Lindsey Herkommer DeVries

On the last Friday of every month, local art galleries keep their doors open late for visitors.

The Wichita Art Museum opened a new show this past weekend. The exhibition is Under Pressure: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation. This exhibition features 40 artists from this private collection of postwar American artists.

This past weekend, the Ulrich Museum opened their newest exhibition Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles.

Early January always holds such great optimism. A new year. A fresh start. A clean slate. This fades of course as the daily grind, well, grinds away. But until then, reveling in the newness of the year feels great. And with this excitement, I look to what Wichita has in store for the arts in 2013.

Looks like we’ve survived another apocalypse!

The Wichita Art Museum has assembled a new exhibition from their permanent collection. It’s called “Occupy Art: Protest and Empathy for the Worker.”

This Final Friday, Go-Away Garage on South Commerce offers the show The Function of Form: New Works by Emily R. Brookover. The show is an eclectic collection of intimate drawings small enough to be doodles-- but they are so highly rendered, it would be a shame to call them that.

As family comes into town for the Thanksgiving holiday, show them the creative side of Wichita. Many of the city’s museums will keep normal business hours next week-- except for the holiday itself-- which gives Wichitans a chance to show off their city.

On Friday, the Wichita Art Museum debuts a new series of events they’re calling “Art Chatter.” In collaboration with WAM Contemporaries and the Young Professionals of Wichita, this event offers a fresh way to learn about projects, happenings, and current thoughts on the local art scene.  It’s a renewed effort to make the museum a dynamic place for the community; a place that reflects the range of creative spirits in Wichita.

October Final Friday holds in store two incredible one-night-only shows that should not be missed. The first is at Diver’s Studio with a show titled Watch and Adsorb. That is adsorb with a “d” – a scientific word that refers to a surface-based process of molecules adhering together. This limitless process of surface tension sets the perfect tone for the work of James Porter and his collaborators, Franklin Ackerly and Texas artist Jeff Wheeler, for their Kansas debut exhibition.