Stop. Look. Listen.

… Great for bad writing contests, not so much for March’s First Friday. The Scholastic Art Awards exhibit at 215 N. Queen St. — honorable mentions and portfolios — drew quite a few people, and contains a lot of very accomplished work. (And I didn’t even get to the museum’s show of Gold and Silver Key winners, at 135 N. Lime St.) I also visited the Frank Fico Studio, a salon at 213 W. Orange St., where works by Coopersburg artist Gini Illick were on display: figurative abstract works inspired by folk tales, legends, children’s books, particle physics and astronomy and characterized by thickly applied paint and vibrant color. I also visited the West End Art Gallery, at West End Mennonite Fellowship, where a mixed bag of art was on display, including outstanding photographs of the Middle East by Melissa Engle. It’s set up as a coffeehouse, with tables and games, snacks and live music (which hadn’t started yet when  I got there). The Keystone Art & Culture Center has established a downtown outpost at Master Plan Drafting, 44 W. King St., on First Friday; on display were some small bronzes, paintings and sculpture. Dipping randomly into the various offerings along Gallery Row on Prince Street, I spotted gently humorous collages (images of sheep, strips of calico, found lettering) by Judith Rempel Smucker at the Christiane David Gallery, works by graffiti and street artist AKO at Metropolis, new works in acrylic and watercolor in a realistic vein by Craig Golden Myers at Living Light, more new works at Twisted System and a glimpse into the recent artistic past at the Isadore Gallery, which is showing prints from the collection of Isadore Lichstein. (To be continued)