From the twice-yearly Brewery Art Walk to the opening of a new gallery space, late October is a lively time to experience art. And then there were some exciting new art works at the annual Dia de Los Muertos event at Hollywood Forever this year, too.

At Timothy Yarger Fine Art Gallery, a new location on 10th Avenue in Leimert Park offered a fine space for the multi-artist Fall Forward exhibition. A large crowd viewed the art – and walked inside the large-scale installation “In Situ” from Mary Little. Performing artists included a clarinet player, dancer, and poetry reading. Conrad Leach – who recently had a full exhibition at Loft at Liz’s showcased several architecturally perfect paintings, including “Bridge and Tunnel.” Transcendent geometric, luminous abstracts from Mads Christensen were also stunning, as were works such as the dark sculptural images of Louise Nevelson, plexiglass wall sculptures from Pancho Luna, spare landscape paintings from Tori White; abstract paintings from Cecil Touchon and Udo Noger, and glowing city skylines from Jim McHugh. And yes, champagne and wine were served in elegant wine glasses.

Mary Little, In Situ, 2019

Over at Jason Vass Gallery downtown, surreal and vivid images formed a riveting exhibition of colored ink works by married artists Tadashi Moriyama and Rachel Pease in their exhibition Frontiers; guests enjoyed beer and wine and took in the works created on frosted Mylar, or stretched on wood; images both dazzling and mind-bending.

The ultimate art experience may well be the Brewery Art Walk, which will come ‘round again for a full weekend in April 2020. This October large scale, motion-filled images of horses from Emily Elisa Halpern; eye-popping florals from Todd Westover; fabulous pottery cups, vases and more from Skylar Bolton; rich natural images of flora and fauna from Catherine Ruane; riveting contemporary portraiture from Jorin Bossen; a haunting new photographic series from Jane Szabo; and graceful fresh acrylics from Teale Hathaway were among the highlights.

Tadashi Moriyama and Rachael Pease at Jason Vass.

A fresh group of artists took over the rotating Jesus Wall Gallery space including new works both abstract and figurative from Kristine Augustyn; scatologically humorous images and words from Robert Soffian; glowing pieces and wooden hands from Billy Pacek — all drew attention. Kristine Schomaker’s lush new abstract series glowed in her gallery space; and there were new and astonishing sculptural works from Debby and Larry Kline.

There was also a terrific presentation of sculptural works in a new series featuring egg images from Karrie Ross. Her works shared space with the diminutive, always powerful paintings of Glenn Waggner, astonishing desert photos from Bill Leigh Brewer, and lovely painted images focusing on nature from Wini Brewer. It was a feast of art too numerous to mention the participants in full. But don’t miss the spring iteration.

Dia de Los Muertos at Hollywood Forever.

Lastly, at Dia de Los Muertos at Hollywood Forever, artists such as Lore, Eva Malhorta, Juan Solis, among others exhibited day-glow lit, vivid works in four wings of the mausoleum building; works were sculptural, mixed media, oil, acrylic, and even paintings carved into wood. The theme of Sacred Migrations throughout the event translated into some pretty lush costuming, performance art, altars, and sculptural displays, too.

Bruce Munro, “Sensorio Field of Light,” 2019

Planning a drive out of town? We did. At Sensorio Field of Light in Paso Robles, we took in a luminous field of illuminated fiber optic flowers from artist Bruce Munro, dazzling on 15 acres under dark olive trees through January.