Tuesday, July 28, 2009

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.

Recent works by Al Bremer and Kate Timm
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

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

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Terrain
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Sharon Gordon: Oil Paintings
John Lombardi: Works in Stone

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and 100 Last Names
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The two solo exhibitions, Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and Xiaowen Chen: 100 Last Names, present work from the past nine years by Chinese-born, Ithaca-based artist Chen. Having lived in the United States for the past two decades, Chen has focused his work on the space between East and West. From his many return trips to China, Chen has created digital images and video projections reflecting American and Chinese attitudes toward the 21st-century role of media and technology and identity issues. His work of overlapping the cultures of East and West addresses his search for what he called in 1993 the "manifestation of the universal and the expression of the particular."

Chen places himself in the position of both the American and the Chinese tourist. He has noted that when photographing in China he feels like a foreigner, while in the U.S. he feels like a traveler. His work addresses both China's historical transformation and his personal experience as an émigré.

Like other artists of his generation, Chen grew up under Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution and was exposed to a visual vocabulary that highlighted fragmentation and repetition. As a result, works by Xiaowen Chen evoke cultural clichés and stereotypes.

Pops in the Park

Price: Free
Onondaga Park
Roberts Avenue, Syracuse

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

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.

Recent works by Al Bremer and Kate Timm
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

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

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Terrain
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Sharon Gordon: Oil Paintings
John Lombardi: Works in Stone

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and 100 Last Names
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The two solo exhibitions, Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and Xiaowen Chen: 100 Last Names, present work from the past nine years by Chinese-born, Ithaca-based artist Chen. Having lived in the United States for the past two decades, Chen has focused his work on the space between East and West. From his many return trips to China, Chen has created digital images and video projections reflecting American and Chinese attitudes toward the 21st-century role of media and technology and identity issues. His work of overlapping the cultures of East and West addresses his search for what he called in 1993 the "manifestation of the universal and the expression of the particular."

Chen places himself in the position of both the American and the Chinese tourist. He has noted that when photographing in China he feels like a foreigner, while in the U.S. he feels like a traveler. His work addresses both China's historical transformation and his personal experience as an émigré.

Like other artists of his generation, Chen grew up under Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution and was exposed to a visual vocabulary that highlighted fragmentation and repetition. As a result, works by Xiaowen Chen evoke cultural clichés and stereotypes.

Don't Feed The Actors
Don't Feed the Actors

Price: $15 adults, $13 students/seniors; $12 in advance
Palace Theater
2384 James St., Syracuse

Audience-interactive improv comedy with some of Syracuse's finest comedic actors.

Jumbo Shrimp
Liverpool is the Place

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

A brand new duo featuring Liverpool bassist Mike Casale and singer-guitarist Bryan Dickenson.
Rain Date: Thursday, July 30

For information on concerts or to see if a concert has been rained out, please call 315-457-3895.

West Side Story
The Talent Company
Dan Tursi, director

Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

Read a review!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

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.

Recent works by Al Bremer and Kate Timm
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

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

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Terrain
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Sharon Gordon: Oil Paintings
John Lombardi: Works in Stone

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Works of Sue Hershberger Yoder
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

Sue Hershberger Yoder's solo exhibition features work which utilizes printmaking to explore the terrain between art and design through patterns inspired by nature. Yoder is influenced by her work in the fashion design industry where she creates print designs for fabric. She also draws upon familiar forms of the natural world, which were a constant backdrop of her Midwestern upbringing. The resulting prints create sensuous environments that envelop the viewer.

Wild Card Exhibit: Pen and Ink Drawings by Brian Butler
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Reflections
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Featuring works by Marna Bell, Deborah Walsh, Mary Lou Colgin, and Carol Osborne-Ackles.

Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and 100 Last Names
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The two solo exhibitions, Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and Xiaowen Chen: 100 Last Names, present work from the past nine years by Chinese-born, Ithaca-based artist Chen. Having lived in the United States for the past two decades, Chen has focused his work on the space between East and West. From his many return trips to China, Chen has created digital images and video projections reflecting American and Chinese attitudes toward the 21st-century role of media and technology and identity issues. His work of overlapping the cultures of East and West addresses his search for what he called in 1993 the "manifestation of the universal and the expression of the particular."

Chen places himself in the position of both the American and the Chinese tourist. He has noted that when photographing in China he feels like a foreigner, while in the U.S. he feels like a traveler. His work addresses both China's historical transformation and his personal experience as an émigré.

Like other artists of his generation, Chen grew up under Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution and was exposed to a visual vocabulary that highlighted fragmentation and repetition. As a result, works by Xiaowen Chen evoke cultural clichés and stereotypes.

Jazz in the City
CNY Jazz Arts Foundation
Saxophonist Teodross Avery; The Blacklights

Price: Free
Dunk & Bright lawn
2648 S. Salina St., Syracuse

The BlackLites open with a tribute to Michael Jackson. Headliner is national recording saxophonist Teodross Avery.

Bring lawn chairs or blankets. Food and beverages will be available to purchase at all locations. No alcohol please.

The Strange Case of Sheik Yerbuti
Acme Mystery Company

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

Interactive comedy-mystery dinner theater.

A peace plan for the tiny camel-trading nation of Yerbuti goes awry when there are rumors of a huge pool of oil under the Sahara sands.

Into the Woods Junior
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Korrie E. Strodel, director

Price: $10 adults; $5 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Youth Theater production. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine present a cockeyed view of everyone's favorite fairytale characters in this hysterical take on the Brothers Grimm. When a baker and his wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, deceiving and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk!)

For reservations, phone 315-877-4183.

South Pacific
Jordan-Elbridge Community Theatre
Drew Deapo, director

Price: $12
Jordan-Elbridge High School
Hamilton Road, Jordan

South Pacific animates two love stories set in the Polynesian Islands during World War II with a powerhouse, big-Broadway score, including "There is Nothing Like a Dame," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair."

The musical swept the Tony Awards when it was released in 1949, and again captured seven awards for its current Broadway revival, which is playing to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences.

The show focuses on two couples that fall in love during the war but find their happiness threatened by the harshness of the war and by their own prejudices. Nellie, an American army nurse, falls in love with a French planter but rejects him when she learns that his children are half Polynesian. Although he loves her deeply, Lieutenant Cable won't marry a beautiful young woman because she is Tonkinese.

However serious the themes might become, they are cleverly uplifted by comic scenes that have become musical theatre classics, including a high-spirited romp through "Honey Bun" and the sailors' comic lament, "There is Nothing Like a Dame."

Playing Nellie Forbush is Joanna Brehaut, known to the JE stage in recent performances of Into the Woods and The Secret Garden. Robert Kovak plays Emile DeBecque. Kovak has performed in many productions across the United States, garnering rave reviews. The role of Lieutenant Joe Cable is played by Alex Graham, and the comedic role of Bloody Mary is played by Jackie Schneider-Revette. Matthew Weatherstone plays the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis.

The cast also includes Jim Baxter, Kim Brundidge, Meghan Caldwell, Renee Cardinale, Torri Daniels, Diego Davidenko, Thomas Davis, Denise Deapo, Nicholas Deapo, Jake Hare, Ryan Hare, Margie Hotchkiss, Alex Kline, Elliot Kline, Jillian Kline, Nora McAfee, Bridget Moriarty, John Noviasky, Lisa Noviasky, Amy Pearson, Alec Richardson, Evan Richardson, Jim Ryan, Mary Ryan, Jessica Skipper-Kimpland, and Dave Zehner.

Dan Williams is the vocal director; Diane Crowley is the choreographer, while Maria Hare leads the orchestra. Sarah Hunter serves as the production coordinator and Melanie Zehner is the assistant to the director.

Anything Goes
Skaneateles Summer Theater

Price: $12 regular; $10 seniors/children 12 and under
Skaneateles High School
49 E. Elizabeth St., Skaneateles

Anything Goes, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, is the story of the madcap antics onboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with the heiress Hope Harcourt who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy No. 13 Moonface Martin set out to help Billy win Hope's love.

The musical includes the hits Anything Goes, You're the Top, Blow Gabriel, Blow! and I Get a Kick Out of You. It will be directed by Robert Frame, with musical direction by Michael Kilcoyne, choreography by Yvonne Villano-Hassettand, and produced by Micheal Kringer.

West Side Story
The Talent Company
Dan Tursi, director

Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

Read a review!

Friday, July 31, 2009

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.

Recent works by Al Bremer and Kate Timm
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

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

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Terrain
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Sharon Gordon: Oil Paintings
John Lombardi: Works in Stone

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Works of Sue Hershberger Yoder
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

Sue Hershberger Yoder's solo exhibition features work which utilizes printmaking to explore the terrain between art and design through patterns inspired by nature. Yoder is influenced by her work in the fashion design industry where she creates print designs for fabric. She also draws upon familiar forms of the natural world, which were a constant backdrop of her Midwestern upbringing. The resulting prints create sensuous environments that envelop the viewer.

Reflections
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Featuring works by Marna Bell, Deborah Walsh, Mary Lou Colgin, and Carol Osborne-Ackles.

Wild Card Exhibit: Pen and Ink Drawings by Brian Butler
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and 100 Last Names
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The two solo exhibitions, Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and Xiaowen Chen: 100 Last Names, present work from the past nine years by Chinese-born, Ithaca-based artist Chen. Having lived in the United States for the past two decades, Chen has focused his work on the space between East and West. From his many return trips to China, Chen has created digital images and video projections reflecting American and Chinese attitudes toward the 21st-century role of media and technology and identity issues. His work of overlapping the cultures of East and West addresses his search for what he called in 1993 the "manifestation of the universal and the expression of the particular."

Chen places himself in the position of both the American and the Chinese tourist. He has noted that when photographing in China he feels like a foreigner, while in the U.S. he feels like a traveler. His work addresses both China's historical transformation and his personal experience as an émigré.

Like other artists of his generation, Chen grew up under Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution and was exposed to a visual vocabulary that highlighted fragmentation and repetition. As a result, works by Xiaowen Chen evoke cultural clichés and stereotypes.

Dancing Under the Stars
Featuring Stan Colella Orchestra

Price: Free
Sunnycrest Rink
Sunnycrest Park, Syracuse

Swing and big band favorites for listening and dancing. Bring lawn chairs and a picnic dinner!

For more information, phone 315-473-4330.

Skaneateles Community Band

Price: Free
Clift Park
Genesee St., Skaneateles

Bring a blanket or lawn chair. Rain location is Austin Park Pavilion. For more information, phone 315-685-0552.

Into the Woods Junior
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Korrie E. Strodel, director

Price: $10 adults; $5 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Youth Theater production. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine present a cockeyed view of everyone's favorite fairytale characters in this hysterical take on the Brothers Grimm. When a baker and his wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, deceiving and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk!)

For reservations, phone 315-877-4183.

South Pacific
Jordan-Elbridge Community Theatre
Drew Deapo, director

Price: $12
Jordan-Elbridge High School
Hamilton Road, Jordan

South Pacific animates two love stories set in the Polynesian Islands during World War II with a powerhouse, big-Broadway score, including "There is Nothing Like a Dame," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair."

The musical swept the Tony Awards when it was released in 1949, and again captured seven awards for its current Broadway revival, which is playing to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences.

The show focuses on two couples that fall in love during the war but find their happiness threatened by the harshness of the war and by their own prejudices. Nellie, an American army nurse, falls in love with a French planter but rejects him when she learns that his children are half Polynesian. Although he loves her deeply, Lieutenant Cable won't marry a beautiful young woman because she is Tonkinese.

However serious the themes might become, they are cleverly uplifted by comic scenes that have become musical theatre classics, including a high-spirited romp through "Honey Bun" and the sailors' comic lament, "There is Nothing Like a Dame."

Playing Nellie Forbush is Joanna Brehaut, known to the JE stage in recent performances of Into the Woods and The Secret Garden. Robert Kovak plays Emile DeBecque. Kovak has performed in many productions across the United States, garnering rave reviews. The role of Lieutenant Joe Cable is played by Alex Graham, and the comedic role of Bloody Mary is played by Jackie Schneider-Revette. Matthew Weatherstone plays the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis.

The cast also includes Jim Baxter, Kim Brundidge, Meghan Caldwell, Renee Cardinale, Torri Daniels, Diego Davidenko, Thomas Davis, Denise Deapo, Nicholas Deapo, Jake Hare, Ryan Hare, Margie Hotchkiss, Alex Kline, Elliot Kline, Jillian Kline, Nora McAfee, Bridget Moriarty, John Noviasky, Lisa Noviasky, Amy Pearson, Alec Richardson, Evan Richardson, Jim Ryan, Mary Ryan, Jessica Skipper-Kimpland, and Dave Zehner.

Dan Williams is the vocal director; Diane Crowley is the choreographer, while Maria Hare leads the orchestra. Sarah Hunter serves as the production coordinator and Melanie Zehner is the assistant to the director.

Summer One-Acts
Appleseed Productions

Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

Spoons by Kyle Bass, directed by Donna Stuccio
Seven Menus by David Ives, directed by Daniel Rowlands
No Exit by Jean Paul Sarte, directed by Terence LaCasse

Read a review!

Anything Goes
Skaneateles Summer Theater

Price: $12 regular; $10 seniors/children 12 and under
Skaneateles High School
49 E. Elizabeth St., Skaneateles

Anything Goes, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, is the story of the madcap antics onboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with the heiress Hope Harcourt who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy No. 13 Moonface Martin set out to help Billy win Hope's love.

The musical includes the hits Anything Goes, You're the Top, Blow Gabriel, Blow! and I Get a Kick Out of You. It will be directed by Robert Frame, with musical direction by Michael Kilcoyne, choreography by Yvonne Villano-Hassettand, and produced by Micheal Kringer.

West Side Story
The Talent Company
Dan Tursi, director

Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

Read a review!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Wild Card Exhibit: Pen and Ink Drawings by Brian Butler
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Reflections
Delavan Art Gallery

Delavan Art Gallery
501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Featuring works by Marna Bell, Deborah Walsh, Mary Lou Colgin, and Carol Osborne-Ackles.

Works of Howard Lehning and Thomas Kegler
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Furniture and clocks of Howard Lehning and paintings of Thomas Kegler will be on display.

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Works of Sue Hershberger Yoder
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

Sue Hershberger Yoder's solo exhibition features work which utilizes printmaking to explore the terrain between art and design through patterns inspired by nature. Yoder is influenced by her work in the fashion design industry where she creates print designs for fabric. She also draws upon familiar forms of the natural world, which were a constant backdrop of her Midwestern upbringing. The resulting prints create sensuous environments that envelop the viewer.

Arias at the Armory
Candlelight Series
Featuring Syracuse Opera

Price: Free
Armory Square
Clinton and Jefferson St., Syracuse

Anything Goes
Skaneateles Summer Theater

Price: $12 regular; $10 seniors/children 12 and under
Skaneateles High School
49 E. Elizabeth St., Skaneateles

Anything Goes, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, is the story of the madcap antics onboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with the heiress Hope Harcourt who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy No. 13 Moonface Martin set out to help Billy win Hope's love.

The musical includes the hits Anything Goes, You're the Top, Blow Gabriel, Blow! and I Get a Kick Out of You. It will be directed by Robert Frame, with musical direction by Michael Kilcoyne, choreography by Yvonne Villano-Hassettand, and produced by Micheal Kringer.

Into the Woods Junior
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Korrie E. Strodel, director

Price: $10 adults; $5 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Youth Theater production. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine present a cockeyed view of everyone's favorite fairytale characters in this hysterical take on the Brothers Grimm. When a baker and his wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, deceiving and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk!)

For reservations, phone 315-877-4183.

The Falsettos Murder
Without A Cue

Price: $39.50 includes dinner, show, tax, and gratuity
Glen Loch Restaurant
4626 North St., Jamesville

In this a parody of the HBO mega hit, The Sopranos, Tony and his entourage are in town for—what else?—a waste management convention. When somebody gets whacked it's nothing personal, strictly "business."

For reservations, phone 315-469-6969. For more information, visit www.glenloch.net.

South Pacific
Jordan-Elbridge Community Theatre
Drew Deapo, director

Price: $12
Jordan-Elbridge High School
Hamilton Road, Jordan

South Pacific animates two love stories set in the Polynesian Islands during World War II with a powerhouse, big-Broadway score, including "There is Nothing Like a Dame," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair."

The musical swept the Tony Awards when it was released in 1949, and again captured seven awards for its current Broadway revival, which is playing to enthusiastic, sold-out audiences.

The show focuses on two couples that fall in love during the war but find their happiness threatened by the harshness of the war and by their own prejudices. Nellie, an American army nurse, falls in love with a French planter but rejects him when she learns that his children are half Polynesian. Although he loves her deeply, Lieutenant Cable won't marry a beautiful young woman because she is Tonkinese.

However serious the themes might become, they are cleverly uplifted by comic scenes that have become musical theatre classics, including a high-spirited romp through "Honey Bun" and the sailors' comic lament, "There is Nothing Like a Dame."

Playing Nellie Forbush is Joanna Brehaut, known to the JE stage in recent performances of Into the Woods and The Secret Garden. Robert Kovak plays Emile DeBecque. Kovak has performed in many productions across the United States, garnering rave reviews. The role of Lieutenant Joe Cable is played by Alex Graham, and the comedic role of Bloody Mary is played by Jackie Schneider-Revette. Matthew Weatherstone plays the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis.

The cast also includes Jim Baxter, Kim Brundidge, Meghan Caldwell, Renee Cardinale, Torri Daniels, Diego Davidenko, Thomas Davis, Denise Deapo, Nicholas Deapo, Jake Hare, Ryan Hare, Margie Hotchkiss, Alex Kline, Elliot Kline, Jillian Kline, Nora McAfee, Bridget Moriarty, John Noviasky, Lisa Noviasky, Amy Pearson, Alec Richardson, Evan Richardson, Jim Ryan, Mary Ryan, Jessica Skipper-Kimpland, and Dave Zehner.

Dan Williams is the vocal director; Diane Crowley is the choreographer, while Maria Hare leads the orchestra. Sarah Hunter serves as the production coordinator and Melanie Zehner is the assistant to the director.

Summer One-Acts
Appleseed Productions

Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

Spoons by Kyle Bass, directed by Donna Stuccio
Seven Menus by David Ives, directed by Daniel Rowlands
No Exit by Jean Paul Sarte, directed by Terence LaCasse

Read a review!

Anything Goes
Skaneateles Summer Theater

Price: $12 regular; $10 seniors/children 12 and under
Skaneateles High School
49 E. Elizabeth St., Skaneateles

Anything Goes, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, is the story of the madcap antics onboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with the heiress Hope Harcourt who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy No. 13 Moonface Martin set out to help Billy win Hope's love.

The musical includes the hits Anything Goes, You're the Top, Blow Gabriel, Blow! and I Get a Kick Out of You. It will be directed by Robert Frame, with musical direction by Michael Kilcoyne, choreography by Yvonne Villano-Hassettand, and produced by Micheal Kringer.

West Side Story
The Talent Company
Dan Tursi, director

Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

Read a review!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Works of Howard Lehning and Thomas Kegler
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Furniture and clocks of Howard Lehning and paintings of Thomas Kegler will be on display.

Works of Sue Hershberger Yoder
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

Sue Hershberger Yoder's solo exhibition features work which utilizes printmaking to explore the terrain between art and design through patterns inspired by nature. Yoder is influenced by her work in the fashion design industry where she creates print designs for fabric. She also draws upon familiar forms of the natural world, which were a constant backdrop of her Midwestern upbringing. The resulting prints create sensuous environments that envelop the viewer.

Summer One-Acts
Appleseed Productions

Atonement Lutheran Church
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse

Spoons by Kyle Bass, directed by Donna Stuccio
Seven Menus by David Ives, directed by Daniel Rowlands
No Exit by Jean Paul Sarte, directed by Terence LaCasse

Read a review!

Into the Woods Junior
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Korrie E. Strodel, director

Price: $10 adults; $5 students
First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Youth Theater production. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine present a cockeyed view of everyone's favorite fairytale characters in this hysterical take on the Brothers Grimm. When a baker and his wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, deceiving and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk!)

For reservations, phone 315-877-4183.

Monday, August 3, 2009

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.

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Works of Howard Lehning and Thomas Kegler
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Furniture and clocks of Howard Lehning and paintings of Thomas Kegler will be on display.

The Joe Whiting Band
Liverpool is the Place

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

Multiple Sammy-winner Joe Whiting is CNY's undisputed King of blue-eyed Soul.
Rain Date: Tuesday, August 4

For information on concerts or to see if a concert has been rained out, please call 315-457-3895.

Summer Concert
Syracuse University Summer Festival Orchestra
James Tapia, conductor
Featuring Gabriel DiMartino, trumpet

Price: Free
Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
Syracuse University, Syracuse

Wagner Die Meistersinger Overture
Vizzutti Trumpet Concerto
Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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.

Recent works by Al Bremer and Kate Timm
SUNY Oswego Metro Center at the Atrium

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

Healing Art Passages: A Journey of Grace -- works of Suzanne Masters
Westcott Community Center

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

Painting and collage provide examples of "working through" from Suzanne's own personal experiences and of how she takes her students through the process of self discovery.

"Through visual art we can consciously process old beliefs and 'stuck' patterns that hold us back. Through this discovery, we can see clearly and decide the paths we choose to take in our lives. As an artist and a teacher, I have learned that when we close our mouths and stop the chatter, and let colors and forms talk, we shift the process to the other side of the brain where it can speak about things we may have covered up long ago. When they come back to us this way, it is with a different sound. The journey through such an emergence is powerful and beautiful!"

Organic Watermarks: Photographs by Gus Bennett, Jr.
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In the exhibition "Organic Watermarks," New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett, Jr., displays portraits of New Orleans residents juxtaposed with layers of debris from Hurricane Katrina. Watermarks on concrete and other surfaces, leaves, textures, colors and remnants left behind by Katrina form layers in front of, behind and even merged onto the surface of the skin of the subjects. Together, the subjects and debris become storytellers of New Orleans post-Katrina. Shot entirely in natural light, the overall mood of the pieces is almost of an ethereal quality, with the ghost-like images of debris commingling with the subjects. According to Bennett, as many as 82 layers comprise one individual portrait. The subjects either appear draped in fabric or nude, which the artist explains is a means of eliminating social class or status: "with Katrina, everyone got left behind." With "Organic Watermarks," Bennett creates true works of beauty, proving that even in the aftermath of chaos, hope can still prevail.

Purple Treatment: Ceramic Works by Eunjung Shin
Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art Center
805 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In "Purple Treatment," Eunjung Shin's figurative ceramic sculptures represent stories from the artist's life. Shin has taken personal memories and transformed them into three-dimensional artistic expressions. The highly detailed figures are skillfully rendered and express a range of emotions. Shin describes some of her figures as "clowns" because they hide their true selves, putting on a face to the world in order to please others. Many of the pieces prompt the viewer to look inward to reflect upon their meaning.

Works of Howard Lehning and Thomas Kegler
Skaneateles Artisans

Skaneateles Artisans
11 Fennell St., Skaneateles

Furniture and clocks of Howard Lehning and paintings of Thomas Kegler will be on display.

Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and 100 Last Names
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

The two solo exhibitions, Xiaowen Chen: Spectacle and Xiaowen Chen: 100 Last Names, present work from the past nine years by Chinese-born, Ithaca-based artist Chen. Having lived in the United States for the past two decades, Chen has focused his work on the space between East and West. From his many return trips to China, Chen has created digital images and video projections reflecting American and Chinese attitudes toward the 21st-century role of media and technology and identity issues. His work of overlapping the cultures of East and West addresses his search for what he called in 1993 the "manifestation of the universal and the expression of the particular."

Chen places himself in the position of both the American and the Chinese tourist. He has noted that when photographing in China he feels like a foreigner, while in the U.S. he feels like a traveler. His work addresses both China's historical transformation and his personal experience as an émigré.

Like other artists of his generation, Chen grew up under Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution and was exposed to a visual vocabulary that highlighted fragmentation and repetition. As a result, works by Xiaowen Chen evoke cultural clichés and stereotypes.