15 Shows and the Opening of Art in the Heart of the City Highlight First Friday Gallery Night for the Month of July

First Friday Gallery Night kicks off at 4:30pm on Friday July 1st with the opening ceremony for Art in the Heart of the City. The celebration will take place in the Aurora St. Pavilion and will feature welcoming remarks for the nine new temporary art installations distributed throughout the downtown district as well as guided tours to each of the pieces. First Friday Gallery Night will proceed directly following the Art in the Heart Opening at 5:00pm with fifteen new exhibits including two at brand new locations.

New to the Gallery Night roster for July will be Multifaceted Minerals and the Ithaca Free Clinic. These two new additions will feature a collection of work representing life beyond the self by Fernando Llosa and “Healing Light” an adventure in projected photogram imagery by Gwendolyn Daniels respectively. Further adding to the new blood in July’s Gallery Night will be the inclusion of Gimme Coffee on West State St. The rare appearance of Gimme during Gallery Night will be in honor of their “Summer Salon” in which over 75 artists have created original works in response to a randomly assigned object. Moving closer to downtown proper on the Gallery Night tour, interested Gallery Night attendees will find the work of local artist Joshua Sperling on display in the lobby of the Kitchen Theatre located at 417 West State St.

Staying the course on State Street, interested parties will find the State of the Art Gallery and their exhibit “Encounters/Arrangements” by Diane Newton featuring drawings of landscapes and still life in pastel. Around the corner on North Cayuga Street Sarah Blodgett Photography looks to add a retro influence to July’s Gallery Night with her show “Welcome to the Polyester Palace” featuring vintage artwork from the 60’s and 70’s along with clothing and more. From the dated to the contemporary July’s Gallery Night has a little bit of everything when Benjamin Peters opens its doors to “A unique Experience in Digital Collage” by Torie Tiffany.

In addition to the multiple solo shows, July will also welcome a host of group collaborations. The CAP Artspace on the Commons will feature works from a multitude of members from the Greater Ithaca Art Trail, while the Ink Ship Printmaking Center will feature their annual member’s exhibition. Further highlighting the collaborative efforts on display in July will be the exhibit entitled “It All Starts on Your Block: Inside Unity Studio” which can be viewed at CSMA and features photography, painting and videography; each element having been created by three separate artists.

Additional shows of note for the month of July include “Underneath it All – Underwear through the ages at the History Center, “Martha’s Vineyard Visited” at the Titus Gallery, the photography of Thibault Roland at Collegetown Bagels, contemporary Japanese prints by Katsuyuki Nishijima at the Sola Gallery and the work of Alan Cameron at Oasis/Greenstar. First Friday Gallery Night is free and open to the public. All of the participating galleries are within a short walking distance of one another, and maps with information about the exhibits taking place at each gallery will be available that evening along the Ithaca Commons. For more information, visit the First Friday Gallery Night website at www.gallerynightithaca.com, or the Downtown Ithaca Alliance website at www.downtownithaca.com.