First Friday: Ticket to the arts

Here’s what December’s First Fridays has in store:

The Academy of Fine Arts, 600 Main St.
The Academy Gallery and the Up Front Gallery will show the oil paintings of Nancy Bass and Luis Lozano, respectively, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.
It will also host a Cash & Carry Sale of jewelry, pottery, paintings, note cards and ornaments through Dec. 20, and artist Claudia Von Koba will be there doing pastel portraits on select Saturdays. Call (434) 528-3256, ext. 127, for more information.

Artifacts, 4327 Boonsboro Road
The gallery will display handcrafted Christmas ornaments with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

Avenue Arts Studio Gallery, 1206 Rivermont Ave.
The Third Annual Festive Fine Art Show — which features ceramics, paper mache masks, wildlife watercolors, abstracts and landscapes, among others — opens with receptions from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Dancing Leaf Gallery, 409 Fifth St.
Tidewater artist Robbie Garrity’s fine-line architectural and wildlife drawings will be on display during Dancing Leaf’s 2nd Annual Holiday Christmas Open House, set to run from 5 to 9 p.m.

The Firehouse Gallery, 1210 Rivermont Ave.
The work of Victor Langley Wood, who photographed Lynchburg and Amherst county from the early 1900s until his death in 1955, will be shown, with a reception is from 5 to 8 p.m.

Light Wings Gallery, 849 Belmont St.
The gallery will continue to show the work of Willie Green, an Appomattox artist who works in a large format, emphasizing bright, bold colors and shapes, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.
For more information, call the gallery at (434) 845-6719.

The Lodge of the Fisherman, 4415 Boonsboro Road
The contemporary oil paintings of Sumer Hogan and the hand-carved, adorned gourds and jewelry of Lynn Salvaggio will be featured, with a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The Lynchburg Art Club, 1011 Rivermont Ave.
The club’s annual Christmas Show and Sale will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, with a First Fridays reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Crafts, baked goods and homemade vegetable soup will also be for sale. All of the work comes from art club members and will be $99 or less. The show is a fundraiser for the club, so it gets a percentage of all sales.

Michael Twery, 13th and Court streets
Local artist Michael Twery will host another open studio from 6 to 8 p.m., showcasing some of his recent works, as well as pieces from the collection of his late father, Elliott Twery.

Oxide Pottery, 1337 Main St.
The newest addition to the First Fridays line-up will host a reception from 6 to 9 p.m., featuring new one-of-a-kind pieces of pottery and jewelry.

Rivermont Gallery, 1204 Rivermont Ave.
The oil paintings of local artists Lucia Coles and David Eakin, as well as Glen Allen resident Susan Oknefski, will be on display. Coles does still life, Eakin landscapes and Oknefski a combination of the two that owner John Morgan describes as “magic realism.”
The opening reception is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m., with an artists’ talk at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Riverviews Artspace, 901 Jefferson St.
Riverviews’ first-ever Regional Juried Art Show is still up in the Craddock-Terry Gallery. First place went to Charlottesville’s Tamara Harrison-Kirschnick for her nature based oil paintings, second place to Chatham’s Cameron Ayres for his video installation, and third place to local artist julio uchimura for his found objects sculpture.
The Coop Gallery will also open its latest, “Lynchburg!,” with featured artist Krista Morrow Boothby, who creates whimsical masks, and 15 locals will sell holiday-related items and artwork at the monthly Urban Art Bazaar downstairs.
All events will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Thomas A. Johnson Furniture Company/James River Furnishings
The company has just opened a gallery space, James River Furnishings Gallery by Thomas Johnson, in the Parlor Lofts on Main Street, where they’ll display new items in their collection at 5:30 p.m. Loft tours will also be an available.