Richmond’s bustling arts scene continues to develop and flourish with amazing painters, sculptors, musicians, designers, and artists of all kinds, but once a month the city offers us a really great treat with RVA First Fridays.
Richmond’s bustling arts scene continues to develop and flourish with amazing painters, sculptors, musicians, designers, and artists of all kinds, but once a month the city offers us a really great treat with RVA First Fridays.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, than you know the first friday of each month, RVA’s arts districts hosts an art walk on Broad Street from Laurel Street to 7th, and from Franklin to Clay streets featuring cool events at galleries, shops, restaurants and other spots in Richmond’s Arts District.
And while there are so many wonderful artists, business owners, entrepreneurs and cool events that are bringing something new and unique to the city, RVA Mag has managed to narrow it down to a few of our top favorites that you should check out tonight. Read on below for a of our picks for First Fridays for April:
11th anniversary party at Gallery5
Studio 23 and Gallery5 join forces this Friday to celebrate Gallery5’s 11th anniversary! This month’s exhibition will feature an eclectic selection of artists curated by members of Studio 23.
Musical Performances from: Brother Rutherford, a Light Sleeper, Antiphon, and Ben Shepherd. There will also be a few vendors on hand.
“I use First Fridays as a platform for bands that starting off that normally wouldn’t get the exposure,” said Nick Crider, executive director of Gallery5. “Studio 23 is going to be screen printing and we’re going to have a member drive and we’re doing all the prints upstairs, most of them will be for sale, benefiting Studio 23 and Gallery5.”
Gallery5 is also shutting down the street so Party Liberation Front can bring the noise and the craziness. Expect fire performances, circus acts, bellydancing and Djs. Doors open at 6 pm. 22 W. Marshall St.
Studio 23 Trunk Show at Quirk Gallery
In addition to their show at Gallery5 to celebrate its 11th anniversary, Studio 23 will also host a trunk show at Quirk Gallery tonight. The show will feature handmade pieces by Studio Two Three’s collective of artists as well as original works from Ashley Hawkins, Alyssa Salomon, Megan Nolde, Kat Lyons, and Cody LandrumPop. Go and meet the artists, check out the work available for sale, and chat with representatives from S23 to find out what resources, classes, studio space, and other opportunities are available at one of Richmond’s favorite print shop.
Mod&Soul fashion boutique opening on West Broad
A special one that’s not on the RVA First Friday list, but is definitely worth a mention! Women’s fashion boutique Mod&Soul will open on West Broad Street on Friday. Jasmina Zulic has been running her online boutique selling her bohemian chic/contemporary collection of young women’s clothes and accessories for the last year and a half and is finally opening up her own shop. Stop in and snag some of her gorgeous pieces. You can check out more on her collection and about her in our interview with Zulic here. Mod&Soul is located at 323 W. Broad St., near Quirk Gallery.
The Idiot” at Black Iris Gallery
Black Iris Gallery will a reception for “The Idiot,” a new work by David Moré. Moré will be joined by drummer John Niekrasz and together will activate the gallery through sound and play. The evening of experimental sounds and textures continues with a double bill of Retribution Body and Gardener. 8:30 pm.
“New Year” at 1708 Gallery
Adam Shecter’s “New Year” continues this week at 1708 Gallery. The New York artist’s animated video installation is a utopian futuristic sci-fi story of two men in a relationship living in a world with robots, rockets and zeppelins. You can read up on Shecter’s exhibit in our interview with him here.
The Authentic Death of Vincent Van Gogh” at Ada Gallery
Vincent Van Gogh died early on the morning of July 29th, 1890 of a gunshot wound to his abdomen. While no one was much concerned about how he died at the time, 40 years later, after the artist begin to find success, Irvin Stone published a fictionalized biography of the artist, “Lust for Life,” which established that the gunshot had been suicide. That assumption was not challenged until 2011, when, in researching a new biography of Van Gogh, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith were the first to raise serious questions about this reading of the artist’s death.
Artist and professor emeritus of art at VCU Bernard Martin has memorialized the event in a series of sequential paintings, “The Authentic Death of Vincent Van Gogh,” on display now at Ada Gallery.
VisArts Sample Classes
Interested in trying out a class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond before comitting? Tonight the organization is letting you come by and sign up for their First Fridays Art Samplers. The workshops last an hour and a half and range from $5 to $20. Classes include printmaking, book making, clay hand building, fused glass, letterpress, Raku and wheel throwing.
The art walk starts today from 5 to 9 pm. Check out the full lineup here.
