With the excitement of spring around the corner (maybe) and extended hours of daylight comes the Spring Gallery Walk.

The Gallery Walk will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday. The event will be held at 17 different venues in Iowa City, including establishments such as Active Endeavors, AKAR, Barker Financial, and many more. The three new venues participating in this year’s gallery walk include Brix Cheese Shop & Wine Bar, Steven Vail Fine Arts — The Project Room, and Urbanity. The event is free and open to the public, completely self-paced and family friendly. Participants of the event are eligible to win a $50 gift certificate to the Chait Galleries by visiting eight of the 17 locations and having their walk postcard or map stamped by each venue.

Members of the Iowa City Camera Club will participate in this year’s event for the first time. Active Endeavors will display 12 pieces from the club’s members, featuring primarily nature photography, and members of the club will be on hand to answer any questions about the featured pieces, explain the photography process, and talk about the club.

Camera Club member Jo Eland described her joy in sharing her photography, saying each photograph has a way of taking her back to the moment of taking the picture. She said her experience of photographing a 450-pound polar bear and the magnitude the photos she took continue to hold when she looks back at them. 

"Looking at pictures you’ve taken really brings you back;" Eland said. "That moment, that experience, the people that were there, the location and the magnitude of it all."

Glassando, in the Old Capitol Town Center, will be host to sculptor and jewelry artist Christopher Royal. He is a Chicago native whose work can be purchased across the country. He will feature his kinetic jewelry, which is based on his larger kinetic sculptures.

"I think of the jewelry more of as wearable mobiles," Royal said. "Some of it is based on 25-feet-long-by-17-feet-wide sculptures. The stainless jewelry is dipped in a translucent resin, which is what gives the color to the jewelry."

The Iowa Artisans Gallery has participated in every Gallery Walk since the early 1990s. This year’s featured artists at the gallery include Dennis Peterka (abstract landscape paintings) from Waverly, Iowa, and Steve Sinner and Joe Meirhaeghe from the Quad Cities, who collaborate on making turned wood vessels. The Artisans Gallery has assisted in the event’s organization this year, assembling the 17 participating venues.

Co-owner and marketing director of the Iowa Artisans Gallery Astrid Bennett said Iowa City’s talented participants, dedicated business owners, and nonprofits foster the exciting atmosphere.

"We love seeing Iowa City community members having a good time at these events," Bennett said. "We often surprise them with unusual art that they marvel at. And for this one, we’re all tired of winter. A Gallery Walk is testament to the hope that spring will come."

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