First Friday art exhibits open across Cape area this evening

The members of Integrated Counterbalance, a local abstract artist group, are hoping today will be a good day for art aficionados in Cape Girardeau.

So are the members of the Visual Arts Cooperative, the artists who show their work at Linda Bohnsack's Garden Gallery and the Southeast Missouri Regional Museum.

All these groups hope the city will be abuzz tonight with enthusiasm for the arts, as each is opening an exhibit, all with a variety of artistic expression for locals to enjoy.

The biggest show in town will be the Visual Arts Cooperative second anniversary show, opening at the galleries of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri at 32 N. Main St. today from 5 to 8 p.m. The cooperative started two years ago as a way to get some exposure for local artists, and thanks to a partnership with the arts council has grown to more than 40 members.

Works by members of the cooperative will be shown in all three arts council galleries throughout the month.

"It's going to be a big birthday party this time," said Rebecca Fulgham, director of the arts council. "This is the largest amount of work to be shown since the founding of the Visual Arts Cooperative. There is some fantastic work. Every medium you could think of, it's all very different and unique."

The showing will include works by some members who will be showing for the first time with the cooperative.

Jean A. Chapman, one of the founders of the organization, said the success of the cooperative has been overwhelming. Chapman said he thinks the cooperative has created a situation where the arts community in Southeast Missouri has become more prominent than ever before.

"I think it's a situation where it's good for the artists, it's good for the public and good for the arts council," said Chapman. "So it's a win-win situation. A lot of the ideas we have aren't good ones, but this one worked good."

All the works of cooperative members will be on sale and the show will be accompanied by a sale to benefit tsunami relief.

Balancing abstracts

A newer and smaller group of artists that hopes to provide an alternative to the cooperative will also be showing works this weekend at the H&H Building on Broadway. They are Integrated Counterbalance, which was formed to give artists practicing their craft in the abstract a way to show their pieces on their own terms.

The exhibit is called "3 Linear 2 Organic," named such because five artists -- three male and two female -- will be showing their work. The artists are Kristopher, who works in acrylics; Megan Thrower, whose pieces highlight the feminine; Charlie Kent, whose mixed media and paintings often concentrate on masculine themes; Lindsay Baker, a fiber artist; and Dennis Wilson, a printmaker.

An opening reception with the artists will be held today from 5 to 10 p.m.

The group had its first gallery show last November and received good public response, said Kristopher. After the success of that show, Integrated Counterbalance wanted to expand, so it brought in two more artists to complement the works of Kristopher, Kent and Thrower.

"We wanted to find people of equal quality and dedication to their work," said Kristopher. "We put people's finances together and their abilities and it works well."

The group meets weekly to discuss their works and find ways to improve, constantly pushing for better work and trying to create more interest in abstract, modern art locally. Their works are diverse but carry one common thread: All are abstract.

"I think we've gained respect from people in the community who like to see those things and who would often have to go elsewhere to do that," said Kristopher. "We don't restrict anyone or put any brands on them. You don't have that in other outlets. We have a huge need for this kind of work but not enough outlets."

Artistic realism

Those looking for more realism in their art can visit the Garden Gallery, located above Grace Cafe on the corner of Broadway and Pacific Street. That gallery will feature the portraits and landscapes of Jackson artist Vicki Outman and Cape Girardeau photographer Casey Ulrich, starting with an opening reception today from noon until 9 p.m.

Gallery owner Linda Bohnsack said Outman's intricately detailed landscapes will attract much of her clientele who prefer realist works.

"She does it with pastel, and it's so finely done you can see each individual stroke of the brush on each blade of grass," said Bohnsack. "She's very well-accomplished."

Ulrich has a technique of attaching photos to canvas and creating an aged look, and the subjects of her photos are antique pieces, such as furniture and children's toys.

"Her pieces are very inviting to look at," said Bohnsack.

Locals also have the chance to see some work by a famous American artist at the Southeast Missouri Regional Museum, located on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. "Prints by Richard Florsheim" opens there today.

Florsheim was an heir to the Florsheim shoe fortune who specialized in making lithographs. The works on display cover his career from the 1910s, when he started; to the 1940s, when he focused on social issues; to the more modern works of the 1960s and '70s, which explore linear patterns.

"He was concerned with social issues such as war and false prophets, and those types of concerns that were very typical of his time, the mid-1940s when the second world war was going on," said Stanley Grand, director of the museum. "In the late 1950s the work becomes more decorative and more abstract. He sort of moves away from social commentaries and becomes more delighted in light and patterns of light and cities as seen from the air."

The display was made possible through a gift from the Richard A. Florsheim Art Fund. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Artwork by another famous artist, Jim Leedy, will also be on display at the Schock Community Art Center in Scott City. The display opened in February.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

WANT TO GO?

What: Works by members of the Visual Arts Cooperative

Where: Arts Council galleries, 32 N. Main St.

When: 5 to 8 p.m. today

What: Abstract exhibit "3 Linear 2 Organic"

Where: H&H Building, 400 Broadway

When: 5 to 10 p.m. today

What: Watercolor and photography

Where: Garden Gallery, Broadway and Pacific Street, above Grace Cafe

When: Noon to 9 p.m. today

What: "Prints by Richard Florsheim"

Where: Southeast Missouri Regional Mueseum, Southeast Missouri State University campus

When: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.