It seems like we had this problem once before this year, maybe on the 4th of July. When is the First Saturday. Some people say it is in 2 days, on January 2. Others say January 9. Others say both. So to the best of my ability I am sending out a listing of the January 2 openings, which I guess are basically the Arcade galleries plus the benefit for the Contributor at Downtown Pres. I’ll followup next week with an email about the rest of the month. The galleries on 5th have sent out announcements for Jan. 9, but who knows, maybe they’ll open on Jan. 2. I don’t know about Estel—I didn’t have time to follow up with anyone, but I’ll update the listing on my blog if I hear from Cynthia. What I would say is that the gallery’s January show is a group show of gallery artists, which is normally not something that excites me, but the press release said they would have new work by two of their really good artists, Vanessa Oppenhoff and Anna Jaap. That could be a big deal. I’ll find out what they are doing by way of an opening.
As always, if you have an email list of your own, feel free to forward this.
If someone wants to get added directly to my list for the email, send me an email at dcmaddox@comcast.net. To get taken off the list, email to that effect at the same address.
Twist, Jessica C. White and Matt Christy. Drawings and prints from White, who uses images of animals to play out contemporary social and psychological concerns. She draws from images produced for fairy tales and kid’s books, which really already are about more than their surface lets on. Matt has been focusing on collages lately that have the feel of classic surrealism—not the impeccable gallery paintings of a strange still life or landscape, but the more experimental stuff from the 1920s Paris—crossed with a more contemporary interest in semiotics and language.
MIR, Carissa Ricardi. Photographs of dream-like images using an old Brownie Hawkeye camera, a 1950s precursor to instant cameras
Blend, ASK Apparel & Connect 12 Artist Collective. ASK Apparel is a clothing design and marketing enterprise from Ali Bellos and her sisters. Ali is also a member of the Connect 12 collective, which also includes some of the movers behind Blend like Ben Vitualla, Eric and Tiffany Denton, and Samantha Callahan.
Davis Art Advisory, In a Nutshell, Under a Grand. Closing reception for the gallery’s December affordable art show.
Downtown Presbyterian Church, Benefit for The Contributor. One of the challenges for homeless people is finding a way to earn a little bit of money to get themselves into housing and essentially build up the social capital—an address, decent clothes, a little bit of independence—that will allow them to change circumstances. One method that’s been developed and moved to Nashville is to create a street newspaper, which homeless men and women can sell within an organized vending program to try to earn some money. Nashville’s version is called the Contributor and has been around for a couple of years now. The newspaper serves multiple purposes—in addition to being a method for people to earn a buck, it also provides an outlet for writing by people on the streets and those working with them, and sheds light on the issues they face. Newspapers are not exactly big money earners these days, so The Contributor, like the others, is organized as a non-profit organization and relies on donations to cover production costs—you know, paper, printing, stuff like that. The Contributor is holding a benefit as Downtown Presbyterian Church’s contribution to the Art Crawl. There will be music by Mike Farris, art for sale from homeless and formerly homeless artists, astrological readings by the Contributor’s horoscope writer, Mr. Mysterio.
