The First Friday Gallery Walk will take place on Friday, October 5. From 5 to 8pm, artists and art patrons can meet in the downtown entertainment and arts district in Bloomington (BEAD).
Local galleries will open their doors for evening entertainment. Many will feature new exhibits from local and national artists. WFIU previews the downtown exhibits so you can be sure not to miss any of Friday's events.
Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center
122 South Walnut Street
The Waldron Arts Center features the work from multiple artists using different mediums. Contemporary textile artist Sandy Hill's work ‘Ab Fab-Extreme Textiles' will be on display. Hill's work is praised for it's fluidity, flourish, and extreme use of color. The work of local painter Tom Rhea is also on display. His work, titled ‘Street View-Bloomington Scenes' captures familiar scenes and architecture from the Bloomington area and IU campus. These high-detail watercolors will interest Bloomington natives.
The Venue Fine Arts & Gifts
114 South Grant Street
This near-Kirkwood gallery will be featuring homemade food and paintings from Indianapolis artist Lydia Burris. Her work encases subdued, amorphous portraiture. The ethereal and surreal paintings coincide with the coming Halloween season and festivities. The Venue will also have a selection of seasonal arts and crafts for sale.
Gallery 406
116 West 6th street
This gallery is located directly north of the courthouse building on the downtown square. The art on display at Gallery 406 is a ‘Season Sampler' for their 2012 year. The best artwork from 2012 is on display and includes photography from Paul Lightfoot, James Haverstock, and Kendal Reeves. Photographer James Haverstock is a Bloomington native, and retired police detective for the Bloomington Police Department. His work captures high-resolution freeze frames of agriculture from across the United States.
El Norteño
206 North Walnut Street
This restaurant specializes Latin American culture and cuisine. The upstairs venue originally hosted a Latin American market. The space has recently been converted into a gallery. On October 5, El Norteno will showcase photography from Yelena Yahontova, a Bloomington resident who hails from Belarus. Yahontova's work collects simple images of agricultural goods, food staples, and plant still life.
Pictura Gallery
122 West 6th Street
This gallery exclusively features photography from national and local artists. Pictura is hosting three special exhibits for October's Gallery Walk. An exhibit from Jeff Rich titled ‘Watershed', presents striking color landscapes of land mass and bodies of water. Daniel Kukla's work ‘Captive Landscapes' includes photographs of animal enclosures at 12 zoos from across the US and Europe. October 5 is also the opening reception for the collaborative exhibit ‘Cuba Libre'. This collection of photographs features artists Tyagan Miller and David Moore. The evening will also include a guest lecture from the Dean of the School of Education at IU, Dr. Gerardo Gonzales at 7:00pm.
Blue Studio Gallery
116 ½ South College Avenue
Blue Studio Gallery is a recent addition to the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District. This new and adaptive space will be used to present two interactive art displays from digital artist Dale Gardner. Motorists passing near College Avenue and 4th Street can see the public video art installation, ‘Stop Light Theater'. Short movie clips will be synchronized with traffic signals at the intersection. Upstairs in the gallery, Gardener's ‘Modern Surrealist Art Generator' will be operating. This piece is an interactive video installation that creates real-time generative art from the colors and motions of participants.