First Fridays turns 28; one studio owner reflects on its beginnings
First Fridays Art Walk, the signature event in the Arts District of downtown Richmond in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, celebrates its 28th anniversary this week.
First begun in February 1997, galleries, shops, restaurants, nonprofits and more open their doors in celebration of art in the Richmond community.
Most of the galleries in the Arts District have been participating since the event's inception, including Anne Hart Chay, who owns anne’s Visual Arts studio on Broad Street.
“We had multiple attempts to get First Fridays going and to turn the event into an art walk,” Chay said. “We pooled our money and spent years in development of a brochure and website before we hired Bio Ritmo (a ten-piece salsa band from Richmond) to perform at our own expense. We shut down the street, officially launching First Fridays Art Walk, in 2001. Subsequent First Fridays we hired Jonathan Austin, other local musicians and off- duty police officers to enhance the evening as people walked from venue to venue.”
Chay, along with other gallery owners, put her time and money into monthly meetings, sat on the Board of Curated Culture and the Arts District Task Force, and created the renaissance for Richmond’s Art District that has made it so popular today.
“More than half of our (gallery owners) business is from folks out of town,” Chay said, adding that many non-Richmonders stay in hotels to visit the city for the monthly event.
Presented each month by the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) and sponsored by Altria, Venture Richmond, and the University of Richmond, First Fridays highlights the burgeoning arts scene in the city, where visitors can walk to each of the many galleries and view a variety of artists selling their creations.
The initiative has taken place during a boom in arts interest across the city. Gogobot, a travel website, recently ranked Richmond as the number one mid-sized city in the country for the arts. Along with VMFA’s rising profile as a top-notch art museum, VCU’s arts program, and the Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond is now teeming with art.
Chay's studio
anne’s Visual Art studio stands out among the other galleries on Broad Street and offers wonderful natural light to complement her collection, which includes several rooms where art, sculptures, and jewelry are exhibited. While many of the art pieces in Chay's gallery are pricey, she also offers what she calls ART2GO!, which sells less expensive art and jewelry, though she added that she “prays that the two thousand- and three-thousand-dollar pieces sell.” As a gallery owner and as a photographer herself (many of which she exhibits), Chay admitted, that, in order to stay in business, “I have to have that price range.”
Works in the large collection include art by Santa Sergio De Haven, who uses a hand-cut analog collage of found images, “Hollywood Cemetery” & “Shockoe Bottom" by Diana Urbiztondo, sculptures by Orgia "Gia" Labidi, an award winning, self-taught artist influenced by her African heritage and her reverence for the divine feminine and sacred masculine energies expressed in nature, and a number of pieces by Chris Semtner, an internationally exhibited fine artist whose paintings have entered numerous public collections, including the Virginia Historical Society and the University of Maryland.
Sumpters’ Poe-themed exhibit “Cabinet of Curiosities,” currently hanging in Chay's gallery, includes several of the Poe Museum, among other macabre Poe-esque images. Chay also has copies of Sempter’s book Haunting Poe: Edgar Allan Poe's Afterlife in Richmond and Beyond for sale.
To help get the word out about her gallery and First Fridays as a whole, Chay has created brochures and a webpage that includes the art she exhibits in her gallery. Mostly, though, she encourages everyone to come by and participate in First Fridays because it is such an important communal event in the Jackson Ward neighborhood.
Finally, to emphasize the importance of art in Richmond—and everywhere, Anne posted on her gallery’s home page: “Art improves critical thinking, encourages innovation and connects you with your community. Art enriches our lives.”
Chay's Visual Art Studio gallery is located at 208 W. Broad Street. Winter Gallery Hours: Thursdays-Saturdays 12-5PM, First Fridays 4-9PM, and Pop-Up days are posted on social media.
List of Galleries and Businesses Participating in First Fridays
1708 Gallery
1708 Gallery Satellite Gallery at Linden Row Inn
521 Biscuits & Waffles
707
9WG Studios
ADA Gallery
Altamira Film Co.
ART 180
Bar Solita
BIG SECRET
Birdie’s
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia
Black Iris
Candela Books + Gallery
Centenary United Methodist Church
Cherry
Chez Foushee
Chilalay
Circle Thrift & Art Space
CNTR
Coalition Theater
CodeVA
Common House
Cornerstone Architects
Elegba Folklore Society
Endeavor
Felicia’s Fabulous Nails
For Love of Love
fresh
Gallery at 17
Gallery at 23
Gallery at Corporate & Museum Frame
Gallery EDIT
Gallery5
Hanbury
Hilton Richmond Downtown
It’s a Man’s World
J Kogi
Jamaica House
Jefferson Loan
KTown Kitchen & Bar
Ledbury
Lemaire
Lift Coffee Shop
Little Nomad
Lou Stevens Glam Squad
Lucy’s Restaurant
Mama J’s Kitchen
Metro Sound & Music Co.
mOb + Storefront
Mod&Soul
North 1st Street Studio Gallery at Hummel Associates
Nurturing Minds
Parlor Salon
Penny’s Wine Shop
Quirk Gallery
Quirk Hotel
Rappahannock
Richmond on Broad Cafe
Richmond Performing Arts Alliance
Richmond Public Library Main Branch
Richmond Symphony
Rider Boot Shop
River City Tattoo
RTD Gallery
Rushing Blooms
Saadia’s Juicebox & Yoga Bar
Saison
Sear Burger
Solitary Confinement
Soul.eil
Tarrant’s Cafe
The Brickhouse RVA
The Brownstone
The Butterfly Brow Studio
The Gallery at UNOS
The Library of Virginia
TheatreLAB
University of Richmond Downtown
Unleashed: The Salon
Utmost Co.
Vagabond
VCU Institute for Contemporary Art
Verdalina
Virginia Repertory Theatre
Visual Art Studio
Wong Gonzalez
Wow! Antiques and Design
