Cap Your Black Friday With Local Art

Exhausted from a day lurking around big box stores or traipsing across Southwest Minneapolis' many neighborhoods in search of a Black Friday deal? Try ending your day with a reception at one of Southwest Minneapolis' newest galleries, .

"I thought we'd have some fun with the idea of Black Friday," said owner Greta Norlander. 

This Friday, Norlander is bringing in Lynnhurst resident Mike Murray to showcase 24 of his small oil-on-paper portraits to celebrate the shopping day. His paintings will run in Norlander's "featured artist corner" through the holiday season. The mini-gallery, Norlander said, has been attracting a good deal of attention from local artists since she first opened in June—it's already booked through February.

Norlander said she was attracted to Murray's work by the artist's use of color and texture.

"In a lot of his portraits, he’ll be liberal with the colors in people's hair, do etching, things like that," she said. "They’re not a dark imagery, but they’re a little more subdued. You're almost looking through a filter to see them. They're definitely a little more abstract."

The reception with Murray will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Norlander's store at 50th Street and Penn Avenue South, with a talk by Murray at 7 p.m.