First Fridays arts events

Stacy Sumpman has always been fascinated with movement.

Take, for instance, a piece the former dancer choreographed for Dance Theatre of Lynchburg’s Repertory Ensemble.

“Intersect” — which will be performed during Dance Theatre’s First Fridays reception this week — starts with a large group of dancers who then break off into smaller groups.

“It was just something that was interesting to me,” says Sumpman, who graduated from Jefferson Forest High School in 1991 and went on to study dance at William & Mary and, later, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York City.

“To work with just one or two dancers is a little scary (for me). I think it’s because I like patterns, and you can really see that with a large group of dancers.”

After living in New York for 13 years, Sumpman moved back to the area two and a half years ago and joined the Dance Theatre staff last year.

“It’s been great,” she says. “I’m really impressed with their level of focus.”

In addition to “Intersect,” the Repertory Ensemble will also perform two pieces from Artistic Director Keith Lee: “Funny Little Ballet” and “Wade in the Water, Children.”

Dance Theatre’s First Fridays reception will run from 5 to 8 p.m.

Other First Friday openings include: 

- The Academy of Fine Arts, 600 Main St. 
The Academy is hosting its Annual National Juried Photography Exhibition, which will feature the work of 28 artists from 10 states. Juror Jon-Phillip Sheridan, a Charlottesville photographer, will speak at 5:30 p.m., and cash prizes will be presented at 6.

The Academy’s satellite galleries will also open new shows: Magnolia Foods has the photographs of Sammy Allen, and the Baker’s Gallery, inside Montana Plains in Wyndhurst, the watercolors of Dana Fox Jenkins. 

- Dancing Leaf, 409 Fifth Street
Virginia native Barbara Cocks will show her acrylic and oil paintings, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

- Light Wings Gallery, 849 Belmont St.
Artists on The Loose, a Smith Mountain artist group, will show their work — everything from landscapes, portraits and abstracts using oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel and pen and ink — in September and October, with an opening reception from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

- Galaxie Modern, 1225 Main St. Suite 303
One of downtown’s newest stores, Galaxie Modern specializes in mid-century modern design and has a selection of contemporary artwork, from regional artists, on display. They’ll be staying open until 8 p.m. for First Fridays.

- The Lodge of the Fisherman, 4415 Boonsboro Road
The gallery will show the work of Terri Kendrick, who began experimenting with watercolors while studying architecture at Virginia Tech. The reception will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. 

- The Lynchburg Art Club, 1011 Rivermont Ave.
“Tri-Focus” will feature the work of Ashley Scholer, Martha Showalter and Harriet Wood, with a First Fridays reception from 5 to 8 p.m. and an opening reception from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Scholer paints places and things that act as a visual history of her life, be it a trip to Italy with her daughter, her time living in Switzerland or “really long” car trips delivering her kids to college; Wood and Showalter are friends and former teachers who work primarily with pastels, with subjects ranging from landscapes to local sites to portraits.

- The Lynchburg Museum, 901 Court St.
Clothing from the museum’s collection will be on display, with Ann Scalf as the featured speaker, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

- Oxide Pottery, 1337 Main St.
Oxide’s Big Bowl Showcase will feature a selection of new hand-built and thrown stoneware bowls, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

- Rivermont Gallery, 1204 Rivermont Ave.
The gallery will show the large-scale, pastel drawings of Eleanor Rufty and the metalwork of Joe Monk, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and a conversation with the artists event at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Rufty’s work, called “The Beach Pictures,” deals with the landscape of memory. Each work is made of two or more images, as a place might exist in various layers of time in one’s memory.

- Riverviews Artspace, 901 Jefferson St.
The Craddock-Terry Gallery’s latest, “Babes in Toyland: In Search of Humanity,” will show new work from painter Greg Jones. The often larger-than-life figures he paints are arranged in installations, hovering over the viewer in a playful, yet slightly ominous, way; most of his work comments on politics and government structure.

The Coop Gallery will also show new work, with featured artist Cindy Vener, and the rest of the building will continue the shows “From Where I Stand: An Exhibition of Art by Autistic Children” in the Jefferson Lobby Gallery and “Quilts for Kids Nepal.”

The Urban Art Bazaar will also be up and running. All of Riverviews’ events run from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

- ZEN micro spa and salon, 1301 Main St.
Riverviews' first satellite gallery will be showing the work of Pamela W. Wallace, with a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wallace uses the ancient medium of encaustic, which uses beeswax mixed with natural tree resin that is then heated to provide a layered medium for light to play through and over.