Final Friday: A Night for Art in Cary

I've written about Raleigh's monthly First Friday art gallery hop several times, most recently here.  A similar event happens here in Cary, but on the last Friday of the Month.  Known as the Final Friday Art Loop, galleries and other public or private buildings exhibiting art stay open from 6-9 PM and give you an opportunity to eat some snacks and drink some wine or (if you are a minor) punch, to view some local art, and to actually talk with the artists who created the pieces.  It is much smaller and more low key than the Raleigh event, which has some advantages--including the fact we can walk to a subset of the Art Loop from our house.  We have been going to Final Friday for years, so that my son has literally grown up with some of these artists and gallery owners.

To show everyone what they have been missing, here are some photos from last night's edition of Final Friday.

We usually start off at the Cary Gallery of Artists, which is a shop/gallery space where the participating artists hang their work and then spend a certain number of hours each month working the cash register.  We've been watching some of these artists evolve their work for years now.  It always has a nice selection of different media-painting, pastels, photography, ceramics, jewelry making, textile art, etc.--and continually draws a crowd:

Immediately next door is the newest artistic addition to Ashworth Village, a multi-faceted art display, discussion, teaching, and creation space, Chambers Art.  This space, run by the talented and incredibly friendly Lynda Chambers, was hosting a meeting of the Triangle Artists Guild.




















Next to that is the Russian Art Gallery, run by Miss Olga, who has always been so kind to my son, even when we started coming when he was so little:

Here is my son examining one of the Russian pictures:

Then we walked over to the Cary Town Complex.  There, the Page-Walker Arts and History Center is showing an exhibition of art quilts produced by the Professional Art Quilters of America-South (PAQA).  The show, entitled ARTQUILTSrepurposed, consists of some of the most gorgeous quilts ever....

and some that are not only gorgeous, but can make you rethink what it means to be an art quilt:

Local gallery receptions are such great ways to see, enjoy, and learn about art--often from the horse's mouth, as it were.  I really recommend them as an addition to your cultural arts educational classes as a way to get a better understanding of art.