First Friday: Old City Opens Its Galleries, Then Jazz Upstairs
Every first Friday, Old City's galleries open their new shows in the same evening. On 6 November the museum on Chestnut goes first, five to seven; the openings run until nine; and the jazz upstairs, until ten.
🗺 Chestnut Street to Walnut Street
🔬 Free Museum Opening on Chestnut
Start at 315 Chestnut, because the museum opens at five and closes at seven, before the galleries get going. This month's First Friday is the opening of More Than Meets the Eye, its new ExhibitLab on corneal transplantation: the cornea became the first human tissue to be transplanted successfully, in 1905, and the display follows the eye-banking networks, preservation methods and courier cases that have kept the operation going since. AltruVision, a Philadelphia eye bank and the Institute's partner on the show, is in the building for Eye Donation Month. At 5:15 there is a drop-in tour of the Othmer Library, at 6:15 remarks from AltruVision and the curator, and two tables worth a detour: one of the tactile learning tools that make a home, a lab or outer space navigable for people who are blind or have low vision, and a 1786 copy of the first embossed book printed for blind readers. Free, five to seven.
🎨 Small Wonders 15, $300 or Less
Ten minutes north, Arch Enemy Arts has held its corner since 2012, and 6 November is its last First Friday of the year. The fifteenth Small Wonders fills the walls with hundreds of new works no bigger than twelve inches, every one $300 or less, alongside Laura Catherwood, Juliet Schreckinger and Manuel Zamudio, this month's featured artists; the boutique up front carries prints and originals in every price bracket. Five minutes back west, Paradigm Gallery + Studio at 12 N 3rd opens André Schulze's Restored and Reimagined during the same evening, with Kyle Montgomery's LUX alongside it, five to eight.
🎷 Jazz Upstairs on Walnut
Seven minutes south, Positano Coast takes the second floor at 212 Walnut, and the To the Max Jazz Project plays the dining room from six to ten on first Fridays. The set runs alongside the southern Italian menu; reserve through OpenTable or at 215-238-0499. The last note lands at ten, with the Market-Frankford line four minutes away at 2nd Street.
