Tired of racing all over town the first Friday of each month, only to find out that you missed some great opening because you tried to do a marathon art crawl? Still trying to see everything?
Well, obsess no more.
Here are my top three picks for First Friday in August .
Definitely stop by Sentinel Printers to check out the work of a wildly creative quartet, curated by the feverish forward mind of Mark Shunney’s Art Research Office. Enjoy a mini-feast of new abstract work by co-curator Emily Meehan (see below), game trickster Louise Leong, retro painter Patrick Appleby, and Grant Wells. 6-9pm, Sentinel Printers 912 Cedar St.,downtown Santa Cruz.
Also in the downtown region, check out Stripe‘s new show of moody, vibrant woodcut prints by virtuoso Bridget Henry (shown above). Get there at 5pm and enjoy a swill of wine from Condor’s Hope Vineyards. 107 Walnut Ave, next door to Soif.
And then zoom over to the Westside, and the R. Blitzer Gallery show of major paintings by surfer postmodernist Gary Hughes and marine metaphysician Howard Kaneg. Expect an upbeat reception starting at 5pm. Blitzer Gallery is located at 2801 Mission St (old Wrigley Plant).
