Fairfield First Fridays focuses on art, local galleries

The Fairfield First Fridays event, 6-9 p.m. Friday, is about wandering through the galleries and stores on the square enjoying the talented works of art on display.

Start the evening by picking up a passport at any of the participating art venues. Visit the locations on the passport and each venue will stamp the passport with a unique stamp or sticker assigned to them. Passport locations are: Revelations, Art FiftyTwo, Fairfield CoLab, Crest Jewel, Americus Diamond, Fairfield Art Association, Hendersons/Cindys Art Beat and ICON. Return the completed passport to ICON Gallery to be entered into a drawing, that will be held at 9:30 p.m. The two winners do not need to be present. The winners will be able to choose a work of art valued at $300 offered by local artists Cindy Ballou, Suanna Breed, Diane Dallner, Kartika Damon, Aylya Dannemann, Terrence Kennedy, David Kupferman, Pam Lander, Susan Marcus, Joanie McGinnis, Irene Murphy, David Pattison, John Preston, Danielle Shier, Cris Soth, Marty Sperry, Wendy Stegall, Bill Teeple, Greg Thatcher, and Bonita Versh. The art will be on view all evening at ICON.

In addition to having the drawing for the two pieces of art, there also will be drawings for gift cards from various local businesses.

Many galleries, shop and restaurants open Friday evening on and near the square.

' Americus Gallery will feature Christopher Kufner's new show called 'The Muse” consisting of 18 paintings from his private collection. Several of these paintings are new and have not been displayed outside of the artist's private residence. The gallery also will have a new show of recent paintings by artist Jim Weidle. This is a passport location.

' Art FiftyTwo's exhibit is 'Line: Drawings by Iowa Artists.” This is a passport location.

' Bountiful Bakery will display Luke Stenger's photography.

' Fairfield CoLab will feature local artist Hannah Graber showing her Fluid Art exhibit, with new additions. This is a passport location.

' Crest Jewel will feature paintings by David Kupferman and Terrence Kennedy plus five original paintings by several Vedic artists. This is a passport location.

' Fairfield Art Association is opening of a new painting exhibit by two award-winning artists from Des Moines. Leslie Leavenworth will show her oil paintings, and Jan Vander Linden will show her watercolors in the Main Gallery at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. The artists, who are friends, will be present for an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. and will give a gallery talk together at 6:30 p.m. This is a passport location.

' Henderson's/Cindy's Art Beat and Square One Arts will be open. Henderson's Gallery continues the 'Animal” exhibit with paintings by Dextrina Neal and a display of etchings and prints from the Stephen Whittle collection. Square One Arts will be showing some new items, artwork and gifts. This is a passport location.

' ICON Gallery will have the significant exhibition 'Anonymous Shiva Linga Paintings: The Hudson Collection,” a selection of Tantric images made by anonymous painters from Rajasthan, India. This exhibition has been made possible by the donation of the Hudson Collection to ICON's permanent collection by Patricia Hudson, James Hudson, and Thomas Hudson. The 67 paintings will be on view through May 25. This is a passport location.

' Revelations will have Stuart McCall Libby, Oils on Paper / Photographs and music with Hannelore Stimson, cello and keyboard. This is a passport location.

' The Local Fairfield will have Paul Morehead works on display. This collection showcases artwork originally created for an event on National Water Day. All pieces were by Morehead with the purpose of focusing attention on how children interact with water and the beauty within both aspects.

For more information about Fairfield First Fridays, contact Marla Brader at 233-8883 or fairfieldartwalk@gmail.com.