Art openings create community energy

The first Friday of each month is the night for art as people skip the movies and join hundreds of others at opening exhibits in the growing number of art galleries in Cape Girardeau and surrounding cities. They are trading in their popcorn for cheese and crackers as they muse over the newly unveiled photographs, paintings, sculptures and other art forms.

"It becomes a real social event," said Patricia Reagan, art professor at Southeast Missouri University. "People travel to different galleries, and clusters of people meet to go out for dinner."

Rebecca Fulgham, executive director for the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts agreed, saying "it's almost a party atmosphere. People come to see the art and their friends."

The Arts Council has been offering the First Friday receptions every month for more than 30 years, revealing artwork from both local and out of state artists. But recently, the receptions have grown larger.

Kenn Stilson, left, talked with Ed Buis in the Jean A. Chapman Gallery of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri as patrons gathered for the First Friday reception in September 2004, including Amy Surman, seated right.

Fulgham accredits this recent boom of community interest in the gallery to its move two years ago onto Main Street.

"It has to do with the energy that's going on downtown right now. There's a better awareness." Fulgham said. "We noticed immediately that since we have moved -- it could be that there is more space and people feel comfortable -- people stay longer."

Fulgham also has noticed that people are more likely to come out when there is more than one gallery opening in a night. In August, there were 400 visitors on opening night.

"The more going on, the better number of attendees," she said.

The current exhibits at the gallery include work by Tirell Grimsley, which celebrates Black History Month and sculptures by a California metal artist.

Although the Arts Council is the only gallery in the area which holds regular First Friday receptions, the Schock Community Art Center in Scott City and the Garden Gallery on Broadway often hold openings on the same night.

The Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff holds four art openings a semester in the Tinnin Fine Arts Center. The openings include a lecture by the displayed artist, and art students and community members alike attend.

"We want to be able to provide our community with cultural events that they might not get otherwise," said Teresa Johnson, director of marketing and public relations for the college.

On Feb. 25, the college will reveal an exhibit by David Kromm on the architecture of the Mississippi River Valley.

The Sikeston Depot Historical & Cultural Center receives funding from from state agency the Missouri Art Council for book lectures, exhibits and art workshops. The Depot curator Delilah Tayloe hopes to get the word out about new exhibits through the grapevine of visitors and other galleries.

"We are isolated by invisible boundaries of the county," Tayloe said. "We are just trying to let the hill people know what the prairie people are doing."

In order to increase the Depot's visitors, Tayloe promotes the Depot as an entertainment alternative. If New Year's Day is any indication, the tactic could prove fruitful. On a day when many stores closed, Tayloe opened her doors and was pleasantly surprised at the number of visitors.

"Heck, we had 70 people, folks who wanted to do something else besides watch TV," she said.

At the Depot this month, photographs by Bulgarian-born Victor Kantchev will be introduced, as well as "Women's Work -- From Scratch," an exhibit exploring how generations of American women have fed and preserved their families.

Reagan, the former University Museum director, remembers trying to organize an art community 15 years ago that would feature galleries collectively hold openings. She said she is pleased with the scene now, although she would like to see more of the galleries hold First Friday receptions.

"We all are becoming of the same mind and it's really taken off the ground," Reagan said.