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.

An Artsy Weekend

We didn't do a lot of welcoming summer last weekend over Memorial Day, because we were so focused on finishing up our last projects, creating our electronic portfolio, and preparing for our Student Showcase. But by this weekend, we were ready to embrace summer with a passion.  But instead of the typical pool and BBQ celebration, we greeted the new season by taking advantage of some of the many free arts activities offered in the Triangle region over the summer.

Friday night, we visited First Friday among the downtown Raleigh galleries again.

As usual, our focus was my friend Donna Belt's studio, SpiritWorks.  This month, Donna has been inspired to create some wonderful paintings of angels and Mary Magdalene.

Angel painting by Donna Belt

Mary Magdalene painting by Donna Belt

We made several other wonderful discoveries at the Carter Building, home to about 80 different artists.  We were inspired by the uplifting collage cards by Debbie Crawford of Art&Soul.  And we found some beautiful drawings of one of my son's obscure favorites--cephalopods--by a terrific artist named Edward Richards....who we found out was homeschooled as a child!

This time, however, we even got really adventurous and took the FREE R line bus loop in downtown Raleigh to Artspace, another epicenter for Raleigh artists.  It was a beautiful night, and it just great for both the children and the adults to see and discuss contemporary art, not only among ourselves, but with the artists themselves.

Tonight we got to experience a different artistic format, namely music.  There is a local band called Milagro Saints that includes fathers from two of our homeschooling friends.  So tonight we went with the family of the bass player, Steve Samosky, to a FREE outdoor concert at Fletcher Park in Raleigh as part of the Raleigh Parks & Rec's 2011 Sunday in the Park concert series.   The band is FANTASTIC, the venue is lovely and not very crowded, with lots of places for the tweens or teens to hang out or play around in a safe area but away from their not-so-cool parental units.  We (but mostly my friend Sara) brought lots of delicious food to share and the cool front that came in with a threatened 50% chance of thunderstorms brought cooler weather and light breezes, but no rain.  So, really, we couldn't have had a nicer night.

If you live in the Triangle area, there are so many opportunities to see our local artists over the summer, many times for free.  It may be a little warm, and it may take a little effort, but we have so many talented artists that it is really worth your while to take advantage of these sorts of summer showcases.