By MIKE DUNHAM

The Rambler may postpone an instant look at tonight's First Friday art openings. For one thing, road crews are doing road construction at 5th Ave. and B St. which is causing restricted lanes and road closures through the summer and the chaos has already started.
Sioux Blacklege: surfing on Turnagain Arm in 2007. Photo: Erik Hill.
So you may want to begin your personal ramblings somewhere besides downtown. Sioux Blackledge has abstract paintings at Metro Books and Music, 5:30 E Benson. The promised photo of her surfing a bore tide didn't make it into today's Play, so here it is:

Also far from the maddening crowds, 2 Friends has a fashion-oriented First Friday opening at 341 E. Benson and Gina Edwards is showing recent work with a reception at Terra Bella, 601 E. Dimond.
Signore Greve and Celli: Illustration by Gina Edwards
At 8 p.m., after the rush so to speak, MTS Gallery, 3142 Mountain View Dr., will feature a screening of five short films featuring dancers of Momentum Dance Collective that sounds pretty interesting. Out North, Primrose and Debarr, has a gallery show of Hmong art to go with their presentation of a new play, "Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman."

To get around the traffic, some folks are organizing a Bike tour and scavenger hunt. What a nice night for it! Info at bicycleanchorage.org. Plans are to meet up at the Anchorage Museum at 8:30 p.m. to enjoy some live music.
Sonya Kelliher-Combs: One of several esteemed local contemporary artists with work to show and sell at Collect.
Assuming you get downtown, the big show is at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, 427 D St., where dozens of top local artists (yes, we really do have that many) are selling work all priced at less than $500 in hopes that more people will take the plunge and spend a little to get contemporary art into their lives.
Photo by Jack Consenstein: at Urban Greens
Also downtown, at Urban Greens, 305 G St., there's a photo show of entrancing cold weather images titled "Ice9." A professional photographer turned me on to this show, raving about the quality of the photos and also about the age of the artist; Jack Consenstein is 11.
Jack Consenstein: Attends sixth grade at Rogers Park Elementary.
Next door at Artique Ltd., 314 G St., has new work by Susan Pennewell Ellis, Linda Schwamm and Linnea Ratcliff and on the outside of the spectrum (but still downtown) Her Tern Boutique, 811 W. 8th Ave., is hosting a reception for something called "Springtime Cowgirls," featuring locally made leather goods. I'm not sure what the work will look like, but it's gotta smell marvelous.