First Thursday is Today

First Thursday, the happening event on the Fayetteville Square is today. There will be an open house at the Fayetteville Underground galleries from 5 to 8 p.m., and for the first time, artists will also display their work outdoors on East Avenue. From 6 to 8 p.m. Guta will perform on the Town Center Plaza … and a new elephant will be in town. At 5:30 p.m. Mayor Lioneld Jordan will unveil a 1.3 ton elephant sculpture from South Africa. The sculpture will be on display at the Town Center Plaza until May 18.

The four galleries at Fayetteville Underground will open new shows. In the Vault Gallery will be Between You and Me, paintings by Basil Seymour-Davies. Seymour-Davies grew up in Bangkok where large hand-painted billboards and movie posters were a large part of the environment. These have visibly impacted Seymour-Davies’ work.

Teresa Hall will show her handmade jewelry in the E-Street Gallery. Hall creates rich patinas to create rustic jewelry and wall pieces, often incorporating found objects into her work.

In the Hive Gallery, It Eels What It Eels, paintings by Matthew Depper, will be on display. Depper studied graphic illustration at the Academy of Art University San Francisco. His recent work consists of stylized sea creatures on convex wood panels.

Anthony TW Myers will show his paintings in Revolver Gallery. Myers spent most of his childhood exploring abandoned structures and creeks in Oklahoma. His fanciful and detailed drawings range from robots to the erotic, organic and mysterious.

Northwest Arkansas Dance Festival

The Northwest Arkansas Dance Coalition will host its first ever festival this Friday and Saturday at the Benton County School of the Arts, 506 W. Popular St. in Rogers and on the University of Arkansas campus.

The festival will include master classes, dancer and teacher forums and a dancewear vendor fair at the University of Arkansas, and two choreographic showcases at the Benton County School of the Arts. Seventeen choreographers will present 26 new choreographic works ranging from lyrical, jazz, ballet, contemporary and modern to hip hop and Middle Eastern.

Dancing will be Kathleen Malm, Emily Viator, Ki Yanna Wright, the Middle Eastern Dance Troupe, Emily Dison, Amy Eichler, Danielle Whitley, Sally Ashcraft, Jenna O’Dell, Anna Taylor, CeCe Day, Kat Barlow, Alaina Sims, Anabelle Berry, Melanie Linker, Heidee Aldorf, Rashawn Hammons, Danielle Whitley and Alexandra Pingel.

For a schedule go to dancecoaliton.com.