Every month on the first Friday, most, if not all, of the galleries in the downtown area open up their new exhibits with really enjoyable receptions. Many people drive downtown and walk to as many of the galleries as they can with the night usually culminating in a few drinks at a local bar. For me, it’s probably one of my favorite times of any given month because it’s a great opportunity to see many of my friends as well as check out the artwork. Also happening every first Friday of the month is a downtown bike ride often hijacking at least one lane of traffic. Most are college aged or young professionals, although anyone and everyone is welcome. Usually we have a good distribution of ages. Typically we’re following our noses to the places with the free beer or wine as well as the places where our friends or colleagues have shows. The advantages are that A) you can visit many more galleries over a much broader area than you could by foot, and B) that there is no problem finding a parking place right in front of the galleries. This month was no exception, and due to the beautifully fall-tacular weather, we had a huge turnout! We had 35 riders when I took the picture above at RebusWorks.

The route we followed was from RebusWorks which had a neat political exhibit titled Pro/Con. RebusWorks is down by AntFarm right past the Boylan Bridge. They usually feature what they describe as compelling and innovative work and to their credit, it always is both compelling and innovative!

(They also have a great view!)

After RebusWorks we headed down to FM on Glenwood. FM is a clothing boutique on Glenwood South that has a very fun and urban feel to it. I always love going there because they usually have free beer and vitamin water as well as people break dancing outside. They always have really good shows – with a DJ. I never actually made it inside this past first Friday, but you should check it out for the gear and the artwork.

We left FM and made the trek up to DesignBox. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Box, it’s a very cool collaborative design think tank and gallery in the warehouse district. It’s a venerable confederation of creative firms whose services include product and graphic design, photography, architecture, landscape architecture,  marketing, and more. DesignBox had a two part show. The first was a masquerade show where local artists decorated and designed a whole lot of cool masks. The second part was a reading of Big Beard, the Raleigh Quarterly’s children’s book about Big Beard, the brother of Black Beard. Around the walls were illustrations done by artists from across the nation. You can learn more on the Raleigh Quarterly web site. DesignBox is located at 323 W. Martin Street.

One of Raleigh’s newest and hippest bars/lounges is 101. It’s on the corner of Davie and Blount streets, caddy-corner to Artspace. This was the first time I had stopped here on a first Friday.  They were hosting a cool David Eichenberger show and it was packed.

After 101 we trekked up the street to Lump. John has already covered Lump briefly, but I’ll add that Lump gets the prize for ‘Most Contemporary Gallery’ and often has far more bizarre shows than any of the other area galleries. In short, Lump rocks. This month’s opening showcased some really neat Philadelphia artists. Lump is on South Blount Street.

There’s my bike, parked right by the entrance stairs into the Fish Market.

Now, on to my favorite place – the Fish Market. This gallery is leased and operated by the College of Design, with two to three students curating it’s shows every month. This month featured a show dedicated to Obsolete Technology. The Fish Market is located on the corner of Fayetteville Street and Hargett Street.

Inside the Fish Market

Last, but not least, we ended the show at the Morning Times Gallery which is located above the Morning Times Coffee Shop on East Hargett Street. The show this month featured paintings by Pete Sack.

Inside the Morning Times

There were a lot of galleries we skipped for various reasons, but my advice to you is to go exploring one First Friday. There are plenty of people and most places have maps provided that point out where the local shows are. Hope to see you out there next month! Bring a bike!

Bike First Friday meets every First Friday at 7pm at the Belltower at NCSU. Bring lights, locks, and friends!

Contact Info:

RebusWorks
301-2 Kinsey Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 754-8452
rebusworks.us

FM Goods
603 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 828-8899
FM Goods also has a MySpace page

DesignBox
323 W. Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 821-8036
designbox.us

101 Lounge
101 Palladium Plaza
444 S. Blount Street, Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 833-8008
101lounge.com

Lump Gallery
505 S Blount St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 821-9999
lumpgallery.com

The Fish Market
133 Fayetteville Street
Raleigh, NC, 27601
the_fishgallery@hotmail.com

The Morning Times
10 E Hargett St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 836-1204
morningtimes-raleigh.com