Tracy’s First Friday Picks October 5th

There’s a long list of things to do this Friday for the monthly First Friday Art Walk.
For a complete list of participating galleries and restaurants, visit here.
Don’t forget New Raleigh’s First Friday Exhibition Map and Guide.

Here are my recommendations. If you have thick soles, this is a totally walkable/bikable evening.
Morning Times: check out the (mostly all) new paintings in David Eichenberger’s series, utopia.  All small and whimsical, they’ll charm your checkbooks right out of your pocket.  Combining natural and mechanical elements, David has created an alternate world for his robots, bugs, birds, and dinos. 
Fish Market: hmm really no idea.  but always good.  and right across the street from MTG, hard to pass up.
Artspace: If you missed this last month, you really should make a trip- specifically to the second floor gallery (Gallery 2) for Bombshells, a collection of photography by Chris Scarborough.  His slight altering of these portraits’ proportions make them really beautiful and surreal.  Also at Artspace of note: the Gallery 1 has a Time-Based Media Invitational, featuring 13 artists from across the country and the UK.  Thank Lia Newman, director of exhibitions, for both of these incredible shows.
Lump: should be interesting as always, featuring two artists from Pittsburgh- low pop painter Thad Kellstadt and time-based media artist Jesse Jamaica Mclean.
Flanders Art Gallery: Flanders’ featured artist is Katherine Brown with her new series, Paintings for a Lifetime.  “Brown’s exhibit will feature cityscapes, portraits, and scenes from her farm in New York State. During the weekend, Brown will offer Portrait Sketches on Saturday and will instruct a three hour Portrait Workshop on Sunday afternoon.“  Flanders is also kicking off their Featured Local Artist Series- an exciting 2 week rotational of emerging local artists.  This week features Constance Pappalardo’s new Black/White series.    http://www.flandersartgallery.com/Shows.cfm
Vintage21: Their first FF reception in the new location, Vintage21 is a not-to-be-missed this month.  Over 85 artists contributed work for the SparkCon artSPARK open exhibition last month, and this is their closing reception.  Work ranging in styles and sizes tile the walls in this massive display space.  For those unaware, V21 is in the old Jillian’s bldg on West St.
Rebus Works: Transient Structures by Mario Marzan.  taken from their press release, “Mario Marzan creates drawings and sculptures depicting an alternative reality, invented and inspired by the cycles of deconstruction and reconstruction produced by the hurricanes of his childhood in Puerto Rico. Marzan’s drawings and sculptures respond to this changing landscape, through a visual fiction that blurs distinctions between representation and abstraction.“  Always a good stop, this month’s opening is being catered by Posh Nosh Catering.
Collectors Gallery: this month features the prints of Noyes Capehart and paintings by Gregory Smith..Link
Visual Art Exchange: a juried exhibition of Travel Scenes.  VAE is great at showcasing a wide range of triangle artists, and I’m sure this show will be as vibrant as their others.
In addition to all of this, FM has an excellent group show on display, Marbles Children’s Museum is hosting a reception, and Brian Walsby is having a comic book release party at TirNaNog.

Tracy's work can be seen at http://www.tracy-spencer.com/