Canopy is such a cool place and Austin is lucky to have an event like Open Canopy at this creative…read morecampus each month! In East Austin, you can find this complex full of art studios of various mediums sprawling over several buildings. They have a big parking lot but if you go during Open Canopy, we saw people waiting for spots. There aren't enough spaces for all the humans! However after parking, the area doesn't feel congested with human traffic so that's a good thing. Canopy has their very own coffee shop full of drinks & eats, so fear not if you come here hungry. Check the Sa-Ten listing for reviews on the eatery/beanery. Again I was lucky enough to be in town during Open Canopy which happens the first Saturday of every month from 1-4pm. I found there near opening and found it only got busier as the day went on. Not only were many of the Art Studios open, but also most of the shops, plus they had live music! I was not expecting a DJ, nor to see so many cute dogs roaming around, but was pleasantly surprised. There were so many talented artists with their pieces on display. I took a couple business cards and hope to buy a few things. I was happy to see so many forms of art for sale, as well, with some real creativity and fun on display. Not just paintings, but jewelry, decor pieces, 3d works, weaving, tons of different types of things. I saw many of the artists eagerly chatting about their work, while my introvert self shuffled through each studio. And that was okay, too, by the way. Artists were pleased to just say hi & bye, definitely no sales- stuff going on here. It was truly like walking thru art galleries. People watching was fun here, too. I've heard the who's who of the creatives in Austin convene at the monthly Open Canopy. Best of Austin for sure. Free & fun events for the win!

What a serendipitous stumble. I had lunch across the way at the adorable cafe Sa-Tén on a random…read moreSaturday, and we peeped a big crowd lingering outside this modern and simple little art studio and found a free exhibit that led to a whole adventure to find even more free exhibits right around the corner! This event is called Open Canopy which happens on the first Sat of each month which is such a nice community event. Basically Canopy features a huge amount of artists in this artsy compound, countless studio offices in a handful of buildings (I believe there were 5 areas you could go to and some were occupied). Definitely peruse and even pick up some pieces if you fancy anything, there's something for everyone here. Pottery, paintings, sculptures, textiles, and much more artsy offerings. It feels like an elevated art fair you get to walk through.

We visited the Wally Workman Gallery for the first time during their First Tuesday event. This is a…read moresmaller, lovely gallery. I would recommend stopping by for a visit and then heading to dinner reservations nearby for a cute date night! Every employee I encountered was very kind.

Have you seen this cute house of a gallery???…read more How adorable it is!! The architecture alone drew my husband and I in, but the art and welcoming environment made us stay! The associates here are super welcoming and friendly, and all share tons of valuable knowledge on the art and surrounding community. They were more than happy to share with us the history of the gallery space, as well as any information we requested on the art.

One of the "must-see's" in Austin…read more Stumbled into this quixotic place a couple of years ago and keep coming back. Celebrating women artists and creators the dual museum/store features all women artists (go figure) with many of them local. If you are looking for something unique, creative, different and just downright beautiful, this is where you go. The fact that you can celebrate women while doing so? Icing on the cake. Go now.

This is my favorite gallery in Austin for the following reasons:…read more 1. The curatorships, collaborations, and openings are inspired and well thought out. 2. The gallery celebrates Texas women artists as well as women artists in general, two subjects that have vastly been overlooked for centuries upon centuries by art circles. I've discovered remarkable talents such as Lisa Ludwig and Sarah Lasley through a show called "Sugarcoated" back in May, which, pointing back to point #1, served pink champagne, frosted animal cookies and doughnut holes instead of the stuffy wine and cheese fare more typically associated with a gallery opening. 3. They encourage new talent, giving several opportunities a year to participate in showings alongside relatively established artists. For $40 you can join as a friend of the organization and have four images of your own art included in their online slide registry project. I believe there is a discounted rate for students and educators. 4. The giftshop kicks ass. Can I say ass? Most of it is tangible, practical art made by local artists or women artists elsewhere. Some of it is less than practical, such as the felt orange bird with pink feathers spewing out of the tail I purchased last Saturday. There's a fantastic selection of books on women artists and some really unique jewelry. Why would you buy anything from a department or corporate store again with such quality, and the money going directly back into the hands of the lady that made them?

A keystone of the ATX Art Scene, recently celebrating 15 years, with proclamations from the City of…read moreAustin and the State of Texas! Jill's astute curatorial eye produces astonishing dialogues between artists from Austin and beyond. Put grayDUCK openings on your calendar!

3.5 This is a really nice local gallery. It is small but…read moreworthwhile to see. When you go in the entrance they will have two laminated packets with the current artwork and another with a paragraph or two from that artist explaining who they are and a little bit about their pieces. It doesn't take too long to look through everything so I would recommend stopping by if you have the time or are in the area. Also, it is free.

This review is for the ceramics course offered at Dougherty!…read more First off, I loved my instructor H.R, she was super knowledgable and eager to help everyone. She honestly made the experience great, and I would give her 5 stars any day. We were allotted a few open studio hours during the course to come in and work independently. These were pretty strictly monitored, and the weekend time slots tended to fill up quickly (understandably) For the price that I paid, I was pretty pleased with taking classes here however I would add some caveats: 1. There are a lot of restrictions here (glazes are pretty limited, you cannot make pieces larger than 8 in, can't bring in most outside glazes that are runny) 2. There were a lot of different skill levels in my class. A majority of the students seemed to be repeating students from the previous cycle, and had a lot of wheel experience. There were only 1-2 people in my class who were beginners. If I hadn't already had some exposure to the wheel, I think I would've been completely lost as most of the class time was spent on demos that the class requested instead of set lessons. If the cost wasn't almost half of what other studios in town were charging, I would probably go to another studio because of the above reasons, but honestly the deal is too good to complain. If you're able to get off the waitlist and get a class here, I'd recommend trying it out if you have some experience already! Otherwise I would try to take a more beginner friendly class elsewhere first

We came here to see a local theater company put on a musical comedy about the Servant Girl killer…read morefrom Austin in the 1880's. It was quite fun and pretty clever. Murders and Moontowers is the name. The center is clean and well lit. Welcoming is the term I think of, inside at least. It's a bit hard to see if you are not paying attention and parking is not great. Not the worst but crowded. Inside had interesting local art, I have some pictures, and a few benches. The theater room is decent sized and you can see and hear pretty well. We were in row 3 or 4 to the right if on stage. The troupe was good and there were some clever songs. It is about an hour and while the murders do factor in its mostly about the growing city and political dealing. I know it's an art center first but two quick things. The chairs are awful. They took me out of the play several times as I could not get in a position that didn't cause pain. Two: I can go without a snack or food but I need liquids. Water, soda, something. If you don't want to sell it allow us to bring lidded bottles or Yetis. Yeti like cups wouldn't leave trash and would allow for less issues. But that said I really otherwise enjoyed this. Shana, the woman who married me, agrees place is very cool. The cast signed a book we had on the killings which was cool. The songs were mostly fun and entertaining. The cast did a good job and told a fun story in just an hour. There were a few things that felt a little out of place but overall it was a good time.

Here's the tl;dr version:…read more -- Cool local art for purchase -- Supplies for urban artists (or amateurs who are headed over to the Hope Gallery) -- Unique souvenirs for Austin visitors -- #ATXFreeArtFriday Co-founded by a UTexas alumna Molly Maroney and another local artist known as Mouf in 2013, SprATX is a street art startup artist collective, gallery, & supply store, with this brick & mortar location opening in January 2014. Inside, you'll find spray paint, paint markers, stickers, prints, and cool urban apparel for purchase, all of which features the work of our local Austin street artists and often has a motivational, "Keep Austin Weird," or "Austin Pride" kind of message. Chances are that if you have noticed any impressive new mural or live street art event around town (such as at the X Games, ACL Fest, SXSW, FunFunFun Fest, East Austin Studio Tour, or the Long Center lawn) over the past 4 years, SprATX was involved. Their artists have also done work for most of the Alamo Drafthouse locations and numerous corporate clients around the city. As if that weren't cool enough, SprATX is also the creator of #ATXFreeArtFriday https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/atxfreeartfriday/, a weekly art scavenger hunt in which artists of all levels (from hobbiests to professionals) hide their work (stickers, canvases, screenprints, sculptures, textiles, anything goes) throughout the city. The artist posts clues on Instagram and waits for a lucky treasure hunter to find the stash. The finders post their "I found it!" reactions online, tag the artist and #ATXFreeArtFriday, and the cycle continues. Follow @atxfaf_official and the hashtag on Instagram if you want to join the game. The diverse 30+ member collective includes amazing local street scene artists like ZUZU, Roshi K, G52, Truth, Lucas Aoki, and Drib, whose works you've likely viewed all over town. The collective also serves as an incubator for talent around the country through their Artist Exchange Program, which pairs artists from Austin and other cities to co-create murals which are then created and revealed in the partner artist's city. I just love supporting a local business that fosters community involvement and puts beauty into the world. Closed on Wednesdays; otherwise open 12:30-7:30p daily.

One of my favorite spots in Austin. Housing the art of some of the city's very best. A collective…read moreof awesome and inspirational individuals. Stop by and check out the gallery, grab a print, original piece, some stickers or gear! They even have art supplies like markers and cans !!

The most fun we've had doing art in a long time. Painting with a Twist is a fun, casual activity…read morethat fits into just about any occasion, whether it be a date night or just doing something with friends. There are a lot of class options (categorized by what painting you'll be doing) so there's good variety. We chose a very pretty painting which we did not have the foresight to realize would be pretty difficult to paint. Check-in was smooth and the studio is intimate; they also have all materials setup for you ahead of time including aprons. This is also a BYOB spot and many people had wine with them if that's the kind of twist you're looking for. Our instructor was very good during our class. She was genuinely passionate and patient with everyone, doing multiple stops and checks and reassuring us along the way that everything would be fine. This was more of an intermediate level painting that took a bit of skill and finesse so the patient attitude and slow pace was helpful in getting out paintings as close to the original as possible. The only downside to that was the activity ran well over the time we had scheduled for it (2 hours turned into 3-3.5 hours), which forced us to push back a dinner reservation we had made. That's not really a drawback if you have the time and want it to be perfect but for those maybe looking to do something after your painting then it's good to be aware of that. At the end of the event we were genuinely impressed by how well our paintings came out. The attention to detail and instruction make it so that anyone regardless of skill level can come in and put together a painting that would look good on the front of a fridge. They have many different classes and paintings to choose from and for the price it absolutely feels worth it to come back, which we will be doing soon.

Me and my boyfriend did a paint your pet portrait here and it was so much fun! The instructors were…read moreso helpful and they really were there to support us every step of the way. Painting can honestly be a little stressful so bringing a bottle of wine definitely helped. Overall I think the price of these events is super fair given the cost of the materials and the time spent by the instructors. I would definitely recommend this for a date night activity!

I took the Intro to Blockprinting class this past weekend and overall, it was fun. I have been…read morelooking into picking up a new hobby or get into more craftin' to get in touch with my creative side. The class was $42 from 10:30a to noon. It is an open space with all sorts of art supplies, tools, and just about anything your imagination can muster up. Lots of inspiration. I was hoping to make more than just one small block and have different supplies like fabric for printing. It was very therapeutic to carve my small block. The class felt a little scattered - but it was a very easy going environment, super relaxed. Our instructor was friendly and encouraged us to tap into originality without overthinking it instead of looking up patterns or inspo on our phone. I really liked that. And she offered us all coffee, freshly made. You can basically come in to do all the arts and craft your heart desires, on a donation basis. Affordable and unique way to release your artistic side without investing too much in all the supplies and then an abandoning a hobby. I'd come back with a friend and check out a different class.

I went here as part of a work event to make lanterns for Lunar New Year . Stepping inside, I was…read moreimmediately greeted by an organized haven of craft supplies. They had construction paper, ribbons, highlighters, stamps, hot glue guns, and anything you might find at Michael's. Our instructor was very knowledgeable and showed us how she made her lanterns. She walked us step-by-step through the process. Now, I'm not a crafty person, but I was inspired enough by the ambiance and overflow of art supplies to get some creative juices flowing. At the end, I was able to create my own lanterns with some creative twists. I had a fun time and will recommend my crafty friends to check this place out!