[crowd chattering]
- Fourth Friday Gallery Nights
are an after-hour celebration of art and culture
where more than 20 galleries and art spaces
in downtown Wilmington open their doors to the public.
- [Rick] Gallery Nights afford visitors
the opportunity to see a lot of art
and to meet the artist with very little effort.
- We, singular among many of the larger cities
in North Carolina, probably have the largest concentration
of galleries and art spaces in a very tight area.
- [Rick] Just across the street from ACES
is a new, unusual, and ambitious gallery space
called Expo 216.
- Expo 216 is a hybrid of a museum and a gallery.
- [Rick] The exhibits for the year 2016 at Expo 216
all have to do with ocean plastic,
a messy and troubling issue for coastal residents
and an opportunity for artists to raise awareness
by removing and re-purposing ocean garbage.
- The ocean plastics is the next...
I think it's gonna be in 10 years,
it will be the global warming in 10 years.
- I take things I find scuba diving,
and I take things that aren't recyclable,
especially plastics that don't get recycled properly,
and I put them into my art.
I incorporated a six-pack drinking holder for the shell
so that we can show they're really harmful for turtles.
If they're not cut, they can get stuck.
- [Rick] While global awareness and activism
were on display at Expo 216,
just a few doors down,
the MC Erny Gallery at WHQR radio
was featuring differences in perspective,
two artists creating two different pieces
from one subject.
- I had an idea in my head that someday,
I would like to do a show with her
where we choose the same scene,
the same quotes, the same inspiration.
- I love her use of materials and alternative materials
from what we would typically think of
an academic artist would use, you know.
I use canvas, I'm working in acrylic oils,
and she's using...
- Scrap wood
[Kirah laughs]
the messed up paint from Lowes
[laughs] you know, you name it.
- [Kirah] It was really a fun idea,
and it's been really fun putting it together,
I think. - Yeah, yeah.
- [Rick] Most of the participating galleries
on Gallery Nights are in Wilmington's downtown district.
But one major exception is just a mile outside of downtown.
theArtWorks is a growing colony of more than 50 artists
working and showing their wares
in a 7,000-square foot building.
- Now the reason theArtWorks was developed
was to help North Carolina specifically
become an international art destination,
and we're doing everything we can
to make something sustainable way after we're gone
that will help Wilmington as a community
provide opportunities for employment
without taking jobs from other people,
and we developed an entire art village.
- So his vision is for this to be like
the streets of San Francisco or New Orleans in the 1800s.
So there's a little village with streets,
and each artist did their own exterior.
Whatever their medium is,
they designed the exterior of their studios.
- [Rick] theArtWorks is a growing hub of activity
of the arts community in Wilmington,
but it has very limited hours of availability to the public.
Fourth Friday Gallery Nights is always an exception.
In Wilmington, I'm Rick Sullivan for North Carolina Weekend.
- Fourth Friday Gallery Nights happen
every fourth Friday of the month in Wilmington
from 6 to 9:00 p.m.
For more information, visit the website
artscouncilofwilmington.org,
or call 910 343 0998.
You can also stop by the Arts Council of Wilmington office
at 221 North Front Street, Suite 101
to pick up a map and brochure.