First Friday Focus

Carolyn Huckabay's First Friday Hit List

by Carolyn Huckabay

B-a-a-a Runner (detail), by Shannon Collins, mixed media. Part of the exhibit "Say Hello to my Little Friends" at Café Estelle.

Café Estelle

Open your mouth and say awww: Shannon Collins' "Say Hello to my Little Friends" — a series of sweetly painted animals surrounded by their favorite snacks — returns to Café Estelle for a final hurrah before Collins boxes up her buddies for good. The critters, originally floating with their food on brightly painted cross sections of trees, have spent time exhibiting at the Philadelphia International Airport and, in various incarnations (think buttons and pocket mirrors), at Urban Outfitters stores all over the country. So why is the Philly-based multimedia artist/creature-keeper calling it quits on her little friends? "I'd like to move on to my upcoming project, which will involve illustrating dreams on a weekly basis for the span of an entire year," says Collins, who'll dream-draw on old vintage pillowcases, stretching them out as canvases. She'll be asking folks to submit their R.E.M. reveries on her website, too, "so I won't just be illustrating my own." Thinking about contributing? You better sleep on it. Opening reception Fri., Dec. 3, 6-9 p.m., free, through Jan. 31, 2011, Café Estelle, 444 N. Fourth St., 215-925-5080, youwannatalkjive.com.

Little Berlin

This little gallery's growing up quick, but it needs help flapping its fledgling wings. Little Berlin, the teeny Kenzo collective that could, is moving to an "extremely raw" space at Viking Mill, a historic 1890s textile mill-turned-artist-space a few blocks away, and organizers hope the second annual Art Dash will help alleviate some of the gallery's financial growing pains. For the past month, Little Berlin's been gathering donated pieces of art — anything from zines and drawings to sculptures and original pieces of clothing — for First Friday's Dash, which involves a free-for-all for any art appreciator with $25. The scramble's first-come, first-served, so don't be fashionably late — and don't forget your running shoes. Fri., Dec. 3, 6-11 p.m., $25, Little Berlin, 119 W. Montgomery Ave., littleberlin.org/artdash.

And Then There's ...

The New Kensington Community Development Corp.'s annual Fishtown/Kensington Holiday Walk smartly coincides with First Friday, and more than 20 merchants, galleries and artist studios are participating (not to mention 60-plus vendors selling their wares at F&N Gallery). Among them: Part Time Studios, whose "Small Jawns" group show features works from up-and-coming Philly artists, all for sale for less than $150; Proximity Gallery, this month featuring gorgeous new cartographic collages by Marie DesMarais; Two Percent to Glory, purveyor of all things weird and vintage; brand-new kid on block Black Vulture Gallery; and many more. Get out your wallets, but leave your carbon footprint at home. Fri., Dec. 3, 6-9 p.m., free, Frankford and Girard avenues, frankfordavearts.org.

(carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net)