Having lived in the city for almost two years and seriously contemplated an art major, I was ashamed to say that I was unfamiliar with the term “First Friday.” All I knew was that it marked the first day of partying every month.

I was informed that galleries along R Street starting from Dupont and going past Florida Avenue hold openings on the first Friday of every month, that feature new exhibits containing the work of many new artists. A group of my friends and I decided we would make a field trip out of it. Gallery hopping would definitely be a change of pace. And besides, I had to go pester my friend who serves wine at one of the galleries.

Gallery K, the first gallery along the strip of townhouses on R Street NW was packed by 7 p.m. I had to fight my way through the crowd as art revelers sipped wine and discussed the intricacies of the paintings.

The first floor was a disappointment. Paintings by the first artist were tasteless, just a bunch of paint splashed across the canvas with little texture.

One of my friends reminded me to keep in mind the art movement paintings from the first artist portrayed. Still, I felt I could make similar paintings and sell them for five bucks in front of the Foggy Bottom Metro. People at the show paid up to $2,000 for them.

A sculpture by the second featured artist resembled bakery papier-mache cake decorations gone bad. Even as a six-year-old I would not have wanted anything that tacky on my birthday cake. The colors reminded me of the cover art off a R. L. Stine carnival horror book. No wonder the exhibit was shoved in the back corner where it could be easily missed.

I liked the second floor of Gallery K much more. The paintings and sculptures were from assorted artists. A pencil sketch called The Sauna was amazing. It is a huge drawing of clouds and steam in a sauna, with parts of people, benches and towel peeping out from under the steam. I could have stood in front of it for hours, but I had to move for the dozens of other admirers passing by. I would have bought it, too, but it was a just little too pricey for me at about $1,000.

Next up was the Affrica Gallery, which, as its name would suggest, held African art. It was a much smaller, cluttered gallery, with a lot of the figures and sculpture typical of African art. Of all the sculptures, the wiener dog caught our attention. They were my friend’s favorite dogs. Another friend mentioned she had a couple of the small dogs, but they smelled bad. After that comment we decided we had enough of this gallery and we should move on.

The third gallery we visited was the Marsha Mateyka Gallery, and I was impressed the moment I walked into the townhouse. The architecture, moldings, arches, ceilings, mirrors and mahogany railings and trim were fantastic. I would die to live in that house. I was so distracted by the house that I almost missed the art featured in the gallery.

The art, although on the strange side, was almost as equally fantastic as the house. The artist used sumi ink – ink used in Chinese calligraphy – and rolled paper to create symmetrical, curved sculpture-type pieces. It was definitely something new and original.

The Alex Gallery, where my friend serves wine, was the next gallery on the tour. The upstairs gallery was new, but featured interesting art that I had no strong opinion about. I was astounded with the downstairs gallery – it was definitely the best art of the night.

I liked the watercolor paintings and the fabric and fiber mixed-media pieces the most. The watercolors featured a series of abstract reed-like brush strokes floating in a sea of bright aquamarine that reminded me of the ocean. Fabric pieces farther into the exhibit were equally astounding.

After visiting with our friend at the Alex Gallery for a while, we went to a few others, which ranged from folk-art openings to op art – a school of art characterized by the use of geometric shapes and brilliant colors to create optical illusions – exhibits. We decided to walk back to the Metro and head home after it got cold out.