It’s First Friday time again

Staff reports

The Lockhart Downtown Business Association will hold its First Friday events on Sept. 2.

Many businesses around the downtown area will remain open until 8 p.m. with some even later. Check out the Entertainment Calendar on Page 2A for live entertainment. Karen Cernoch of Fields Stable Antiques will also be serving her renown cheesecakes to customers.

Best Little Wine & Books will continue its National Women’s Quality series with its final celebratory popup featuring Chuck Charnichart of Goldee’s BBQ & Barbs.B.Q. She will be making Open Fire Lamb Chops on a Mill Scale Yakitori grill served with Old Bay House Kettle Chips. The food is from 6:30 p.m. to sellout. The event will also feature local special guest star Jill of Bogie & Squeaks Vintage with a plethora of 40s-50s era vintage. The event will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Commerce Gallery will have a trio of artists on hand.

The Open House from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be a Meet the Artists event for Kristin Moore, Tori White, and Whitney Avra from 5-8 p.m.

Moore, of Dallas, received her BA in Art from St. Edward’s University in 2013 and her MFA from Otis College of Art & Design in 2016. Her paintings can be found in collections across North America, Europe, and Asia. Aside from Commerce Gallery, she has held solo exhibitions with Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, St. Edward’s University in Austin, and Bolsky Gallery in Los Angeles. Select group exhibitions include the European Cultural Center in Venice, Italy, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, House of Novogratz in Los Angeles, modified/arts in Phoenix, and Talon Gallery in Portland.

White is an American painter based in Teton Valley, Idaho, where she recently relocated after establishing her career in Los Angeles. Her work draws from her background in storytelling as a writer and an actress. Her paintings often feature lonely characters and objects that allow the hint of a larger story but leave the viewer to wonder. The depth of oil over wood panel creates movement and emotion using clouds and shadow to create ominous energy. Each piece tells a specific story from a different character, or maybe the artist’s alter ego.

Avra, of Mount Ida, Arkansas, is a contemporary mixed-media artist working with vintage portraiture photography to explore phases and facets of feminine identity. Using acrylic paint, hand-embroidery techniques, bits of vintage ephemera, and textile nostalgia, Avra works on paper and canvas, and occasionally on antique snapshots themselves. Each piece is a process of layering, listening, and learning about the ways women give and receive, love and hold space, bond with sisters, and shed societal constraints to step into their wild power. She has solo-exhibited at Elisabet Ney Museum, been featured in Saatchi Art’s 100 Voices, 100 Artists, a Society 6 blog — Saints & Sinners: The Women of Whitney Avra — Tribeza Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, Austin CultureMap, and Spark Magazine. She is also represented by Maestri Gallery in Dallas.