Fri 1/2 @ 6-9PM

There might not be much outdoor walking at this month’s Walk All Over Waterloo — things are a little slow in January anyway — but the Waterloo Arts District contains a number of warm, cozy, indoor sanctuaries where you can have some refreshment and conversation and see some art.

Start at Busta Projects, on the second floor above Doinks Smashburger (where you can drop in and grab a bite first—Citizen Pie Pie and Juicy Vegan across the street will also be offering belly-warming eats), where you can catch Mary Jo Bole’s drawings and three-dimensional pieces, Disorder Stills, inspired by the layered urban landscape of Cleveland where she grew up (She’s currently based in Columbus). While the mostly industrial images mash together structures in ways you won’t find them in real life, they create the sense of that cities often have of lives forcibly entwined, a sense both exciting and claustrophobic. The show closes after this weekend.

Then stroll across the street to Waterloo Arts for a pair of new shows. In the main gallery, Dana Lynn Harper’s Rituals of Return in which the artist looks at the things that separate her from her family history and connections to her ancestors through mixed media works that involve mediums such as paper clay, dried flowers, glass beads and more. Harper has art degrees from Ohio State University and Penn State University. In the café, Wheeling, West Virginia’s Brian Fencl’s Strange Vases is a tribute to his grandmother who had Alzheimer’s. His small oil paintings depict her odd arrangements such as flowers stuck in a container of Lysol wipe or a bouquet placed into a half-filled bear-shaped container of honey. The gallery will be open from 6-9pm.

Want something to eat? The new Juicy Vegan storefront next to NuLife Fitness is open until 9pm with a very diverse menu of plant-based choices.