What’s happening on the First Friday of spring

Amelia Heymann
Contributing writer

The Visual Arts Center will be offering First Friday Art Samplers, an opportunity for gallery-goers to produce art of their own. Photo by Brooke Marsh.

Like the beginning of every month, the start of April means First Friday is just around the corner.

To avoid a disastrous evening, here’s a short list of things going down around Richmond that are worth taking a break from Netflix for a few hours.

The largest event of First Friday is the 10-year anniversary for Gallery 5, located at 200 W. Marshall St. Gallery 5 will be shutting down a street for fire dancer performances by the Party Liberation Front, live music performances will be on both floors of the building, Goatocado is going to be catering and there will be an art installation by local artist Dave Watkins. For more information on the event, read the article on page eight titled “Gallery 5 turns 10.”

Ghostprint Gallery at 220 W. Broad St. will have a new show open called “Signes et Symboles,” by Catherine Brooks and Tifenn Typhon. The works by Brooks will encompass themes like loss, gender and the cycle of life through use of plants, insects and other elements found in nature. The pieces by Typhon contain images of fish and water, which were taken as inspiration from growing up in Tahiti.

For those more in the mood to watch a show rather than stroll around a gallery, the Coalition Theater at 8 W. Broad St. will be hosting “RVA Tonight with Beau Cribbs,” which they refer to as, “Richmond’s only live late night talk show.” Guests for the evening will be Zoe Romano, the first person to try to run the route of the Tour de France, and guest music from Red Light Rodeo. Tickets are currently sold out, but it’s an event to keep an eye on for next First Friday.

Sediment Gallery at 208 E. Grace St. will be reopening its doors after a short closing for the opening of its newest show, “Scatter/Structure” with art by Sarah Nance and Heather McCalla, both Fountainhead Fellows for the crafts department at VCU. Nance’s works explore “shifts between presence and non-presence,” while McCalla’s feature “unrecognizable domestic objects” to show complex feelings about the home and family. The exhibit will run until April 18.

The Elegba Folklore Society at 101 E. Broad St. will be holding events all day from 4-11:30 p.m.

Quirk Gallery will continue to host “Temper Tantrum” by Harris Johnson and “Gamut” by Sally King Benedict. Photo by Brooke Marsh

The events take a look at the history of enslaved Africans in America, and talks about their rich culture. This month’s theme for EFS’s Emancipation Day is “Self Determination.”

From March 13 to April 25, Ada gallery at 228 W. Broad St. will be showing “Naphthalin and Champagne,” by Alex Kvares. The works in the exhibit depict the artist’s representation of “the slippery status of legacy,” and contrasts the “gruesome” depictions with the bright and fun colors of the images.

If you’d rather make art than look at it all night, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond at 1812 W. Main St. will be having its First Friday Art Samplers. These workshops serve as a way for people of all art skill levels to try out a new technique or medium. Registration starts at 5 p.m. on a first come, first serve basis.

In case you were stuck inside last month, some galleries will have the same shows that you may have missed last week. Galleries that will be featuring the same art shows as last First Friday are 1708 Gallery at 319 W. Broad St., Quirk at 311 W. Broad St., and Candela Books + Gallery at 214 W. Broad St.

Whether showcasing new exhibits or old, almost all the galleries in the art district will have something to offer during the First Friday of spring.

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