Week of July 9-16, 2025

By Jimmy Keller

(Above: Dance Party for the Planet event poster.)

Welcome to Hive Highlights; a weekly exhibits roundup from Buffalo Hive. This showcase is meant to point you to gallery openings, ongoing exhibits, closings, artist talks and happenings in the visual arts community of Western New York for the week/end ahead. These lists are not designed to be comprehensive, instead providing a keyhole into the creative hum of our region. 

1. Dance Party for the Planet: New Works by Ruby Merritt Opening at Allen Street Art
   • OPENING, Friday July 11, 2025 6-9p
   • 78 Allen Street, Buffalo 14202

Ruby Merritt describes herself as an “ologist”, and anyone who has seen her work can agree. Through the layers of paint and deep earth inspired tones, there is a level of knowledge, research, and uncontrolled passion. Merritt’s solo exhibition frames one of her delved passions: the hidden and fascinating life of soil. Soilscapes explores the vulnerability and complexity of the underground ecosystem we rarely pay attention to, yet her work shines this rare light. Merritt’s paintings will be shown throughout July. 

Learn More: https://www.rubymerritt.com/about

2. AJ Fries: The Icing on the Cake at Burchfield Penney Arts Center
   • OPENING, Friday July 11, 2025 5:30-8p
   • 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14222

Is that a photograph or a painting? Well, it’s an AJ Fries painting. This is a retrospective that indulges in the everyday, whether local mouthwatering foods or locations we all may drive by on the regular. Fries transforms these images into masterful paintings but also highlights the mundane in a way that makes us rethink, refeel, and revisit. Open through Nov 2, 2025.

Learn More: https://burchfieldpenney.org/exhibitions/exhibition:aj-fries-the-icing-on-the-cake/

3. Common Currents: Contemporary Art from Northeast Ohio and Western New York Opening at Burchfield Penney Arts Center
   • OPENING, Friday July 11,2025 5:30-8p
   • 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14222

Twelve WNY artists and eleven Northeast Ohio artists come together at the Burchfield Penney to share art, but also a strong regional culture. While both Cleveland and Buffalo’s pasts have influenced life today, this exhibition is meant to reflect our commonalities through art and explore “transformation, reinvention, and the use and impact of technology”. Open through Nov 2, 2025

Learn More: https://burchfieldpenney.org/exhibitions/exhibition:common-currents/