Art enthusiasts know that a gallery opening can be many things: a cheap date night; a chance to culturally and creatively broaden your horizons; a way to hang with your friends or meet new people; and a prime destination for free drinks (and, hopefully, cheese). And, if you’re an art lover like 87-year-old Houstonian Patti Lou Richardson, you also know that they’re always happening—you just have to know where to look.

“I think people don’t realize…it’s a free evening,” says Richardson. “You’re seeing people who have created art—some of which you may love, some of which you might question, ‘What is that?’ But it opens your mind to possibility. And then, you meet all other kinds of people.”

Whether you’re into abstract expressionism, surrealism, or anime, there’s a gallery somewhere in this town full of visual art you can appreciate. Houston swarms with over 300 studios, galleries, and other creative spaces in Arts District Houston, along the Washington Avenue Corridor in the First and Sixth Wards. But there are also spaces tucked in Midtown, the Galleria, Third Ward, East End, and elsewhere.

Let’s take Montrose: There are high-end, blue-chip places like McClain Gallery on Richmond and Andrew Durham Gallery on West Alabama Street. But don’t overlook funky, eclectic spots like Art League Houston and Koelsch Gallery, a block or two away from each other on Montrose Boulevard. A two-story building on 4411 Montrose Blvd houses several galleries, including Barbara Davis Gallery, David Shelton Gallery, and Art Is Bond, which spotlights artists of color. Until its closure last December, the influential Anya Tish Gallery also called the building home.

Richardson, a former schoolteacher and an artist herself, remains in the know. “I’m not Grandma Moses, but I enjoy the act of creating,” says Richardson as she rests on her rolling walker during a gathering at Midtown’s Monterroso Gallery. A regular fixture at various museums and art galleries, Richardson usually gets decked out in her most flamboyant threads and attends the opening receptions for the latest exhibitions. “I like the art, meeting the artists,” she says. “I also like meeting people like yourself and just talking to people.”

Richardson has a slight advantage in knowing which gallery events to attend next. She’s actually a member of an “art posse”—at least that’s what her daughter, marketing consultant and local art gadfly Melissa Richardson Banks, calls it. Along with Richardson’s other daughter, Rega, and her husband, Gordon, the four frequent many events together, thanks to Banks who writes the weekly Mused Houston newsletter, which lists art-related events popping off every weekend.

Banks’s flair for event-listing started when she lived in Los Angeles where she did a similar event guide for the art community there. It’s something she felt was sorely needed when she moved back to Houston a decade ago. “I just used to promote my friends’ shows and things I was going to go see,” Banks says. “And so, when I came here, I realized that there wasn’t something I could easily find. So I did it for my family for several years, and I finally went public in 2023.”

Mused is just one of several online destinations for tracking down weekly art gatherings. Texas visual art magazine Glasstire, which covers art scenes across the state, is another reliable source for upcoming events, while local outlets, mailing lists, and social media help fill in the gaps for most artists and galleries (they’re mostly on Instagram, of course).

The free gallery events are an in-person way to increase awareness of the local art scene and give artists an opportunity for exposure. Located near the Museum District, Monterroso Gallery is midway through its yearlong residency program for artists. Guatemalan-born owner and artist Gabriela Monterroso officially founded the gallery in 2020, relocating it from its original digs in Sawyer Yards’ Spring Street Studios to a brick-and-mortar space with enough room for weekly critiques, workshops, and a group exhibition to close out the year. “More than selling, we just really want to show our work, and the residency is a place where we can talk about our art with people [who] want to listen, and we want to talk about their art,” she says. “So, we’re trying to build a space to foster that community.”

Monterroso has also been bringing artwork to River Oaks, specifically to the gallery penthouse at Monterroso at Crimson, located in the Crimson Luxury Apartments. “It’s very luxurious, very cool, so you can show the art,” she says. “Some people don’t come to the art galleries anymore, you know? So, we’re bringing the art to them, and they can see the art in a different context.”

When it comes to foot traffic, owners typically expect a mix of new and returning patrons whenever an exhibit debuts. “We usually have the same suspects, but then [we get] a group that we’ve never seen before,” says fashion designer and Koelsch Gallery co-owner Franny Koelsch. For over 30 years, she and her husband, John Jefferies, have regularly brought out beer, wine, margaritas, and specialty cheeses whenever they display a batch of outsider art available for purchase.

Opening-night events are hosted to show off and sell inventory while building connections among art folk, but also to enlighten novices and first-timers. “We have a purpose behind that reception: to introduce people to the art,” Koelsch says. “And even if they may not be interested in buying art or they can't, maybe their friend would be interested…. We’re really fortunate that we have some really great customers that we’ve had for years and years, but we’re really interested in the next generation, too.”

Most artists also make a practice of attending openings other than their own, often bringing along fresh faces who may be unfamiliar with the local art scene. Sixtysomething artist Holly Josey says she attends one or two openings a week. Recently, she brought her son, Reese, his girlfriend, Darby Cherry, and her friend, Katie Boone, to a Monterroso opening, where she informally surveyed fellow millennial travelers about what would be needed to bring more newbies into the fold.

Cherry says “the lack of people knowing where to go, but also maybe going alone,” can contribute to hesitation, but younger crowds are seeking social activities beyond drinking and dining out. “I think people just don’t know where to start or how to find something like this unless you do know someone,” she adds. Boone agrees that interest exists, “but it just kind of depends [on] if it piques your interest or not,” she says.

While these free gallery events are indeed about the art—sometimes the booze and, often, the free cheese, too—Richardson says that the biggest draw can be the people you meet along the way.

“Houston is made up of all kinds of people from all over the world, and that’s what I love,” she says. “And that’s what the art reflects, too.”