Five new exhibitions open on First Friday at Gadsden Museum of Art

Visitors to First Friday in downtown Gadsden can attend a reception for five new exhibitions at the Gadsden Musem of Art.

The reception is set for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; light refreshments will be available.

Opening at the museum are “Though Entry is Barred” by Heather Baumbach and Tracie Hayes in the Courtyard and Piano Galleries; “Alarum” by Caylee Cooper in the Hallway Gallery; the self-titled “Aidan Gonzalez Garcia: An Introduction” in the Barbara Reid Gallery; “An Act of Attention” by Molly Lay in the Main Gallery; and “Tracing Shadows” by Kole Nichol in the Leo Reynolds Gallery.

According to a news release from the museum, Baumbach’s forms and Hayes’ mark making “assert presence and convey primacy” and their works “coalesce and offer the viewer a new interpretation of independence, as akin to the relationship of skin and sinew to the vascular system.”

Cooper, a Jacksonville State University graduate, uses oils, watercolors, acrylic, graphite, charcoal, ink, clay, printmaking and mixed media, and her show is “inspired by the fear of human connection and death,” according to the release.

Garcia, of Pensacola, Florida, is a graphic designer.

Lay, a recent master’s graduate from the University of Alabama, is a sculptor. Her exhibition, according to the release, “explores how the practice of walking through natural spaces can bring awareness to one’s lived experiences.”

Nichol, also a recent UA master’s graduate, offers drawings that, according to the release, “are influenced by his interests in cyclical movements and patterns, navigation, mapping, repetition, light, presence and absence.”

The museum is at 515 Broad St.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: New exhibits to open at Gadsden Museum of Art