Don鈥檛 let the sweltering temperatures fool you, Fort Worth鈥檚 is just around the corner.
The annual event and its encourage longtime art lovers and newcomers alike to explore art spaces across the city. This year, across Fort Worth, and two in Arlington, will host art-centric open houses on Sept. 9.
that walking into a quiet, white-walled space on your own can be intimidating for someone who is just browsing. These events give the arts community an opportunity to relieve some of that pressure on guests with a day of high volume visits and the occasional live DJ and snacking on hors d鈥檕euvres.
鈥淵ou really get to understand the lay of the community and the culture of the city you live in,鈥� said , a local artist and gallery manager at Fort Works Art.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really fun, celebratory event, so it鈥檚 definitely a lot more approachable than walking into certain gallery spaces normally, especially ones that are by appointment only. 鈥� Everybody鈥檚 door is wide open.鈥�
If you go
What: Fort Worth Art Dealers Association鈥檚 annual Fall Gallery Night
Time: Hours vary, but many galleries will be open from noon-9 p.m.
Date: Sept. 9
Where: There are more than 40 museums, galleries, businesses and other places participating this year. The majority are in Fort Worth, but Arlington has a couple as well. Find .
Admission: Free
The free event doesn鈥檛 come with the pressure to make a big purchase, and many places try to highlight pieces at a variety of price points, he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great entry point for anyone who is nervous about participating in the art world,鈥� Wilkinson said. 鈥淏uying art is voting with your money. It鈥檚 putting money into your own community 鈥� In a space of mass market products, it鈥檚 a really great opportunity for you to buy something that鈥檚 unique.鈥�
The Fort Worth Report rounded up five places that will be celebrating on gallery night:
Gallery Night hours: 10 a.m. 鈥� 5 p.m.
Louise Nevelson is a hard artist to define, but curator Shirley Reece-Hughes hopes that at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art will give viewers the opportunity to dig into the prolific artist鈥檚 career.
The show features several of the monochromatic, wooden sculptures that Nevelson is known for but also highlights her foray into other forms like figurative drawings, lithographic prints and sculptures made from acrylic or plaster.
鈥淲hat she was doing was really radical at that moment,鈥� Reece-Hughes said. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 be underestimated, the fact that she was a woman artist at that time when few, if any, were receiving recognition and support from colleagues 鈥� let alone sculpture colleagues, (which) was considered the domain of men at that time.鈥�
The artist鈥檚 wall-mounted works feature everyday objects that she scavenged from around the city, such as bowling pins, bed posts and pieces of chairs that she repurposed and reimagined.
鈥淪he鈥檚 taking those real-world experiences,鈥� Reece-Huges said, 鈥渂ut then transcending it for the viewer.鈥�
Arts Fort Worth
Gallery Night hours: 9 a.m. 鈥� 9 p.m.
Arts Fort Worth will have several shows running concurrently on Fall Gallery Night, including one that highlights the work of incarcerated artists at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth.
鈥淟ooking Within II鈥� is a reprise of a similar exhibition from last year and will be held on the cusp of Warden Freddy Garrido鈥檚 retirement, who championed the program.
The level of interest and participation with the arts program at Carswell grew in its second year, Robert Long, exhibitions manager for Arts Fort Worth, said.
鈥淧eople are shifting to a more personal narrative,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he deeper engagement and creative thinking of what goes into great art 鈥� is super exciting to see.鈥�
Works drawn with paper, colored pencils and markers will be on display along with 3-D pieces like leather wallets and instruments made of cardboard.
Bale Creek Allen Gallery
Gallery Night hours: Noon-9 p.m.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, multimedia artist embarked on a mission to organize her studio and was able to revisit her past work in the process.
鈥淚 was looking through these rejected transparencies, and I was really shocked at how much they spoke to me,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd they spoke to me in a different way from the original negatives that I had chosen back during the original shoot.鈥�
Throughout September and October visitors will have the chance to see an exhibition of those works titled 鈥淭he Outtakes.鈥�
Rather than capturing scenes around her, Skoglund uses her camera to create worlds of her own. Her photos invite viewers into boldly-colored, dreamlike scenarios filled with ceramic animals 鈥� crafted by the artist herself 鈥� and photographed with a few people in the frame.
鈥淢y philosophy,鈥� she said, 鈥渋s that we create reality.鈥�
Fort Works Art
Gallery Night hours: Noon-9 p.m.
Heavenly skyscapes from will fill the first floor of Fort Works Arts鈥� gallery in a solo show titled 鈥淎tmospheric Perspective.鈥�
Upstairs, Jay Wilkinson will bring the spirit of his former gallery 鈥淒ang Good Candy鈥� back to life in a group exhibition highlighting seven local and emerging artists: Aubree Dale, Fernando Rojas, Kyle Hanson, Harrison Boyland, Michelle Cortez Gonzales, Walt Burns and Andrew Hammond Kendall.
Wilkinson plans to make a 鈥淒ang Good Group Show鈥� an annual tradition at the gallery as a way to reconnect with the community after COVID-19 put some of that work on hold.
SiNaCa Studios
1013 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth
Gallery Night Hours: 10 a.m. 鈥� 9 p.m.
The culmination of residency at SiNaCa will coincide with Fall Gallery Night. The glass artist typically casts his works, which means he makes a precise model, uses it to create a mold and then pours the glass inside. But, recently he has been exploring a different approach called ladling, where a big scoop of molten glass is ladled, poured and then picked up and manipulated into a shape.
鈥淭his is kind of an unusual process and is really interesting,鈥� said Jean Fernandes, instructor and visiting artist coordinator at the studio. 鈥淣ot a lot of people work in this way 鈥� It will be pretty cool to watch.鈥�
The studio will host a live demonstration of this process from approximately 6-9 p.m.
Marcheta Fornoff covers the arts for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org or on . At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .
This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.