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FAIRFIELD – Fairfield’s outstanding photographers will be showcased during the April art walk on Friday, April 4.

Fairfield First Fridays Art Walk will run from 6-9 p.m. with activities throughout town. The primary hub will be the Fairfield CoLab at 101 N. Court St., where residents can view a slideshow featuring photographs from the town’s shutterbugs.

Art Walk Director Marla Brader said physical photography from Guy Harvey and Care Connet will be on display at the CoLab. The slideshow will have about 130-140 photos from Harvey and Connet as well as Ana Mora, Bodhi Boucherle, Sabrina Odessa, Maharishi Photo Club, Lou Bolster, Werner Elmker, Colin Faulkner-El and others.

Brader said there’s not necessarily a theme that the photos have to follow, she just asks that the photos are ones that have not been submitted for previous art walks.

Behner’s Funeral Home will host artwork from Irene Murphy from 6-7:30 p.m. Artworks by Luke Stenger will be on display at Stratosphere Digital, 104 N. Main St, Fairfield, just north of La Notte. Stenger invites the public to “meet the artist and enjoy some wine and cheese.”

“At a certain point (nowish), between the banality of fixing a toilet and taxes, came the desire for these now living things to be released into the wild,” he said about his artwork.

Friday night is also a great time to check on budding artists in the Fairfield and Pekin school districts. The Fairfield Art Association is hosting art from students at both schools throughout the month of April at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. Fairfield High School art teacher David Kraemer and Pekin High School/Middle School art teacher Matt Guide invite the public to attend a free opening reception for the artists from 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 4.

“These exhibits showcase artwork from various classes using a wide range of artistic mediums, including charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, clay, and ink,” stated a news release from the Fairfield Art Association.

Other art galleries around town that evening include: ICON Gallery showing Joanie McGinnis and her chromatic journey of colorful abstract paintings; Hudson Gallery inside ICON will have Tantra Art from Udaipur; Cindy’s Art Beat will be open with new artists and paintings on display; Americus Diamond will show Christopher Kufner’s original oil paintings featuring Italian and French landscapes and figurative works, plus original oil paintings by Kim Kufner, Dale Divoki and others; and The At Home Store will make Ukrainian Easter Bread and hot cross buns.

The Carnegie Historical Museum will continue its Heritage and Century Farm series by honoring the farm owned by Audry Aurelie Burns, with a discussion led by family members starting at 6 p.m. Friday at the museum, plus a display featuring the farm and family all month long.

Brader said she got the idea to feature the town’s photographers during COVID when all events moved online. That first year featured an online slideshow of photographs, and it went so well that Fairfield First Fridays made it an annual tradition every April.

“It has gotten bigger and bigger,” Brader said. “We usually get around 200 photos, and I try to use some from every person who sends one in. Some people will submit five and others will submit 50. Fairfield has a shocking number of photographers, and they all do a really great job of showing off Fairfield.”

Looking ahead to future art walks, the May art walk on May 2 will be a gallery hop, and the June art walk on June 6 will be the first outdoor art walk of the season. The outdoor season lasts from June through October.

Another fun thing to look forward to is the next series of outdoor films shown in Central Park, a collaboration between Fairfield First Fridays and Fairfield Park and Rec. Brader said this year’s lineup of films is:

June 20 - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

July 18 – The Lego Movie

Aug. 15 – Tom and Huck

Sept. 19 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Oct. 17 - Beetlejuice