First Friday Gallery Tours in the Cultural Districts found me at Wug Laku's Studio at the Circle City Industrial Complex (CCIC) at 1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C7. Featuring two galleries and a working artists' space in the garage area. Wug's space this month featured his own oil paintings, with rarely seen images on paper beautifully framed and ready for viewing. Along with his paintings, one can see photos and wood working creations in Wug's studio, and if you come around on a First Friday you will see Wug sharing his space with other artists. While talking with Wug he reminded me about the call for entries for the "Art From the Heartland" a juried exhibition that will open January 29th, 2010, at the Indianapolis Art Center. Wug had mentioned Paul Klein, a Chicago based curator and critic, who will be the one choosing the art for this event. I had the chance to meet Klein on several occasions last year when he came into town to speak at the annual IDADA members meeting, which not to get off on topic but is coming up on November 18th at the Harrison Center. Klein is well known for his Art Letter which you can check out at www.artletter.com. As I stood there realizing that the deadline was this Sunday (11/8) I started to panic thinking I had another full week before I had to have my submissions in for the exhibition. Regardless, it was only Friday, I still had a couple of days to pull my images and submit for this show coming up. Without keeping Wug much longer I let him return to his gallery guests, but not before I commented on his work and was thrilled to see him displaying his own paintings for a change in the space. For more images of Wug's work, contact wug@wlsandg.com or visit his home page at www.wlsandg.com. The crowd danced in and out of the halls at the CCIC as they listened to live music and enjoyed fresh bread from the Pastry Station. Food is a must at an art show and the Pastry Station had a beautiful display of cakes and sweet breads waiting for you to sample away. If you happen to be in the area, this is a place to stop by and pick up some warm scones or a cookie tray for the weekend. To pick up something sweet, check out www.pastrystation.com. As I left the CCIC building and the several artist studios that I had the chance to check out, I headed over to Mass Ave, which was pleasantly busy up and down the streets. Making my way into the Mass Ave Wine Shoppe for a bite to eat, and well... some Root Beer in a wine glass. I was put on the spot as owner and art lover Jill Ditmire stopped the crowd from chatter to introduce me as the artist of the month. I have about 10 paintings on the wall and they look great as the street lights shine just a enough light to make them glow above the patrons heads. Nearly every chair was taken in the place so I had to squeeze in next to someone else as I interrupted what intimate conversation could have been taking place in the hopping atmosphere, it must have been the inspiring paintings that kept people in there seats.

On Saturday, November 7th, the official opening of the U.S.S. Indianapolis Radio Room opened at the World War Memorial. The architecture inside the building is a work of art, if you haven't made it inside this beautiful building it is something to admire, inside and out. The Radio Room is an amazing extension of this space, as I walked inside I had that feeling that I just stepped back to World War II and found myself gazing at transistor radios, type writers and straight keys to send out Morse code signals. The group of guys that pulled this exhibit together were all generous enough to volunteer all of their time, not to mention everything that was brought into the space to recreate the Radio Room was collected by donors. The War Memorial is free and open to the public, for more info www.ussindyradio.org/ussindyradiormexhibit.htm.

After a quick stop at the library and some photo shoots, before I knew it was Sunday evening at 11pm and my husband mentioned to me the submission for the Art Center Show, Oops! Back to the computer for one more thing to do before the weekend comes to an end.

If you didn't make it out this last weekend, there is still plenty of art to be seen this month.

"Phenomenon" is currently showing at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA), featuring Indianapolis artists Casey Roberts and Lori Miles. The show includes their interpretations of unexplained phenomenon such as UFO's and Sasquatch. This show will be on exhibit until November 21st, 340 N. Senate Avenue. iMOCA is free to the public and open 11-6pm, Thursday-Saturday. iMOCA will leave its current home on Senate Avenue in time to open their doors at a new location at the Murphy Building for the December 4th First Friday Gallery Walk. iMOCA hopes to make a permanent home in the new development "Fletcher Place", but the project is not set to break ground until next year. For more information www.indymoca.org.