October 21–28, 2026
A personal guide to the openings, exhibitions, spaces and artists in my orbit. Updated every Wednesday.
Follow me on instagram.@conceptanimals and @lestudiocollective provide ongoing updates about the #ATXArtScene.Send art events and corrections to ATXartScene at atxeq dot com.
This week’s favorite: three artists thinking inside and outside the box. Charles Heppner’s Sanctum Boxes come from two decades of praxis - hear him describe the daily watercolor practice behind them in our studio-visit conversation, then see the boxes in person with Fallon Bartos and John Sager.
Lisa B. Woods, Beili Liu and Dr. Robert Mace on the Ogallala Aquifer, Texas groundwater and the future of water, moderated by Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz. Free and open to the public; RSVP strongly encouraged.
Calendar link uses a two-hour block; the talk’s end time is not listed.
Jenn Hassin rolls military uniforms and family clothing into handmade-paper flowers, birds, stars and quilts; Michael A. Booker’s pen-and-watercolor figures look for comfort in anxious times. Booker talks at 6 pm before the reception.
Guadalupe Najar’s first solo show in her hometown re-imagines East Austin yards through girlhood, family and displacement - the second annual Fellowship in Professional Practice exhibition.
Boley on gaining strength through transformation in cut and sanded metal, ink glazes and thin acrylic. Lisa Loudermilk’s show also runs through Oct 31.
Alexis Hunter leads the closing tour of INVASIVE SPECIES 2, then a morning walk through the African-American Cultural Heritage District. The afternoon brings a free collage workshop with Black Austin Tours and Ode To Our Grandmothers.
The annual free fall festival returns: pumpkin painting, sculpture-making, costume parades and more, all day in the garden.
Andrea Calo, Erin Gentry, Jules Buck Jones and Xochi Solis on twenty years of MASS and what comes next for collective art spaces in Austin.
Calendar link uses a two-hour block; the end time is not listed.
The video artists behind WaterWork 2026’s projection mapping on the Seaholm Intake Facility talk process; the Show & Tell Sandbox continues. RSVP on Meetup.
Thursday: a free screening of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - early arrival advised, film starts 7:10. Monday: an evening public art walking tour with Art in Public Places. Both free; registration encouraged.
Help fill the Dougherty’s sidewalk cracks with gold epoxy, 4:30–7:30 pm, free. Jones Center member curator tour, 6:30–8 pm, Advocate members and above.
Video-artist meetup at dadaLab, 7:30 pm. Bride of Frankenstein screens free at the Dougherty, 7 pm. See listings #9 and #10.
Ivester artist talk 6 pm, reception 7–9 pm. DORF’s Buried in the Yard, 7–10 pm. Lydia’s final Vinyl & Game Night for DOZENS, 6–10 pm.
Future Front tour 10 am; Lisa’s water talk 2 pm; Via Boley 3 pm; Enclosures opens 4–7 pm. Last day for Contrapuntals at ICOSA and Within my Maze of Memory at Co-Lab.
StrawFest at the UMLAUF, 11 am–4 pm. MASS alumni panel, 4 pm. Last day for DOZENS at Lydia and Domestic Tranquility at Link & Pin.
VAC river tour with Marie Lorenz, 8:30 am–3 pm offsite - at capacity, waitlist only. Dougherty evening art walk, 6:30–8:30 pm.
Shadows on Stone public tour 12:30 pm, and the same tour in Spanish at 2 pm, included with admission.
Saif Azzuz talk · Jones Center events · Fusebox Salon · Monster Ball tickets · Bolm masquerade · Austin Studio Tour
Openings and run dates come first. The directory is the standing roster behind your weekly art sweep, so the page can remain your map even as the shows change.