Arizona’s art scene heats up when the weather cools down. Chart a fall road trip through every must-see show, festival, and art experience.
Arizona has a long history as an iconic road trip destination, and the fall art season is a great time to hit the road in search of grand adventures. From urban hubs like metropolitan Phoenix to smaller creative enclaves like Sedona, the state is filled with outdoor art experiences, fresh exhibitions, and opportunities to interact with local artists.
Here’s our must-see roundup of art shows, festivals, experiences, and more—designed to fuel nearly a dozen possible road trips and inspire you to brainstorm even more places to explore. Scroll to the bottom of this Arizona art guide for a list of stops by city and date.
Northern Arizona
It’s best known for the Grand Canyon, but Northern Arizona is also home to small cities and towns where you can enjoy an eclectic mix of local history, architecture, and arts and culture. You’ll find Paolo Soleri’s archology prototype Arcosanti in Mayer, for example, and several galleries in Jerome.
Head to Prescott on October 3, 4, or 5 to explore works by seventy-seven artists on view at fifty-five private studios during the 2025 Prescott Area Artist Studio Tour.
In Sedona, the 2025 Sedona Arts Festival featuring works by more 100 artists takes place October 11 and 12, and the Sedona Plein Air Festival happens October 20 to 26. Swing through the city’s arts village Tlaquepaque for a new outdoor installation of over a dozen sculptures by John Henry Waddell, an artist who specialized in nude figures with flowing forms.
Explore two Route 66-themed exhibitions at Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff through September 27, or dig into the exhibition Shifting Topographies: Extracting the Landscape that opens on October 18. The annual Celebraciones de la Gente (Celebrations of the People) festival takes place October 25 and 26 at the Museum of Northern Arizona, where you can also see several exhibitions.
Central Arizona
Every road trip needs a few good selfies. You can surround yourself with 25,000 black paper moths and butterflies in the Black Cloud installation by Carlos Amorales at Phoenix Art Museum. Pop into The Pemberton, a creative space in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row that features murals by dozens of artists.
The fall exhibition lineup in metro Phoenix includes The Presence of Ancestors opening on October 4 at Lisa Sette Gallery, Michelangelo Lovelace: Art Saved My Life on view through February 15 at ASU Art Museum in Tempe, and the Bob Haozous retrospective that’s open through November 30 at the Heard Museum.
In Scottsdale, the fall opening celebration for Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art happens on October 10. On October 11, Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix opens Framerate: Desert Pulse, a multi-sensory exhibition created by ScanLAB Projects.
Fall festivals coming to the Valley include the Phx Zine Fest at Rocket Space Gallery in Tempe on October 25 and 26, the Grand Ave Fest in Phoenix on November 8, and Canal Convergence in Scottsdale from November 7 to 16. If you love going behind the scenes, hit the Sunnyslope Studio Tour in Phoenix on October 25 and 26.
If you’re intrigued by intersections of art and architecture, head to Cosanti in Paradise Valley, where they do iron pours most weekday mornings, and make your way to Taliesin West to explore the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Southern Arizona
Heading south, you’ll find both mainstream and alternative arts spaces in Tucson, small cities like Bisbee that have their own cultural treasures, and creative work being done along the U.S.-Mexico border.
If you make your way to Bisbee by September 28, you’ll find a fun selection of shiny objects in the paintings of Lucretia Torva, whose exhibition Reflecting Reality at the Artemizia Foundation presents an intriguing contrast to the city’s historic charms. Starting October 4, this creative space specializing in contemporary, graffiti, and street art will open its Structure & Resonance exhibition featuring works by Anne Moran and Robert Brown.
You’ll have plenty of museum and gallery options in Tucson as well, including Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands (through November 30) at Tucson Museum of Art and a trio of exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Tucson, where the opening reception for the fall art season is October 16.
Downtown Tucson is awash with murals by artists from El Mac to Fin Dac, and more galleries than you can possibly see during a single day trip. If your taste leans toward lens-based work, check out the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona and Etherton Gallery. Watch for works by Alejandro Macias when Etherton holds its opening reception for new fall exhibitions on September 27.
Yun Gee Park Gallery & Atelier is a bit off the beaten path but worth the slight detour, in part because of its charming sculpture garden. At Pidgin Palace Arts, you’ll find that elusive combo of art plus art bar.
As the fall arts season in Arizona gets underway, additional creative spaces have yet to reveal their plans. So, stay tuned to social media but don’t let that stop you from packing your bags.
All Stops
Bisbee
- Through Sept 28 — Reflecting Reality by Lucretia Torva, Artemizia Foundation
- Oct 4-Nov 16 — Structure & Resonance by Anne Moran and Robert Brown, Artemizia Foundation
Flagstaff
- Through Sept 27 — Two Route 66–themed exhibitions, Coconino Center for the Arts
- Oct 18-Dec 20 — Shifting Topographies: Extracting the Landscape, Coconino Center for the Arts
- Oct 25-26 — Celebraciones de la Gente festival, Museum of Northern Arizona (plus exhibitions)
Jerome
- Ongoing — Explore local galleries
Mayer
- Ongoing — Visit Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri’s experimental arcology
Paradise Valley
- Weekday mornings (ongoing) — Iron pours at Cosanti
Phoenix
- Ongoing — Black Cloud installation by Carlos Amorales, Phoenix Art Museum
- Ongoing — Murals at The Pemberton, Roosevelt Row
- Oct 4-Dec 27 — The Presence of Ancestors, Lisa Sette Gallery
- Through Nov 30 — Bob Haozous: A Retrospective View, Heard Museum
- Oct 11, 2025–May 10, 2026 — Framerate: Desert Pulse, Desert Botanical Garden
- Oct 25-26 — Sunnyslope Studio Tour
- Nov 8 — Grand Ave Fest
Prescott
- Oct 3-5 — Prescott Area Artist Studio Tour
Scottsdale
- Oct 10 — Fall opening celebration, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
- Nov 7-16 — Canal Convergence festival
Sedona
- Oct 11-12 — Sedona Arts Festival
Oct 20-26 — Sedona Plein Air Festival
Ongoing — Outdoor sculpture installation by John Henry Waddell at Tlaquepaque
Tempe
- Through Feb 15, 2026 — Michelangelo Lovelace: Art Saved My Life, ASU Art Museum
Oct 25-26 — Phx Zine Fest, Rocket Space Gallery
Tucson
- Sept 27 — Fall opening reception at Etherton Gallery
- Oct 16 — Fall opening celebration, MOCA Tucson
- Through Nov 30 — Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands, Tucson Museum of Art
- Ongoing
- Murals across downtown Tucson
- Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
- Yun Gee Park Gallery & Atelier
- Pidgin Palace Arts gallery and art bar
