Friday, July 20, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

Flower Power
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

"Flower Power" presents an eclectic mix of styles and art media. This group exhibition celebrates the beauty of flowers and the vessels used to contain them. The show includes photography, wood, sculpture, fiber art, and ceramics. Participating artists include Justin Campbell, Suzanne Fluty, Jen Gandee, Bob Gates, Mary Giehl, Vicki Hartman, Dave LoParco, Colleen McCall, Kate Money, Melissa Montgomery, Brooks Oliver, Kala Stein, Dan Tracy, Jeanann Wieners, Pualani Wiley, and Errol Willett.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

In Our View: A Community Perspective
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

This exhibition is the culmination of a community art project in which ArtRage worked with community members and organizations in the Hawley-Green and Northside neighborhoods. ArtRage got cameras into the hands of neighborhood residents and asked them to capture their lives and community through documentary photography. A professional photographer and Syracuse University graduate student, Daniel Aguilera, worked with residents to guide them on the social documentary process. Curated by a community panel, this exhibition is not only a testimony to the times in which we live, but a social-bonding experience for our diverse neighborhood -- a neighborhood whose current residents include refugees from many war-torn nations, long time city dwellers of mixed income, and a population of people new to the area working to establish roots in a community of their choice -- all living side-by-side as neighbors.

Exhibition Partners: Catholic Charities, Hawley-Green Neighbors, NEDHA, Northeast Community Center, Northside UP.

UVP Annual Summer Review 2012
Urban Video Project

Everson Museum of Art Plaza
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

This year's Annual Summer Review will feature all the past videos from the 2011-2012 programming year running together in a continuous loop. If you missed one of the past year's artists, now's your chance! On view will be works by Pae White, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, John Knecht, and William Wegman.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Middle Eastern Cultural Festival

Price: Free
St. Elias Orthodox Church
4988 Onondage Rd., Syracuse

The St. Elias Dancers will perform at 6:00 and 8:00 pm.

Live Arabic music, dance performances, gifts, and food.

For more information, visit the website, Facebook or Twitter.

St. Patrick's Irish Festival

Price: Free
St. Patrick's Church
216 N. Lowell Ave., Tipperary Hill, Syracuse

Live Irish entertainment, including performances by students of local Irish step dancing schools.

For more information, phone 315-492-9121.

Parks & Rec All-Star High School Band

Price: Free
Pulaski Park
Park Ave. and W. Genesee St., Syracuse

Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. Refreshments available for purchase.

Stan Colella Orchestra
Dancing Under the Stars

Price: Free
Sunnycrest Rink
Sunnycrest Park, Syracuse

Swing and big band favorites.

Lawn chairs recommended. Picnics welcome.

Trampled by Turtles with Hot Day At the Zoo, Jatoba, The Blind Owl Band
Paper Mill Island

Paper Mill Island
Baldwinsville

Skaneateles Community Band
Philip Krasicky, conductor

Price: Free
Clift Park
Genesee St., Skaneateles

Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.

The Crimson Projeckt, featuring Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto of King Crimson
Westcott Theater

Westcott Theater
524 Westcott St., Syracuse

Limited seats available. Performances by The Adrian Belew Power Trio, The Stickmen and a set of King Crimson songs by all performers.

A Chorus Line
Town of Manlius Recreation Department
David Brown, director

Fayetteville-Manlius High School
8201 E. Seneca Tpke., Manlius

In an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For 17 dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It's what they've worked for--with every drop of sweat, every hour of training, every day of their lives. It's the one opportunity to do what they've always dreamed--to have the chance to dance. This is A Chorus Line, the musical for everyone who's ever had a dream and put it all on the line. Winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama, this singular sensation is one of the longest-running American Broadway musicals ever.

*SOLD OUT* Avenue Q
Covey Theatre Company
Garrett Heater and Susan Blumer, director

Price: $25
BeVard Room, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Covey Theatre brings you a CNY premiere with the riotous adult musical Avenue Q. This 2004 Tony award-winner for Best Musical is simultaneously a touching homage to children's television programming and an irreverent comedy about finding our purpose in life. Full of catchy tunes like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "If You Were Gay," and "The Internet is for Porn," puppets and people shed hilarious and philosophical light on our shared hopes, dreams, and insecurities.

Not recommended for children as this show contains adult themes and content.

Starring Sara Weiler, David Cotter, Rob Lescarbeau, Josh Taylor, Garrett Heater, Jodie Baum, Josh Mele, Sunny Hernandez, Karin Franklin-King, Angel Santiago, Bethany Daniluk, Alexia Crescenzi, Kyle Johnson.

Musical direction by Bridget Moriarty, choreography by Jodi Bova-Mele, puppetry direction by David Cotter.

Read a Review!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

Flower Power
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

"Flower Power" presents an eclectic mix of styles and art media. This group exhibition celebrates the beauty of flowers and the vessels used to contain them. The show includes photography, wood, sculpture, fiber art, and ceramics. Participating artists include Justin Campbell, Suzanne Fluty, Jen Gandee, Bob Gates, Mary Giehl, Vicki Hartman, Dave LoParco, Colleen McCall, Kate Money, Melissa Montgomery, Brooks Oliver, Kala Stein, Dan Tracy, Jeanann Wieners, Pualani Wiley, and Errol Willett.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

In Our View: A Community Perspective
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

This exhibition is the culmination of a community art project in which ArtRage worked with community members and organizations in the Hawley-Green and Northside neighborhoods. ArtRage got cameras into the hands of neighborhood residents and asked them to capture their lives and community through documentary photography. A professional photographer and Syracuse University graduate student, Daniel Aguilera, worked with residents to guide them on the social documentary process. Curated by a community panel, this exhibition is not only a testimony to the times in which we live, but a social-bonding experience for our diverse neighborhood -- a neighborhood whose current residents include refugees from many war-torn nations, long time city dwellers of mixed income, and a population of people new to the area working to establish roots in a community of their choice -- all living side-by-side as neighbors.

Exhibition Partners: Catholic Charities, Hawley-Green Neighbors, NEDHA, Northeast Community Center, Northside UP.

UVP Annual Summer Review 2012
Urban Video Project

Everson Museum of Art Plaza
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

This year's Annual Summer Review will feature all the past videos from the 2011-2012 programming year running together in a continuous loop. If you missed one of the past year's artists, now's your chance! On view will be works by Pae White, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, John Knecht, and William Wegman.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Middle Eastern Cultural Festival

Price: Free
St. Elias Orthodox Church
4988 Onondage Rd., Syracuse

The St. Elias Dancers will perform at 5:00 and 8:00 pm.

Live Arabic music, dance performances, gifts, and food.

For more information, visit the website, Facebook or Twitter.

St. Patrick's Irish Festival

Price: Free
St. Patrick's Church
216 N. Lowell Ave., Tipperary Hill, Syracuse

Live Irish entertainment, including performances by students of local Irish step dancing schools.

For more information, phone 315-492-9121.

4th Annual ArtRageous Extravaganza
ArtRage Gallery

Price: $12 in advance; $15, or 2 for $25, at the door
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Guest emcee artist and activist Ty Marshall, live music with jazz group the Jim O'Mahony Quintet and, back by popular demand, Kambuyu Marimba Ensemble! Eat, drink, and bid on great silent auction items, all to benefit ArtRage!

Advance sale tickets are available at ArtRage, Sparkytown and Syracuse Cultural Workers.

For more info visit www.artragegallery.org/4th-annual-artrageous-extravaganza.

Breath of Joy

Price: $10 suggested donation
Andrews Memorial United Methodist Church
106 Church St., North Syracuse

A program of joyful music for two flutes and piano, by J.S. Bach, Phillipe Gaubert, Ian Clarke, Gary Schocker, and others.

Performing will be Cynthia Decker, flute; Martha Grener, flute; Maryna Mazukhova, piano

Proceeds will benefit the Southern Sudan Health Project.

A Chorus Line
Town of Manlius Recreation Department
David Brown, director

Fayetteville-Manlius High School
8201 E. Seneca Tpke., Manlius

In an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For 17 dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It's what they've worked for--with every drop of sweat, every hour of training, every day of their lives. It's the one opportunity to do what they've always dreamed--to have the chance to dance. This is A Chorus Line, the musical for everyone who's ever had a dream and put it all on the line. Winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama, this singular sensation is one of the longest-running American Broadway musicals ever.

*SOLD OUT* Avenue Q
Covey Theatre Company
Garrett Heater and Susan Blumer, director

Price: $25
BeVard Room, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Covey Theatre brings you a CNY premiere with the riotous adult musical Avenue Q. This 2004 Tony award-winner for Best Musical is simultaneously a touching homage to children's television programming and an irreverent comedy about finding our purpose in life. Full of catchy tunes like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "If You Were Gay," and "The Internet is for Porn," puppets and people shed hilarious and philosophical light on our shared hopes, dreams, and insecurities.

Not recommended for children as this show contains adult themes and content.

Starring Sara Weiler, David Cotter, Rob Lescarbeau, Josh Taylor, Garrett Heater, Jodie Baum, Josh Mele, Sunny Hernandez, Karin Franklin-King, Angel Santiago, Bethany Daniluk, Alexia Crescenzi, Kyle Johnson.

Musical direction by Bridget Moriarty, choreography by Jodi Bova-Mele, puppetry direction by David Cotter.

Read a Review!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Flower Power
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

"Flower Power" presents an eclectic mix of styles and art media. This group exhibition celebrates the beauty of flowers and the vessels used to contain them. The show includes photography, wood, sculpture, fiber art, and ceramics. Participating artists include Justin Campbell, Suzanne Fluty, Jen Gandee, Bob Gates, Mary Giehl, Vicki Hartman, Dave LoParco, Colleen McCall, Kate Money, Melissa Montgomery, Brooks Oliver, Kala Stein, Dan Tracy, Jeanann Wieners, Pualani Wiley, and Errol Willett.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Middle Eastern Cultural Festival

Price: Free
St. Elias Orthodox Church
4988 Onondage Rd., Syracuse

The St. Elias Dancers will perform at 1:00, 3:00, and 5:00 pm.

Live Arabic music, dance performances, gifts, and food.

For more information, visit the website, Facebook or Twitter.

Blue Moon Afternoon

Price: $35 in advance, children free
Jamesville Beach
Apulia Rd., Jamesville

Enjoy an afternoon of live music featuring artists heard on the Blue Moon Cafe Sunday mornings on TK99 and WOUR. Scheduled performers include Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers, Aztec Two-Step, Steve Forbert, The Jon Pousette-Dart Band, Dusty Pascal and Loren Barrigar.

Bring lawn chairs or blankets. Food and beverages will be available for purchase on site.

Summer Concert
Jane Austin Singing School for Ladies

Price: Freewill donation
First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles
97 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

A program of Regency-era music and readings, as well as some English country dancing.

For more information, phone 315-446-7787.

*CANCELLED* Johnny Mathis

Landmark Theatre
362 S. Salina St., Syracuse

Tickets refunds are available at point of purchase.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

The Nova Jazz Quartet
Liverpool is the Place

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

Chorale Concert

Price: Freewill offering to benefit the Oxford Inn
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Columbus Circle, Syracuse

Student choir from the Chevreul Blancarde School of Marseilles, France.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Jim Gaffigan

Price: $37.75, $47.75
Crouse Hinds Concert Theater, Mulroy Civic Center
411 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Jim Gaffigan will be performing his hysterical show, "The America Tour." Gaffigan's comedy has made him one of the top five most successful touring comedians today. He has been on Letterman and Conan countless times and his CDs and DVDs have gone platinum.

Pops in the Park
Syracuse Parks Department

Price: Free
Upper Onondaga Park Gazebo
Roberts Avenue, Syracuse

Bring lawn chairs/blankets for seating. Gannon's ice cream will be available for purchase.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Safe House
Flicks on the Crick

Price: Free
Sound Garden
310 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse

Starting at dusk, film will be projected on the side of Sound Garden's building. Blankets and lawn chairs are recommended.

For more information or to check for weather delays or cancellations, visit the Flicks on the Crick Facebook page

The Coachmen featuring Elizabeth Fern
Liverpool is the Place

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

Oldies/R&B

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

And the Whole Room Laughed
XL Projects

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

Work drawn from the collaborative writings of three artists is featured in the current exhibition, "And the Whole Room Laughed." The exhibit includes painting, drawing, sculpture and video by Ford Bostwick, a dual architecture and sculpture major at Syracuse University's School of Architecture and College of Visual and Performing Arts; Becky Reiser, a graduate sculpture student in VPA; and Alexander Svoboda, a dual sculpture and philosophy major in VPA and The College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, contact Andrew Havenhand at ahavenhand@yahoo.com. XL Projects may be contacted at 315-442-2542 during gallery hours.

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

UVP Annual Summer Review 2012
Urban Video Project

Everson Museum of Art Plaza
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

This year's Annual Summer Review will feature all the past videos from the 2011-2012 programming year running together in a continuous loop. If you missed one of the past year's artists, now's your chance! On view will be works by Pae White, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, John Knecht, and William Wegman.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

Raising Renee
Community Folk Art Center

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

The deeply personal film explores Beverly McIver's journey as an artist and caregiver to her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

The story begins in 2003 just as McIver is reaching a highpoint in her career--she has her first solo art show in New York. However, the unexpected death of her mother brings everything to a halt as she is faced with grief and an unexpected responsibility: taking care of Renee. Years earlier, McIver had casually made a promise to her mother that she would care for Renee. What she didn't expect was for that promise to completely change her life. Filmed over the course of six years, the documentary offers a personal look into McIver's life, raw emotions and all. We see the struggles she must endure as well as the joyous moments that make them all worthwhile. But most of all we see how her new relationship (as sole caregiver) with her sister unfolds and how one promise creates an unbreakable bond.

The screening will be followed by a Skype discussion with artist Beverly McIver. Light refreshments will be served.

Think Like a Man
Southside Film Festival

Price: Free
Key Bank (South Side) parking lot
Corner South Salina and East Colvin St., Syracuse

Smokin'

Price: Free
Woods Road Park gazebo
Woods Road, Solvay

Summer Pops Concert
Syracuse Orchestra (formerly Symphoria)

Price: Free
Allyn Arena
1 E. Austin St., Skaneateles

Salt City Poetry Slam
ArtRage Gallery
Underground Poetry Spot

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

Seneca Wilson and Mozart Guerrier from the Underground Poetry Spot host the Salt City Slam series.

Slammers and judges will be chosen at random each night. Competitors will have three minutes and two rounds to impress crowds and judges by earning scores for their performances. Each night will also feature national artists.

For more information, contact Mozart Guerrier, Salt City Slams Project Manager, slamsaltcity@gmail.com or visit Underground Poetry Spot's website.

Homestyle Homicide: The Freagan Family Reunion
Acme Mystery Company

Price: $32.50 (includes meal, show, tax and gratuities)
Spaghetti Warehouse
689 N. Clinton St., Syracuse

Come a runnin', cousins, 'cause it's time again for the annual family reunion and the whole Freagan family is gonna be there! We're gonna have vittles, singin', hootin' and hollerin', and, of course, no family gatherin' would be complete without the annual pig-callin' contest! Dang! You might even win a big ol' slop bucket full of cash money! Yeehaw! Best watch yer step around the pig farm this year, though. Word is that Pa's been hittin' the moonshine a might too hard and is about to lose the farm to that no good snake, Beauregard Hogwallerin! When the girls find out, somebody could end up on the barbecue!

For reservations, phone 315-475-1807 or email syracuse@meatballs.com.

Seussical the Musical
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Daniel Mullarney, director

First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Grease
The Talent Company

Price: $28 regular, $25 students/seniors, $20 children 12 and under
Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

The Talent Company salutes the rock 'n' roll era of the 1950s with its rollicking and raucous revival of the musical Grease. One of the longest-running Broadway hits ever, with two successful Broadway revivals, it's been over a decade since The Talent Company played its critically acclaimed version to sold out houses.

Come join the Rydell High spirited class of '59 with the super cool, hot-rod loving Burger Palace Boys with D.A.s and leather jackets and their gum chewing, hip-swinging Pink Ladies in poodle skirts and bobby sox as they sing and dance their way through the pajama party, the prom, the burger palace and the drive-in movie with hit songs Summer Nights, Freddy My Love, We Go Together, Greased Lightnin', Hopelessly Devoted To You, You're The One That I Want, Hand Jive and many more!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Windows Project: Chaz Griffin: The History of Silence
The Warehouse Gallery

The Warehouse Gallery
350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

Chaz Griffin studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and currently resides in Syracuse. For the Window Projects space he will produce a partially-autobiographical collage addressing the issue of youth living in 21st-century urban environments.

Native Hands: Claywork by Tammy Tarbell
Clayscapes Pottery Gallery

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

Kim McGraw: Birches
Weeks Art Gallery at Baltimore Woods

Price: Free
Baltimore Woods Nature Center
4007 Bishop Hill Rd., Marcellus

"Birches" is an exhibit and sale of mixed media collage by Syracuse artist Kim McGraw.

Having always been attracted to birch trees, McGraw found that simply drawing and painting them was not ultimately satisfying. Doing some research into birches revealed that birch bark was used in times past as a writing surface. This led to the idea of using newsprint in her mixed media collages to represent the birches.

McGraw was awarded her BFA and MSAE from The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. She has exhibited her work both in Massachusetts and the greater Syracuse area. A permanent exhibit of her work is on display at Anyela's Vineyard in Skaneateles, The artist currently teaches art at Solvay High School and resides in Syracuse with her husband and son.

Natural Abstractions
Edgewood Gallery

Edgewood Gallery
216 Tecumseh Rd., Syracuse

Fernando Llosa: oil paintings, sumi ink drawings, stone assemblage
David Harper: wood and mixed media sculpture
Carol Ackles: ceramic bead jewelry

The Unexpected Journey: Works By Beverly McIver and How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay
Community Folk Art Center

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

Our summer exhibition will feature acclaimed artist Beverly McIver and California-based weaver Spencer McClay. These two artists offer different and refreshing perspectives on disability.

"The Unexpected Journey: Works by Beverly McIver" is a selection of paintings that examine McIver's unpredictable relationship with her mentally disabled sister, Renee.

"How I See the World: Works by Spencer McClay" is a collection of vibrant hand-woven wall sculptures by an artist with a unique vision and sensibility for the materials he uses.

Read a review!

The Locks of the New York State Canal System
Erie Canal Museum

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

Pen and ink drawings of artist Ray Sax will be on display. The 57 drawings were created by Sax over a four year period that began in 1988 with a picnic to Lock 24 in Baldwinsville with his wife Betty. Enjoying the experience, they kept going from one lock to the next, Ray drawing each one.

The exhibition of these drawings will bring new attention to the beauty and engineering of Barge Canal structures. Visitors to the exhibit will be reminded that the Erie Canal is not merely a thing of the past, but a remarkable body of water that connects east and west.

Fire and Water
Gallery 54

Gallery 54
54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

Vibrant new watercolors, acrylics, and gold leaf paintings by Kathleen Schneider and hot new sculptural glass jewelry by Heather Hennigan.

Soul Cages: An Exploration of Change, Time and Process
Imagine

Imagine
38 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles

The exhibition showcases R. Jason Howard's flame-worked glass sculptures, ornaments and functional pieces.

Art by Virginia Vilchis

Price: Free
Maxwell Memorial Library
14 Genesee St., Camillus

An exhibit of the dreamy, inward, otherworldly scapes by local artist Virginia Vilchis.

A native of Mexico, Vilchis received her associate's degree in fine arts from Onondaga Community College in 2009 and her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in 2011. She works in ceramics, oils, acrylics, and mixed media.

Timeless Imagery: Associated Artists of CNY's 85th Anniversary Exhibition
Onondaga Historical Association
Associated Artists of Central New York

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Since 1927, Associated Artists has sought to bring together the best artists and their art for the benefit of the central New York community. The exhibit at OHA will showcase 85 years of juried arts competition winning entries from regional artists. "Timeless Imagery" is an opportunity to observe in one gallery the history of Central New York's changing art scene.

Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place
Onondaga Historical Association

Price: Free
Onondaga Historical Association
321 Montgomery St., Syracuse

Three well-known Central New York political cartoonists, Joe Glisson, Tim Atseff, and Frank Cammuso, are the featured cartoonists for an exhibition entitled "Take No Prisoners: Political Cartoons Over Time and Place." With insightful humor, these artists and their historic predecessors produced a wide variety of editorial cartoons that illustrated important issues of their time. Starting with cartoons from the Civil War era through the present day, "Take No Prisoners" is an opportunity to experience historic subjects as the current events they once were, and to see how election issues of the past compare with those of the present-day.

Radiant Hues: Works by Therese Verley Strodel
Redhouse

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

Large-scale abstract paintings celebrate the use of color through myriad layering of acrylic paint.

When Night Falls
Szozda Gallery

Price: Free
Szozda Gallery
Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse

In its July offering, Szozda Gallery takes a different approach in featuring two young newcomers to the gallery, Cayetano Valenzuela and Isaac Bidwell, in a mounting of their works that are a little darker than most shown here.

"When Night Falls" is composed of oil paintings plus acrylic and ink paintings by Valenzuela and ink or digital drawings by Bidwell. Most pieces submitted by the two bear an aura of the mystique. Valenzuela explores ideas about death, magic and storytelling in America; Bidwell's newest series, "Skeleton Ladies" represent control, mortality, destruction and beauty.

Though new to Szozda Gallery and still young in their careers, the two local artists have earned acclaim in some notable exhibitions throughout Central New York and beyond. Valenzuela's credits include galleries in San Francisco, San Diego, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta and Chicago. He has been published in several art and culture magazines including Baron Magazine (Canada), IDN the New Twenties and Small Press publication, Atlas. Bidwell's work has appeared in San Diego, Chicago, Long Beach, and New York City.

Flower Power
Gandee Gallery

Gandee Gallery
7846 Main St., Fabius

"Flower Power" presents an eclectic mix of styles and art media. This group exhibition celebrates the beauty of flowers and the vessels used to contain them. The show includes photography, wood, sculpture, fiber art, and ceramics. Participating artists include Justin Campbell, Suzanne Fluty, Jen Gandee, Bob Gates, Mary Giehl, Vicki Hartman, Dave LoParco, Colleen McCall, Kate Money, Melissa Montgomery, Brooks Oliver, Kala Stein, Dan Tracy, Jeanann Wieners, Pualani Wiley, and Errol Willett.

People, Place and Progress: Local Landscapes in Paint and Print
Everson Museum of Art

Price: $5 suggested donation
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In a partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and the Onondaga Historical Association, this exhibit will include paintings from the collections of both institutions. The works will feature local historical scenes such as views of the Erie Canal, rural vistas, area waterfalls and gorges, plus local architectural landmarks, former breweries, stagecoach inns and sections of downtown Syracuse.

The exhibition will also pair the paintings with historic photos and prints, documenting either the particular image or the actual historic landscape that inspired the artists. The works will explore how the artist chose to interpret that Central New York setting and why those places help shape our regional identity.

Julie Blackmon: Other Tales from Home
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Suggested donation: $5 adults
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

Authentic and dysfunctional, Julie Blackmon's photographs of family life strike a resonating chord in both children and adult viewers. Boys and girls run free in the backyard or the living room among scattered toys while preoccupied grown-ups hover on the edges. Inspired by humorous 17th-century Dutch paintings and her own childhood as the eldest of nine, Blackmon digitally reconstructs scenes of family life with humor and an eye for the underlying chaos. The exhibition contains selections from her past series, Domestic Vacations, along with photographs from her latest body of work.

And the Whole Room Laughed
XL Projects

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

Work drawn from the collaborative writings of three artists is featured in the current exhibition, "And the Whole Room Laughed." The exhibit includes painting, drawing, sculpture and video by Ford Bostwick, a dual architecture and sculpture major at Syracuse University's School of Architecture and College of Visual and Performing Arts; Becky Reiser, a graduate sculpture student in VPA; and Alexander Svoboda, a dual sculpture and philosophy major in VPA and The College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, contact Andrew Havenhand at ahavenhand@yahoo.com. XL Projects may be contacted at 315-442-2542 during gallery hours.

Portals of Perception: Works of Barry Grose
Echo

745 N. Salina St. (formerly Craft Chemistry)
Syracuse

The series combines a mix of pure aesthetic floral beauty with subtle seduction. The paintings evoke mystery and curiosity with their strong glows of color that peer from the darkness.

UVP Annual Summer Review 2012
Urban Video Project

Everson Museum of Art Plaza
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

This year's Annual Summer Review will feature all the past videos from the 2011-2012 programming year running together in a continuous loop. If you missed one of the past year's artists, now's your chance! On view will be works by Pae White, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, John Knecht, and William Wegman.

For Syracuse, 2010: Selections of Truisms and Survival
Urban Video Project

Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer created "For Syracuse" as a site-specific installation that streams across the facade of Syracuse Stage on an LED curtain. The installation features 272 aphorisms from her celebrated series "Truisms, and Survival" that challenge viewer's assumptions about the world we live in through the use of language as art. Whether questioning consumerist impulses, or lamenting the struggles of daily living Jenny Holzer always provokes a response. Her work crosses the boundary between poetry and visual art, and suggests both the limitations and power of technology and the information age.

For more than 30 years, this influential American conceptual artist has been creating subversive works that blend in among advertisements in public spaces questioning and confronting our passive consumption of information. Since the early 1970s, Holzer has been collecting and writing phrases and aphorisms found in literature, philosophy and contemporary culture. She calls these summaries her Truisms, and has printed them on bronze plaques, painted signs, stone benches, footstools, stickers, t-shirts, condoms, paintings, photographs, video, sound, light projection, and the Internet. In 1982, Holzer installed Truisms on one of Time Square's gigantic LED billboards. In the 1980s, for her Survival Series, Holzer adopted more personal and urgent messages about the realities of everyday living. Power, vulnerability, violence, tenderness, moral struggles and motherhood are courageously chronicled in this series which continuously prods the viewer to question the role of individuals in society.

The Totally NOT Unusual Bank Show
Syracuse Improv Collective

Price: 5$
The Vault
451 S. Warren St., Syracuse

This show is only notable for its complete lack of notability. This show marks no milestone or significant achievement. Yes, there will be music opening the show. Those two standups from Rochester? They've been here before. They're super awesome and talented, and if you remember Anna from her great monologue back at our inaugural Bank Show or Dewey from her performance with Uncle Lina then, sure, you'd probably want to see this again, but we're not breaking any barriers is my point. Live art from Frank & Meghan? You've witnessed their mesmerizing portrayal of ukulele punk music and improv comedy, and they'll probably mesmerize once more. Oregon Fail or Satan's Closet performs in just about every show, but how many times do both groups perform? Like three times. This is like the third time both groups have performed.

This show is totally not unusual. But since our usual show is so awesome IT WILL MELT YOUR FACE you should still totally go.

Zeke Leonard, music
Dewey Lovett, stand up
Satan's Closet, improv
Anna Hall, stand up
Oregon F, improv (you see, it's most of Oregon Fail)
Improv Jam and Hoedown
With live drawing and painting by Frank West and Meghan Hickox-Grant

Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival

Price: Free
Columbus Circle
Jefferson and Montgomery Sts., Syracuse

This showcase by nearly 200 of the country's most talented artists, craftspeople, and entertainers presents an exceptionally wide selection of contemporary arts and crafts, ranging from functional to decorative. Both 2- and 3-dimensional works will be featured including ceramics, fabric and fiber, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, wood, painting, graphics, drawing, sculpture, and photography. Exhibitors participate from over 30 states and 4 countries.

Browse among the art and craft exhibits and enjoy a wide variety of music, multi-cultural performances, summer refreshments, and participatory activities.

There will be performances by Trio Los Arpegios, Colin Aberdeen, Syracuse Highland Pipe & Drums, Jane Zell, La Joven Gurdia Del Teatro Latino, Too Tall String Band, Biboti, Girls Night Out, the Joe and Jane Show throughout the festival.

Syracuse Stories

Price: Free
YMCA
340 Montgomery St., Syracuse

The documentary about last July's ArtsWeek Syracuse Stories Festival, "Syracuse Stories" by Courtney Rile, will be shown several times each day at the Downtown Writers' Center and the Erie Canal Museum. Come see how members of the CNY and Syracuse community shared their stories last summer. Stay for a story circle or tell your own Syracuse story. Contact syracusestories@gmail.com for more information.

Cinema Under the Stars: Date Night: Casablanca
Urban Video Project

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

A truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster. It is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband. Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt are among what may be the best supporting cast in the history of Hollywood films. This is certainly among the most spirited and ennobling movies ever made. Directed by Michael Curtiz, 102 minutes.

Northeast Jazz & Wine Festival
CNY Jazz Arts Foundation

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

Main Stage
6:30-7:30 pm: The Blacklites 40th Anniversary Party
8:15-9:15 pm: Wouter Kellerman
10:00-11:00 pm: Gerald Veasley

Mardi Gras Pavilion
5:00-6:30 pm: John Piazza's "Best of Blue Note" Quintet
7:30-8:15 pm: John Piazza's "Best of Blue Note" Quintet
9:15-10:00 pm: John Piazza's "Best of Blue Note" Quintet

World Beat Pavilion
5:00-6:30 pm: Michael & Anjela Lynn
7:30-8:15 pm: Michael & Anjela Lynn
9:15-10:00 pm: Michael & Anjela Lynn

Wise Guys Comedy Club
11:00 pm: Late Night Jam ($5 cover charge): E.S.P. with Noah Kellman

Blue Rain ECOfest

Price: Free
Stage of Nations
Hanover Square, Syracuse

5:00-5:15 pm: Opening Remarks, Irv Lyons, Onondaga Nation
5:30-6:30 pm: Haudenosaunee Singers and Dancers
6:45-8:15pm: Morris and the Hepcats
8:30-10:00pm: Corn-Bred

Stan Colella Orchestra
Dancing Under the Stars

Price: Free
Sunnycrest Rink
Sunnycrest Park, Syracuse

Swing and big band favorites.

Lawn chairs recommended. Picnics welcome.

Phantom Chemistry, with Professional Victims, Feast Of The Superb Owl, Milking Diamonds
Westcott Theater

Westcott Theater
524 Westcott St., Syracuse

Also featuring Ohne-Ka and The Burning River, Summer Cult, and Life Among Trees

Skaneateles Community Band
Philip Krasicky, conductor

Price: Free
Clift Park
Genesee St., Skaneateles

Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.

Peter Case
Words and Music Songwriter Showcase

Price: $15
Funk 'n Waffles University
727 S. Crouse Ave. (Campus Plaza, behind Marshall , Syracuse

The Words and Music Songwriter Showcase presents a special evening with acclaimed singer-songwriter Peter Case. Case, a native of Buffalo, first made his mark in the seminal West Coast rock bands the Nerves and the Plimsouls, and has since had a stellar solo career playing original folk rock and acoustic blues. This appearance marks the first Syracuse show by the California-based troubadour. Series host Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, a grand prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, will open the show.

For reservations, email showcase@wordsandmusic.info.

Seussical the Musical
Baldwinsville Theatre Guild
Daniel Mullarney, director

First Presbyterian Church of Baldwinsville
64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville

Grease
The Talent Company

Price: $28 regular, $25 students/seniors, $20 children 12 and under
Empire Theater
New York State Fairgrounds, Geddes

The Talent Company salutes the rock 'n' roll era of the 1950s with its rollicking and raucous revival of the musical Grease. One of the longest-running Broadway hits ever, with two successful Broadway revivals, it's been over a decade since The Talent Company played its critically acclaimed version to sold out houses.

Come join the Rydell High spirited class of '59 with the super cool, hot-rod loving Burger Palace Boys with D.A.s and leather jackets and their gum chewing, hip-swinging Pink Ladies in poodle skirts and bobby sox as they sing and dance their way through the pajama party, the prom, the burger palace and the drive-in movie with hit songs Summer Nights, Freddy My Love, We Go Together, Greased Lightnin', Hopelessly Devoted To You, You're The One That I Want, Hand Jive and many more!