Shonna Greenwell , director of Rebus Works art gallery, said she enjoyed her gallery’s October gallery so much, she decided to extend into November to promote it again for First Friday.
“We’re continuing Reclaimed, since we didn’t have too much traffic over to the gallery during October’s First Friday,” Greenwell said.
According to Greenwell , Reclaimed is collection of work by artists Boris Bally and Bryant Holsenbeck that reflect nature’s reclaiming of the environment.
“Whether these pieces are just for design or artistic applications, they communicate this message of displacement from the invasion of humans into nature,” Greenwell said.
Bally’s work includes recycled materials, like traffic signs, old street signs, chairs and kitchen platters. Holsenbeck specializes in making sculptors of animals made out of old plastic bags and frayed cloths and fibers.
The collection of galleries participating in First Friday offers a variety of options for the thousands of people who storm the streets of Raleigh.
When Ryan Miller, owner of Amplified Art, started his gallery last year, he was looking to serve a niche art audience for screen-printing and music art.
“We specialize in gig posters and album artwork,” Miller said. “Our focus is to break down the barriers between musical and visual art in a way for them to complement each other.”
Miller’s newest exhibition will kick off Friday to display the work of artist Matt Pfahlert , the designer of concert posters of bands like The Black Keys, Wilco , The Decemberists , Galactic, Band of Horses and Mike Gordon.
According to Miller, Pfahlert’s designs iterate Amplified Art’s message of combining music and visual art and the exhibition, the Silent P will go on until Dec. 1.
Artspace gallery, located down the street from Amplified Art in the city market district, will feature the closing of artist Tom Stanley’s Red and White and Black exhibit. According to Lia Newman, the director of programs and exhibitions, Stanley’s abstract work includes nine 6-by-6 feet abstract paintings, exclusively made with red, white and black colors.
Artspace will also host a silent auction of partners’ work and the money raise will benefit the gallery, according to Newman.
Newman said she is expecting a large crowd of 1,500 to stop by the gallery Friday.
“Within four hours we get thousands of people into the studio space,” Newman said. “It’s always busy in the fall.”
First Friday is built off the concept of celebrating local art, according to Marjorie Hodges, partner of Flanders gallery, a studio in the warehouse district.
Flanders will present the work of Woodstock photographer Burk Uzzle , a native of North Carolina who returned home to retire in Wilson.
“We are doing 20 photos he took for the Martin Luther King Jr . funeral,” Hodges said. “They are some of the most powerful and poignant images.”
Flanders gallery will also feature a collection of photographs Uzzle took from burned houses in an exhibition called Burn Series.
“He went to old, burned down buildings and collected the artifacts to photograph,” Hodges said. “His work is really creative and I recommend checking out Burn Series.”
Flanders back gallery includes the work of J. Lucen Scott, a native of North Carolina from a tobacco farm near Southern Pines.
Scott’s gallery will present his work on themes he calls “The Beautiful South,” “Being Considered,” “Sex and Death” and “Landscapes.”
Galleries are expecting many to come to the events Friday evening. However, parking downtown is limited and many gallery-goers choose to ride their bikes through the city.
The First Friday bike tour meets 7 p.m . at the Bell Tower. Make sure to bring a raincoat; there are predictions of showers from NOAA.
