On the fourth Friday of the month, one thing is certain in Ste Genevieve, Missouri:  there is another Art Walk!
 
For the twentieth month in a row, the growing number of artist-owned studios and galleries in the colonial area of the downtown historic district are open from 6 pm to 9 pm.  Called the Fourth Friday Art Walk when it began in July of 2008, the event has grown in popularity and in size.  Starting with seven art studios in 2008, there are now over a dozen art spaces either serving refreshments, opening new exhibits and displays, or holding "meet the artist" events.  Both locals and tourists join in the fun, and this month is no exception.
 
Center for the Arts, one of the original Art Walk studios, has moved again.  This time, though, the move was next door!  In 2008, artist Diane Wilson opened on Market at Fourth Street, converting an unused gas station into an art school and gallery.  On Friday, the new space is opening next door to the large Main Street location it has called home for a year, replacing Joseph's Sister's Gallery, which moved across the street last month.
 
The featured artist at Center for the Arts will be the artist-owner, Diane Wilson, just home from exhibiting in two group exhibits in St Charles and Chicago and will include several new three dimensional art pieces.  Wilson also has made a dozen new light weight silk scarves all hand dyed -- just in time for spring.
 
One of the newest art spaces, the Bolduc House Museum, will feature the photo art prints of Bruce Pendleton.  Pendleton, a commercial photographer based in New York City for thirty years, photographed more than two hundred covers for Stereo Review and wrote and illustrated Creative Still Life Photography. Since 2002, Pendleton’s photo art prints have been winning juried shows throughout New England.
Two Ste Genevieve Art Guild members, Janet Kraus from Imperial, Missouri and local artist Juanita Rapp Wyman, will be the featured artists at Studio de Michel with a show entitled "Viva Italia!"

"Viva Italia!" will feature scenes from a two-week painting workshop they both attended in Italy in 2006. Several of the paintings will be plein air paintings they did on location in Florence, San Gimianio and Sienna, but the majority of the paintings will be recent works taken from the hundreds of photographs Krause and Wyman took while on this trip.
Other Art Walk studios and galleries reporting to be open from 6 to 9 pm are Mo'sArt Studio, the Welcome Center, Galleria Ste Gen, Merchant Street Gallery, Art at Sainte Genevieve Winery, Lulu's, Studio 221, Art at Stella and Me, Only Child Originals and the Joseph Sister's Gallery.  For more information, visit http://SteGenArtWalk.blogspot.com  Please stop in and support other downtown shops which may also be open during Art Walk hours.
After the Art Walk, expect to see many of the artists and Art Walk participants at the Orris enjoying the music of locals and musicians from Germany and St Charles.  Bill Miller, Ken Cox, and Ray Kemper will play the first set.  From Germany, the Alma Church Choir, a two person ensemble and Peter Piek, a singer song writer, will follow.  The last act is a surprise musician from St Charles.  The show is free.