June’s First Friday Art Walk will be a feast for the ears, with six venues featuring live music.
For the uninitiated, First Friday Art Walk is a monthly effort in which galleries and businesses line up arts-related events across downtown Springfield. The public is encouraged to walk downtown and pop into many in what organizers call a “self-guided tour.”
Founders Park and the Creamery Arts Center are both hot spots worth visiting. You’ll find live art and live music at Founders Park (330 East Water St.). The Queen City Trio will be playing from 6-9 p.m. while Ashley Laren and Rebekah Polly create art.
While you’re there, check out the sculpture “Connection,” by Jenn Peek. It’s this month’s featured piece for Sculpture Walk Springfield.
Meanwhile, over at the Creamery Arts Center (411 North Sherman Parkway), the Springfield Regional Arts Council is hosting its annual Member’s Showcase. The opening reception is 5-7 p.m. The Creamery Exhibition Hall will be filled with visual art from the SRAC’s members. There will also be three performances throughout the evening from tenants of the Creamer Arts Center:
- 6:05: Springfield Ballet
- 6:30: The Fools Gladly
- 6:50: Ozarks Lyric Opera.
Jazz fans will want to swing by Springfield Vineyard (634 West Wall St.) for tuba tunes from Ralph Hepola. He’ll be performing jazz, fusion, blues, ballads and instrumental rock from 6-9 p.m. There will also be free snow cones and art from Barry Linville. Josiah Mann will be performing at Kokoro Training Academy (212 West McDaniel) from 7-8 p.m. Mann is a singer-songwriter from Springfield. His debut album, “Grace,” is scheduled to be released in January 2023.
Other musical performances for June’s First Friday Art Walk include Maddi Warren at Hold Fast Brewing (235 North Kimbrough Ave.) and Tony Menown at Formed: An Artist Collective (210 East Walnut). Formed’s featured artist this month is Laura Ingalsbe, of Waxing Moon Collective. The 30-year artist studied painting and sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
There will be plenty of visual art to take in as well. The OH Gallery at Obelisk Home (214 West Phelps) features the work of husband-and-wife duo Tom and Jane Parker. Jane’s work will be on display in the Main Gallery, with Tom’s work in the Lower Level Gallery.
“I love finding fluid surprises, abrupt compromises and the lifting of boundaries in each painting or drawing,” Jane Parker said in a press release. “Sometimes it goes well and I have something. Occasionally I won’t save it as a piece, but let it be kept in mind as information for the next. I don’t have formulas or preconceptions, preferring to let the work show the way to resolution.”
Fresh Gallery (401 North Boonville) will feature the work of members Sarah Griggs and Steven Strauch. Both are photographers, while Griggs also dos mixed-media art.
“Being a photographer and mixed media artist allows me to combine two of my favorite things, photography and painting,” Griggs said. “This combination adds another dimension as it brings it to life and creates a unique piece of art.”
Several other businesses and galleries will be open for June’s First Friday Art Walk. For more information and a map of participating venues, visit their website.
This month's Art Walk will include a free shuttle, sponsored by the Ozarks Technical Community College Fine Arts and Humanities Department. Visitors can use Parking Lot O at OTC, just north of Chestnut Expressway off Sherman Parkway. Banners will also be posted at the intersection of Bob Barker Boulevard and Sherman Parkway, and at the entrance to the parking lot. The shuttle will take guests to the Creamery Arts Center and Fresh Gallery before returning to OTC.
