Tuesday, June 3, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Kewpie Karma/80
The Warehouse Gallery

Price: Free
The Warehouse Windows Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

What does a Kewpie doll have to offer the world? If anything has karma, why not a Kewpie doll?

Yoshiko Miki's work addresses issues of death and rebirth. The death of her mother three years ago caused Miki to search for answers as to why some people leave life at such a young age. She found that the only way to address this was to disregard the idea of life having an ending point and instead to view life as a continuation. Influenced by her Buddhist background, Miki wondered who her mother might have been re-born as: "A man? Or a woman?" and where she could be: "Here in America with me? Or back in Japan with my father and my little sister?"

In reincarnation, the karma of a person continues into the next life; no matter what form they are reborn. Miki depicts her mother's reincarnation through Kewpie dolls -- an iconic image of happiness and love, words that also describe her mother's approach to life. The subject of rebirth is reinforced by the infantile nature of the dolls and by their number. The 80 dolls signify the importance of the numbers 8 and 0 which represent endless life; when drawn out, there is no beginning or ending point for either number. Significantly, when the number 8 is rotated 90 degrees in either direction, it becomes a symbol for infinity. Kewpie Karma/80 deals with themes of death, rebirth and karma through an iconic medium.

Yoshiko Miki (1987) was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. At the age of 16 she moved to the United States and lived in Lancaster, PA and would remain there for a year before moving to Syracuse. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt and currently is enrolled at the Pratt Institute at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica where she is studying fine arts with a concentration in sculpture.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith
The Warehouse Gallery
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith is artist Terry Adkins' multi-media tribute to Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues. Working with a variety of materials Adkins weaves sculpture into a narrative installation that is both a tribute to and a lament for the transformative power of Smith's vocal artistry.

In an essay that accompanies the exhibition Dr. Kheli R. Willetts, academic director of CFAC and assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Syracuse University writes, "Adkins' work creates an environment which challenges us to engage with Smith beyond her status as a legendary musical performer. He has resurrected her as a creative deity whose stage has now become a temple and the viewers are transformed into her devotees as they enter the space."

Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers of all time. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African American recording artist before her. Yet in her adopted home of Philadelphia she remains unsung and even her grave remained unmarked until 1970.

Adkins commutes regularly from New York to Philadelphia where he teaches in the Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This exhibition is a continued exploration of his use of figures in history whose contributions to society are overlooked, under appreciated, or just not given the stature that he believes they should have in society. Although Adkins work emanates from an activist position, it evolves from abstract forms with the intent of educating the public about historical figures through ways that are not image based or narrative-based but that challenge the viewer to think abstractly in relating to the stories of the lives of the people concerned.

Terry Adkins has been exhibiting internationally since 1980. He is Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania where he recently installed Darkwater: A Recital in Four Dominions, a tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Adkins has published numerous essays and has completed several significant public commissions. In addition to being a highly respected artist and sought after guest lecturer, his artworks have been placed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among other significant museums and collections. He received his B.S. from Fisk University and his M.F.A from the University of Kentucky.

Read a review!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Kewpie Karma/80
The Warehouse Gallery

Price: Free
The Warehouse Windows Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

What does a Kewpie doll have to offer the world? If anything has karma, why not a Kewpie doll?

Yoshiko Miki's work addresses issues of death and rebirth. The death of her mother three years ago caused Miki to search for answers as to why some people leave life at such a young age. She found that the only way to address this was to disregard the idea of life having an ending point and instead to view life as a continuation. Influenced by her Buddhist background, Miki wondered who her mother might have been re-born as: "A man? Or a woman?" and where she could be: "Here in America with me? Or back in Japan with my father and my little sister?"

In reincarnation, the karma of a person continues into the next life; no matter what form they are reborn. Miki depicts her mother's reincarnation through Kewpie dolls -- an iconic image of happiness and love, words that also describe her mother's approach to life. The subject of rebirth is reinforced by the infantile nature of the dolls and by their number. The 80 dolls signify the importance of the numbers 8 and 0 which represent endless life; when drawn out, there is no beginning or ending point for either number. Significantly, when the number 8 is rotated 90 degrees in either direction, it becomes a symbol for infinity. Kewpie Karma/80 deals with themes of death, rebirth and karma through an iconic medium.

Yoshiko Miki (1987) was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. At the age of 16 she moved to the United States and lived in Lancaster, PA and would remain there for a year before moving to Syracuse. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt and currently is enrolled at the Pratt Institute at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica where she is studying fine arts with a concentration in sculpture.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Exploring History With Art: Work!
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The third art exhibition in the series features occupations and places of work. Appropriately titled "Occupations & Places of Work," the exhibition showcases paintings illustrating different occupations and places of work in Onondaga County through the years.

Inside the exhibit gallery you'll see Onondaga Pottery, Comfort Tyler's Tavern, Good Shepherd Hospital, salt towers, and several others depicting the diverse places to work in Onondaga County from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Bedtime Stories
Redhouse

Price: Free
Former Redhouse Theater
219 S. West St., Syracuse

Bedtime Stories began as an exhibition focusing on the indeterminate space of the bedroom as a site for innocence, play, sexuality, deviant behavior, convalescence and death.

Artists Derrick Adams, Yasser Aggour, and Anna Tsouhlarakis explore identity and race, but not in a direct way. Each of these artists' work is more complex, more subversive, difficult, and harder at times to pin down, but it gets the job done by exposing the underpinnings of the dominant culture.

Exhibit curated by Arjan Zazueta.

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith
The Warehouse Gallery
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith is artist Terry Adkins' multi-media tribute to Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues. Working with a variety of materials Adkins weaves sculpture into a narrative installation that is both a tribute to and a lament for the transformative power of Smith's vocal artistry.

In an essay that accompanies the exhibition Dr. Kheli R. Willetts, academic director of CFAC and assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Syracuse University writes, "Adkins' work creates an environment which challenges us to engage with Smith beyond her status as a legendary musical performer. He has resurrected her as a creative deity whose stage has now become a temple and the viewers are transformed into her devotees as they enter the space."

Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers of all time. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African American recording artist before her. Yet in her adopted home of Philadelphia she remains unsung and even her grave remained unmarked until 1970.

Adkins commutes regularly from New York to Philadelphia where he teaches in the Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This exhibition is a continued exploration of his use of figures in history whose contributions to society are overlooked, under appreciated, or just not given the stature that he believes they should have in society. Although Adkins work emanates from an activist position, it evolves from abstract forms with the intent of educating the public about historical figures through ways that are not image based or narrative-based but that challenge the viewer to think abstractly in relating to the stories of the lives of the people concerned.

Terry Adkins has been exhibiting internationally since 1980. He is Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania where he recently installed Darkwater: A Recital in Four Dominions, a tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Adkins has published numerous essays and has completed several significant public commissions. In addition to being a highly respected artist and sought after guest lecturer, his artworks have been placed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among other significant museums and collections. He received his B.S. from Fisk University and his M.F.A from the University of Kentucky.

Read a review!

Prokofiev: Selected Repertoire for the Piano
Central New York Association of Music Teachers
Featuring Andrew Russo, piano

Price: $10
Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church
5299 Jamesville Rd., Dewitt

A chronological overview of Prokofieff's rich, varied, and colorful music. Andy Russo will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on music suitable for piano students of varying levels of advancement.

Not only is there an enormous amount of Prokofiev piano literature that is rarely heard live, but our ears are now quite accustomed to the challenges of this 20th Century Russian master. This workshop should also be useful to teachers whose students plan to participate in the day-long DeAngelis Piano Youth Festival at LeMoyne College (to be held this year on November 22) as Prokofiev is this year's composer-designate.

After a short intermission following this workshop, CNYAMT's 2008 Scholarship Award Winner, Andrew King, will present a short recital.

Merry Mischief
Liverpool is the Place

Price: Free
Johnson Park
Corner of Vine and Oswego Streets, Liverpool

The husband-and-wife folk duo of Merlyn and Harry Fuller playing pirate tunes, Erie Canal tunes and Celtic tunes too. There is no rain date for this concert.

To see if a concert is rained out, phone 315-457-3895.

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Kewpie Karma/80
The Warehouse Gallery

Price: Free
The Warehouse Windows Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

What does a Kewpie doll have to offer the world? If anything has karma, why not a Kewpie doll?

Yoshiko Miki's work addresses issues of death and rebirth. The death of her mother three years ago caused Miki to search for answers as to why some people leave life at such a young age. She found that the only way to address this was to disregard the idea of life having an ending point and instead to view life as a continuation. Influenced by her Buddhist background, Miki wondered who her mother might have been re-born as: "A man? Or a woman?" and where she could be: "Here in America with me? Or back in Japan with my father and my little sister?"

In reincarnation, the karma of a person continues into the next life; no matter what form they are reborn. Miki depicts her mother's reincarnation through Kewpie dolls -- an iconic image of happiness and love, words that also describe her mother's approach to life. The subject of rebirth is reinforced by the infantile nature of the dolls and by their number. The 80 dolls signify the importance of the numbers 8 and 0 which represent endless life; when drawn out, there is no beginning or ending point for either number. Significantly, when the number 8 is rotated 90 degrees in either direction, it becomes a symbol for infinity. Kewpie Karma/80 deals with themes of death, rebirth and karma through an iconic medium.

Yoshiko Miki (1987) was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. At the age of 16 she moved to the United States and lived in Lancaster, PA and would remain there for a year before moving to Syracuse. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt and currently is enrolled at the Pratt Institute at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica where she is studying fine arts with a concentration in sculpture.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

Crystal LaPoint: PhotoImpressions
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

The digital artwork of Crystal LaPoint, PhotoImpressions, embraces a dramatic range of styles. Crystal digitally redefines her own original photographic images into unique fine art prints, produced with museum-quality archival materials. Her work has been exhibited at the Delavan Art Gallery, OCPL at the Galleries, the Technology Garden, Everson Museum, Ann Felton Multicultural Center, and Hospice of CNY, and has earned awards at the New York State Fair and from the CNY Art Guild. A native of Pennsylvania, Crystal is a long time resident of Central New York. She attended Syracuse University, where she earned advanced degrees in both Piano Performance and Music Theory and Composition. She is a self-taught artist, a professional pianist, published composer and poet, and a mother of three children. Crystal is the PR/Communications Manager for the Central New York Chapter of Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Artist's Statement: Serendipity -- that sums up my experience as a visual artist. I discovered the process of digitally manipulating photographic images as a blissful accident, and it has become my creative playground. The forgiving nature of the medium allows for endless trial and error. But it also invites fearless exploration and experimentation. My creative intuition grows in direct proportion to my fluency with this virtual toolbox, and I now approach each new photograph imagining a host of possibilities for its evolution. But it is always the unexpected twist, the daring leap, the "let's give this a whirl and see how it turns out!" that ultimately results in my best work. My current exhibit balances some quiet, austere pieces with vivid virtual textures.

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Exploring History With Art: Work!
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The third art exhibition in the series features occupations and places of work. Appropriately titled "Occupations & Places of Work," the exhibition showcases paintings illustrating different occupations and places of work in Onondaga County through the years.

Inside the exhibit gallery you'll see Onondaga Pottery, Comfort Tyler's Tavern, Good Shepherd Hospital, salt towers, and several others depicting the diverse places to work in Onondaga County from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Bedtime Stories
Redhouse

Price: Free
Former Redhouse Theater
219 S. West St., Syracuse

Bedtime Stories began as an exhibition focusing on the indeterminate space of the bedroom as a site for innocence, play, sexuality, deviant behavior, convalescence and death.

Artists Derrick Adams, Yasser Aggour, and Anna Tsouhlarakis explore identity and race, but not in a direct way. Each of these artists' work is more complex, more subversive, difficult, and harder at times to pin down, but it gets the job done by exposing the underpinnings of the dominant culture.

Exhibit curated by Arjan Zazueta.

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith
The Warehouse Gallery
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith is artist Terry Adkins' multi-media tribute to Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues. Working with a variety of materials Adkins weaves sculpture into a narrative installation that is both a tribute to and a lament for the transformative power of Smith's vocal artistry.

In an essay that accompanies the exhibition Dr. Kheli R. Willetts, academic director of CFAC and assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Syracuse University writes, "Adkins' work creates an environment which challenges us to engage with Smith beyond her status as a legendary musical performer. He has resurrected her as a creative deity whose stage has now become a temple and the viewers are transformed into her devotees as they enter the space."

Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers of all time. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African American recording artist before her. Yet in her adopted home of Philadelphia she remains unsung and even her grave remained unmarked until 1970.

Adkins commutes regularly from New York to Philadelphia where he teaches in the Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This exhibition is a continued exploration of his use of figures in history whose contributions to society are overlooked, under appreciated, or just not given the stature that he believes they should have in society. Although Adkins work emanates from an activist position, it evolves from abstract forms with the intent of educating the public about historical figures through ways that are not image based or narrative-based but that challenge the viewer to think abstractly in relating to the stories of the lives of the people concerned.

Terry Adkins has been exhibiting internationally since 1980. He is Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania where he recently installed Darkwater: A Recital in Four Dominions, a tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Adkins has published numerous essays and has completed several significant public commissions. In addition to being a highly respected artist and sought after guest lecturer, his artworks have been placed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among other significant museums and collections. He received his B.S. from Fisk University and his M.F.A from the University of Kentucky.

Read a review!

Greek Festival

Price: Free
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
325 Waring Rd., Syracuse

Death Takes a Bow
Acme Mystery Company

Price: $35.95 plus tax and gratuities (includes meal and show)
Spaghetti Warehouse
689 N. Clinton St., Syracuse

Interactive mystery dinner theater.

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Preview: Bath House: The Musical!
Rarely Done Productions
Dan Tursi, director

Price: Pay-what-you-can preview ($5 minimum)
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St., Syracuse

Four men, four doors, four bath towels -- and lots of bawdy music! Need we say more? Mature audiences.

Read a Review!

Friday, June 6, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Kewpie Karma/80
The Warehouse Gallery

Price: Free
The Warehouse Windows Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

What does a Kewpie doll have to offer the world? If anything has karma, why not a Kewpie doll?

Yoshiko Miki's work addresses issues of death and rebirth. The death of her mother three years ago caused Miki to search for answers as to why some people leave life at such a young age. She found that the only way to address this was to disregard the idea of life having an ending point and instead to view life as a continuation. Influenced by her Buddhist background, Miki wondered who her mother might have been re-born as: "A man? Or a woman?" and where she could be: "Here in America with me? Or back in Japan with my father and my little sister?"

In reincarnation, the karma of a person continues into the next life; no matter what form they are reborn. Miki depicts her mother's reincarnation through Kewpie dolls -- an iconic image of happiness and love, words that also describe her mother's approach to life. The subject of rebirth is reinforced by the infantile nature of the dolls and by their number. The 80 dolls signify the importance of the numbers 8 and 0 which represent endless life; when drawn out, there is no beginning or ending point for either number. Significantly, when the number 8 is rotated 90 degrees in either direction, it becomes a symbol for infinity. Kewpie Karma/80 deals with themes of death, rebirth and karma through an iconic medium.

Yoshiko Miki (1987) was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. At the age of 16 she moved to the United States and lived in Lancaster, PA and would remain there for a year before moving to Syracuse. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt and currently is enrolled at the Pratt Institute at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica where she is studying fine arts with a concentration in sculpture.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Exploring History With Art: Work!
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The third art exhibition in the series features occupations and places of work. Appropriately titled "Occupations & Places of Work," the exhibition showcases paintings illustrating different occupations and places of work in Onondaga County through the years.

Inside the exhibit gallery you'll see Onondaga Pottery, Comfort Tyler's Tavern, Good Shepherd Hospital, salt towers, and several others depicting the diverse places to work in Onondaga County from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Bedtime Stories
Redhouse

Price: Free
Former Redhouse Theater
219 S. West St., Syracuse

Bedtime Stories began as an exhibition focusing on the indeterminate space of the bedroom as a site for innocence, play, sexuality, deviant behavior, convalescence and death.

Artists Derrick Adams, Yasser Aggour, and Anna Tsouhlarakis explore identity and race, but not in a direct way. Each of these artists' work is more complex, more subversive, difficult, and harder at times to pin down, but it gets the job done by exposing the underpinnings of the dominant culture.

Exhibit curated by Arjan Zazueta.

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith
The Warehouse Gallery
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith is artist Terry Adkins' multi-media tribute to Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues. Working with a variety of materials Adkins weaves sculpture into a narrative installation that is both a tribute to and a lament for the transformative power of Smith's vocal artistry.

In an essay that accompanies the exhibition Dr. Kheli R. Willetts, academic director of CFAC and assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Syracuse University writes, "Adkins' work creates an environment which challenges us to engage with Smith beyond her status as a legendary musical performer. He has resurrected her as a creative deity whose stage has now become a temple and the viewers are transformed into her devotees as they enter the space."

Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers of all time. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African American recording artist before her. Yet in her adopted home of Philadelphia she remains unsung and even her grave remained unmarked until 1970.

Adkins commutes regularly from New York to Philadelphia where he teaches in the Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This exhibition is a continued exploration of his use of figures in history whose contributions to society are overlooked, under appreciated, or just not given the stature that he believes they should have in society. Although Adkins work emanates from an activist position, it evolves from abstract forms with the intent of educating the public about historical figures through ways that are not image based or narrative-based but that challenge the viewer to think abstractly in relating to the stories of the lives of the people concerned.

Terry Adkins has been exhibiting internationally since 1980. He is Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania where he recently installed Darkwater: A Recital in Four Dominions, a tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Adkins has published numerous essays and has completed several significant public commissions. In addition to being a highly respected artist and sought after guest lecturer, his artworks have been placed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among other significant museums and collections. He received his B.S. from Fisk University and his M.F.A from the University of Kentucky.

Read a review!

Opening Reception Works of Sandra Philips and Helen Woodmansee
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

The reception features music by The Kambuyu Marimba Ensemble, wine tasting provided by Vistas Unlimited and Long Point Winery, refreshments by Grammie's Pantry, and flower arrangements by the Skaneateles Garden Club.

Exhibit features artists Sandra Philips, decorative painting and portraits, and Helen Woodmansee, paintings, etchings and monoprints.

Opening Reception Crystal LaPoint: PhotoImpressions
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

The digital artwork of Crystal LaPoint, PhotoImpressions, embraces a dramatic range of styles. Crystal digitally redefines her own original photographic images into unique fine art prints, produced with museum-quality archival materials. Her work has been exhibited at the Delavan Art Gallery, OCPL at the Galleries, the Technology Garden, Everson Museum, Ann Felton Multicultural Center, and Hospice of CNY, and has earned awards at the New York State Fair and from the CNY Art Guild. A native of Pennsylvania, Crystal is a long time resident of Central New York. She attended Syracuse University, where she earned advanced degrees in both Piano Performance and Music Theory and Composition. She is a self-taught artist, a professional pianist, published composer and poet, and a mother of three children. Crystal is the PR/Communications Manager for the Central New York Chapter of Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Artist's Statement: Serendipity -- that sums up my experience as a visual artist. I discovered the process of digitally manipulating photographic images as a blissful accident, and it has become my creative playground. The forgiving nature of the medium allows for endless trial and error. But it also invites fearless exploration and experimentation. My creative intuition grows in direct proportion to my fluency with this virtual toolbox, and I now approach each new photograph imagining a host of possibilities for its evolution. But it is always the unexpected twist, the daring leap, the "let's give this a whirl and see how it turns out!" that ultimately results in my best work. My current exhibit balances some quiet, austere pieces with vivid virtual textures.

Taste of Syracuse and the 2008 SAMMY Awards

Price: Free
Clinton Square
Downtown, Syracuse

More than 110 area restaurants, food vendors, artisans, exhibitors and wineries will provide two days of fun, food and live music.

Main Stage
12:00-12:45pm: Grupo Pagan
1:00-1:45pm: Five to Life
2:00-2:45pm: Ox Burg
3:00-3:45pm: Bobby Green
4:00-4:45pm: Lisa Gentile
5:00-5:45pm: Primetime
6:00-6:45pm: Dead Rose
7:00 SAMMY Award show begins
7:13-7:28pm: Dave Novak (Hall of Fame Inductee)
7:36-7:51pm: Sandy Bigtree (Hall of Fame Inductee)
8:00-8:15pm: Roosevelt Dean (Hall of Fame Inductee)
8:25-8:40pm: Mark Hoffmann (Hall of Fame Inductee)
8:45-9:00pm: Larry Luttinger (Hall of Fame Inductee)
9:10-9:20pm: Saxophone Tribute to Jerry Santy (Hall of Fame Inductee)
9:30-11:00pm: Simplelife

Clinton Square Stage
12:00pm: Colin Aberdeen
1:30pm: Brand New Joe
3:00pm: Gadabout
5:00pm: King Morrison
7:00pm: Dan Elliott and the Montereys
9:30pm: The Fab Cats

Emerging Artist Stage
12:00pm: Caleb Micah
12:30pm: Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
1:00pm: Stevie Wolf and Blues Express
2:00pm: Chris Lizzi
3:00pm: The Barrigar Brothers
4:00pm: Kh' Mi
5:00pm: Caeser Fadari
6:00pm: The Action!
7:00pm: Mat Burke
8:00pm: Huela
9:00pm: Mike Brindisi & New York Rock
10:00pm: Torment the Vein

Greek Festival

Price: Free
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
325 Waring Rd., Syracuse

Edward Smith, Harpsichord

Price: Donations accepted
St. Paul's Syracuse
220 E. Fayette St., Syracuse

The program will include
J.S. Bach Suite Inglese III
Francois Couperin Soeur Monique
Jean-Philippe Rameau Gigue en rondeau, Le Rappel des Oiseaux, Rigaudons I & II, Musette en rondeau, Tambourin
Pier Domenico Paradies Sonata IV
Domenico Scarlatti Cinque sonate (K. 475, 476, 434, 435, 435)

A native of Wisconsin, Edward Smith began to play the piano at an early age. After graduating from Lawrence University in 1957, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study composition with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy. He went on to study the harpsichord with Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University (1963). As harpsichordist, he has performed throughout North and South America, Europe, Israel and the ex-Soviet Union with the New York Pro Musica, the Philidor Trio, The New York Consort of Viols, the Waverly Consort and the Clemencic Consort. He has appeared in solo recitals in New York (including the complete Well-Tempered Clavier) and other American cities, in Paris, Rome, Milan and at Venice's Teatro La Fenice, where he frequently played recitals and chamber music as well as continuo in a number of Handel's operas. He has also performed on historic organs in Venice and the Veneto. Most recently he has played Mozart on the fortepiano in France and Italy.

He has recorded harpsichord music of d'Anglebert, Chambonnières, Handel-Babell and Duphly, and is also featured on many recordings of the New York Pro Musica, the Waverly Consort and the Clemencic Consort (including two recordings of cantatas by Stradella and Carissimi with Syracuse soprano Neva Pilgrim). His latest CDs are devoted to organ music by A. Gabrieli, Frescobaldi and Zipoli, Italian harpsichord sonatas by Grazioli, Paradies and others, and a three-disc set of works by J. S. Bach, François Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti.

He has taught at the University of Illinois, and is now on the faculty of the Seminari Internazionali di Musica Barocca, Sacile and the Scuola di Musica Antica, Venice; he has given master classes at Yale University, the Accademia Chigiana, Siena and the Cini Foundation, Venice.

His editions of keyboard music include the complete harpsichord works of Pierre Février (L'Oiseau-Lyre, Monaco), the sonatas for piano four hands by Franz Seydelmann, the Suits of the Celebrated Lessons by William Babell and the Pièces deClavecin of Francesco Geminiani (Ut Orpheus, Bologna). Edward Smith has lived in Italy since 1980.

Folkus Project
Susan Werner

Price: $18
May Memorial Unitarian Society
3800 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Gorgeously crafted melodies, evocative of Porter and Torme; lyrics that are thoroughly modern, savvy, and sometimes sly. A favorite among Falcon Ridge-style singer/songwriters!

With six albums, an active touring career throughout the U.S., and a string of accolades from the likes of the Washington Post, Village Voice, and New Yorker, Susan Werner has become one of the defining artists of folk music. Her eclectic songs, delivered with a sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm, slide effortlessly among folk, jazz, and pop genres. Werner's diverse musical influences keep audiences guessing with new ideas and approaches, and her energy and brash enthusiasm bring an element of surprise to her shows. With a quick wit and slightly cynical brand of humor, she manages to be both self-deprecating and supremely self-confident. Using the power of her classically trained voice, combined with excellent musicianship and engrossing songs, Werner creates a refreshing rapport with her audiences.

Opening for Susan Werner will be the Ithaca-based duo Glass of Water. Known for their hauntingly beautiful harmonies, they sing a wide range of traditional and traditionally-inspired songs from New England, Appalachia and the British Isles.

Go, Dog, Go!
Gifford Family Theatre

Coyne Center for the Performing Arts
LeMoyne College, Syracuse

P. D. Eastman's classic children's book comes to life in a free-for-all of movement, color, and space. This is a rollicking riot of canine chicanery, like a pop-up book that comes to life -- and never stops.

Read a Review!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Bath House: The Musical!
Rarely Done Productions
Dan Tursi, director

Price: $25
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St., Syracuse

Four men, four doors, four bath towels -- and lots of bawdy music! Need we say more? Mature audiences.

Read a Review!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Kewpie Karma/80
The Warehouse Gallery

Price: Free
The Warehouse Windows Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

What does a Kewpie doll have to offer the world? If anything has karma, why not a Kewpie doll?

Yoshiko Miki's work addresses issues of death and rebirth. The death of her mother three years ago caused Miki to search for answers as to why some people leave life at such a young age. She found that the only way to address this was to disregard the idea of life having an ending point and instead to view life as a continuation. Influenced by her Buddhist background, Miki wondered who her mother might have been re-born as: "A man? Or a woman?" and where she could be: "Here in America with me? Or back in Japan with my father and my little sister?"

In reincarnation, the karma of a person continues into the next life; no matter what form they are reborn. Miki depicts her mother's reincarnation through Kewpie dolls -- an iconic image of happiness and love, words that also describe her mother's approach to life. The subject of rebirth is reinforced by the infantile nature of the dolls and by their number. The 80 dolls signify the importance of the numbers 8 and 0 which represent endless life; when drawn out, there is no beginning or ending point for either number. Significantly, when the number 8 is rotated 90 degrees in either direction, it becomes a symbol for infinity. Kewpie Karma/80 deals with themes of death, rebirth and karma through an iconic medium.

Yoshiko Miki (1987) was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. At the age of 16 she moved to the United States and lived in Lancaster, PA and would remain there for a year before moving to Syracuse. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt and currently is enrolled at the Pratt Institute at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica where she is studying fine arts with a concentration in sculpture.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

Works of Sandra Philips and Helen Woodmansee
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Exhibit features artists Sandra Philips, decorative painting and portraits, and Helen Woodmansee, paintings, etchings and monoprints.

The Sixth Annual Westcott Art Trail Sale
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

Beautiful art and craft items will be available at 15 home locations in the Westcott neighborhood, and feature the work of more than 50 artists. Items for sale include handmade jewelry, wearables, pottery, painting and drawing, sculpture, patio tables, and fabulous items for the garden. Some artists will be selling from their studios and gardens so there will be a lot for the whole family to see!

The will be a farmer's market, The Lost Boys of Sudan, and more art work for sale at the Westcott Community Center. Free maps of the artist's locations are available at Westcott St. merchants, local galleries, at the Community Center as well as on the WCC web site (http://www.westcottcc.org), or as a PDF download. Watch for the signs at intersections and the big yellow signs at sale stops, all within the vibrant east side neighborhood.

The Whipping Post: Photos by Brantley Carroll
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Blending historical images and engravings or text, Brantley Carroll's exhibition explores the legacy of The Middle Passage and the American Plantation System of Slavery in the United States. The exhibition engages the viewer in a visual tête-à-tête with colonial slavery and starkly captures the instrumentation of abuses that slaves endured. Each photograph draws you in to witness and read the digitally interwoven images and text taken from antebellum slave auctions, warrants, historical maps and documents.

In a piece entitled Thomas Jefferson's Slave Sally Hemmings, a young woman looks out beyond the words and signatures pearled together to constitute the foundation of a country. This piece holds a special significance to the artist, amongst commonly recognized filigree marks -- Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin -- is a Charles Carroll, the artist's great, great, great-grandfather. "My father, Walter Carroll was reportedly very ashamed when as a young man he learned that he was the descendant of Charles Carroll. Carroll was a founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence. An Irish Catholic immigrant, Carroll became a wealthy landowner in Maryland who founded the first industrial Iron Works in Baltimore and owned a large tobacco plantation. He owned one thousand slaves."

Artist Brantley Carroll contends, "that a nation, like an individual, must face its sins and make amends if it is to move toward greatness and enlightenment. It is the goal of my work to more fully understand and educate people about what the sins and realities of slavery and more importantly how its legacy pervades today."

Exploring History With Art: Work!
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The third art exhibition in the series features occupations and places of work. Appropriately titled "Occupations & Places of Work," the exhibition showcases paintings illustrating different occupations and places of work in Onondaga County through the years.

Inside the exhibit gallery you'll see Onondaga Pottery, Comfort Tyler's Tavern, Good Shepherd Hospital, salt towers, and several others depicting the diverse places to work in Onondaga County from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith
The Warehouse Gallery
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Songs of Hearth and Valor, Recital in 8 Dominions, After Bessie Smith is artist Terry Adkins' multi-media tribute to Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues. Working with a variety of materials Adkins weaves sculpture into a narrative installation that is both a tribute to and a lament for the transformative power of Smith's vocal artistry.

In an essay that accompanies the exhibition Dr. Kheli R. Willetts, academic director of CFAC and assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Syracuse University writes, "Adkins' work creates an environment which challenges us to engage with Smith beyond her status as a legendary musical performer. He has resurrected her as a creative deity whose stage has now become a temple and the viewers are transformed into her devotees as they enter the space."

Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers of all time. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African American recording artist before her. Yet in her adopted home of Philadelphia she remains unsung and even her grave remained unmarked until 1970.

Adkins commutes regularly from New York to Philadelphia where he teaches in the Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania. This exhibition is a continued exploration of his use of figures in history whose contributions to society are overlooked, under appreciated, or just not given the stature that he believes they should have in society. Although Adkins work emanates from an activist position, it evolves from abstract forms with the intent of educating the public about historical figures through ways that are not image based or narrative-based but that challenge the viewer to think abstractly in relating to the stories of the lives of the people concerned.

Terry Adkins has been exhibiting internationally since 1980. He is Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania where he recently installed Darkwater: A Recital in Four Dominions, a tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Adkins has published numerous essays and has completed several significant public commissions. In addition to being a highly respected artist and sought after guest lecturer, his artworks have been placed in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among other significant museums and collections. He received his B.S. from Fisk University and his M.F.A from the University of Kentucky.

Read a review!

Taste of Syracuse

Price: Free
Clinton Square
Downtown, Syracuse

More than 110 area restaurants, food vendors, artisans, exhibitors and wineries will provide two days of fun, food and live music.

Main Stage
2:30pm: The Reissues
4:00pm: Stroke
6:00pm: Mikey Powell and Villains Trust
7:45pm: Molly Hatchet
9:30pm: The Marshall Tucker Band

Clinton Square Stage
12:30pm: Fayetteville-Manlius High School Jazz Ensemble
2:00pm: Juliet Lloyd
4:00pm: Whiskey Mae
6:00pm: Shelly and the Barndogs
8:00pm: J-Project

Emerging Artist Stage
12:00pm: Pirate CNY Contest Winner
12:40pm: The Andrea Doria
1:20pm: Vapor Aevum
2:00pm: Fairway
2:40pm: Fazeshift
3:20pm: HondoMesa andMidnight Mike
4:00pm: 3rd & Main
5:00pm: Grey Tide
6:00pm: The Icon and The Axe
7:00pm: Honor Bright
8:00pm: Anorexic Beauty Queen
9:00pm: Rocko Dorsey
10:00pm: Merit

Greek Festival

Price: Free
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
325 Waring Rd., Syracuse

Unchained Memories: Readings from Slave Narratives
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the early 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project mounted a project to transcribe the memories of former African-American slaves who were still living. The result was a massive collection of notes, documents, and recordings, all of which found their way into the Library of Congress. Co-produced by the Library and the HBO cable channel, Unchained Memories: Readings From the Slave Narratives features a truly impressive array of black performers sharing the reminiscences of those who lived under the yoke of slavery. Directors Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon complement the words with vivid images culled from contemporary photographs of the years 1850-1935.

Unchained Memories will be screening in the Herbert T. Williams Gallery throughout The Whipping Post exhibition. Come sit for a moment with 'elders' and listen to this stunning collection of slave stories.

Disney Delights Cabaret
Syracuse Chorale
Warren Ottey, conductor

Price: $15 regular; $10 children 6-12; children 5 and under free
Blessed Sacrament School
3127 James St., Syracuse

The Syracuse Chorale honors the genius of Walt Disney (1901-1966) in presenting our annual Cabaret concert. As the world's greatest cartoonist, Walt Disney was more than a genius of the visual. He also understood the magic of music to tickle the ribs or tug at the heartstrings of his millions of fans. To this end, he employed leading film and classical composers to furnish his movies with music of every description, and create songs that were so right, so real, and so meaningful that they have become popular classics.

So munch on our famous stick-to-your-ribs culinary delights, such as our Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious homemade hors d'oeuvres, and our equally sumptuous homespun desserts, which take A Spoonful of Sugar to exponential heights. The Chorale will Chim-Chim-Cher-ee your spirits with choral medleys, solos, and ensembles from the early days of Disney movies to the present, and take you on a delightful trip down memory lane and then bring you back.

Karen Savoca with Pete Heitzman
Redhouse

Price: $15
Former Redhouse Theater
219 S. West St., Syracuse

Redhouse welcomes back soulful folk singer/songwriter Karen Savoca with special guest Pete Heitzman.

Karen Savoca puts her heart into a song the way a great actor throws herself into a role. Her supple, soulful alto charms with an infinite range of expression. She can even sing several notes at once, her own brand of throat singing she calls vocal hydroplaning. Savoca is also a gifted songwriter, drawing you into her world with humor and compassion, telling her stories with such grace and ease, you feel as though you've been invited to her table for supper. Though she composes and records on a variety of instruments, Savoca opts for the primal combination of voice and drum in live performance, and her groove is wide and satisfying.

Pete Heitzman's "inspired and transcendent guitar work is central to their signature sound." He'll mimic a cello, a pedal steel, a rutting elk, and some things only imagined. With this broad pallet of tones and textures he paints the ideal landscapes for Savoca's engaging songs. An innovative and sensitive accompanist, Heitzman is so full of surprises that he has been called "a human aurora borealis". An 1890s church in the hills of upstate New York serves as home, recording studio and headquarters for their own Alcove Records. Savoca's sixth solo release, In The Dirt (2006), was captured in a two day session with Heitzman and longtime collaborator, T-Bone Wolk (Shawn Colvin, Elvis Costello, Hall & Oates).

Notable appearances include The Today Show, A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, Big Top Chautauqua, The Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg Folk Festivals. They have recorded and produced other artists, their music has been heard in movies and documentaries, and they have scored two feature length films.

Alice in Wonderland
Magic Circle Children's Theatre

Price: $5
Spaghetti Warehouse
689 N. Clinton St., Syracuse

Interactive family performance.

Go, Dog, Go!
Gifford Family Theatre

Coyne Center for the Performing Arts
LeMoyne College, Syracuse

P. D. Eastman's classic children's book comes to life in a free-for-all of movement, color, and space. This is a rollicking riot of canine chicanery, like a pop-up book that comes to life -- and never stops.

Read a Review!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Go, Dog, Go!
Gifford Family Theatre

Coyne Center for the Performing Arts
LeMoyne College, Syracuse

P. D. Eastman's classic children's book comes to life in a free-for-all of movement, color, and space. This is a rollicking riot of canine chicanery, like a pop-up book that comes to life -- and never stops.

Read a Review!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Bath House: The Musical!
Rarely Done Productions
Dan Tursi, director

Price: $20
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St., Syracuse

Four men, four doors, four bath towels -- and lots of bawdy music! Need we say more? Mature audiences.

Read a Review!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Exploring History With Art: Work!
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The third art exhibition in the series features occupations and places of work. Appropriately titled "Occupations & Places of Work," the exhibition showcases paintings illustrating different occupations and places of work in Onondaga County through the years.

Inside the exhibit gallery you'll see Onondaga Pottery, Comfort Tyler's Tavern, Good Shepherd Hospital, salt towers, and several others depicting the diverse places to work in Onondaga County from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Works of Sandra Philips and Helen Woodmansee
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Exhibit features artists Sandra Philips, decorative painting and portraits, and Helen Woodmansee, paintings, etchings and monoprints.

The Sixth Annual Westcott Art Trail Sale
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

Beautiful art and craft items will be available at 15 home locations in the Westcott neighborhood, and feature the work of more than 50 artists. Items for sale include handmade jewelry, wearables, pottery, painting and drawing, sculpture, patio tables, and fabulous items for the garden. Some artists will be selling from their studios and gardens so there will be a lot for the whole family to see!

The will be a farmer's market, The Lost Boys of Sudan, and more art work for sale at the Westcott Community Center. Free maps of the artist's locations are available at Westcott St. merchants, local galleries, at the Community Center as well as on the WCC web site (http://www.westcottcc.org), or as a PDF download. Watch for the signs at intersections and the big yellow signs at sale stops, all within the vibrant east side neighborhood.

Greek Festival

Price: Free
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
325 Waring Rd., Syracuse

Lesser-Mined Piano Gems
Civic Morning Musicals
Featuring Sar-Shalom Strong, piano

Price: $15 regular, students free
First Presbyterian Church of Syracuse
620 W. Genesee St, Syracuse

Great music by great composers, including Domenico Scarlatti, Clara Schumann, Gabriel Faure, Serge Prokofieff, Samuel barber, and Gabriella Frank.

Sunday Afternoon Serenade
Richard McKee, bass; Jimi James, baritone; Nancy B. James, piano

Price: Suggested donation, $10
Fairmount Community Church
4801 W. Genesee St. , Syracuse

Featuring arias by Rossini, Tosti, Mendelssohn, and Verdi. Reception will follow.

For more information, phone 315-487-8521.

Disney Delights Cabaret
Syracuse Chorale
Warren Ottey, conductor

Price: $15 regular; $10 children 6-12; children 5 and under free
Blessed Sacrament School
3127 James St., Syracuse

The Syracuse Chorale honors the genius of Walt Disney (1901-1966) in presenting our annual Cabaret concert. As the world's greatest cartoonist, Walt Disney was more than a genius of the visual. He also understood the magic of music to tickle the ribs or tug at the heartstrings of his millions of fans. To this end, he employed leading film and classical composers to furnish his movies with music of every description, and create songs that were so right, so real, and so meaningful that they have become popular classics.

So munch on our famous stick-to-your-ribs culinary delights, such as our Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious homemade hors d'oeuvres, and our equally sumptuous homespun desserts, which take A Spoonful of Sugar to exponential heights. The Chorale will Chim-Chim-Cher-ee your spirits with choral medleys, solos, and ensembles from the early days of Disney movies to the present, and take you on a delightful trip down memory lane and then bring you back.

TK99 Soundcheck
Redhouse
Featuring Ron Spencer and Mat Burke

Price: $5
Former Redhouse Theater
219 S. West St., Syracuse

Dave Frisina hosts the longest-running local music show in Central New York. This month's Soundcheck will feature the musicians Ron Spencer and Mat Burke. Since 1979 Soundcheck has maintained that "the best rock around can be found right in your own backyard!" Listen to Soundcheck and find out for yourself!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!

Monday, June 9, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

Crystal LaPoint: PhotoImpressions
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

The digital artwork of Crystal LaPoint, PhotoImpressions, embraces a dramatic range of styles. Crystal digitally redefines her own original photographic images into unique fine art prints, produced with museum-quality archival materials. Her work has been exhibited at the Delavan Art Gallery, OCPL at the Galleries, the Technology Garden, Everson Museum, Ann Felton Multicultural Center, and Hospice of CNY, and has earned awards at the New York State Fair and from the CNY Art Guild. A native of Pennsylvania, Crystal is a long time resident of Central New York. She attended Syracuse University, where she earned advanced degrees in both Piano Performance and Music Theory and Composition. She is a self-taught artist, a professional pianist, published composer and poet, and a mother of three children. Crystal is the PR/Communications Manager for the Central New York Chapter of Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Artist's Statement: Serendipity -- that sums up my experience as a visual artist. I discovered the process of digitally manipulating photographic images as a blissful accident, and it has become my creative playground. The forgiving nature of the medium allows for endless trial and error. But it also invites fearless exploration and experimentation. My creative intuition grows in direct proportion to my fluency with this virtual toolbox, and I now approach each new photograph imagining a host of possibilities for its evolution. But it is always the unexpected twist, the daring leap, the "let's give this a whirl and see how it turns out!" that ultimately results in my best work. My current exhibit balances some quiet, austere pieces with vivid virtual textures.

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Works of Sandra Philips and Helen Woodmansee
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Exhibit features artists Sandra Philips, decorative painting and portraits, and Helen Woodmansee, paintings, etchings and monoprints.

Footsteps in the Fog
Syracuse Cinephile Society

Price: $3 non-members, $2.50 members
Spaghetti Warehouse
689 N. Clinton St., Syracuse

Footsteps in the Fog, a 1955 Victorian thriller starring Stewart Granger as a slick wife-murderer and Jean Simmons as a maid who knows what he's done.

Kim Fetters & Andy Rudy
Liverpool is the Place

Price: Free
Johnson Park
Corner of Vine and Oswego Streets, Liverpool

Music by one of best duos in Central New York, featuring pop diva Fetters and versatile keyboardist Rudy, playing classic rock and originals. Rain Date: Tuesday, June 10th.

Meet the Cast of Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Price: Free
Barnes & Noble
3454 Erie Blvd. E., Dewitt

A discussion with the Syracuse Stage cast of "Menopause The Musical" will focus on motherhood, music and menopause, followed by a live performance. In association with this event, mention Syracuse Stage at the register of the DeWitt store and a percentage of purchases made June 9-15 at Barnes & Noble will go toward supporting Syracuse Stage.

Three of the four talented women who appeared in last season's record-shattering run of "Menopause The Musical" are reprising their roles for Syracuse Stage's unprecedented third production of the wildly popular show. Returning cast members are Tiffanie Bridges (Power Woman), Stephanie Pascaris (Earth Mother) and Liz Hyde (Iowa Housewife). This will be the first Syracuse run for Kimberly Vanbiesbrouck (Soap Star), who has performed "Menopause" around the country for more than four years, including the longest running show in Detroit theatre history. Satori Shakoor, the Syracuse Stage understudy who performed "Menopause" in Albany and Detroit, will also join the cast for this event.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

WRAP (World Reclamation Art Project)
International Fiber Collaborative

Price: Free
2301 E. Colvin St.
(corner of Nottingham), Syracuse

Artist Jennifer Marsh and participants from all over the world have crocheted, knitted, stitched, patched, or collaged 3-foot square fiber panels that express concern about the world's extreme dependency on oil. The panels have been sewn together to completely cover an abandoned gas station.

For more information, visit internationalfibercollaborative.com.

Onondaga Art Guild Spring Show

Price: Free
Hospice of Central New York
990 Seventh North St., Liverpool

For more information, phone 315-449-2240.

The Materials of Color: Paintings by Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Labyrinths
Point of Contact Gallery

Price: Free
Point of Contact Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

A life-size maze of mirrors and dreams reveals an exceptional collection of works by Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna: a fugue-like series of 25 drawings and etchings inspired by the Borgian notion of the labyrinth, with Icarus as protagonist. Twenty-three 7-foot tall mirrored panels form this massive installation that complicates and multiplies the space of the gallery, and infiltrates the observer.

Invasion! The Culture of Fear in America
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

Price: Free
Bird Library, 6th Floor
Syracuse University, Syracuse

This student-curated exhibition illustrates the concept of fear in the United States. The students, members of the Renee Crown University Honors Program taking the Spring 2008 course American Fear, felt that the theme of "invasion" underlies many of our historical anxieties relating to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues. The idea that different people, aliens or even epidemics, like the AIDS virus during the 1980s, might infiltrate society and bring about sweeping change has been cause for extreme fear in the American experience. The exhibition raises questions of identity, and the class hopes that visitors will "understand their differences and be less discriminating in their actions."

Among the exhibited works that illuminate the roots of our culture of fear are a 1651 edition of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," Cotton Mather's 1693 account of the Salem Witch trials, the literature of the Red Scare, a variety of pulp science fiction magazines and Werner Pfeiffer's sculptural tribute to the victims of 9/11 "Out of the Sky."

Crystal LaPoint: PhotoImpressions
Westcott Community Center

Price: Free
Westcott Community Center
Corner of Euclid Ave. and Westcott St., Syracuse

The digital artwork of Crystal LaPoint, PhotoImpressions, embraces a dramatic range of styles. Crystal digitally redefines her own original photographic images into unique fine art prints, produced with museum-quality archival materials. Her work has been exhibited at the Delavan Art Gallery, OCPL at the Galleries, the Technology Garden, Everson Museum, Ann Felton Multicultural Center, and Hospice of CNY, and has earned awards at the New York State Fair and from the CNY Art Guild. A native of Pennsylvania, Crystal is a long time resident of Central New York. She attended Syracuse University, where she earned advanced degrees in both Piano Performance and Music Theory and Composition. She is a self-taught artist, a professional pianist, published composer and poet, and a mother of three children. Crystal is the PR/Communications Manager for the Central New York Chapter of Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Artist's Statement: Serendipity -- that sums up my experience as a visual artist. I discovered the process of digitally manipulating photographic images as a blissful accident, and it has become my creative playground. The forgiving nature of the medium allows for endless trial and error. But it also invites fearless exploration and experimentation. My creative intuition grows in direct proportion to my fluency with this virtual toolbox, and I now approach each new photograph imagining a host of possibilities for its evolution. But it is always the unexpected twist, the daring leap, the "let's give this a whirl and see how it turns out!" that ultimately results in my best work. My current exhibit balances some quiet, austere pieces with vivid virtual textures.

The Gathering
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Patrice Downes Centore: still life and landscape watercolors
Lauren Bristol: sculptural basketry
Diane Menzies: naturalistic oil paintings

Read a review!

The Whipping Post: Photos by Brantley Carroll
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Blending historical images and engravings or text, Brantley Carroll's exhibition explores the legacy of The Middle Passage and the American Plantation System of Slavery in the United States. The exhibition engages the viewer in a visual tête-à-tête with colonial slavery and starkly captures the instrumentation of abuses that slaves endured. Each photograph draws you in to witness and read the digitally interwoven images and text taken from antebellum slave auctions, warrants, historical maps and documents.

In a piece entitled Thomas Jefferson's Slave Sally Hemmings, a young woman looks out beyond the words and signatures pearled together to constitute the foundation of a country. This piece holds a special significance to the artist, amongst commonly recognized filigree marks -- Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin -- is a Charles Carroll, the artist's great, great, great-grandfather. "My father, Walter Carroll was reportedly very ashamed when as a young man he learned that he was the descendant of Charles Carroll. Carroll was a founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence. An Irish Catholic immigrant, Carroll became a wealthy landowner in Maryland who founded the first industrial Iron Works in Baltimore and owned a large tobacco plantation. He owned one thousand slaves."

Artist Brantley Carroll contends, "that a nation, like an individual, must face its sins and make amends if it is to move toward greatness and enlightenment. It is the goal of my work to more fully understand and educate people about what the sins and realities of slavery and more importantly how its legacy pervades today."

Blake Fitch: The Expectations of Adolescence
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Robert B. Menschel Media Center
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Blake Fitch's photographs capture her sister, cousin, and friends as they have grown from children to young adults. Fitch has been able to draw on the autobiographical nature of photography by creating candid and intimate images of her family.

Works of Sandra Philips and Helen Woodmansee
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Exhibit features artists Sandra Philips, decorative painting and portraits, and Helen Woodmansee, paintings, etchings and monoprints.

Unchained Memories: Readings from Slave Narratives
Community Folk Art Center

Price: Free
Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the early 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project mounted a project to transcribe the memories of former African-American slaves who were still living. The result was a massive collection of notes, documents, and recordings, all of which found their way into the Library of Congress. Co-produced by the Library and the HBO cable channel, Unchained Memories: Readings From the Slave Narratives features a truly impressive array of black performers sharing the reminiscences of those who lived under the yoke of slavery. Directors Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon complement the words with vivid images culled from contemporary photographs of the years 1850-1935.

Unchained Memories will be screening in the Herbert T. Williams Gallery throughout The Whipping Post exhibition. Come sit for a moment with 'elders' and listen to this stunning collection of slave stories.

Menopause The Musical
Syracuse Stage

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Menopause The Musical brings together four women (a Power Woman, Earth Mother, Soap Star and an Iowa Housewife) at a NYC Bloomingdale's lingerie sale, who have nothing in common but a black lace bra and hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges, not enough sex, too much sex, plastic surgery and more! Menopause The Musical joyfully parodies 25 of the top "baby boomer" songs of the '60s and '70s celebrating women who are or will be experiencing The Change.

Read a review!