Be Here Now: Albany First Friday

Head out on Friday evening to see all of Albany come together to celebrate the arts, when shops and galleries stay open late and crowds of cognoscenti roam the streets. Here’s the flyer (PDF). All events are free unless otherwise noted. Here’s just some of the highlights:

Uptown

• Larry Poons: Recent paintings @ The Massry Center at St. Rose
• New Practice @ The Opalka Gallery at Sage: a group show by the entire visual arts faculty.

Lark & Central

• Sarite Sanders: The Eternal Light of Egypt @ The Albany Institute of History and Art with a gallery talk by Sarite Sanders at 6pm.
• Mike Millspaugh @ The Albany Art Room
• Photography by Emily Driss and John Whipple @ National Upholstering Gallery
• Infinity and Beyond (The Science Fiction Show) @ Upstate Artists Guild
• The ever-changing Confluence Group Show @ Judy Rosen Real Estate

Delaware Avenue

• Brian Cirmo: Land @ Davey Jones Gallery
• Jesse Montrose: Photos @ Ultraviolet Cafe

Downtown

• Then & Now: Jeri Eisenburg, Mimi Czajka and Iona Park @ Albany Center Gallery. Here’s David Brickman’s review of the show.
• Winter Landscapes by Russian artist Nickolay Solomin @ Capital Repertory Theatre
• And finally, TA-DA….The grand re-opening of The Market Place Gallery with featured artists Car Nigro, Scott Michael Ackerman plus more.

Need some music with that?

• Select members of The Musiciansof Ma’alwy will perform at 6 pm @ Albany Center Gallery
• The Gospel Gala @ the Palace Theatre with the Gospel Gala 2010 Capital District Voices in Praise, the Washington Park Drum Circle, Arthur Danzy, J. Newry, Divacello, Antoinette Brown, Geri Howard, Lionel Hamilton & Company, LaKeisha Watson and more. 7pm.
• The After Party @ Red Square celebrates the life and contributions of the legendary James Dewitt Yancey (AKA J Dilla & Jay Dee) including an art exhibition, video and live musical perfomances. ($5 admission)