In anticipation of an action-packed weekend, here’s a few not-to-be-missed opportunities to engage with some of Detroit’s most exciting art venues.

First, you can whet your desire for opening night excitement at N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Arts (a Knight Arts grantee), where three new shows are being celebrated from 6-9 p.m. Herbert Gentry and his Contemporaries will be on display in the main gallery through January 3rd of the new year, flanked by Adnan Charara’s “Elements of Whimsy,” and a group show, “Women Printmakers and Their Mentors,” featuring Detroit printmakers of note, including Lynne Avadenka.

The opening night line-up for N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Arts.

Next, gear up for breakfast of champions over at Live Coal Gallery, where the family-friendly Breakfast with Mr. Louie features story time, live music and entertainment by Mr. Louie (aka Ming the Magician). Live Coal is also hosting Market Day every Friday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., where you can get your hands on locally-made soaps, fresh-cut flowers, CAYRwear accessories (handmade with a lot of heart), and gorgeous desserts. All the makings of an artisanal weekend!

The ladies behind Fresh Cut Detroit. Photo courtesy of the FCD

A wide array of fine Motor City Soap Company offerings. Photo courtesy of MSSC

Finally, be sure to save some energy for Saffell Gardner’s gallery tour and artist talk about some of the works in the current survey of his 50-year career at 9338 Jos Campau. In the words of curator Steve Panton:

Over a career spanning five decades, Saffell Gardner has created a large body of work that combines a consistent and highly personal symbolic vocabulary with a relentless desire to experiment through new materials and techniques. Working largely within the tradition belated recognized as Afro-Futurism, and in many ways inheriting the legacy of his father Pleze Gardner, a self-taught metaphysician, Gardner uses his practice to imagine and explore the past, present and future of the African diaspora in America. Saffell Gardner poses next to “Lost Kings,” a reflection on the Middle Passage and slave trade.

If that’s not enough for you, worry not! The 2014 Detroit Design Festival is just around the corner, with a kickoff party to take place from 6-10 p.m. on September 23, and more and a full schedule of happenings to satisfy even the most intense appetite for art. Fill your down-time with a close read of the schedule, so you don’t miss a single thing!

N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art: 52 E. Forest Ave., Detroit; 313-831-8700; nnamdicenter.org Live Coal Gallery: 5029 Trumbull St., Detroit; 313-402-5274; livecoalgallery.com 9338 Campau: 9338 Jos. Campau, Hamtramck; [email protected]; 9338campau.com/index.html