First Friday Art Walk logo

The first Friday of every month is an important date on the calendar of anyone interested in local arts. Hosted and sponsored by the Springfield Regional Arts Council (SRAC), First Friday Art Walk features many destinations for the exploration of visual and performing arts; here are some of the hotspots.

Springfield Regional Arts Council

Located at the Creamery Arts Center, the SRAC celebrated the 20th anniversary of Art Walk with special pins as gifts to those who made stops at at least four locations and received stamps. In addition to the special gift to supporters of the arts, the Creamery featured three artists as part of the 2021 Mid-Career Invitational. Andrea Ehrhardt is an internationally acclaimed mural artist, Adam Wolken and his brother Aaron are also mural painters who together “have painted over half a million square feet… both in the USA and internationally,” according to the Art Walk News and Lura Faye Cotton is a popular sculpture artist known for her unconventional style.

Drury University Pool Arts Center

This month, the Pool Arts Center features works by Todd Lowery, a Drury professor. Focused on the interplay between urban space and population, Lowery has been working toward the final product of this show for almost a decade. Upon first entrance, the huge three-meter banners grab attention at once, commanding the space with their expanse and bold depiction of the street art found in cities such as Beirut, Jerusalem and Nicosia. The banners “recall a sense of place through color and structure,” according to Lowery’s artist statement. His works communicate the emotions and sensations of a certain locale in a unique and mesmerizing way; I found it very easy to lose myself in the details of the oil and watercolor paintings, finding more and more in their depths the longer I viewed them.

MSU Brick City Gallery

Brick City Gallery, Missouri State University’s art hotspot, features artist Rae Senarighi’s exhibition entitled “Back in my Body.” The exhibition centers around the empowerment of transgender and non-binary creators and public figures. According to Senarighi’s artist statement, they “celebrate unapologetic portraiture of vibrant transgender and non-binary power,” as well as “spread joyful presentations and meditations worldwide.” The exhibition closed on March 5th, but attendees to next month’s Art Walk can look forward to “Chernobyl / COVID Poster Collection,” which features works commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster.

Sculpture Walk Springfield

Sculpture Walk features a new addition entitled “Space Cat – Felix” by Anthony Guntren, who specializes in bronzeworking. Jokingly, Guntren claims that he “takes his sculpture a little too seriously,” and hopes that the lighthearted nature of the space cat will brighten the day of those who pass it by at its location just in front of the Hotel Vandivort on the corner of Walnut St. and Robberson St. It certainly ranks as one of my favorite additions to the Sculpture Walk collection, yet I was surprised by the scale of the little space cat in comparison to many of the other staple sculptures we have come to recognize in Springfield, such as “Candy Mama Cupcake” and “Springfield Rising.” It’s small and adorable!

The next First Friday Art Walk will take place on April 2. To follow the activities of the venues and artists involved in Art Walk, find the First Friday Art Walk Facebook page and follow it on Instagram @ArtwalkSGF and on Twitter @Artwalknews.

Article by Kay Wacasey