Friday-Sunday, July 10-12: West Side Fest

Manhattan’s western edge takes on an electric charge all its own when West Side Fest transforms the concrete corridor into a living gallery and the boundaries between public space and art dissolve. As you walk from the industrial framewirj of Chelsea over to the waterfront, the weekend offers a masterclass in visual storytelling—whether you drop in for a Riso printing workshop at Poster House, visit the Whitney Museum free of charge, or watch community-driven design demos at The Shed's outdoor plaza. For anyone who believes that art should be an immersive, shared experience rather than something inside a white cube, this neighborhood takeover is an invitation to explore.

Click to view the entire lineup. Following, a brief sampling of what’s In store:

Outdoor & Park Events: Scenic public spaces like the High Line, Little Island, and Hudson River Park participate by hosting live music, dance gatherings, and outdoor installations

Special Programming: The event includes interactive artmaking workshops for all ages, specialized tours, dance performances, crafts, and pop-up events. For example, visitors can experience environmental education tours like Shoreline Strolls at the Gansevoort Peninsula inside Hudson River Park

Free Museum Admission: Top-tier cultural institutions like the Whitney Museum of American Art offer free admission windows and special late-night hours during the weekend. Other world-class spaces like The Shed feature heavily discounted or "Choose What You Pay" access to major exhibitions

Saturday, July 11, 4-6pm: May DeViney | Artist Walkthrough and talk at Viridian

While in Chelsea, drop in for an analogue experience at Viridian: With No AI, Only I, DeViney presents a provocative body of work that confronts contemporary anxieties while celebrating human creativity, resilience, and imagination. Through wit and absurdism, historical reference, and astute social commentary, she invites viewers to reflect on the ideals, technologies, and institutions that shape our lives.

Viridian Gallery, 548 West 28^th Street, New York, NY Info

Friday-Sunday, July 10-12: Brooklyn Art Book Fair

If your summer weekend plans involve seeking refuge from the city heat while getting a masterclass in independent print culture, make your way over to Washington Avenue in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Art Book Fair returns for its ninth annual run this weekend, split across the sunlit, ground-floor spaces of Recess and Garage Studios. 

Not a high-barrier commercial art bazaar, this is a volunteer-run, free-to-the-public celebration of zines, artist books, and experimental publishing that aims  to amplify underrepresented voices. Here you'll encounter Risograph originals, hand-bound poetry broadsides, and radical text pieces from collectives like CO–CO Press and the Center for Book Arts. The fest includes a program of critical panels and discussions, notably Saturday’s session on freedom of movement hosted by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, among others. 
Follow in Instagram for quick updates.
Click for the complete lineup and more info. Please note that the organizers are dedicated to community care, meaning masks are strictly required indoors. 

July 15-18: ICON 13, Baltimore

There are still some tickets available for ICON The Illustration Conference, the definitive destination for the global, community-driven illustration community. This unique four-day gathering serves as a vital forum for professional advocacy, continuing education and pure inspiration. Operating entirely as a non-profit endeavor, the conference migrates to a different U.S. cultural hub every two years, drawing an influential crowd of creators, educators, designers, and art directors. This year, Maryland Institute College of Art [MICA] in Baltimore, will host the proceedings. Above: The American Visionary Art Museum, ICONs closing party venue

For those looking to plunge into the current issues shaping the field, ICON breaks its multi-day schedule into three distinct pillars. Click to read the DART preview. Click for ICON13 tickets 

Celebrating the Frederic Church bicentennial from Coast to Coast

It is a rare thing for an artist’s home to so perfectly double as their ultimate canvas, but to step onto the grounds of Olana [above] this season is to see Frederic Edwin Church’s vision fully alive in its bicentennial year. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Hudson River School master, Frederic Church: Global Artist—co-curated by Dr. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser—recontextualizes Church not merely as a painter of regional grandeur, but as a restless, globally minded chronicler of nature's raw energy. This is a beautifully timed, nationwide moment of scholarship—bolstered by four definitive new monographs, including Victoria Johnson’s highly anticipated biography Glorious Country—that reminds us how Church’s sweeping vistas of South American volcanoes and Arctic icebergs didn't just bring the world to a young America; they permanently expanded our collective artistic horizon.

While Olana State Historic Site serves as the epicenter for the Church bicentennial, the celebration of this artist’s 200th birthday spans a nation-wide network of major art institutions. More than 70 museums and cultural partners—ranging from local historic sites in New York to prestigious metropolitan galleries in the Midwest and South—are synchronizing their galleries to highlight Church’s legacy. Click for complete Directory and Interactive map

Olana State Historic Site, 5720 State Route 9G, Hudson, NY Info

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