Maybe it’s a not-so-spooky Halloween spell, but the October art scene was hauntingly captivating this weekend.

The Brewery Art Walk offered a plethora of pleasures all weekend, including “Route, Rut, Lane: A Karkhana Collaboration” at Shoebox Projects, a mixed-media project co-curator Nancy Kay Turner describes as inspired by the historical Mughal workshop. A truly collaborative exhibition—each piece has elements created by all eight of the contributing artists; it made a terrific start for art walk’s jubilant attending crowd despite a rainy morning.

L. Aviva Diamond, Kristine Schomaker, and exhibiting artist Chenhung Chen

Dani Dodge showed rich, evocative acrylic and mixed media works from three different series, including a lush Paris-set selection of paintings. Chenhung Chen’s wonderfully alive sculptural art and drawings are unearthly and delicate, images made from wires, cords and copper mesh inhabited her studio, while her son and ceramicist Skyler Bolton’s vivid oxblood and periwinkle blue works filled her dining room. Randi Hockett’s mineral-based art included fragile, mysterious works on paper. Todd Westover’s blossoming floral works and Jorin Bossen’s portraits were a strong draw, as was Jane Szabo’s photographic art shared as she celebrated a new studio. Not to be missed was the eclectic mix of art at the Jesus Wall gallery, where Lena Moross’ large-scale watercolors and Kristine Augustyn’s female figures on newsprint were standouts. Visitors enjoyed the tasty offerings from the beer garden, including craft brews and soft pretezels.

Miles Regis with exhibiting artist Gay Summer Rick

Across town in Santa Monica, BG Gallery hosted a luminous opening that glowed like the gallery’s glass windows with the setting sun. That was Gay Summer Rick’s “Skyways and Highways.” Driving or flying, the iconic views of city and coast shimmered in blue, orange and gold here, for a busy crowd spilling out on the side walk and noshing on wine and cheese at the gallery’s new Ocean Park location.

Back downtown, at LACDA, John Waiblinger’s “The Beauty of Men” offered graceful nudes in floral settings as a layered treat; viewers received a second with a wide-ranging buffet that included Halloween candy.

Dealer Rex Bruce with John Waiblinger

Durden and Ray displayed a stunning mix of sculpture, video, photography and mixed-media in the potent, “Specter of Documentation,” a thematic exhibition that investigates the impression a person leaves in objects, places or media. What could be better for Halloween month, than a terrific show with the word “specter” as a title?