5 First Friday Openings to Check Out

A section of Rae Chichilnitsky’s Queen Esther, on display at the Old City Jewish Arts Center.

The Color of Happiness @ Old City Jewish Art Center
Bright, colorful works by artists Rae Chichilnitsky and Robin Halpren-Ruder are on display in the Old City Jewish Art Center’s exhibit tied to the happy holiday of Purim, which starts the evening of March 11th this year (it’s the one where you get to dress up in costume). Friday’s opening reception is from 5-9 p.m., followed by a free Shabbat dinner.

Perceiving: Recent Photographs @ 3rd Street Gallery
Local photographer Keith Sharp explores the concept of perception in this series, experimenting with blocking the view of the subject or revisiting the same scene, but shifted. The First Friday event is from 5-9 p.m. There’s also an artist reception, on Sunday from 1-4 p.m. The exhibit will be up until April 2nd.

Animal I Become is at Stanek Gallery through April 29th. Photo from Facebook/Stanek Gallery

Animal I Become @ Stanek Gallery
For this new multimedia exhibit about how we relate to animals, curator Treacy Ziegler asks, “What happens when we make ourselves vulnerable to the needs of animals; no longer demanding them to fit our existence and serve us?” The opening reception is from 5-9 p.m. and the exhibit is up through April 29th.

Wikipedia and Women in Science @ Chemical Heritage Foundation
Start off Women’s History Month by learning about groundbreaking female scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs, with talks from Mary Mark Ockerbloom, the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s “Wikipedian in Residence,” and Carol Yaster, board president of the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery. The presentations are at 6 p.m. but you can come at 5 p.m., or stay after until 8 p.m., to check out the museum. Both museum admission and First Friday events are free.

Dan DeRosato @ DNB First
Yes, this is in a bank, but the art looks pretty cool. Dan DeRosato does “glitch art,” which he describes on his website as “generative processes with the aid of technology.” Some of his works look like bright static, while others have more of a swirled-together aspect. Friday’s reception starts at 5 p.m.

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