Just because -Carol Burnett

AVOW

David and I went to see Avow last Saturday in Indianapolis. While we were expecting to see a farce we were happy with a comedy/drama. The cast was great we were most impressed with the actress who played Irene, she had wonderful comedic timing . It was a great show we're looking forward to coming back for the Trailer Park Muscial in June.

Indiana State Museum

David at the Children Museum in Indy

Art Institute Chicago Matisse Exhibition

Matisse:
Radial Invention, 1913–1917 examines what is without question the most innovative, momentous, and yet little-studied time in the artist’s long career. Nearly 120 of his most ambitious and experimental paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from the period are on view. Matisse himself acknowledged the significance of these years when he identified two paintings, Bathers by a River and The Moroccans, as among his most pivotal. These monumental canvases from the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, inspired the collaborative work of this exhibition and serve as major touchstones within it. This is the first exhibition to offer an in-depth investigation of Matisse’s art from this time, revealing information uncovered through extensive new art-historical, archival, and technical research

This is major exhibiton- David and I will be seeing this in two weeks.

chicago theater Outing-Show Us Your Love

SHOW US YOUR LOVE celebrates love and relationships, featuring both comic and dramatic selections from some of Broadway and Off-Broadway’s very best, including HAIR, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, PIPPIN, FLOYD COLLINS and BROOKLYN THE MUSICAL. Audience members will have an opportunity to "show us their love" by informally voting for their favorite shows, which will influence Bailiwick Chicago’s show selection process for future seasons.

This lively revue will play every Sunday in February and March at 7:30pm at Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St, Chicago. Mary’s Attic is a cabaret setting, and drinks and food are available for purchase during the show. Tickets are available here, or at the door on the night of each performance.

chicago theater Outing

BLOOM

by Peter Foley, Matthew Heimer, Andy Siegel, and Kevin Mayes

Directed by Elizabeth Margolius
Musical Direction by Brett Rowe

Everyone is in the game, but will the bubble burst? An entire nation bets its financial future, not on tech stocks or real estate… but tulips. The year is 1636, the place is Holland, and the shoes are wooden. Together a thrifty hat-maker and reckless painter set out to fulfill their dreams in a world of Rembrandt masterpieces, Puritan elders and bawdy beer halls. On a quest for wealth, power, fame and love, set to a baroque pop score, they discover what it means to catch Tulip Mania.

Featuring a wonderful cast, directed by Elizabeth Margolius with musical direction by Brett Rowe, Bailiwick Chicago presents three concert-style performances at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green Street on April 16 (7:30) and April 17 (2:30 and 7:30).

theater Outing Chicago March 18,2010

Theatre : Ford Center/Oriental Theatre, Chicago Illinois
Dates : Begins March 18, 2010
Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, including intermission.
Other information: Recommended for ages 8+ and includes some strong language.

BILLY ELLIOT the Musical is the heartwarming celebration of one young boy’s triumph against the odds. Set in a small mining town, the story follows Billy’s journey as he stumbles out of a boxing ring and into a ballet class and discovers his dream to dance.

Just because Adam Lanbert

shadow on the wall

theater outing Grand rapids

The Litte Dog Laughed this thurdsay -Saturday and -From March 25-27

The four characters are an actor, Mitchell, his acerbic agent Diane, a hustler named Alex, and Alex's girlfriend Ellen. When Mitchell and Alex become involved in a physical relationship, Diane is concerned that what she describes as Mitchell's "slight recurring case of homosexuality" will derail his career before it gets started.

actorstheatregrandrapids.com

Touring Exhibition from Brooklyn

This exhibition of almost forty paintings includes many of the finest examples of mid-nineteenth through early twentieth-century French and American landscape in the Brooklyn Museum's collection. The works presented offer a broad survey of landscape painting as practiced by such leading French artists as Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet and their most significant American followers including Frederick Childe Hassam and John Singer Sargent.

Among the earliest works in the exhibition are Charles-François Daubigny's The River Seine at Mantes (1856), and Gustave Courbet's Isolated Rock (1862), which reveal the impact of plein-air sketching practice on landscape art of the period. Heirs to this plein-air tradition, French Impressionists Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, and Gustave Caillebotte painted highly elaborated "impressions"—the seemingly spontaneous, rapidly executed landscapes and cityscapes that prompted the name of their movement. Monet is represented here by several works including Rising Tide at Pourville (1882), Vernon in the Sun (1894), and The Islets at Port-Villez (1897).

Following in the footsteps of the French archetypes, beginning at mid-century many American painters sought to improve their skills and find inspiration in Paris and its environs, attending French art academies and frequenting the painting locations made famous by their Barbizon and Impressionist predecessors. Some of the Americans had direct contact with leading French landscape painters, sharing landscape sites or seeking informal guidance from admired mentors.

The majority of the American paintings on display depict American locales: beaches, factories, tenements, and notable subjects such as Central Park in works distinguished by brilliant colors and lively, broken brushwork, including Williams Glackens's Bathing at Bellport, Long Island (1912), Julian Alden Weir's Willimantic Thread Factory (1893), Robert Spencer's The White Tenement (1913), and Willard Leroy Metcalf's Early Spring Afternoon, Central Park (1911).

The exhibition is co-curated by Teresa A. Carbone, Andrew W. Mellon Curator, American Art; and Judith F. Dolkart, Associate Curator, European Art.

Flint Institute of Art to april 18.2010

February 6 – April 18, 2010
Impressionist and Post Impressionist:
Paintings from the FIA's Permanent Collection
Johnson & Rabiah Galleries


Adjacent to the FIA Contemporary and Dow Galleries where Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism exhibition will be shown, the Flint Institute of Arts will present its own collection of Impressionist paintings. The FIA’s collection includes European and American Impressionist works by Alfred Sisley, Charles Daubigny, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Renoir, Eugène-Louis Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Childe Hassam. In addition, the FIA will show Post-Impressionist works which include works painted in styles that developed out of Impressionism including works by Lucien Pissarro, Pierre Bonnard, Alexej Jawlensky, Édouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Albert Marquet and Andre Segonzac. Together, the exhibition Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism: Paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the FIA’s permanent collection will create a complete story of the development of Impressionism and the styles that evolved out of Impressionism, both in Europe and the United States.


Above image:
Mary Cassatt
American, 1844–1926
Lydia at a Tapestry Frame
oil on canvas, ca. 1881
25 5/8 x 36 3/8 inches
Gift of The Whiting Foundation, 1967.32

Flint Institute of Art

This collection is Brooklyn Museum its very impressive Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism:
Paintings from the Brooklyn Museum
Contemporary & Dow Galleries


Sponsored by
The Whiting Foundation
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Founders Society
Peter Thompson & Kathy Kallick
Susie Thompson


This exhibition includes many of the finest examples of mid-nineteenth through early twentieth-century French and American landscapes from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The 38 paintings presented offer a broad survey of landscape painting as practiced by such leading French artists as Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet and their most significant American followers including Frederick Childe Hassam and John Sing

Mad Men Barbies

Theater Outing-Indianapolis March 19-April 10

Brian and Tom ask their liberal and forward-thinking parish priest, Father Raymond, to witness and bless their vows to each other. Although Father Raymond understands their affection for each other, he holds that they must live a celibate life if they wish to be part of the Church. Brian is outraged! His sister, Irene, is pregnant out of wedlock and he has convinced her to have the baby, which he and Tom will adopt. Irene, desiring nothing more than her brother's happiness and security, tries to mediate between Brian and Tom and Father Raymond. Tom's and Brian's catalytic request creates five separate and linked spiritual journeys, each seeking to balance passion and faith.

Dustin Lance Black-to speack in Detroit

ACLU MICHIGAN HOLDS LEGACY LECTURE WITH SPEAKER DUSTIN LANCE BLACK, SCREENPLAY WRITER OF “MILK”

Lecture series is part of ACLU’s 50th anniversary commemoration

Detroit, February 16, 2010 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is commemorating its 50th anniversary with a series of Legacy Lectures. The first this year will be held on Wed., March 10, 2010 with featured speaker Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award-winning writer of the screenplay, “Milk.” The lecture begins at 6 p.m., and will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Avenue.

Black will discuss “Activism and the Creative Class: The Art of Building Inclusive Communities.” The lecture will focus on building communities that enliven the economy, enhance understanding and cooperation and provide new opportunities for social and political engagement. In addition, the lecture will explore the impact of artist/advocates in this new political age.

Black, who is 36, will share his personal experiences as an artist and strong advocate for LGBT (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) rights. The gay son of devout Mormon parents who grew up in Texas, Black dared to come out, be himself and pursue his dreams. He won the 2008 Academy Award and Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Milk,” the Gus Van Sant-directed biopic of the late gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Black also won acclaim for his work as a writer and producer of the HBO series, “Big Love,” about a modern Mormon family in Utah practicing polygamy, and for his screenplay, “Pedro,” about the late AIDS activist Pedro Zamora.

Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan said, “We are extremely honored to have Dustin Lance Black as our next Legacy lecturer. Dustin is living proof that art is a powerful medium to effect change in our country. Whether we are dealing with the issue of freedom of expression, LGBT rights, or government abuses of power, it is Michigan artists and advocates who are working to break down societal barriers and change perceptions.”

The ACLU invites metro Detroit artist/advocates to contribute to the dialogue and share their local perspectives on the subject. The evening includes a strolling reception, a raffle and an opportunity for networking.

The event sponsors are the ACLU of Michigan; LGBT Project Leadership Committee; Between the Lines; Bureau of Urban Living; Cooley Law School; Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion; MSU College of Law; Rachel’s Place; Slows Bar BQ: and The Whitney.

Tickets are $30 members; $40 non-members; $10 students; $100 VIP (VIP tickets include premium seating and admission to a private reception). To purchase tickets, visit www.aclumich.org , or call (313) 578-6827.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is our state's guardian of liberty, working daily in the courts, legislature and communities to defend the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution. For more information, visit www.aclumich.org .