ROCKLAND — After the fireworks are over, the excitement and celebration continues Friday, July 5. With presumably good weather on the way, Rockland's First Friday Art Walk has three fresh and funky events to watch for in the contemporary gallery scene.

Streetside roller derby demonstation kicks off show opening: 4:45 - 8 p.m.

Jonathan Frost's first solo show "Roses, Romance and Roller Derby," is set to open with an unusual twist. The Rock Coast Rollers, Midcoast's sassiest roller derby queens, will offer a live demonstration of their mad skating skills outside the gallery on 21 Winter St. Vehicle traffic will be closed down at precisely 4:45 p.m. and between 5 and 8 p.m., the show will open featuring live jazz with Steve Lindsay and Friends. The Rock Coast Rollers were partly the subject of Frost's latest show.

"Roller derby is a new sport whose rules and patterns are changing...it's also spectacle, with elements of theater and dance. It's an arena that welcomes self-expression in dress, hair, skin, speech and movement. Most importantly, it's a way women can be strong and fast and agile," said Frost, elaborating on his fascination with the sport.

In addition to his roller derby paintings, Frost presents 16 of his signature oils of floral subjects, the roses in the title of the show, and a visual meditation on two poems by Emily Dickinson, the romance.

"Roses, Romance and Roller Derby" will run through July 31. For more information visit JonathanFrostgallery.com.

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Eric Leppanen's Afterlife 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.; After party: 9 p.m.

Belfast artist Eric Leppanen, most known for turning donations, discards and reclaimed materials into grand works of art, will unveil his first solo show, "Afterlife," at Asymmetrick Arts in Rockland. This past spring, Leppanen and nine other artists locked themselves in the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport for 24 hours and created edgy art installations out of a huge pile of donated refuse, which was collectively titled "Resisting Entropy." Leppanen's contribution to the installation was a complete drum kit made out of buckets, pots and pans.

The Afterlife show is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Following that, Café Miranda, which has shown Leppanen's works on their walls in the past, will host an after party from 9 p.m. 'til close, featuring the live "blue electro" music of Eenor. Eenor descibes itself as "a unique genetic brew: one part intergalactic space bird and one part albino lizard from the inner tubes of earth."

"Afterlife" runs through July 26. For more information, visit asymmetrickarts.com,

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PicassoWhat Artistic Differences: 5 - 8 p.m.

PicassoWhat, Rockland's newest art gallery (studio 210 above The Black Parrot and FOG Bar on Main Street) opens its latest show, "Artistic Differences," with a public reception from 5 to 8 p.m. There will be live music by The Ale House String Band, as well as refreshments. PicassoWhat, launched by partners Jeff Wolff and Lori Schafer, has already established (with its name) that it has a sense of fun about it. The show's contemporary vibe includes works by Maine artists Andrew Speed, Tom Higbee and Marc Cutonilli; Nevada artist Samuel Foote; Maryland artist Rachel Bingamen; and Ohio artist Ava Avadon, among others.

For more information visit PicassoWhat on Facebook.

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Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com.