The Bloomington Gallery Walk, featuring nine participating galleries, took place July 9. The gallery walk covered a 1-mile stretch from IU Cook Center through Downtown Bloomington.
This month the event showcased By Hand Gallery’s “In Celebration of Limestone: Quarries & Carvers”, IU Cook Center’s “Darkness and Nothing More” by IU photography professor Elizabeth Claffey and Gallery B at Bloomingfoods’ “Enchanting Impressions – An Inspiring Visual Journey” by IU adjunct professor Juliana Burrell. Other exhibits included Spectrum Creative Group Gallery’s “Not too Main Street” by Kendall Reeves and Monroe Convention Center Art Gallery’s “Take Care” by Karen Holtzclaw. Pictura Gallery’s “Magic Show” by Carol Golemboski and the Venue Fine Art and Gifts’ “Beautiful Paintings” by Patricia Rhoden Bartels were also on display.
The Gallery Walk also included the Vault at Gallery Mortgage, which supports and showcases local artists, according to the Gallery Walk website.
In addition to art, the gallery walk included a pop-up market at Rainbow Bakery which offered local food, music and art by nine artists, according to their Instagram.
The Gallery Walk is usually hosted on the first Friday of each month, however the July walk was delayed due to the Fourth of July, according to the Gallery Walk website.
Martha Moore, Gallery Walk Chair and Pictura Gallery owner, said that the event is kid friendly and Pictura offers free children’s workshops and a scavenger hunt. The event is also the perfect first date or friend group outing for college students, Moore said.
“We tell college students that gallery walk is a great date night, because you can get food at the galleries or it’s a fun thing to go to as a group,” Moore said. “We think of those First Fridays as fun: to come out and see art, be with your friends, support artists, and have good conversations.”
Participants can visit the galleries every First Friday as the galleries provide new experiences to participants each month, whether that be having live entertainment or having the artists present to discuss their work.
“We really strive hard to make sure that each gallery walk has some unique new features, new exhibits that weren’t up before,” Moore said, “So while not every gallery changes their exhibit every month, I would say galleries try very hard to have a variety of entertainment.”
Pictura concluded the night by partnering with Cicada Cinema to host a free film screening of “F for Fake” by Orson Welles that ties into Golemboski’s “Magic Show '' photography collection, Moore said.
Bloomington Gallery Walk is a collaboration between galleries across downtown and the IU campus. Bloomington galleries support each other instead of compete, Spectrum Creative Group gallery owner Kendall Reeves said.
“We are right next to the By Hand Gallery and we are not competing with each other,” Reeves said. “We make it easy for people to come and see both things, we both offer different varieties of merchandise and art.”
Spectrum Creative Group’s Gallery features Reeves’ photography collection on historic architecture found in south central Indiana, according to the Gallery Walk website.
Bloomington Gallery Walk strives to support local artists in Bloomington and use First Fridays to showcase local artwork.
Gallery B at Bloomingfoods features a collection of vivid paintings on metal by IU adjunct professor and painter Juliana Burrell, who was at the gallery Friday to discuss her work, marketing and communication coordinator Rhonda Taylor said.
“The new metal print collection is very exciting because it beautifully showcases my artwork. Prints offer access to amazing artworks for new art collectors looking to graduate their collection from dorm art to a more sophisticated aesthetic,” Burrell said.
Taylor said Gallery B is currently accepting applications for future exhibits and encouraged local artists to apply.
“We strongly support our local artists and we love to support student artists. We are pushing to have more student involvement from IU and local artists,” Taylor said.
The next Bloomington Gallery walk will take place from 5-8 p.m. on Aug. 6, according to the Gallery Walk website.
