By Karynn Brown
Photos by Stephanie Paul
Feb 6, 2018
While the winter months tend to bring smaller crowds and quieter First Fridays, the art scene didn’t falter in pulling out the stops for February’s monthly community event.
First Friday is an opportunity to bring the public into Lincoln’s thriving art and music scene as galleries, venues and restaurants open their doors and host free public events on the first Friday of every month. These events are a chance to interact with and support our local artists by discussing, purchasing and sharing their works. (In case you missed it, you can find KZUM’s preview list of February’s events here.)
Live music and brand new art exhibits dotted downtown and the surrounding areas. February seemed to bring the hopeful air of the new year as it marked the opening month for many new gallery spaces and artists.
Parrish Studios alone welcomed the opening of several new spaces. Two new studios brought photography exhibits including the She+He Studio that showcased the works of Lilith Bailer. The photography-dedicated space, Six-16, made their grand opening with photos by KZUM’s own Shannon Claire and Kyle Gibson.
Gallery space III of Cups in Parrish Studios also featured dramatic works of photography. The joint exhibit of Margot Erlandson and Richard Stewart, “Brief Descriptions”, showcased their similar styles of local film photography. Erlandson’s work included a zine entitled “Giddy Up” and a photography book of shots from inside scopes, binoculars, bullet holes, and other places cameras don’t go, entitled “Glassed.”
Further along the downtown route, The Bourbon opened its doors to a new kind of event, the Big Art Bazaar. This event brought together over 20 local artists to sell their works in prints, jewelry, glass, housewares and paintings. The Bourbon’s Rye Room hosted several DJs throughout the night to complement the bazaar.
On the musical side of things, Iron Tail Gallery, at 21st & Randolph, welcomed the hometown return of folk singer-songwriter Orion Walsh. Additionally, the Zoo Bar was featured as a stop on Nashville artist Taylor Kropp’s solo tour, “Coming Up for Air.”
Across the city gallery and professional spaces opened their doors to all kinds of events and artists. Turbine Flats Project, at 20th and Y streets, hosted the Sweet on You Formal, a chance for the community to dress up and celebrate the evening in the fashion of high school dances.
Constellation Gallery, at 20th and O streets, welcomed two travelling artists from Philadelphia and Houston. The works of Rochelle Toner and Lauren Kursso featured etchings, screen prints and mixed media arts that conceptualized botany in artistic ways.
Overall, February’s First Friday events showed the Lincolnites are looking ahead to exciting new projects in 2018.
To keep up with the visual arts scene and future First Friday events, look for KZUM’s ARTbeat features online and KZUM’s A Guide to First Friday map of events at your favorite locations in March.
Karynn Brown is an editorial intern with KZUM. Stephanie Paul is a photography intern with KZUM.
