Friday, March 13, 2009

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

Two: Recent Works by Frederick Bartolovic and Chris McEvoy, and Emerging: Recent Works by Lacey Mckinney
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium
2 Clinton Square, Syracuse

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Dinosaurs Had Sharp Teeth! Works of Chris Wildrick
Redhouse

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

For several years Chris Wildrick has been working to become a self-taught professional paleontologist. He specializes in "dinosaur aesthetics," or why we think dinosaurs looked the way we think they looked. What kinds of colors and patterns did they have? How did they move? What did they sound like? How have our conceptions of these things changed over the years?

He creates his work through interactive projects with the public, which take the form of polls, games, and creative activities. For the past several months he has worked as an artist in residence with the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), doing projects at their Museum of the Earth in Ithaca as well as the New York State Fair and local schools.

This exhibition compiles his research into colorful and complex charts and graphs, audio recordings, and sculptures. He will also be doing his interactive projects at the opening and at other points throughout the show, so anyone can join in and share in the creation of the work. Chris will try to guess your favorite dinosaur, ask you to make dinosaur sounds, and challenge you to recast famous movies using only dinosaur species in the actors' roles. Plus, try to beat the reigning champion as you name as many dinosaurs as you can in one minute!

Redhouse Art Radio will feature selections from his audio projects, including interviews with famous dinosaur illustrators, throughout the show.

This show is great for all ages: it's philosophical, experimental, and hey, it has dinosaurs.

Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
Syracuse University Art Museum

Price: Free
Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The exhibition brings together more than 80 engravings, vivid Orientalist paintings, decorative objects, and documents and letters made during General Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign of 1791-1801. While unsuccessful as a military campaign, the endeavor was extremely successful and a cultural expedition. Napoleon brought over 150 scholars with him and their investigations into the country's ancient and contemporary societies formed the foundation of modern Egyptology and were a major achievement. From the Dahesh Museum of Art.

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

Wild Card Exhibit: Ceramics by Carles Vives
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Fiber Art
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Works include framed batik, cloth colleges, sculptural coiled basketry, quilting, tapestry, and more by artists Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng, Sharon Bottle Souva, Lauren Bristol, Barbara Conte-Gaugel, Linda Esterley, Alice Gant, Hilary Gifford, Mary Kester, and Holly Knott.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

Landscapes and Interiors: Works of Kianga Ford
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In this solo exhibition, Los Angeles-Boston based artist Kianga Ford presents a set of installations with sound that explore the contemporary Syracuse landscape and the potential of its spaces to create communities out of relative strangers. The three zones of the exhibition transition from exterior landscapes to interior spaces, crossing between the spaces of the sacred and profane to re-create the dynamics of contemporary urbanity -- blending the deep interiors of the religious sanctuary with the VIP rooms of strip clubs, the food court with the bus stop.

Hope in a Time of Turmoil: Colombia and the Art of Jafeth Gómez Ledesma
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Artist, activist, dreamer and teacher -- Jafeth Gómez Ledesma will exhibit his vision of Colombia at the ArtRage Gallery as part of a visit to the United States to speak, conduct workshops and celebrate art and hope.

Love & Patience
Orange Line Gallery

Price: Free
Orange Line Gallery
106 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The exhibit is a mix of traditional to abstract works, but remaining modern throughout. The show title refers not only to the content of the pieces, but also the artist's connection to their work and process. New work will be featured by previous OL artists including Alejandro Bettencourt, Amber Blanding, David McKenney, Debra Parry Trichilo, Jace Collins, Jacqueline Adamo, Laura Celuch, Melissa Tiffany and Spencer Baker.

FridayFLICS: Antonia's Line
ArtRage Gallery

Price: $5 suggested donation
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

A Dutch matron founds and, for several generations, watches over a supportive, matriarchal community where feminism and liberalism flourish. Oscar: Best Foreign language Film, Toronto Film Festival: Most Popular Film, Nederland's Film Festival Golden Calf Award. (Directed by Marleen Gorris, 1996)

Festival Pre-Screening
Syracuse International Film Festival

Price: Free
Curtin Auditorium, Onondaga County Public Library
The Galleries of Syracuse, 447 S. Salina St., Syracuse

Selected shorts from past festivals.

Uwe Kind in Concert

Price: $5
Fayetteville-Manlius High School
8201 E. Seneca Tpke., Manlius

For more information, phone 315-655-5892.

Pops Series: When Swing is King
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
Featuring Carl Topilow, conductor/clarinet

Crouse Hinds Concert Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

With energetic selections from the Dixieland and Swing eras, Carl Topilow and his signature red clarinet will pave the way for a vibrant, joyful musical experience you'll long remember.

Writer Dan Roche
Downtown Writer's Center

Price: Free
YMCA Downtown
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Dan Roche is a writer of essays and memoirs, including Great Expectation: A Father's Diary (Iowa, 2008) and Love's Labor (Riverhead, 1999). His essays have appeared in many journals, including The North American Review and SportsJones. He was a 2005 New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Nonfiction Literature, and he teaches at LeMoyne College.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Onondaga Hillplayers
Robert Steingraber, director

Price: $40 includes dinner and show
Inn of the Seasons
4311 W. Seneca Tpke., Syracuse

Neil Simon's tale of a man yearning for a romantic fling to spice up his boring married life, which results in one disaster after another.

Read a review!

Beauty and the Beast
Fabius-Pompey High School

Price: $8 regular; $5 students/seniors
Fabius-Pompey High School
1211 Mill St., Fabius

Pirates of Penzance
LaFayette High School

Price: $8 adults; $5 students; $25 per family
LaFayette High School
3122 Route 11 North, LaFayette

Exit the Body
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Jon J. Barden, director

Price: $15 adults; $12 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

A mystery writer rents a New England house that is the rendezvous point for some jewel thieves. The focal point of the set is the closet which opens into a living room and a library. A body found in the closet promptly disappears only to be succeeded by another. The hunt for the jewels reaches a climax at 2:00 AM when four couples unknown to each other turn up to search. Not since the days of Mark Sennett has there been such an hilarious series of entrances and exits.

The Boys Next Door
Appleseed Productions
Sharee Lemos, director

Price: $15 regular; $12 students/seniors
Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

In a communal residence in New England, four mentally handicapped men live under the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly "burned out" young social worker named Jack. Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and is unable to resist the lure of the sweet pastries, takes great pride in the huge bundle of keys that dangles from his waist; Lucien P. Smith has the mind of a five-year-old but imagines that he is able to read and comprehend the weighty books he lugs about; Arnold, the ringleader of the group, is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer, who suffers from deep-seated insecurities and a persecution complex; while Barry, a brilliant schizophrenic, fantasizes that he is a golf pro. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these four, where "little things" sometimes become momentous (and often very funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness, we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time that they are allotted on this earth. written by Tom Griffin.

Read a Review!

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
The Jordan-Elbridge Musical Players

Price: $9
Jordan-Elbridge High School
Hamilton Road, Jordan

Come, travel to a time in ancient Egypt and witness a compelling tale of conflicting loyalties and star-crossed lovers in the award-winning Broadway musical, AIDA.

AIDA is a musical bursting with contemporary energy chronicling the love between Aida, a Nubian princess stolen from her country, Amneris, the Egyptian princess she serves and Radames, the soldier they both love. Aida is an epic tale of love, loyalty and betrayal, with an exhilarating Tony and Grammy Award-winning score by Elton John and Tim Rice in their first collaboration since writing the worldwide phenomenon The Lion King.

For ticket information, phone 315-689-8500 x1700 or visit www.jecsd.org. Tickets will be available at the door.

Bash
Rarely Done Productions
Dan Tursi, director

Price: $25 (includes post-show reception)
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St., Syracuse

"Atrocity is 'the new black'", says filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute. The play is a dark vision of casual atrocity; "matter of fact brutality" as LaBute puts it, in which understandable individuals with mundane characteristics inflict pain on themselves and others in the name of prosaic goals with socially insignificant results. The work takes the form of an assemblage of three monologues themed around ordinary people who commit murder. The author reinforces the awfulness of the crimes by framing them with stories which lack a sense of redemption or catharsis. Each piece is instead a testament to the creeping horror which has enveloped the murderers (or is poised to) even as life goes on as if what they had done had never happened.

Read a Review!

The Pillowman
Simply New Theatre

Price: $20
BeVard Room, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Playwright Martin McDonagh has been called "one of the theatrical luminaries of the 21st century" by The New Republic. While still in his 20s, the Anglo-Irish playwright filled houses in New York and London, was showered with the theater world's most prestigious accolades, and electrified audiences with his cunningly crafted and outrageous tragicomedies. His latest drama, The Pillowman, continues this trajectory, winning the 2004 Oliver Award for Best Play. With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka, and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders. The result is an urgent work of theatrical bravura - an unflinching examination of the very nature and purpose of art that is sure to "be staged for generations to come" (Ben Brantley, The New York Times).

Read a Review!

Up
Syracuse Stage
Penny Metropulos, director

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

Once upon a time Walter Griffin attached 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and soared 16,000 feet into the wild blue yonder. Mission accomplished. Dream fulfilled. What could he see of his life in such rarefied air? What was left of the vision when he touched down on the ground? Bridget Carpenter is a young American playwright on the rise, and in this contemporary parable, based on the true story of Walter Griffin, she dares us to consider what it is in the human spirit that makes us want to soar beyond the realm of reason. Why are we fascinated with the seemingly impossible? What makes daredevil aerialist Philippe Petit ascend the high wire? And why does he make frequent appearances in this clever and altogether amusing and intriguing play? Come down from the wire and we might have to find a job, or support a wife, or take care of a son, or ... find a new dream.

Read a Review!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Fiber Art
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Artist Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng

Works include framed batik, cloth colleges, sculptural coiled basketry, quilting, tapestry, and more by artists Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng, Sharon Bottle Souva, Lauren Bristol, Barbara Conte-Gaugel, Linda Esterley, Alice Gant, Hilary Gifford, Mary Kester, and Holly Knott.

Artist Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng will be in attendance 12:00-3:00pm.

Wild Card Exhibit: Ceramics by Carles Vives
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

Hope in a Time of Turmoil: Colombia and the Art of Jafeth Gómez Ledesma
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Artist, activist, dreamer and teacher -- Jafeth Gómez Ledesma will exhibit his vision of Colombia at the ArtRage Gallery as part of a visit to the United States to speak, conduct workshops and celebrate art and hope.

Love & Patience
Orange Line Gallery

Price: Free
Orange Line Gallery
106 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The exhibit is a mix of traditional to abstract works, but remaining modern throughout. The show title refers not only to the content of the pieces, but also the artist's connection to their work and process. New work will be featured by previous OL artists including Alejandro Bettencourt, Amber Blanding, David McKenney, Debra Parry Trichilo, Jace Collins, Jacqueline Adamo, Laura Celuch, Melissa Tiffany and Spencer Baker.

Landscapes and Interiors: Works of Kianga Ford
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In this solo exhibition, Los Angeles-Boston based artist Kianga Ford presents a set of installations with sound that explore the contemporary Syracuse landscape and the potential of its spaces to create communities out of relative strangers. The three zones of the exhibition transition from exterior landscapes to interior spaces, crossing between the spaces of the sacred and profane to re-create the dynamics of contemporary urbanity -- blending the deep interiors of the religious sanctuary with the VIP rooms of strip clubs, the food court with the bus stop.

Film Screening: Brick Lane
Community Folk Art Center

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

Based on the award-winning novel by Monica Ali, Brick Lane, directed by Sarah Gavron, is the story of a beautiful young Bangladeshi woman who arrives in 1980s London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home, for an arranged marriage and a new life. Nazneen's mother always told her she was a survivor, but trapped within the four walls of her flat in East London, and in a loveless marriage with the middle aged Chanu, she fears her soul is quietly dying. Her sister Hasina, meanwhile, continues to live a carefree life back in Bangladesh, stumbling from one adventure to the next. Nazneen struggles to accept her lot and keeps her head up in spite of life's blows. But she soon discovers that life cannot be avoided -- and is forced to confront it the day that the hotheaded young Karim comes knocking at her door. The seduction shared between Nazneen and Karim is as cautious as it is risky. Director Sarah Gavron balances these intimate moments against the increasingly tense atmosphere in Brick Lane as the tightly knit Muslim community reacts to the events of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath. Set against the changing backdrop of multicultural Britain, this film is a truly contemporary story of love, of cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit.

After the screening guests are invited to stay for a talk back with Syracuse University Professor, Dr. Farhana Sultana at 4:00pm in the Screening Studio.

Dr. Farhana Sultana is Assistant Professor of Geography at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Prior to joining SU, she taught at King's College London in England and worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Her BA degree is from Princeton University and MA and PhD degrees from University of Minnesota. As a native of Bangladesh whose research focuses on international development issues, Dr. Sultana brings perspectives that are influenced by life experiences, work experiences, and academic training. She has lived and worked on three continents, and endeavors to weave together transnational feminist and critical development theories in order to better understand our complex and uneven world.

Dr. Sultana will share her experiences of living and working in London as a Bangladeshi woman and witnessing the resistance to the film within the actual Brick Lane community in order to position the film within broader postcolonial discourses of development, displacement, and feminism.

The Kennedys
Westcott Community Center

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

The story of Pete and Maura Kennedy's personal and professional relationship, now in its second decade, is somewhere between fate and a fairytale. How else can you explain a chance meeting in Austin between two East Coast-born musicians that immediately sparked a songwriting collaboration, a first date at Buddy Holly's grave, an enduring romance, and a creative partnership that radiates warmth, positive energy, and captivating music?

In 1992, Virginia native Pete Kennedy was playing a solo show at Austin's Continental Club on a brief sabbatical from his duties as country-folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith's lead guitarist when he met former Syracuse resident Maura Boudreau, enjoying a night off from performing with her own country-rock band, The Delta Rays. The duo "instantly connected on a soul level, or maybe even something deeper," according to Pete. They wrote their first song together the following day before Pete returned to the road, and rendezvoused ten days later at mutual hero Buddy Holly's grave in Lubbock, TX, 500 miles equidistant between them. And that's how it started...

A Harmony of Harps

Price: Free
Marcellus Free Library
32 Maple St, Marcellus

Classical Irish harp music by O'Carolan, traditional folk tunes, and songs from the Irish music hall. For more information, phone 315-673-3221.

Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music
Belcea Quartet

Price: $20 regular, $15 senior, $10 student
Lincoln Middle School
1613 James St., Syracuse

The London-based Belcea Quartet has been taking the British and international chamber music circuit by storm, consistently receiving critical acclaim for their performances. Established at the Royal College of Music in 1994, the Belcea was subsequently named Resident Quartet of London's famed Wigmore Hall. They include music by Schubert, Brahms and Britten among their prize-winning recordings for EMI Classics.

Haydn String Quartet in D Major, Op. 50, No. 6, "The Frog"
Prokofiev String Quartet No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 50
Schubert String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden"

Pops Series: When Swing is King
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
Featuring Carl Topilow, conductor/clarinet

Crouse Hinds Concert Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

With energetic selections from the Dixieland and Swing eras, Carl Topilow and his signature red clarinet will pave the way for a vibrant, joyful musical experience you'll long remember.

Readings at 2:00 Series: Playwright Cheryl Costa
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The Secret of the Puppet's Book
Open Hand Theater

Price: $8 adults, $6 children
International Mask and Puppet Museum
518 Prospect Ave., Syracuse

Meet Lewis, a most unusual puppet, who lives in a book with a grumpy old man. The secret of magic, music, animals, people and places unfold as Lewis tries to learn to read. Lewis encounters the delightful world of books and celebrates the imagination of young audiences.

Michael Harms Theater Festival
CNY Arts

Price: Free
Carrier Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Some of the best high school performers, directors, and crews from Onondaga, Chenango and Jefferson counties will grace the Carrier Theater stage for two days, performing works ranging from original plays to Shakespeare to modern musicals to a Spanish language interpretation of an old standby.

Following each set of performances, stay to hear three theater professionals critique the days' productions. Neil Novelli, Len Fonte, and Lauren Unbekant will lend their expertise to each of the shows, providing commentary and advice to student actors, crews and directors.

Saturday's performances:
Not Your Typical Case: The Media Unit
Much Ado About Shakespeare: West Genesee High School
Jesus Christ Superstar: Nottingham High School
El Principito: La Joven Guardia del Teatro Latino

Little Red Riding Hood
Magic Circle Children's Theatre

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

Interactive version of the children's classic.

Beauty and the Beast
Fabius-Pompey High School

Price: $8 regular; $5 students/seniors
Fabius-Pompey High School
1211 Mill St., Fabius

Up
Syracuse Stage
Penny Metropulos, director

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

Once upon a time Walter Griffin attached 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and soared 16,000 feet into the wild blue yonder. Mission accomplished. Dream fulfilled. What could he see of his life in such rarefied air? What was left of the vision when he touched down on the ground? Bridget Carpenter is a young American playwright on the rise, and in this contemporary parable, based on the true story of Walter Griffin, she dares us to consider what it is in the human spirit that makes us want to soar beyond the realm of reason. Why are we fascinated with the seemingly impossible? What makes daredevil aerialist Philippe Petit ascend the high wire? And why does he make frequent appearances in this clever and altogether amusing and intriguing play? Come down from the wire and we might have to find a job, or support a wife, or take care of a son, or ... find a new dream.

Read a Review!

Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Onondaga Hillplayers
Robert Steingraber, director

Price: $40 includes dinner and show
Inn of the Seasons
4311 W. Seneca Tpke., Syracuse

Neil Simon's tale of a man yearning for a romantic fling to spice up his boring married life, which results in one disaster after another.

Read a review!

Beauty and the Beast
Fabius-Pompey High School

Price: $8 regular; $5 students/seniors
Fabius-Pompey High School
1211 Mill St., Fabius

Pirates of Penzance
LaFayette High School

Price: $8 adults; $5 students; $25 per family
LaFayette High School
3122 Route 11 North, LaFayette

Exit the Body
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Jon J. Barden, director

Price: $15 adults; $12 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

A mystery writer rents a New England house that is the rendezvous point for some jewel thieves. The focal point of the set is the closet which opens into a living room and a library. A body found in the closet promptly disappears only to be succeeded by another. The hunt for the jewels reaches a climax at 2:00 AM when four couples unknown to each other turn up to search. Not since the days of Mark Sennett has there been such an hilarious series of entrances and exits.

The Boys Next Door
Appleseed Productions
Sharee Lemos, director

Price: $15 regular; $12 students/seniors
Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

In a communal residence in New England, four mentally handicapped men live under the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly "burned out" young social worker named Jack. Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and is unable to resist the lure of the sweet pastries, takes great pride in the huge bundle of keys that dangles from his waist; Lucien P. Smith has the mind of a five-year-old but imagines that he is able to read and comprehend the weighty books he lugs about; Arnold, the ringleader of the group, is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer, who suffers from deep-seated insecurities and a persecution complex; while Barry, a brilliant schizophrenic, fantasizes that he is a golf pro. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these four, where "little things" sometimes become momentous (and often very funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness, we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time that they are allotted on this earth. written by Tom Griffin.

Read a Review!

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
The Jordan-Elbridge Musical Players

Price: $9
Jordan-Elbridge High School
Hamilton Road, Jordan

Come, travel to a time in ancient Egypt and witness a compelling tale of conflicting loyalties and star-crossed lovers in the award-winning Broadway musical, AIDA.

AIDA is a musical bursting with contemporary energy chronicling the love between Aida, a Nubian princess stolen from her country, Amneris, the Egyptian princess she serves and Radames, the soldier they both love. Aida is an epic tale of love, loyalty and betrayal, with an exhilarating Tony and Grammy Award-winning score by Elton John and Tim Rice in their first collaboration since writing the worldwide phenomenon The Lion King.

For ticket information, phone 315-689-8500 x1700 or visit www.jecsd.org. Tickets will be available at the door.

Bash
Rarely Done Productions
Dan Tursi, director

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

"Atrocity is 'the new black'", says filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute. The play is a dark vision of casual atrocity; "matter of fact brutality" as LaBute puts it, in which understandable individuals with mundane characteristics inflict pain on themselves and others in the name of prosaic goals with socially insignificant results. The work takes the form of an assemblage of three monologues themed around ordinary people who commit murder. The author reinforces the awfulness of the crimes by framing them with stories which lack a sense of redemption or catharsis. Each piece is instead a testament to the creeping horror which has enveloped the murderers (or is poised to) even as life goes on as if what they had done had never happened.

Read a Review!

The Pillowman
Simply New Theatre

Price: $20
BeVard Room, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Playwright Martin McDonagh has been called "one of the theatrical luminaries of the 21st century" by The New Republic. While still in his 20s, the Anglo-Irish playwright filled houses in New York and London, was showered with the theater world's most prestigious accolades, and electrified audiences with his cunningly crafted and outrageous tragicomedies. His latest drama, The Pillowman, continues this trajectory, winning the 2004 Oliver Award for Best Play. With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka, and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders. The result is an urgent work of theatrical bravura - an unflinching examination of the very nature and purpose of art that is sure to "be staged for generations to come" (Ben Brantley, The New York Times).

Read a Review!

Up
Syracuse Stage
Penny Metropulos, director

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

Once upon a time Walter Griffin attached 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and soared 16,000 feet into the wild blue yonder. Mission accomplished. Dream fulfilled. What could he see of his life in such rarefied air? What was left of the vision when he touched down on the ground? Bridget Carpenter is a young American playwright on the rise, and in this contemporary parable, based on the true story of Walter Griffin, she dares us to consider what it is in the human spirit that makes us want to soar beyond the realm of reason. Why are we fascinated with the seemingly impossible? What makes daredevil aerialist Philippe Petit ascend the high wire? And why does he make frequent appearances in this clever and altogether amusing and intriguing play? Come down from the wire and we might have to find a job, or support a wife, or take care of a son, or ... find a new dream.

Read a Review!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

Syracuse Irish Session
Arts Alive in Liverpool

Price: Free
Liverpool Public Library
310 Tulip St., Liverpool

The Syracuse Irish Session has been performing in Central New York since 1995. Our music originates in the dance traditions of Ireland and the British Isles but also includes related music from America, Canada, and elsewhere. The musicians, which normally number between five and a dozen players, perform in a "session" ("seisiún" in Gaelic) which is a spontaneous social gathering unique to trad culture. We are neither a band nor a free-for-all jam. Tunes are drawn from the thousands of jigs, reels, hornpipes and other dance melodies which have been passed from generation to generation. A musician might start up one tune and then pass it on to another player with a simple nod or glance as others join in. At its best, the music is unpredictable, joyous, thrilling. In any case, it is always fun.

Spring Fling
Spirit of Syracuse Chorus
Nancy Field, conductor

Price: $10 adults; $5 students
Fayetteville-Manlius High School
8201 E. Seneca Tpke., Manlius

Also appearing will be the Music Masters Chorus, the Blue Skies Quartet, the 2009 Sing-for-Scholarships finalists, and area high school a cappella groups.

Silver Screen Spectacular
Syracuse University Brass Ensemble
James T. Spencer, conductor
Featuring Bruce Paulsen, host

Price: $5 adults and students; $6 families; $2 seniors
Palace Theater
2384 James St., Syracuse

Presented in conjunction with WCNY, "Silver Screen Spectacular" is a multimedia event featuring live music and on-screen images arranged by a local company, Animotion. The program features selections from Amadeus, Apollo 13, Brassed Off, Kiss Me, Kate, The Lion King, Midway, The Mission, Mission: Impossible, Sister Act, and Zulu, in addition to cinematic highlights by Gilbert and Sullivan and music from popular animated features. Commentary will be provided by Paulsen, host of WCNY's "Classic Choices" and a professional singer, actor and director.

From Glen to Glen, Again -- Music of Ireland
Syracuse Vocal Ensemble
Robert Cowles, conductor

Price: $14 regular, $12 seniors, $5 children
St. Patrick's Church
216 N. Lowell Ave., Tipperary Hill, Syracuse

A celebration of Irish music, including traditional folk ballads, modern compositions, and a Gaelic setting of the Mass with fiddle, Celtic harp, pipes and whistles.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Onondaga Hillplayers
Robert Steingraber, director

Price: $40 includes dinner and show
Inn of the Seasons
4311 W. Seneca Tpke., Syracuse

Neil Simon's tale of a man yearning for a romantic fling to spice up his boring married life, which results in one disaster after another.

Read a review!

Michael Harms Theater Festival
CNY Arts

Price: Free
Carrier Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Some of the best high school performers, directors, and crews from Onondaga, Chenango and Jefferson counties will grace the Carrier Theater stage for two days, performing works ranging from original plays to Shakespeare to modern musicals to a Spanish language interpretation of an old standby.

Following each set of performances, stay to hear three theater professionals critique the days' productions. Neil Novelli, Len Fonte, and Lauren Unbekant will lend their expertise to each of the shows, providing commentary and advice to student actors, crews and directors.

Sunday's performances:
Evita: Tully High School
Post-Its (Notes on a Marriage): Sherburne-Earlville High School
2B (Or Not 2B): Sherburne-Earlville High School
The Women of Lockerbie: Indian River Central School

The Boys Next Door
Appleseed Productions
Sharee Lemos, director

Price: $15 regular; $12 students/seniors
Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

In a communal residence in New England, four mentally handicapped men live under the supervision of an earnest, but increasingly "burned out" young social worker named Jack. Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and is unable to resist the lure of the sweet pastries, takes great pride in the huge bundle of keys that dangles from his waist; Lucien P. Smith has the mind of a five-year-old but imagines that he is able to read and comprehend the weighty books he lugs about; Arnold, the ringleader of the group, is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer, who suffers from deep-seated insecurities and a persecution complex; while Barry, a brilliant schizophrenic, fantasizes that he is a golf pro. Mingled with scenes from the daily lives of these four, where "little things" sometimes become momentous (and often very funny), are moments of great poignancy when, with touching effectiveness, we are reminded that the handicapped, like the rest of us, want only to love and laugh and find some meaning and purpose in the brief time that they are allotted on this earth. written by Tom Griffin.

Read a Review!

Up
Syracuse Stage
Penny Metropulos, director

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

Once upon a time Walter Griffin attached 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and soared 16,000 feet into the wild blue yonder. Mission accomplished. Dream fulfilled. What could he see of his life in such rarefied air? What was left of the vision when he touched down on the ground? Bridget Carpenter is a young American playwright on the rise, and in this contemporary parable, based on the true story of Walter Griffin, she dares us to consider what it is in the human spirit that makes us want to soar beyond the realm of reason. Why are we fascinated with the seemingly impossible? What makes daredevil aerialist Philippe Petit ascend the high wire? And why does he make frequent appearances in this clever and altogether amusing and intriguing play? Come down from the wire and we might have to find a job, or support a wife, or take care of a son, or ... find a new dream.

Read a Review!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

As It Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Josh Brilliant curates a selection of images by recent Light Work Artists-in-Residence, including Amy Stein, Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Krista Steinke, and Christine Osinski. Brilliant is currently an MFA candidate in the Museum Studies program at Syracuse University.

Limbo: Works of Admas Habteslasie
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Limbo" depicts a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.

Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for 30 years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today, the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie: "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world." The images in "Limbo" capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

Habteslasie was born in Kuwait, and his parents are Eritrean. He received his master's degree from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity, history, and the re-evaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

Two: Recent Works by Frederick Bartolovic and Chris McEvoy, and Emerging: Recent Works by Lacey Mckinney
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium
2 Clinton Square, Syracuse

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

As It Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Josh Brilliant curates a selection of images by recent Light Work Artists-in-Residence, including Amy Stein, Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Krista Steinke, and Christine Osinski. Brilliant is currently an MFA candidate in the Museum Studies program at Syracuse University.

Limbo: Works of Admas Habteslasie
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Limbo" depicts a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.

Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for 30 years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today, the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie: "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world." The images in "Limbo" capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

Habteslasie was born in Kuwait, and his parents are Eritrean. He received his master's degree from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity, history, and the re-evaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
Syracuse University Art Museum

Price: Free
Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The exhibition brings together more than 80 engravings, vivid Orientalist paintings, decorative objects, and documents and letters made during General Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign of 1791-1801. While unsuccessful as a military campaign, the endeavor was extremely successful and a cultural expedition. Napoleon brought over 150 scholars with him and their investigations into the country's ancient and contemporary societies formed the foundation of modern Egyptology and were a major achievement. From the Dahesh Museum of Art.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Architectural Behaviorology
Syracuse University School of Architecture
Featuring Yoshiharu Tsukamoto

Price: Free
Slocum Hall Auditorium
Syracuse University campus, Syracuse

Tsukamoto is co-founder of Atelier Bow-Wow and a leader of a new generation of Tokyo architects that promote a site- and use-specific approach to design. He received his doctorate from Tokyo Institute of Technology in engineering. He has authored several books including: Bow-wow from post bubble city(2006), Contemporary House Studies (2004), Pet Architecture Guide Book (2001), and Made in Tokyo (2001).

Syracuse University Setnor School of Music
Tarab Cello Ensemble

Price: Free
Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College
Syracuse University, Syracuse

Dennis DeSantis Cog
Caleb Burhans Things Left Unsaid
Michael Midlarsky Rain
Gregory Mertl Lover Calls
Nicolas Scherzinger 8

The Tarab Cello Ensemble is an acclaimed group of eight cellists dedicated to the commissioning and performance of 21st-century music. Formed in 2000, the Tarab Cello Ensemble has concertized in music festivals in France, Mexico and throughout the United States. Its current tour includes venues in New York City, Michigan and upstate New York. The group has held residencies at Princeton University, the Patel Conservatory in Florida and the University of South Florida, and has recorded for Bridge Records and Albany Records.

Parking is available in the Irving Garage.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

Two: Recent Works by Frederick Bartolovic and Chris McEvoy, and Emerging: Recent Works by Lacey Mckinney
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium
2 Clinton Square, Syracuse

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

As It Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Josh Brilliant curates a selection of images by recent Light Work Artists-in-Residence, including Amy Stein, Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Krista Steinke, and Christine Osinski. Brilliant is currently an MFA candidate in the Museum Studies program at Syracuse University.

Limbo: Works of Admas Habteslasie
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Limbo" depicts a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.

Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for 30 years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today, the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie: "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world." The images in "Limbo" capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

Habteslasie was born in Kuwait, and his parents are Eritrean. He received his master's degree from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity, history, and the re-evaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Dinosaurs Had Sharp Teeth! Works of Chris Wildrick
Redhouse

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

For several years Chris Wildrick has been working to become a self-taught professional paleontologist. He specializes in "dinosaur aesthetics," or why we think dinosaurs looked the way we think they looked. What kinds of colors and patterns did they have? How did they move? What did they sound like? How have our conceptions of these things changed over the years?

He creates his work through interactive projects with the public, which take the form of polls, games, and creative activities. For the past several months he has worked as an artist in residence with the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), doing projects at their Museum of the Earth in Ithaca as well as the New York State Fair and local schools.

This exhibition compiles his research into colorful and complex charts and graphs, audio recordings, and sculptures. He will also be doing his interactive projects at the opening and at other points throughout the show, so anyone can join in and share in the creation of the work. Chris will try to guess your favorite dinosaur, ask you to make dinosaur sounds, and challenge you to recast famous movies using only dinosaur species in the actors' roles. Plus, try to beat the reigning champion as you name as many dinosaurs as you can in one minute!

Redhouse Art Radio will feature selections from his audio projects, including interviews with famous dinosaur illustrators, throughout the show.

This show is great for all ages: it's philosophical, experimental, and hey, it has dinosaurs.

Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
Syracuse University Art Museum

Price: Free
Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The exhibition brings together more than 80 engravings, vivid Orientalist paintings, decorative objects, and documents and letters made during General Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign of 1791-1801. While unsuccessful as a military campaign, the endeavor was extremely successful and a cultural expedition. Napoleon brought over 150 scholars with him and their investigations into the country's ancient and contemporary societies formed the foundation of modern Egyptology and were a major achievement. From the Dahesh Museum of Art.

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

Hope in a Time of Turmoil: Colombia and the Art of Jafeth Gómez Ledesma
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Artist, activist, dreamer and teacher -- Jafeth Gómez Ledesma will exhibit his vision of Colombia at the ArtRage Gallery as part of a visit to the United States to speak, conduct workshops and celebrate art and hope.

Festival Pre-Screening
Syracuse International Film Festival

Price: Free
Soule Branch Library
101 Springfield Rd., Syracuse

Selected shorts from past festivals.

Civic Morning Musicals
Benjamin Hoffmann, piano

Price: Free
Hosmer Auditorium, Everson Museum
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Young pianist Benjamin Hoffmann grew up in the Syracuse area, studying with John Spradling, and has returned as a graduate student at the Setnor School of Music, where he studies with Fred Karpoff. Hoffmann has won accolades for his solo and collaborative work, and will play the first book of Debussy's Images I and the Liszt B-minor Ballade.

The Causeway Giants in Concert
LeMoyne College

Price: Free
LeMoyne Campus Center
LeMoyne College, Syracuse

Irish music and original tunes. For more information, phone 315-445-4215.

Syracuse University Setnor School of Music
Syracuse University Trumpet Ensemble

Price: Free
Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College
Syracuse University, Syracuse

Parking is available in Irving Garage. For more information, phone 315-443-2191.

Writer Kelly Link
Raymond Carver Reading Series

Price: Free
Gifford Auditorium, Huntington Beard Crouse Hall
Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Magic realist" writer Kelly Link is the force behind two acclaimed story collections: Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners (Small Beer Press, 2001 and 2005, respectively). Her work has won Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy awards. In addition to running Small Beer Press, she and her husband are fantasy editors of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin's Griffin) and publishers of the small-press zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

The reading will be preceded by a Q&A session with the author beginning at 3:45 pm.

Parking is available in SU pay lots. For more information, phone 315-443-2174.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Opening: BFA Ceramics 2009 Exhibit
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

Clayscapes Pottery Studio
1003 W. Fayette St., Suite L1, Syracuse

An opening reception will be held 5:00-8:00 pm.

Senior ceramics majors in the School of Art and Design at Syracuse University will present the exhibition "BFA Ceramics 2009," featuring the work of five seniors: Tim Brockhaus, Rebecca Hill, Crystal Lasda, Jaimie Merrell and Vanna Valdez.

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

Two: Recent Works by Frederick Bartolovic and Chris McEvoy, and Emerging: Recent Works by Lacey Mckinney
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium
2 Clinton Square, Syracuse

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

As It Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Josh Brilliant curates a selection of images by recent Light Work Artists-in-Residence, including Amy Stein, Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Krista Steinke, and Christine Osinski. Brilliant is currently an MFA candidate in the Museum Studies program at Syracuse University.

Limbo: Works of Admas Habteslasie
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Limbo" depicts a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.

Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for 30 years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today, the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie: "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world." The images in "Limbo" capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

Habteslasie was born in Kuwait, and his parents are Eritrean. He received his master's degree from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity, history, and the re-evaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Dinosaurs Had Sharp Teeth! Works of Chris Wildrick
Redhouse

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

Opening reception 5:00-8:00 pm.

For several years Chris Wildrick has been working to become a self-taught professional paleontologist. He specializes in "dinosaur aesthetics," or why we think dinosaurs looked the way we think they looked. What kinds of colors and patterns did they have? How did they move? What did they sound like? How have our conceptions of these things changed over the years?

He creates his work through interactive projects with the public, which take the form of polls, games, and creative activities. For the past several months he has worked as an artist in residence with the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), doing projects at their Museum of the Earth in Ithaca as well as the New York State Fair and local schools.

This exhibition compiles his research into colorful and complex charts and graphs, audio recordings, and sculptures. He will also be doing his interactive projects at the opening and at other points throughout the show, so anyone can join in and share in the creation of the work. Chris will try to guess your favorite dinosaur, ask you to make dinosaur sounds, and challenge you to recast famous movies using only dinosaur species in the actors' roles. Plus, try to beat the reigning champion as you name as many dinosaurs as you can in one minute!

Redhouse Art Radio will feature selections from his audio projects, including interviews with famous dinosaur illustrators, throughout the show.

This show is great for all ages: it's philosophical, experimental, and hey, it has dinosaurs.

Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
Syracuse University Art Museum

Price: Free
Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The exhibition brings together more than 80 engravings, vivid Orientalist paintings, decorative objects, and documents and letters made during General Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign of 1791-1801. While unsuccessful as a military campaign, the endeavor was extremely successful and a cultural expedition. Napoleon brought over 150 scholars with him and their investigations into the country's ancient and contemporary societies formed the foundation of modern Egyptology and were a major achievement. From the Dahesh Museum of Art.

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

Wild Card Exhibit: Ceramics by Carles Vives
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Fiber Art
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Works include framed batik, cloth colleges, sculptural coiled basketry, quilting, tapestry, and more by artists Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng, Sharon Bottle Souva, Lauren Bristol, Barbara Conte-Gaugel, Linda Esterley, Alice Gant, Hilary Gifford, Mary Kester, and Holly Knott.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Hope in a Time of Turmoil: Colombia and the Art of Jafeth Gómez Ledesma
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Artist, activist, dreamer and teacher -- Jafeth Gómez Ledesma will exhibit his vision of Colombia at the ArtRage Gallery as part of a visit to the United States to speak, conduct workshops and celebrate art and hope.

From 7:00-8:30, there will be an evening of music, readings, and chanting based on the book Sisters Singing: Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry and Sacred Stories by Women edited by Carolyn Brigit Flynn, foreword by Deena Metzger, featuring Marie Summerwood leading her original chants.

The Art of Giants Puppets
Open Hand Theater

Price: Free
International Mask and Puppet Museum
518 Prospect Ave., Syracuse

Love & Patience
Orange Line Gallery

Price: Free
Orange Line Gallery
106 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The exhibit is a mix of traditional to abstract works, but remaining modern throughout. The show title refers not only to the content of the pieces, but also the artist's connection to their work and process. New work will be featured by previous OL artists including Alejandro Bettencourt, Amber Blanding, David McKenney, Debra Parry Trichilo, Jace Collins, Jacqueline Adamo, Laura Celuch, Melissa Tiffany and Spencer Baker.

Opening -- The Gallery as Studio: Drawings on Delirium
Point of Contact Gallery

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

A world-renowned Uruguayan artist, Ricardo Lanzarini comes from Montevideo to Syracuse to recreate the mundane and the extraordinary in his drawings on delirium made to unexpected scales. The exhibition comes to life at The Point of Contact Gallery where the space has turned into an artist's studio. The work of the exhibit is to be produced entirely on site and directly onto the walls of the gallery in the weeks leading up to the opening. Lanzarini will also share this experiment with students from Syracuse University's Fine Arts Department who will join in the creative process.

Lanzarini's work balances extremes of scale, crafting an extensive abstract image from precise, miniscule characters, whose everyday activities serve as a window into a miniature world, frozen in time. These drawings sarcastically explore the two major paradigms in figurative art of the 20th century: Social and Fantastic Realism

The exhibit will last through the summer and then Lanzarini returns to Point of Contact to perform an "erasure" of the work on September 4. The book catalogue documenting the entire project will be presented at the close.

Cinefest 2009

Price: $25 for the day
Holiday Inn
Electronics Parkway, Liverpool

9:00 am: A Bundle of Blues (1933) with Duke Ellington, Ivie Anderson
9:10 am: Safety in Numbers (1930) with Buddy Rogers, Carole Lombard
10:40 am: Less than the Dust (1916) with Mary Pickford, David Powell

Lunch Break

1:00 pm: Caretaker's Daughter (1934) with Billy Gilbert, Eddie Foy, Jr.
1:25 pm: All Wrong (1919) with Bryant Washburn, Mildred Davis
2:25 pm: Trailer Mania Show II Hosted by Ray Faiola
3:30 pm: City Of Play (1929) with Chili Bouchier, Patrick Aherne
4:50 pm: Doctors' Wives (1931) with Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett

Dinner Break

8:10 pm: Gumbasia (1955) A film by Art Clokey
8:15 pm: The Installment Collector (1929) with Fred Allen
8:30 pm: They Shall Pay (1921) with Lottie Pickford, Allan Forrest, Paul Weigel.
9:30 pm: Love Never Dies (1921) Dir. King Vidor, with Lloyd Hughes, Madge Bellamy, Lillian Leighton
10:50 pm: The Last Trail (1933) with George OBrien, Claire Trevor
11:55 pm: What Price Vengeance (1937) with Lyle Talbot, Wendy Barrie

Gallery Talk: Napoleon's 'Discovery' of Egypt: Art & Science in the French Empire and the Civilizing Mission
Syracuse University Art Museum
Featuring Amy Elouafi

Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

Talk in conjunction with the "Napoleon on the Nile" exhibit.

Artist Talk: Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Free
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Sculptor Nancy Jurs will lead a walking tour of her one-person exhibition, 50/50 and discuss the broad range of themes and media used during her 40-year career. Th3 special event.

Sharon E. Allen, author and musician
Eureka Crafts

Price: Free
Eureka Crafts
210 Walton St., Syracuse

Th3 Special Event: Sharon E. Allen, local author and musician, performs songs from her children's book and CD set: Toes and Outside Today.

Idina Menzel
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: $20 regular; $15 SU faculty, staff, and alumni; $5 with SU student ID
Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The Tony Award-winning actress and singer will perform in concert in recognition of Women's History Month. Idina Menzel reached Broadway superstardom in two career-defining roles: her Tony Award-winning performance originating the role of Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, in the musical blockbuster Wicked and her Tony-nominated performance originating the role of Maureen Johnson in the revolutionary musical Rent. Recent film credits include Disney's romantic fable Enchanted, Rent, and Ask the Dust. She recently released the solo album "I Stand," a powerful collection of songs penned by the actress-singer-songwriter. Menzel has been inspired by artists Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand--triple threat performers who have conquered stage and film and have also found success as recording artists. Her performance at SU provides her ultimate challenge: a solo artist singing her own songs.

Free parking in Lehman and Harrison lots.

Tickets can be purchased at the Schine Student Center Box Office. For more information, call 315-443-4517.

Death Warmed Over
Acme Mystery Company

Price: $25.95 plus tax and gratuities (includes meal and show)
Spaghetti Warehouse
689 N. Clinton St., Syracuse

Interactive mystery/comedy dinner theater. A sleepy village is in for strange events when a famous medium comes to a haunted cottage to run a live seance on his television show.

Fiddler on the Roof
Faith Heritage School

Price: $9
Faith Heritage School
3740 Midland Ave., Syracuse

West Side Story

Price: $9 regular, $7 students/seniors
Cicero-North Syracuse High School
6002 State Route 31, Cicero

Friday, March 20, 2009

BFA Ceramics 2009 Exhibit
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

Clayscapes Pottery Studio
1003 W. Fayette St., Suite L1, Syracuse

Senior ceramics majors in the School of Art and Design at Syracuse University will present the exhibition "BFA Ceramics 2009," featuring the work of five seniors: Tim Brockhaus, Rebecca Hill, Crystal Lasda, Jaimie Merrell and Vanna Valdez.

Gallery Exhibition: Works of Milton Glaser
Onondaga Community College

Price: Free
Ann Felton Multicultural Center and Gallery
Onondaga Community College, Syracuse

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man -- one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.

The Gallery as Studio: Drawings on Delirium
Point of Contact Gallery

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

A world-renowned Uruguayan artist, Ricardo Lanzarini comes from Montevideo to Syracuse to recreate the mundane and the extraordinary in his drawings on delirium made to unexpected scales. The exhibition comes to life at The Point of Contact Gallery where the space has turned into an artist's studio. The work of the exhibit is to be produced entirely on site and directly onto the walls of the gallery in the weeks leading up to the opening. Lanzarini will also share this experiment with students from Syracuse University's Fine Arts Department who will join in the creative process.

Lanzarini's work balances extremes of scale, crafting an extensive abstract image from precise, miniscule characters, whose everyday activities serve as a window into a miniature world, frozen in time. These drawings sarcastically explore the two major paradigms in figurative art of the 20th century: Social and Fantastic Realism

The exhibit will last through the summer and then Lanzarini returns to Point of Contact to perform an "erasure" of the work on September 4. The book catalogue documenting the entire project will be presented at the close.

Two: Recent Works by Frederick Bartolovic and Chris McEvoy, and Emerging: Recent Works by Lacey Mckinney
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium
2 Clinton Square, Syracuse

Arena Art Group Exhibit
Syracuse Technology Garden Gallery

Price: Free
Syracuse Technology Garden
235 Harrison St., Syracuse

Fun, wild, and experimental artwork by Rochester's Arena Art Group.

A Goodly Heritage of Study: The Portfolio Club of Syracuse
Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center

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

Displayed are the archives of a still-thriving women's study club that was formed in 1875 in Syracuse. The Portfolio Club exemplifies a post-Civil War movement in which many thousands of middle-class women came together to educate themselves in a society that restricted women's access to institutions of higher learning. This club began a few weeks after the Association for the Advancement of Women held a congress at the Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse. At these congresses, which took place in many American cities, Julia Ward Howe and other presenters encouraged women to form study clubs for self-culture.

Nine young women founded the Portfolio Club, with guidance from Mary Dana Hicks, their art teacher. Though they began with a focus on art, in the middle 1880s they expanded their scope to include literature, current events, history, performing arts and many other subjects. Members have always met regularly from October through April to read their papers on a topic assigned by each year's president.

Syracuse residents and those long associated with SU will recognize the married names of many past club members, such as Mrs. Donald Dey, Mrs. William Nottingham, Mrs. E.N. Westcott, and Mrs. Mildred Eggers. Among Portfolio guest speakers during the club's first several decades were Judge Charles Andrews, Dean George Fiske Comfort, Howard Lyman, professors Sawyer Falk and Irene Sargent, Paul Paine, Douglas Petit, Katherine Sibley, and SU Chancellor Charles Sims.

The exhibition, which emphasizes the years 1875-1950, includes annual program booklets, many of them finely crafted. Also on display are meeting minutes, clippings, photographs, film footage of a 1935 gathering and other club documents.

Faces: Inspiration from Within -- Works by Erin Boyle
Westcott Community Center

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

Cutting away from traditional portraiture, Erin creates edgy images that offer more expressive descriptions.

The Nature of Being
Edgewood Gallery

Price: Free
Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Works based on nature and the figure by John Fitzsimmons (oil paintings) and Patrice Fitzsimmons (ceramic sculpture).

Read a review!

Observations East and West: Artists' Views of the Historic Erie Canal
Erie Canal Museum
Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Price: Free
Erie Canal Museum
318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse

The exhibition will feature student work from professor Sarah McCoubrey's fall 2008 landscape painting class and will be matted, framed and installed by students in the Museum Studies program. The subject of the works is an exploration of the changing environment as impacted by the Erie Canal. To accomplish this, the class met weekly at a variety of locations along the Erie Canal including the more rural areas, through the suburbs, into the city, and at the Erie Canal Museum.

The choice of these sites represents more than 200 years of transition in the surrounding Syracuse community and illustrates the change in the living environment as the community evolved from a casual based transportation center into a major modern metropolitan city.

As It Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Josh Brilliant curates a selection of images by recent Light Work Artists-in-Residence, including Amy Stein, Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Krista Steinke, and Christine Osinski. Brilliant is currently an MFA candidate in the Museum Studies program at Syracuse University.

Limbo: Works of Admas Habteslasie
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

"Limbo" depicts a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.

Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for 30 years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today, the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie: "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world." The images in "Limbo" capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

Habteslasie was born in Kuwait, and his parents are Eritrean. He received his master's degree from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity, history, and the re-evaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.

Works of Karen Thomas-Lillie, Madeline Silber, and Jeremy Randall
Limestone Art and Framing Gallery

Limestone Art and Framing Gallery
105 Brooklea Dr., Fayetteville

American Change: From Slavery to the Presidency
Museum of Young Art

Price: Suggested donation: $4 adults, $3 students
Museum of Young Art
110 W. Fayette St., One Lincoln Center, Syracuse

If you could become an inspirational historical figure, who would you choose? How would becoming that person, even for a few moments, affect you?

In this show, students take on the personae of inspirational historical and current figures to truly immerse themselves in history.

The project, "American Change: from Slavery to the Presidency," features written, spoken and photographic illustrations of key figures and events in US history created by 4th grade students at Van Duyn Elementary. The work was inspired by and created in collaboration with CNY photographer Brantley Carroll.

Carroll worked with the students in a similar process to the one he used for his acclaimed project "The Whipping Post," which examined the slave trade by casting contemporary Americans in portraits of historical figures.

The partnership with Mr. Carroll is just one of the many arts-based learning projects that are happening this year at Van Duyn, which is one of six Syracuse City School District (SCSD) schools participating in the Arts in Mind initiative. Arts in Mind is a collaboration between schools, cultural organizations and funders that is working to make it easier for teachers in all SCSD schools to bring the arts into their classrooms as a way to strengthen student engagement and achievement. You can read more about Arts in Mind at www.artsinmind.net.

Exploring History with Art: The Changing View—Landscapes
Onondaga Historical Association

Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Paintings from OHA's permanent collection

Dinosaurs Had Sharp Teeth! Works of Chris Wildrick
Redhouse

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

For several years Chris Wildrick has been working to become a self-taught professional paleontologist. He specializes in "dinosaur aesthetics," or why we think dinosaurs looked the way we think they looked. What kinds of colors and patterns did they have? How did they move? What did they sound like? How have our conceptions of these things changed over the years?

He creates his work through interactive projects with the public, which take the form of polls, games, and creative activities. For the past several months he has worked as an artist in residence with the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), doing projects at their Museum of the Earth in Ithaca as well as the New York State Fair and local schools.

This exhibition compiles his research into colorful and complex charts and graphs, audio recordings, and sculptures. He will also be doing his interactive projects at the opening and at other points throughout the show, so anyone can join in and share in the creation of the work. Chris will try to guess your favorite dinosaur, ask you to make dinosaur sounds, and challenge you to recast famous movies using only dinosaur species in the actors' roles. Plus, try to beat the reigning champion as you name as many dinosaurs as you can in one minute!

Redhouse Art Radio will feature selections from his audio projects, including interviews with famous dinosaur illustrators, throughout the show.

This show is great for all ages: it's philosophical, experimental, and hey, it has dinosaurs.

Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
Syracuse University Art Museum

Price: Free
Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
Syracuse University, Syracuse

The exhibition brings together more than 80 engravings, vivid Orientalist paintings, decorative objects, and documents and letters made during General Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign of 1791-1801. While unsuccessful as a military campaign, the endeavor was extremely successful and a cultural expedition. Napoleon brought over 150 scholars with him and their investigations into the country's ancient and contemporary societies formed the foundation of modern Egyptology and were a major achievement. From the Dahesh Museum of Art.

Selections: Works by Ludwig Stein
Syracuse University School of Art and Design

Price: Free
XL Projects
307-313 S. Clinton St., Syracuse

Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will celebrate the opening of a new venue in downtown Syracuse with an inaugural exhibition by one of its most celebrated faculty artists.

The work in "Selections" spans Stein's 37 years at VPA, teaching on the SU campus as well as in London and in Florence, Italy.

"My desires for the viewer are to perceive elegance, richness, passion and rediscover sensitivity for the world around them," says Stein in his artist's statement for the exhibition. "I want my viewers to understand that each artist must find their muse and, within that finding, show love for themselves, the object of desire, the painting and the viewer. My intention as an artist-teacher is to pass this passion and knowledge on to my students, knowing full well that discovery and understanding are personal."

Stein has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in cities around the world, including Guayaquil, Ecuador; Basel, Switzerland; and London. His work is included in many permanent collections, including those of the University of London, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase. He is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the British Council Arts Group and the Ford Foundation, among others.

VPA will use the Hot Shop as an additional space to showcase the curriculum-related activities of its students, faculty, alumni and visiting artists.

Wild Card Exhibit: Ceramics by Carles Vives
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Fiber Art
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Works include framed batik, cloth colleges, sculptural coiled basketry, quilting, tapestry, and more by artists Wilson Akuamoah-Boateng, Sharon Bottle Souva, Lauren Bristol, Barbara Conte-Gaugel, Linda Esterley, Alice Gant, Hilary Gifford, Mary Kester, and Holly Knott.

50/50: Works of Nancy Jurs
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Nancy Jurs juxtaposes her signature large-scale, hand-built ceramic sculptures with recent site-specific installations composed of ceramic, mixed-media and found objects. Throughout her 40-year career Jurs, a Rochester-based sculptor and ceramic artist, has produced an astounding body of work that largely addresses female power and strength. In 2003, Jurs completed the Armor Series, a grouping of six life-size armored torsos that present themselves with empowered determination. The stylized shells not only serve to protect the figures but to symbolize renewed confidence and strength in a post-9/11 world. "Undaunted" (2003), which is part of the Armor Series, was acquired by the Everson in 2004.

Also on view will be "Triad," a monumental 16-foot high sculpture composed of ceramic slabs that have been hand-built: cut, scraped, modeled, and stacked in three interacting totem-like structures. Triad will be prominently displayed in the Rosamond Gifford Sculpture Court.

Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects
Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Anne Cofer's interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in "Concealed Objects," a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first museum solo exhibition at the Everson. Inspired by British artists such as Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, whose sculpture is at once unique and fleeting, Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and then are recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor. The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.

Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.

Hope in a Time of Turmoil: Colombia and the Art of Jafeth Gómez Ledesma
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Artist, activist, dreamer and teacher -- Jafeth Gómez Ledesma will exhibit his vision of Colombia at the ArtRage Gallery as part of a visit to the United States to speak, conduct workshops and celebrate art and hope.

Love & Patience
Orange Line Gallery

Price: Free
Orange Line Gallery
106 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The exhibit is a mix of traditional to abstract works, but remaining modern throughout. The show title refers not only to the content of the pieces, but also the artist's connection to their work and process. New work will be featured by previous OL artists including Alejandro Bettencourt, Amber Blanding, David McKenney, Debra Parry Trichilo, Jace Collins, Jacqueline Adamo, Laura Celuch, Melissa Tiffany and Spencer Baker.

Cinefest 2009

Price: $25 for the day
Holiday Inn
Electronics Parkway, Liverpool

9:00 am: The Desert Song (1929) with John Boles, Carlotta King, Louise Fazenda, Johnny Arthur, watch for Myrna Loy.
10:50 am: Woman (1918) directed by Maurice Tourneur with Warren Cook, Florence Billings.

Lunch Break

1:00 pm: The Wheel of Life (1929) with Richard Dix, Esther Ralston
2:10 pm: Greenbriar Picture Shorts, presented by John McElwee
3:15 pm: Next Door Neighbors (1931) with Edgar Kennedy, Pert Kelton
3:40 pm: The Dancin' Fool (1920) with Wallace Reid, Bebe Daniels
4:35 pm: The Secret Man (1958) with John Loder, Marshall Thompson

Dinner Break

8:00 pm: The Bank Swindle (1930) William J. Burns detective short
8:15 pm: Joan Crawford's Home Movies
8:45 pm: The Circle (1925) with Eleanor Boardman, Malcolm McGregor
9:45 pm: The Perfect Specimen (1937) with Errol Flynn, Joan Blondell
11:20 pm: Doctor X (1932) with Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy

FridayFLICS: Life and times of Rosie the Riveter
ArtRage Gallery

Price: $5 suggested donation
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

A compelling yet engaging documentary based on interviews with six women who worked on assembly lines during WWII in jobs usually reserved for men. An insightful look at the spark that ignited the women's liberation movement nearly three decades before its official birth. (Directed by Connie Field, 1980)

Bach Birthday Bash
May Memorial Unitarian Society

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

Performers include the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble and organists Glen Kime and Bonnie Beth Derby. For more information, phone 315-446-8920.

Richard Shindell
Folkus Project

Price: $20
Palace Theater
2384 James St., Syracuse

Richard Shindell is a superstar of contemporary folk music. His innovative and passionate songwriting has established him as one of folk's premier performing songwriters. A master builder of vivid, emotional songs, Shindell has made a lasting contribution to the musical library of American folk. Brilliantly crafted and delivered with passion and sensitivity, they have earned him the admiration of fans and the respect of fellow artists. Shindell made his debut on the folk scene in 1992 with the release of his CD, "Sparrow's Point," which was followed by "Blue Divide," and "Reunion Hill." With each successive record, he toured relentlessly and built a solid following of loyal fans. His career got a boost in 1997 when Joan Baez recorded three of his songs ("Fishing," "Reunion Hill," and "Money for Floods") for her album "Gone from Danger" and invited him to join her 199798 tour. This opened the eyes and ears of a new segment of folk music enthusiasts to his talents as a songwriter and performer. Since then, Shindell has released three more CDs and played to sold-out shows across the country.

Shindell sings a good story. His songs are intricately drawn character studies, with finely observed details adding up to a larger picture that can be compassionate or troubling. They are not simply observations, but veritable novellas framed in haunting acoustic melodies. His songwriting is truly eclectic, ranging from lighthearted ballads and adulterous love songs, to dirges and diatribes that skillfully skewer politics, prejudice, war and religion. Conversely, he is also capable of writing tunes that are simply clever and amusing.

Classics Series: Beethoven Piano Concerto 4
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
Syracuse Children's Chorus
Daniel Hege, conductor
Featuring Markus Groh, piano

Crouse Hinds Concert Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
Custer Talking to the Sun
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

Read a review!

West Side Story

Price: $9 regular, $7 students/seniors
Cicero-North Syracuse High School
6002 State Route 31, Cicero

Fiddler on the Roof
Faith Heritage School

Price: $9
Faith Heritage School
3740 Midland Ave., Syracuse

Jesus Christ Superstar
Meadowbrook Harlequins

Price: $8 at the door; $7 regular advance sale; $5 students/seniors
Nottingham High School
3100 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Little Women: The Broadway Musical
Henninger High School