Five things to know about Atlanta Gallery Week

• Courtesy Jeannette Montgomery Barron/ Jackson Fine Art
• POP ARTIST:Atlanta native Jeannette Montgomery Barron’s portrait of New York artist Keith Haring, taken in 1985, is just one of the great works of art that you can see during Atlanta Gallery Week. The work is on exhibition at Jackson Fine Art in Buckhead. Seventeen galleries across town are participating.

1. It begins, Tuesday, October 1.
Atlanta Gallery Week kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1. Seventeen art galleries across town, from the most established to the just emerging, will participate. After identifying the need for reaching new audiences, the galleries banded together to provide exhibitions, temporary installations and performances on each evening of the week-long event.

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2. Each night of the week is in a different part of town.
Each night focuses on a different neighborhood, with the galleries in that part of town hosting events and welcoming new visitors. Visit the website for a complete schedule, list of participating galleries, and even a map, but the basic outline is:

OCTOBER 1 - BUCKHEAD I & CASTLEBERRY
OCTOBER 2 - WESTSIDE GALLERIES
OCTOBER 3 - BUCKHEAD GALLERIES II
OCTOBER 4 - HIGHLANDS & PONCE
OCTOBER 5 - FLUX NIGHT
OCTOBER 6 - INMAN PARK & BUCKHEAD

3. It leads up to Flux Night
The week is being planned in cooperation with Flux Night, Atlanta’s hugely popular night of free public art in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood, which takes place Saturday, October 5. Contributor Erin Elyse lists the Ten Things You Need to Know About Flux in this week’s Creative Loafing. (Yes, there will be a quiz on all of this).

• Jason Kofke
• Work by Atlanta-based artist Jason Kofke is at Midtown’s Beep Beep Gallery.

4. Everyone is welcome.
All the events in Atlanta Gallery Week are free, and everyone is welcome. Galleries are often stereotyped as exclusive places where people in black turtlenecks sip red wine and toss around terms like “weltanschauung” and “the noumenal self” whenever they’re not sneering at outsiders. But that’s not quite fair. Some galleries serve white wine, too. (Kidding!) All jokes aside, Atlanta galleries work hard at being inviting places where the public feels welcome, and Atlanta gallery week is just one way of rolling out the welcome mat. Galleries in Atlanta don’t charge a dime for interested people to come look at the work, and most gallery owners love to talk about their passion for an artist’s work, so never feel shy about asking questions.

5. Every week is gallery week.
Atlanta galleries are actually open year round, and they are always free, and it seems there’s always something interesting going on. There’s no reason to ever feel intimidated or weird about going into one. To keep up on what’s happening in the world of visual arts, and to read interesting news, profiles, and reviews from the art world, check out some of Atlanta’s great arts websites like BurnAway, ArtsATL and, of course, your weekly Creative Loafing!