THURSDAY: As part of a citywide initiative to encourage locals to go see art, the largest galleries in town will keep their doors open late for Third Thursday on May 17 from 6–9 p.m. While UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and ATHICA are currently in between exhibitions, visitors can check out Alan Campbell’s “The Hidden World of Oystering” at Ciné; prints by Ali Norman and paintings by Joseph Peragine and Helen Kuykendall in “Spotlight 2018” at the Gallery at Hotel Indigo; and works by Stanley Bermudez, Tammy Cantarella, Beth Thompson, Starr Campbell, Katherine Burke, Wilma and Erin McIntosh in “Kaleidoscope” at the Classic Center. The Lyndon House Arts Center is gearing up for five new exhibitions that will open on June 7, but in the meantime, be sure to see beautiful collections of illustrations by Kristen Hyink and Eleanor Davis. 

The Georgia Museum of Art’s current exhibitions include the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition,” “A Legacy of Giving: C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry” and “Images of Awakening: Buddhist Sculpture from Afghanistan and Pakistan.” The museum will offer two events coinciding with Third Thursday: free Yoga in the Galleries led by instructors from Five Points Yoga at 6 p.m., and a Thursday Twilight Tour focusing on highlights from the permanent collection at 7 p.m. 

FRIDAY: If you don’t make it over to the Georgia Museum on Thursday, make it a point to swing by on Friday, May 18 for 90 Carlton: Spring from 5:30–8:30 p.m. Co-presented by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art and the Board of Advisors of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the quarterly reception will serve as an opening celebration for “Bloom Where You’re Planted: The Collection of Deen Day Sanders.” Dating from the 19th through the early 20th Century, the collection of American art spans from furniture and porcelain to paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Sully and John Singer Sargent.

90 Carlton: Spring features door prizes, gallery activities and an “Ask the Experts” session. The reception is free for members or a suggested donation of $5 otherwise, and attendees can RSVP by contacting 706-542-4199 or [email protected].

SATURDAY: WUGA’s creative fundraising series, Artists in Residence, will drop into the home and studio of jeweler and sculptor Noah James Saunders on Saturday, May 19 from 3–5 p.m. Visitors can see finished and in-progress projects within the unique space where the artist has spent the last 16 years discovering and refining his abilities. Well versed in shaping brass, copper and silver into jewelry, Saunders also excels at sculpting incredible three-dimensional portraits from wire that cast eye-catching shadows. He hopes to share insight into the more intimate side of the creative process, and will elaborate on how he has been taking major steps to grow his career by seeking representation at galleries in major cities across the world. 

An interview with Saunders will be broadcast over the airwaves prior to the event, and a more in-depth recording will be available afterwards at wuga.org. The event costs $10 for Friends of WUGA or $20 for non-members, and reservations can be made by contacting 706-542-9842 or [email protected].

SUNDAY: End an art-filled weekend with an artist talk and reception featuring oil painter Jeanne Whatley at the Oconee County Library on May 20 from 3–5 p.m. Currently on view through the end of the month, her paintings were selected from “Hope,” a larger series that began in 2013 while living in Abu Dhabi. Focusing on a small community of workers in the Shabiya area, her paintings originated as contemplations on the nature of hope—how it exists, how it is sustained and how it ends. Often depicted from a bird’s eye view, she paints abstracted crowds of people facing the sky as if looking to a brighter future. 

Whatley and her family settled down in Bishop in 2014 after spending many years living across the U.S., Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE. In addition to serving as the new president of the Athens Area Arts Council, she has been running Caravan Galleries, a platform showcasing works by contemporary Middle Eastern artists, since 2004.