First Friday Art Walk: Artists Painting Historic Downtown
April 28, 2022
Statue “Mick the Frog Takes a Holiday” by James Douglas Cox. Sponsored by the McQueary Family located on 362 N. Booneville Ave in downtown art district. (Photo provided by Hannah Bruner).
The First Friday Art walk will take place on May 6, 2022, starting in the early evening and going until 10 PM.
On the first Friday of every month, people flock to historic downtown Springfield for the First Friday Art Walk. The cost is free and anyone is welcome to come and enjoy the art district.
Art and culture lovers get the opportunity to stroll through downtown. Music, art, sculptures, demonstrations, performances, and many local shops are showcased on this special day. Many eager artists would love to share their work with the community and explain how they create it from scratch.
The First Friday Art Walk is inspired by the Springfield Regional Arts Council and was quickly picked up by galleries, venues, and businesses in the booming downtown art district. According to 417 Magazine, “The first Art Walks took place in the late ’90s, and the Walk became a monthly event beginning in 2001.”
The First Friday Art Walk is dedicated to promoting fine art and economic sustainability in the Downtown Arts District.
The art walk has many sponsors. According to “The First Friday Art Walk,” some of these sponsors include Drury University Pool Art Center Gallery, Hotel Vandervort, Bookmarx, Sculpture Walk Springfield, Hold Fast Brewing, Missouri State Robert and Margaret Carolla Arts Exhibition Center, The Bonsai Guy, Transformation Gallery and Tattoo, Monarch Art Factory, Fresh Gallery, Formed: An Artist Collective, Obelisk Home, and Springfield Greene-County Library.
If you are an artist looking to have an exhibit at the First Friday Art Walk venue find more information in the link provided by the First Friday Art Walk website: https;//www.springfieldarts.org.
The First Friday Art Walk website stated, “If you are looking to join the art walk as a sponsor or venue, Participating businesses must be located within the Downtown Arts District, bounded by Chestnut Expressway to the north, Cherry Street to the south, National Avenue to the east and Grant Avenue to the west; and agree to abide by the terms of the First Friday Art Walk Bylaws.”
Work Cited:
“First Friday Art Walk” 417 Magazine, 2022. https://www.417mag.com
First Friday Art Walk. http://ffaw.org/