Monthly First Friday cultural walkabout returns this week

Journal Staff    This month’s First Friday cultural walkabout offers new participants and unique experiences April 14 in downtown Sarnia. The Local Pick is a new store at 176 Christina St. North, participating in First Friday for the first time with local handmade crafts and live Latin music. The International Symphony Orchestra is returning to First Friday festivities with NUCLASSICA at the ISObar. Riverbank & Co. welcomes The Vault Collective Co. with an art exhibition by Toronto based artist Alyson Borycki. The artists responsible for two new exhibitions at The Lawrence House will be in attendance for First Friday. The main gallery has a show titled “Parks in Ontario” featuring 22 works by 10 members of Sarnia’s Photographic Club.

Upstairs in the Turret room, photographer Leann Cotton has her exhibition called for-sak-en. Her show is about locations now lost in Sarnia-Lambton but that still live on in our collective memory. Cotton’s show focuses on Sarnia General Hospital and its demolition. “Leann was fortunate enough to document the building exteriors, with access granted by the G5 team,” writes Lawrence House and First Friday spokesman Leonard Segall. “What possibilities the building had are now lost, but new opportunities have arisen from development.” The show includes the loss of four other buildings including The Bridge Tavern in Point Edward, the Lambton Generating Station, Holmes Foundry, and Sarnia Central Collegiate/St. Pat’s on East Street. First Friday is a monthly event, delayed in April because of Easter. Here is the list of participating locations and events:

Sarnia Legion Branch 62 (286 Front St. N.)

Live Music and Dancing with Roads Travelled, 7 – 11 PM

Ups N' Downs (226 Front St. N.)

Live Music with Nic Swales Music, 8pm – 11pm; Classic and Modern Rock, Blues

Greens Sarnia (196 Christina St. N.)

Live Music with Mac's Music, Photography by Alex Ham, 6 - 8 PM

Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery (147 Lochiel Street)

Two new exhibitions: Nico Williams Biskaabiiyang / Returning to Ourselves, and Many Lives Mark This Place: John Hartman Paints Canadian Writers. 6 - 9 PM

The Local Pick (176 Christina St. N.)

First Friday live Latin music with Artisan Blood featuring the Vivi and Mauricio duo.; Open til 9 PM

River Bank & Co. welcomes the opening of The Vault Collective Co; 172 Front St. N., A collection of vibrant, energetic abstract paintings by Toronto based artist Alyson Borycki on view and for sale. 5 - 8 PM

Collide Lounge (148 Front St. N.)

Live Music with Dan Butts, 8 – 11 PM; Classic Rock

theISObar at the International Symphony (143 Christina St. N.)

NUCLASSICA an electro-pop Violin & DJ Band from Detroit; Doors Open 7:00 PM (143 Christina St. N.)

Elemental Arts Collective (in the Downtown Market) 140 Christina St. N.

Live Interactive Art Show 4 – 8 PM

Refined Fool Brewing Co. (137 Davis St.)

Officially open again! Art by Laura Kreviazuk Artist Page: A retrospective collection of etchings and lithographs.

The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts (127 Christina St. S.)

Parks in Ontario Exhibition by members of the Sarnia Photographic Club opens in the main gallery.

for·sak·en exhibition of photographs about locations now lost in Sarnia-Lambton by Leann Cotton opens in the Turret Room.

Also, open later than usual for First Friday:

Harbour Bay Clothing (186 Front St. N.); Open until 7 PM