Courtesy of blurasis on Flickr.
First Thursdays are known for their low-key appeal; you don’t have to be a hard core art lover to enjoy an evening of meandering outside, nibbling on cheese and seeing some pretty (or provocative) images. In brief, the galleries in the West Wellington area will all stay open late (from 5 to 9) on the first Thursday of each month, often coordinating the opening of new exhibits to fall on or near that date. Then crowds of wannabe art critics make the tour of each gallery, sipping on wine and beer while discussing the inner meaning of an ink splatter.
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Over the last few years West Wellington has successfully branded itself Ottawa’s art district, and now hosts several of the city’s best galleries. Participants in the Wellington Art Walk include: Cube Gallery (if you haven’t seen their beautiful new location at 1285 Wellington, now’s your chance!); Gallery 3 (1281b Wellington); Exposure Gallery (1255 Wellington, upstairs from Thyme and Again… try to get there early enough to buy a snack); the Fritzi Gallery at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (1233 Wellington); the newly imported Orange Gallery (233 Armstrong); and the Patrick John Mills Gallery (286 Hinchey).
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Free guided tours of the walk are available at 7pm starting from the Fritzi Gallery.
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That Wellington West map is making me dizzy (I like to orient myself to North). Great idea – I wish some of the vacant space further east of Parkdale was put to some sort of use – art as an option.
That’s my coworker in that photo! Yay! And I love this idea. And I’m one of a number of people who feels Ottawa is ready for a Nuit Blanche–about to start a group for it on FB. This sounds like the sort of thing that would plug right in and is a great start.
A Nuit Blanche would be great. I hear the ones in Montreal are pretty cool.