Copious Notes

Guitarist Ben Lacy will be one of the musical acts performing at Gallery Hop on Feb. 15. © 2003 Herald-Leader file photo by David Stephenson.

Gallery Hop has announced its 2013 dates, new venues on the hop and an initiative with the Lexington Area Music Alliance.

This year’s dates are Feb. 15, April 19, June 21, Sept. 20 and Nov. 15. Each hop is 5 to 8 p.m.

The popular art event now boasts more than 50 venues and this year expands into the Chevy Chase area with the following locations: New Editions Gallery, 807 Euclid Avenue; The Collective Art Gallery, 321 South Ashland Avenue; The Morris Book Shop, 882 East High Street; and Worlds Apart, 850 East High Street.

Also joining the Gallery Hop lineup are: The Bread Box Studio Artists, Jefferson and West Sixth Streets; Meg C Jewelry Gallery, 119 North Mill Street; Alfalfa Restaurant, 141 East Main Street; and Decorator Warehouse, 501 East High Street.

LAMA will present music at three locations during each hop. On Feb. 15 it will be the Low End Duo, with cellist Yoonie Choi and ­bassist Paul Reisch, at New Editions Gallery; guitarist Ben Lacy and Bob Bryant at Bread Box Artist Studios; and singer and guitarist Andrea LaRoche on the Green Route Lextran trolley.

Gallery Hop says many hop locations are close to Green and Blue route LexTran trolley stops.

For more information, go to Galleryhoplex.com or call (859) 255-2951.

Anna Miskelly left, and Ruby Wiggs, shopped at Third Street Stuff and coffee shop in Lexington, Ky., on Wed, Jan., 30 2008. Photo by Pablo Alcala | Herald-Leader staff.

The second part of “Building Arts Communities,” the series the Herald-Leader has partnered with WEKU-FM 88.9 to present, aired this morning with WEKU’s Stu Johnson looking at developing arts districts. Stu visited the Limestone Street area of Lexington as well as Berea’s trio of distinctive arts districts.

Click here to hear Stu’s report. A transcript of his story is below.
By Stu Johnson | WEKU News
Third Street Stuff at the corner of Third and North Limestone in Lexington is home to a great deal of art.

“I do all the cans and all the furniture … whenever you get the feeling?… oh, I always have the feeling, (laugh)  yeah, I always want to paint.”

Third Street Stuff owner Pat Gerhard has been in the arts business for more than two decades..  She says times are good…

“I’ve been watching Lexington and the arts scene for 35 years and I think it’s it feels really good right now there are a lot of artists doing a lot of work.”

For a long time, Gerhard says there’s been interest among many Lexington’s artists in creating a formal arts district…but there could also be a downside…

“It might be a little disadvantageous to people if they find themselves outside the art district that would be a little too bad, but I mean that happens.”

One organization just outside the central business district is the Lexington Art League.  Executive Director Allison Kaiser admits the eventual location of an arts district is a very big question.  There’s no question, she says, it can make quite an economic impact on its neighborhood.   The League has been around for 53 years.   Kaiser says several community leaders have suggested the League should move it’s headquarters downtown, and help establish an arts district.

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