The First Friday at the Center for Fine Art Photography  will be hosting an artist talk-back and reception Oct. 3 for this month’s three new exhibitions.

The Center for Fine Art Photography is a non-profit gallery focused on photography. On the first Friday of every month, new exhibitions are installed in the space at 400 N. College Ave.

The Center displays the work of various artists from all over the world.

“We show work from the local community as well as the international community,” said Hamidah Glasgow, executive director.

The Center has the ability to choose the type of work they display.

“Since we are a non-profit, we do not have to only show what sells, we can show what’s relevant to photography today,” said Sunshine Divis, program manager.

Their tendency to display new and unique artists is one quality that sets The Center apart from other galleries.

“It gives opportunities to a lot of artists that they probably would not have otherwise,” said artist Gayle Stevens. “Especially now that it’s grown, there’s more solo shows and they have all these juried shows with different topics.”

Stevens will be displaying two pieces in the gallery, one of which is focused on the death of bees and loss of pollinators. She will show Disappearance 5 as part of her Disappearance series.

“There’s beauty in what has been disturbed as far as the bees go with trying to create an awareness in a different way as to how devastating this is,” Stevens said.

Stevens, a Chicago native, has displayed work at the Center for Fine Art Photography multiple times and still looks forward to it.

“I love Fort Collins. I’ve been out there quite a few times,” Stevens said.

This First Friday, they will be displaying to new solo exhibitions and one juried exhibition.

The north gallery will display work by Bear Kirkpatrick.

“It’s called Portraits, but he’s basically transforming that gallery into something that people will not recognize as a gallery space,” Divis said. “It’s going to be wild.”

The other solo artist displayed will be Jamey Stillings and his Evolution of Ivanpah Solar series.

“[The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar series] is a black and white fine art series on the installation of a solar field near Las Vegas and the pictures are amazing,” Glasgow said. “They’re beautiful.”

Based on past First Fridays, the center expects a fair turnout this time around.

“Our visitors run a pretty wide demographic,” Glasgow said. “Everything from college students, families, middle-aged older people; different from all walks of life.”

The Center anxiously anticipated the event and the diverse compilation of art they will display.

“Many of those artists will be here, so I think it’s really exciting for artists from across the country to interact with our local visitors as well as for them to be showing their amazing artwork to the local community,” Glasgow said.

Collegian A&E Writer Cassie Maack can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @maackcl.