The Downtown Wake Forest art scene and its monthly art stroll, Art After Hours, are experiencing some changes.
Come see them Friday night during Art After Hours from 5 to 9 p.m. sponsored by Wake Forest Downtown, which also provides the horse and carriage rides along South White Street.
Two local galleries have closed in the last month, Ginger Allen’s LEDE Studio and Mary Benejam’s Two Dog, and a new gallery, The Artists’ Loft & Gallery, has opened upstairs over the Wake Forest Coffee Company.
That new gallery will welcome visitors, Maureen Seltzer, one of the artists and an organizer, said. You can find stairs to the gallery outside the coffee company and inside.
Upstairs you will find five artists and their work spaces.
Susan Espin specializes in watercolor batiks, pastels and acrylic. Andrew Thomasson paints still lifes. He leaves the objects set up and also has a box where people can place objects that he can incorporate into later still lifes.
Deborah Young works in metal, acrylic and watercolor. Seltzer is well-known locally for her watercolor portraits and now her work in gouache. Norm Richardson specializes in photography and giclee printing of artwork by local artists and galleries.
All sales of the art work from the loft are handled through the coffee company. You can check the Facebook page for The Artists’ Loft & Galleries and see which artists are working because they check in when they arrive.
Allen has closed the sales area at her studio but will continue to work as a metalsmith/jeweler.
Benejam has moved her art studio into Mimosa, the shop next to The Lemon Tree Café, and will continue to work and sell her art from there. She will be open for Art After Hours Friday.
At The Cotton Company, there will be two exhibits. Lisa Doherty specializes in free-form knitting and Rhonda Spina produces handmade wooden crafts for the home. There will be a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. with wine and refreshments.
Sonia Kane’s oil paintings – Inspired by Light, Created with Joy – will be on display at the Sunflower Studio and Gallery at 214 East Jones, and there will be wine and refreshments.
At Next Consignment Boutique, Pam Jay will feature the Dulcimer Duo Sisters, Joan Burroughs and Vikki Ganger, and their dulcimers and other instruments that will take you into the Appalachian hills.
Stop by Wake Forest Art & Frame to see this month’s artist and chat with owner Beth Massey.
