Bonus Coverage: December First Friday openings go ‘virtual’ at Harrison Center and Circle City Industrial Complex

The city’s retreat from spreading COVID-19 cases has prompted local galleries to go back to virtual openings on Friday, Dec. 4, after several months of socially distanced First Fridays.

At the Harrison Center, Brrgundy is the theme of its annual color-themed holiday group shop, with can be seen on Facebook starting at 6 p.m. The show will feature sculpture, paintings and more from dozens of local artists. 

Also opening online is “Involution,” by Marco Querin, a collection of wool and cotton textile pieces. Also at the Harrison Center, We Are Indy Arts will present Color, Shapes, and Form, a group show opening online on First Friday.

Also, patrons can shop the Harrison Center Holiday Pop-Up Shop online starting Dec. 4. Items for sale will include locally made holiday gifts including prints, jewelry and ceramics. The Indiana Plein Aire Painters Association group show of paintings by members remains on view and for sale in the Harrison Center’s online gallery. 

The Harrison Center’s annual Holiday Window Walk is also up now for some safe, outdoor family fun.

After the virtual First Friday, all shows and the Pop-Up shop are open for in-person, socially distanced visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays beginning Dec. 7. Make an appointment online at harrisoncenter.org/buy-art

The Circle City Industrial Complex Artists will host a Virtual First Friday on the group’s Facebook page (@ccicartists) and mirrored on the Circle City Industrial Complex’s main Facebook page (@circlecityind) as part of the December First Friday art tour, on Friday, December 4th, 6-9pm. There will be no indoor, in-person First Friday for December.

Among the CCIC openings, Full Circle Nine Gallery will feature 2020: A Year Removed by Mike Meares, as part of the Virtual First Friday programming on Facebook and Instagram from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 4. The exhibit is a collection of visual tales that detail the ramblings and reconciliations of a year mostly quarantined in a new house and studio, as Meares had relocated to Indianapolis a few months before shutdown began. “I’m just some guy in a new city, in the midst of a pandemic that’s changed life as we know it,” Meares said. “A life of uncertainty taking over. These works are the result of an artist holed up, starving for something more.”

Quintana Behringer gallery will bring How Have You Been?, works by 12 artists, to its website at quintanabehringer.com to view and purchase on First Friday, Dec. 4. The gallery will be doing live walkthroughs of the CCIC’s Schwitzer Gallery via Facebook and Instagram so people can see what the pieces look like on display. The exhibition can also be seen in person through appointments 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Dec. 27. Weekend appointments are also available.

How Have You Been? will explore the themes of this past year revolving around self-awareness, isolation, longing for friends and family, body-awareness and your state of mind.

The exhibit will include works in  photography, painting, screen printing and embroidery. Featured artists will include John Brooks, Jessica Calderwood, Ruth Crowe, Kara Doak, Hale Ekinci, Levi Hadley, John Harlan Norris, Sara Olshansky, Christina Zimmer Robertson, Brandon C. Smith, Mark Sawrie and David Wischer. 

ALSO AT THE CCIC: The Indy Winter Farmers Market will continue to open during its Saturday hours, under its own guidelines, and several artists and galleries will remain open for their regular ‘retail’ hours, usually on weekends, and posted on their own websites and social media. Some studios will also be open by appointment.

ARTWORK ABOVE: Works by Michael Meares will be on display courtesy of Full Circle 9 Gallery in the Circle City Industrial Complex.