held in 18 museum collections including SFMOMA, has shifted away from traditional commercial galleries to sell directly through his mailing list, newsletter, and biannual open studios. The article examines Sacramento's shrinking commercial gallery scene, where only a handful of spaces like Barry Sakata's b. sakata garo remain after 27 years, while venues such as Kennedy Gallery, Jay Jay, and Brickhouse Gallery have closed. Sakata reports declining sales due to political uncertainty, though a city grant of $10,000 has helped sustain his gallery.
More than 30 exhibitions are on display in May at art centers across Southwest Florida, from Marco Island to Sarasota. Venues like Art Center Sarasota host shows featuring member, regional, and nationally renowned artists, including the "North Sarasota County Schools Spring Art Show" with over 1,500 student artists, solo exhibitions by Anja Palombo and Cat Tesla, and the "Architects Who Art" show co-curated by Morris Hylton III.
The article is a scene calendar listing upcoming events in the Gainesville, Florida area, including art exhibitions and a theatrical production. Key visual art events include the Santa Fe College Student Juried Art Exhibition, the Santa Fe Springs Plein Air Paintout, the Gainesville Fine Arts Association's 'NEXT: High School and College Juried Exhibition', and the Harn Museum of Art's exhibition 'Florida in the Frame: A Century of Artists’ Reflections on the Sunshine State', which features works by Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Florida Highwaymen painters. The calendar also lists non-visual-art events such as the Levitt AMP Alachua Music Series and the Hippodrome Theatre's production of 'Million Dollar Quartet'.
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) held its 2026 gala, a major fundraising event attended by prominent figures from the city's art, philanthropy, and social circles. The event featured notable attendees including artist Andy Goldsworthy, museum director Thomas Campbell, and major donors like Dede Wilsey and Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Art and Art History has announced a series of spring events, including the 'Art History Showcase' featuring scholarship by Tylyn King, Bella Malherbe, and Felicity Wong. The program also highlights the second group of the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition featuring Ethan Cherry, Brionna Garcia, and Cal Young, alongside a visiting artist lecture by Rutgers professor Barbara Madsen and a symposium on Black Queer Aesthetics.
The James Watrous Gallery, a nonprofit art space located on the third floor of the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin, is dedicated to showcasing contemporary artists and curators with ties to the state. Unlike the nearby Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) and Chazen Museum of Art, which feature national and international artists, Watrous Gallery focuses almost exclusively on Wisconsin-based practitioners. Directed by Jody Clowes for the past decade, the gallery selects exhibitions through an open call every three to four years, with a committee of artists, arts workers, and curators from across the state. Recent shows include works by artists such as Shane McAdams, Lois Bielefeld, Dakota Mace, and the collaborative duo Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg. The gallery is part of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, and each exhibition is featured in the Academy's publication "Wisconsin People & Ideas," often connecting to broader themes like climate and energy.
Lancaster city's May First Friday 2026 features over 20 events, including exhibition openings, concerts, and performances. Highlights include a new exhibition 'Hybrids' by artist Jeremy Waak at Curio Gallery & Creative Supply, the Demuth Museum's 'Demuth Invitational: American Reflections' tied to the U.S. 250th anniversary, and the Lancaster Living Poetry Museum II with performers embodying poets at venues like the Lancaster Public Library and Lancaster Art Vault. Other offerings include salsa dancing at Binns Park, works by York County painters at The Framing Concept, and a show inspired by Yayoi Kusama at Friendship Heart Gallery + Market.
AOY Art Center announced the award winners of its 14th Annual Juried Show, with David Orban taking first place for his oil on cradled wood panel, “Bi-plane and Blue Truck in Red.” Juror Amanda C. Burdan, senior curator at the Brandywine Museum, selected the piece for its surreal use of red. Second place went to Jean Burdick for “Silverton,” a silkscreen on vellum, and third place to Darlene Decker for “For the Monarchs,” an oil painting. The Frumi Cohen Memorial Award was presented to Cathy Hanville for her photograph “What’s for Dinner,” and honorable mentions were awarded to Scott Hoerl and Barbara Kaiser. The exhibition, featuring 135 works from over 425 entries by 150 local artists, is on view through May 3 at the AOY Art Center in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and online.
A bronze statue of RoboCop, the cyborg protagonist from Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film, has been installed in Detroit nearly 15 years after a grassroots campaign began. The 11-foot, 3,500-pound monument was sculpted by Detroit artist Giorgio Gikas of Venus Bronze Works, funded by a 2012 Kickstarter that raised over $67,000, and finally placed at Eastern Market after years of legal hurdles and location changes.
The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), founded in 1984 and located on the Cal State L.A. campus, has become a premier public arts school offering conservatory-level training alongside college-prep academics. The article highlights alumni such as actor Anthony Anderson, musician Josh Groban, and visual artists Kehinde Wiley and Tomashi Jackson, who credit the school with nurturing their talents and providing a supportive, diverse environment for artistic growth.
Steve La Riccia, gallery coordinator for the New Zone Art Gallery in Eugene, Oregon, is profiled for his decades-long journey through the local art scene. After traveling the West Coast and settling in Eugene in the 1970s, he worked at a food processing plant and sold illegal fireworks to buy a home. In 1991, after the Mayor's Art Show rejected many artists, La Riccia helped organize Eugene's first 'Salon De Refusés,' a show for rejected works, which shifted his focus from promoting his own art to supporting other artists. He later co-ran the New Zone gallery and became known for his SX-70 Polaroid manipulations until the company ceased film production in 2009.
The Annapolis Arts District will host its monthly First Sunday Arts Festival on April 16, featuring an Art Walk where visitors can explore galleries, studios, and pop-up exhibitions throughout the historic downtown area. The event includes live music, artist demonstrations, and opportunities to meet local creators.
The next Wilmington Art Loop, a free citywide art exhibition, opens on Friday, June 6, 2025, from 5–9 PM. Now in its 38th year, the event is a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Out & About Magazine. Participating venues include The Delaware Contemporary (featuring RADIUS and ARC 25 exhibitions), Wilmington’s Redding Gallery (hosting the City of Wilmington Employee Juried Art Show and a display on the Tubman-Garrett statue), The Mezzanine Gallery (showcasing Jen Hintz Eggers), MKT Gallery (presenting Troy Jones’s “Ancestral Echoes: Masks We Wear”), and Bridge Art Gallery. A free shuttle, provided by the City of Wilmington Parks & Recreation Department, will run from The Delaware Contemporary parking lot, with riders voting on additional gallery stops.
The Cumberland Artist Alliance is currently presenting a group exhibition at the Hayden Gallery, located within the Cumberland Public Library. Featuring works by local artists including Gordon Tempest, Germaine Gerie, Margaret Lachut, and Jerry Aissis, the show spans various media such as painting and photography. The exhibition will remain on view through the end of April, highlighted by a "Meet the Artists" reception and live demonstrations scheduled for April 22nd.
The Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Thesis Exhibitions, titled "In No Particular Order: Senior Show 2026," will open on April 10, 2026, at Vanderbilt University's Space 204 galleries. The showcase features the thesis work of ten graduating senior art majors: Caitlin Nitschke, Kira Tannenbaum, Lin Morales, Dorothy Chen, Paige Restel, Megan Grosse, Remi Marcus, Isaac Bevin Boakye, Izabella Burghardt, and Rubric Barredo. The opening coincides with a department-wide open house at the E. Bronson Ingram Studio Arts Center, displaying work from students across all art classes.
West Hartford is launching "Artbeat 2026," an annual townwide exhibition showcasing the creative achievements of students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Hosted at the West Hartford Art League’s Saltbox and Clubhouse galleries, the show features a diverse range of student work and kicks off with a public opening reception on March 18.
Kate and Jerry Enewold are set to debut a joint exhibition titled "Carved, Painted and Crafted" at the Kootenay Gallery of Art on March 5. The showcase spans forty years of the couple's creative output, featuring a diverse array of disciplines including woodworking, painting, weaving, and jewelry design. An opening reception will allow the public to engage with the artists before the show runs through mid-April.