Last month we told you it was your last chance this season to enjoy an outdoor art walk on the square for First Thursday. We didn’t, however, say it was your last chance to enjoy an art walk at all during First Thurday.

The Fayetteville Visitors Bureau has decided to continue the art walk for the next two months inside the Fayetteville Town Center.

“The art walk was so successful this season that we decided to keep it going indoors during November and December,” said coordinator Brian Bailey. “After that, First Thursday’s outdoor presence will return in the spring, and we’re excited about expanding the event and making it even better than it was this first year.”

Besides the 20 artists who’ll be inside the Town Center, there will be a sneak peek of an upcoming Artist Laboratory Theatre production as well as special performances from an upcoming Walton Arts Center 10×10 series show.

Just down the street, Little Bread Company will host (and sell) student pottery and fill it with tasty soup for $15, and Sound Warehouse will host a photo exhibit and free live music.

As always, there will be plenty to see inside the Fayetteville Underground galleries.

Art, music, performances, and dinner for $15? Yes, please.

Fayetteville Underground

Located in the downstairs section of East Square Plaza, Fayetteville Underground will host four art exhibitions in November.

Megan Chapman – Falling into Sound
Hive Gallery

Megan’s exhibition features all new work created during 2010. As the title suggests, Chapman says her works are greatly influenced by the music she listens to while painting.

Along with her works on canvas, she’ll be showing The Manual for Living : A ten page guide. This “book” will never be bound, she said, but will be shown in sequential order, always to remain together. Each page its own chapter, Chapman’s goal is for the viewer to “read” this work starting with the wordless prologue, the eight pages of text in between, and concluding with a wordless epilogue. “This work explores themes of love and loss mixed into a poetry of longing,” she said.

Dana Idlet – Six Miles Down a Dirt Road
Vault Gallery

“I see lines everywhere,” said Dana Idlet. “In rocks, maps, veins, roots, cuts of fish, petals, and leaves. My interest in lines sparked ideas of representing growth drought, scars, time lines, and personal history in the tree rings. Like trees people extend themselves, move toward light, branch, are marred, go without, and heal.”

The parallels have moved her, she said. “By drawing imagined rings and lines, some more realistic than others, I have begun to draw connections between recorded human experience and the histories revealed in what seem on the surface to be simple cross sections of cedar.”

Duane Gardner – Looking for the Broadcaster
Revolver Gallery

“This series of paintings,” said Gardner, “is about exploring mark-making, about returning to the artistic control, or lack thereof, one had as a child. I find the expressive quality of children’s art work curious and interesting because of the lack of control. I like to think of it as returning to the innocence of mark-making. There is also something about the immediacy of drawing that I enjoy and attempt to make happen in the paintings.”

Ultimately for Gardner, the process of creating the work is where his enjoyment lies. He doesn’t attempt to paint from emotion or experience. “I think more along the lines of color and composition,” he said. “I wish the viewer would see something new or different each time they looked at one of my pieces, letting the painting evoke emotion.”

Cheri Bohn – The Ascension
E Street Gallery

Bohn recycles dead tree roots that would normally be burnt or rot away. “As an artist,” she said, “I surrender most of the design principles to the tree. The natural designs in the wood are so amazing. Some of the roots take the shape of something like dragons or butterflies; that I bring out with stained glass wings.” Others end up being abstract pieces.

Bohn said her work has been evolving over the years. “It expresses the fusion between humans and nature. The balance we need to have. Nature has greatly affected me and should be respected in every way.”

Fayetteville Town Center

More than 20 artists have been selected to set up inside the Fayetteville Town Center for this month’s indoor art walk including Lauren Love, Ginette Rogers, and artists from Fayetteville’s Heartwood Gallery.

Those in attendance will also be treated to impromptu performances from the dancers of the Trey McIntyre Project, who are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5 at the Walton Arts Center as part of the 10×10 art series.

These TMP performances will take place in both the Fayetteville Underground and the Fayetteville Town Center.

Other locations

Matt Miller Studio will be hosting a sneak peek of Artist Laboratory Theatre’s The Sheet Fort Experience, We Are All In It Together.

Little Bread Company is hosting The Association of Ceramic Enthusiasts, a University of Arkansas Student Organization. Participants can purchase a student made bowl for $15, and Little Bread Company will fill it with soup.

Sound Warehouse will host photographer Laura Whitfield’s photo exhibition “Always Kiss Me Goodnight” featuring a photo booth. Cadre will provide the music with a special performance at 8 p.m.

About First Thursday

First Thursday Fayetteville is a monthly event held on the Downtown Fayetteville Square, celebrating original works of art. Patrons are encouraged to explore the square as many shops and restaurants will be open later and feature special discounts during the event.

All events begin at around 5 or 6 p.m. Just show up and see where the evening takes you.

For more information, a directory of art walk artists, and directions visit firstthursdayfayetteville.com or call the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau at 479-521-5776.