By Anna Marden, News Staff

Squiggled lines, textured abstract shapes of candy apple green and other bold colors paint the canvases hanging on the walls at Espresso Royale Caffe (ERC).’

The Gainsborough Street coffee shop is one of the many exhibition events available to the public for free in the Boston area, ranging from the SOWA Artist Guild’s open studios to a bike shop in Somerville.

ERC employee Ryan Fleming, a junior graphic design and multimedia major, said the cafe features a new local artist each month.

‘Normally [the artists] are students; we try to support the local student community. The artists bring in samples and if they’re appropriate for the atmosphere of the store we do it,’ Fleming said.

The ERC gallery usually displays just one artist at a time, but when the artists don’t have enough paintings to fill the store, two can be featured at once, Fleming said.

For a much larger selection of art available for free viewing, the SOWA Artists Guild holds a monthly event called First Fridays. ‘ Stephen Silver, founder of the guild, said 40 to 60 artists will open their studios to the public at 450 Harrison Ave.

‘People walk through the building, meet artists and see a lot of diverse art. It’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of people and lots of places to go,’ Silver said.

The next First Friday event is on Oct. 2 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Another series of free art events Silver suggested is the Boston Open Studios, Sept. 19 and 20 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. when all the South End studios will be open to the public.

‘Every weekend, different sections of the city will [hold open studios],’ said Silver. The events run through the first weekend of December, he said.

More free art events will run throughout the school year at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Sonia Targontsidis, marketing and communications associate at the college, said it is holding many exhibitions this semester by both students and visiting artists.’

‘A lot of people don’t know that the exhibitions are free and open to the public,’ Targontsidis said.

‘ Targontsidis said they will hold ‘a bunch of student shows that change every few weeks. There are a lot of galleries peppered throughout the school.”

This semester there are two main exhibitions by visiting artists, Targontsidis said ‘- a fashion show by internationally renowned designer Mary McFadden and a photography exhibit showcasing the work by Alec Soth.

In an e-mail, Targontsidis shared the details of this semester’s visiting artists’ exhibitions. Soth’s photo show, Dog Days, Bogot’aacute;, will be on display at the Stephen D. Paine Gallery ‘ at 621 Huntington Ave. through Nov. 28. Soth will hold a lecture on Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.

McFadden’s exhibition, called Goddesses, will run Sept. 22 to Dec. 5 at the Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, also at 621 Huntington Ave. A walkthrough with McFadden takes place on Oct. 1 at 5 p.m.

More details about McFadden’s and Soth’s shows, as well as a full list of exhibitions and visiting artists are available online at massart.edu/calendar.

At ERC, Fleming recommended the Piano Factory ‘- a live-in artists’ space including a gallery at 791 Tremont St.’

According to mysouthend.com, the Piano Factory will be participating in the South End Open Studios featuring the residents’ art, as well as holding an event on Sept. 26 featuring the Rainbow Tribe dance company.

Fleming also mentioned two retail stores that double as small galleries, similarly to ERC ‘- Karmaloop on Newbury Street, and Open Bicycle in Somerville.’

Joshua Kampa, owner of Open Bicycle, said they have a separate room for the art, which is called the Chorus Gallery.’

The Chorus Gallery rotates artists monthly, with the next gallery opening on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. featuring artist Julian Guzman.

Open Bicycle hosts gallery opening events just like any regular non-bicycle shop gallery, Kampa said. People can meet the artist and ask questions, eat food and listen to music, sometimes they even have a DJ.’

Kampa said they decided to open the gallery because they had extra space they didn’t know what to do with, they liked the idea of a gallery. He said it’s nice to provide a free space to view local art, and they enjoy the community response to it.’

”Art for free’ is essentially a tautology,’ Kampa said in a follow-up e-mail interview. ‘What do we get out of having a free gallery? Cash-wise, we get nothing, and in many regards, that’s the whole point.’