Art walk
CONCORD ó Downtown Concord’s Art Walk this Friday promises to be the biggest ever, with dozens of artists’ work displayed at more than 20 locations.
The free event will include galleries, restaurants and other businesses located on Union and Church streets and McCachern Boulevard. Several locations will offer refreshments or art demonstrations, and Mullis Music will present live musical performances by “Jim and I.”
The Arts Council Galleries at 65 Union Street South will celebrate the opening of “Jennie Martin Tomlin: A Retrospective,” a large collection of paintings and drawings by the local artist, teacher and gallery owner. A companion exhibition, “Salon Show,” displays works by Mrs. Tomlin’s students.
The galleries will also be showing “Practice What They Teach: Works by Local Art Educators,” which features 21 artists.
For more information about Art Walk, the Cabarrus Arts Council Galleries or other arts council activities, call 704-920-ARTS (2787) or visit www. cabarrusartscouncil.org.
Unconstrained art
STATESVILLE ó Iredell Museums presents the multi-media work of Ladianne Mandel of Cornelius at the Court Street Gallery, 134 Court St., in downtown Statesville March 14-April 11.
The opening reception for the artist and the kick-off party for the Downtown Statesville Art Crawl will be held 5-9 p.m. Friday. The gallery is open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free.
Mandel is an artist unconstrained by either conventional thought or materials. She has exhibited in North Carolina, New York and Ohio, and has created a diverse body of artwork including films; paintings on both canvas and paper; drawings; vitreographic prints; and sculptures.
The exhibit will include detailed abstract works on paper which range in size from one inch in length to more than 85 inches. Additionally, the exhibit will include a sculptural piece entitled “Artemis,” a work which took Mandel 13 months to create by painstakingly applying thousands of beads with tweezers.
Also a writer, Mandel has written one play entitled “Undone” and is currently working on her second. In 2006, Mandel was awarded the North Carolina Wisteria Prize for Poetry and her collection of poetry, “Play Them Bones,” was published by The Paper Journey Press of Chapel Hill.
She blogs on her Web site, www.Ladianne.com.
For more information about the exhibit call 704-873-4734.
Merlefest deadline
WILKESBORO ó MerleFest 2008 will be held April 24-27 and with the dates of the festival quickly approaching, fans are reminded that ticket orders received through March 14 are discounted. A four-day general admission pass can be purchased for $135 through March 14, but starting March 15 that ticket will be $150. For more information on all ticket prices and all the latest MerleFest news, visit www.MerleFest.org or call 1-800-343-7857.
Reptile Day
RALEIGH ó The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences presents the 15th annual Reptile and Amphibian Day 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. With the theme, “Constrictors,” there will be more than 50 exhibits, activities and presentations that allow visitors to get up close and personal with creatures. The event is free.
This year’s event will feature National Geographic’s Dr. Brady Barr. Known to be one of the most ambitious herpetology field specialists in the world, Barr is the first person ever to capture and study all 23 species of crocodilians in the wild. He will give a special presentation inside the museum’s auditorium at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
New this year is the Kids’ Carnival, where kids can participate in a snake limbo contest, frog-hoppin’ races and the frog toss. Kids 7 and under can enjoy the “Make a Snake” craft activity, as well as a host of presentations inside the museum’s Windows on the World amphitheater on the third floor.
Visitors of all ages will enjoy this special event. For more details call 919-733-7450, ext. 523.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is located at 11 W. Jones St. in Raleigh. Regular museum hours are Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday noon- 5 p.m. Admission is free.
For more information visit www.naturalsciences.org.
Catawba Singers
The home concert of the Catawba Singers will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel at Catawba College. This concert follows the group’s spring concert tour, which took them performance venues throughout the Southeast.
A wide variety of repertoire will be performed ranging from 13th century chant, motets of Palestrina, Scarlatti, Viadana, psalm settings by Handel, Mendelssohn, and Vaughan Williams, two Jewish sacred songs, liturgical music of Rachmaninoff and Orban, several pieces in jazz style, spirituals and a rocking African-American gospel song.
The concert will conclude with the new Catawba Singers’ theme song, “The Earth Adorned,” by Swedish composer Waldemar Ahlen.
Professor Paul E. Oakley is music director.
For more information call 704-637-4345.
Art on Easy Street
The Rowan Arts Council is now accepting applications for the 5th annual Art on Easy Street Summer Art Festival.
The event will take place on the first day of summer, June 21, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in Salisbury’s Easy Street Plaza. Artists, craftsmen and food vendors may obtain an application by calling the Rowan Arts Council at 704-638-9887 or on the Web site at www.rowanarts.org.
Booth fee is $50 for Rowan Arts Council members and $60 for non-members. Membership forms are also available online.
Musicians who are interested in participating should contact the Rowan Arts Council by phone or at rac@rowanarts.org.
Shirl Hull of Salisbury is chairing this year’s festival. Anyone interested in volunteering should call or e-mail the Arts Council.
‘Nutcracker’ to return
The Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Society will be bringing back “The Nutcracker” this coming Christmas season due to popular demand.
There will be two performances on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008. The performances will take place in Keppel Auditorium on the Catawba College campus.
The 2008 production will be a collaboration with the Piedmont Dance Theatre based in Kannapolis. Co-artistic Directors Rebecca and Daniel Wiley are already working on new set pieces and costumes.
Following the December 2007 collaboration between the Salisbury Symphony and Piedmont Dance Theater, the Salisbury Post reported that the dance company “brought a higher caliber troupe than those unfamiliar with it might have expected. The dancers proved you don’t have to go to Charlotte, Winston-Salem or beyond to see breath-taking ballet.”
For information, contact the symphony office at 704-637-4314.