This Friday’s 2nd Friday Art Night downtown will be missing founding gallery River Market ArtSpace, but thanks to exhibits at restaurants and a wine bar in addition to gallery venues, there will be plenty of art to see, from petit point purses to paintings.
The art trolley will roll from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to Norton Arts Showcase, Lulav, the Copper Grill, the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Arkansas Studies Institute, Christ Episcopal Church and Crush Wine Bar.
Artists from Newton County, where Norton Arts has its conservation workshop, will be at Norton’s Little Rock outpost, 1206 S. Main St. The exhibit will give a taste of what will be on tap during the Newton County Studio Tour Sept. 18-20, including mosaic sculpture, ceramics, musical instruments and painting. Prices for the work begin under $100. Bill and Jack of the Dill Pickers will perform music appropriate to the Ozark artists show.
ASI, 401 Clinton Ave., is showing “UALR Faculty — Small Works,” a companion to the Biennial Exhibit at UALR (see below), in the atrium gallery; Christ Church, 509 Scott St., is exhibiting pen and ink drawings by Mary Shelton and pottery by Aaron McKinley; HAM, Second and Cumberland, is showing “A Whimsy of Treasures” from the collection of Jim Gatling, including his petit point purses; work by Theresa Cates is at the Copper Grill; Ellen Petroukhina is the featured artist at Lulav, and work by Elizabeth Weber is at Crush Wine Bar. The Arts Scene is taking the month off.
About that UALR exhibit: The “Art Faculty Biennial” opens Aug. 17 in Gallery I in UALR’s Fine Arts Center with work by Laurel Bakken, Winferd Bruhl, Kevin Cates, Gary Cawood, David Clemons, Tom Clifton, Brad Cushman, Stephen Driver, Jennifer Fowler, Maria Hall, Louise M. Halsey, Eric Mantle, Delita Martin, Holly Moore, David Mann, Heidi Mullins, Elizabeth Noble, Cathy Nugent, Carey Roberson, Dominique Simmons, AJ Smith, Michael Warrick and Marjorie Williams-Smith.
The work includes drawing, photography, metals, painting, ceramics, furniture design, fibers, printmaking, sculpture, graphic design, illustration and combined media.
An artists’ reception is set for 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 30 in the galleries. The show goes down Sept. 27.
UALR’s Gallery II features Jerry Phillips’ installation, “Into Thin Air.” Phillips says the germ of the installation, which addresses creativity, spontaneity and myth in a variety of materials, was an article he read about a journalist who said he found a footprint of the Yeti in the Himalayas.
Art buffs can shop for art anytime during M2 Gallery’s second annual Clothing Optional online sale, where the gallery is taking bids for work by Diana Ashley, Nathan Beatty, Stephen Boatright, Cathy Burns, Jason Gammel, William Goodman, Billy Hicks, Charles James, Lisa Krannichfeld, Amy Laser, Maxim Lipzer, Ann Laser, Ron Mynatt, Catherine Nugent and Cindy Wiseman. New work will be posted Aug. 19 at www.m2lr.com.
Another new art gallery? Yes, and it’s in downtown North Little Rock. Michelle Ketzscher has opened Ketz Gallery at 705 Main St., next door to Argenta Bead Co. The gallery features work in all media; currently showing are John Kushmaul, Dan Thornhill, Jamie Randall, Peggy Roberson, Rhonda Reeves, John Wooldridge, Greg Butler and Patricia Davis.
The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
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