Art ’Round Town rolls to first Friday

On the sidewalk outside Three Graces Gallery in downtown Portsmouth, a crowd gathered on Friday evening as Barbara Poole took photos of adults getting reacquainted with a hula hoop.  

Poole, a Boston artist, attempts to snap photos at the moment when people begin to overcome their self-consciousness and get into the groove. “Something magical happens,” she said, as if people are transported back to childhood. She only paints the photographs that capture this moment.

The collection is called “The Redemptive Power of the Hula Hoop,” and Poole plans to paint 100 of the miniature portraits. The backgrounds shine golden and the hula hoops sparkle with gems. A dozen of them are hanging at Three Graces in a show that opened on Sept. 4 in conjunction with Art ’Round Town, the monthly Portsmouth art walk now held on the first Friday of the month.

The gallery at 105 Market St. is currently displaying its third “Enormous Tiny Art Show,” along with Nahcotta at 110 Congress St., where its fourth “Enormous Tiny Art Show” is set up. These shows began at Nahcotta and are now planned for every September and February, filling the galleries with original and affordable art works that measure 10 square inches or smaller.

Inside Three Graces, folk music played quietly as people viewed artwork and caught up with acquaintances they see perhaps only once a month. A small terrier named Archie made his way around people’s ankles to the table in the back of the room, where there was white wine, a spread of cheeses and crackers, grapes and desserts with rainbow sprinkles. Portsmouth resident Mark Leisher said his dog is a regular at Art ’Round Town events and is known for cleaning any dropped food off the floor.

At Nahcotta, roughly 45 artists have work on display this month to form a show that’s indicative of contemporary trends. Many pieces on display include thread work, recycled materials in mixed media pieces or images of simple and sweet animals, but others venture from those popular aesthetics. While lounge music quietly played in the bright and modern gallery, visitors asked each other what they thought and which pieces they like the best.

Nahcotta owner Deb Thompson said the art walk’s scheduling change to the first Friday of the month was well received, as evidenced by the number of people that packed into the gallery. There had been concern about the new schedule competing with art events in Boston and Portland, but Thompson said the date is easier to remember for visitors and easier for galleries to plan. The walk was previously held on the second Friday of the month.

Art ’Round Town gives people more than one reason to attend an opening reception, since several galleries participate in the evening, including Kennedy Studios, the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, ellO gallery, and Piscataqua Fine Arts. Thompson said she recognizes that her gallery might not have something for everyone in every show, but hopefully one of the other galleries will. “It benefits all of us,” she said.

At the Kennedy Studios at 41 Market St., Wendy Turner’s energetic and realistic oil paintings and prints of ocean rocks are on display through the month. Teri Martin said the new schedule allows galleries to manage month-long shows.

Sue Carter, a Portsmouth resident who visited the Kennedy gallery after work on Friday, said she goes to Art ’Round Town for inspiration. She enjoys being an active part of the arts community. “I love it. I crave it,” she said.

Kennedy owner Wendy Clement said Art ’Round Town let’s people either be anonymous or introduce themselves to the artists. Either way, she said, people who tend to be intimidated by art galleries find the evening comfortable.

The New Hampshire Art Association’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery at 136 State St. opened a particularly colorful show on Friday called “Painting the Voices,” with work by Sarah Sims and Sharleene Hurst. It was less crowded at this gallery as it got later in the evening, but the artwork was loud.

The paintings by Sims are reminiscent of the psychedelic colors and patterns of the 1960s, while Hurst’s are more like the florescent and graphical art of the 1980s. Hurst even used glow-in-the-dark paint on some of her work, which was accompanied by unique sculptures featuring eyeballs. She said Art ’Round Town supports the diversity of artists in the area, and the range from traditional to cutting edge is all found within the Association. Her style is abstract surrealism, the results of “mental vacations” she takes to escape stress.

The current show at ellO Gallery and Shop at 110 State St., “impression process,” is focused on printmaking in the age of technology. The prints have an Andy Warhol feel, with repeated and borrowed images. Co-owner Byrdy DiLando said galleries benefit from being part of the Art ’Round Town organization, which meets once a month to share ideas. She said the opening was slower than usual, perhaps because few of the artists could make it.

However, people were sitting in the gallery’s fenced-in backyard after dark by the light of tiki torches. The music there was a little louder, with a retro synth-pop beat. In addition to wine, the gallery, which is dedicated to promoting emerging and young artists, served lukewarm cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.