The-Burg.com - Central Virgina's Arts, Culture and Entertainment Weekly

For artist Laura Reed Howell, there’s nothing like painting in the great outdoors.

Here’s what December’s First Friday has in store:

The James River Council for the Arts & Humanities is hosting its first official event since being established in December.

CULTUREbuzz, a monthly arts and culture social gathering, is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at Starlight Café on Fifth Street.

The inspiration for Barbara Bernstein’s latest installation began with a stark-white bureau at a Salvation Army store.

“I said to my husband, ‘That’s my next drawing. I’m going to do a whole room,’” she says. “I just saw it.”

The result — a stand-alone room in which everything is covered, inside and out, with her black and white drawings of plants — is on display at Riverviews Artpace in an exhibition called “Patterns of Love and Beauty.”

After a quiet August, most of the Hill City’s galleries are returning from their summer hiatuses with a roster of interesting show that should keep your evening jam-packed.

As the recession hits arts organizations all over the country, Lynchburg finds itself in a unique position.

Much of the arts scene here is still relatively young; the city has become a place where landmarks like The Ellington, The Academy of Fine Arts and Riverviews Artspace operate alongside new galleries, theater groups and music venues that seem to be popping up almost every day.

“Everything is new. There’s that energy and enthusiasm that comes with it,” says local artist Ron Boehmer, who has lived in Lynchburg since 1978 and once served as the Fine Arts Center’s visual arts program director.

For Lynchburg native Janet Dance, art has been a thread that’s run through her entire life.