This Week in A+E: May 26 to June 1

Art galleries have a number of events in Sarasota this week, and the arts and entertainment scene is further enlightened by theater, dance and live music.


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  • | 5:00 a.m. May 24, 2022
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Thursday

Suitcase Full of Blues: Jimmie McFadden
8 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court
$12 members, $15 nonmembers
Visit WSLR.org/Fogartyville

Fogartyville is getting down to the nitty gritty. Jimmie Fadden, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is bringing his blues ensemble to Fogartyville. Fadden plays drums and harmonica, and his Suitcase of Blues band includes guitarist Al Fuller and bassist J.P. Coley. Come out and hear crack musicians with decades of touring experience.

Barbara Gerdeman and Elizabeth Goodwill are opening their Creative Liberties doors to the public. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)
Barbara Gerdeman and Elizabeth Goodwill are opening their Creative Liberties doors to the public. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)

Worlds: A Part
6 p.m. at  Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, 400 Palmetto Ave., Osprey
$5, registration required
Visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org

Hermitage Fellows Pauchi Sasaki and Monica Youn are poised to give you an inside look at their creative process. Sasaki, a composer, is working on an original opera inspired by NASA's mission to transport the first woman to the surface of the moon. Youn, a poet, is the winner of the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award.

Wine & Design
5:30 p.m. at Creative Liberties, 901 B Apricot Ave.
$10 per project
Visit CreativeLiberties.net

Do you have art you're working on? Do you need a helping hand or studio space to create in? Then Creative Liberties has got an opportunity just for you. Join Barbara Gerdeman and Elizabeth Goodwill in their collective studio space for wine, light bites and the chance to follow your own muse.

 

Friday

Jessica Kirson
6:30 and 8:50 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd.
$25
Visit McCurdysComedy.com

Jessica Kirson is renewing her vows to always be silly. Kirson, the host of Disgusting Hawk Podcast and Relatively Sane Podcast, brings her breathless brand of comedy to the McCurdy's Comedy stage. Runs through May 29.

The work of rising choreographers will be on display at the May In the Round performance for Sarasota Contemporary Dance. (Courtesy photo: Sorcha Augustine)
The work of rising choreographers will be on display at the May In the Round performance for Sarasota Contemporary Dance. (Courtesy photo: Sorcha Augustine)

In the Round: May Intensive
7 p.m. at Sarasota Contemporary Dance Studios, 1400 Blvd of the Arts
$20
Visit SarasotaContemporaryDance.org

The participants of the SCD Summer Intensive program will take on the choreography of several rising practitioners in the craft including Laura Chambers, Rachel Eurom, Hannah Thompson and SCD Company member Xiao-Xuan Dancingers. The Sarasota Contemporary Dance company may even wind up taking some of these performances and polishing them for a performance at the Cook Theatre in October. There will be a virtual showing of the performance on Saturday.

 

Saturday

St. Armands Fine Art Festival
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Armands Circle Park
Free
Visit ParagonFestivals.com.

It's an outdoor bazaar full of fine craftsmanship made all over the country. St. Armands Circle Park will be the scene of an outdoor gallery full of painting, sculpture, jewelry, photography and more. The festival will run on Sunday at the same time.

Patriotic Pops and Fireworks
7:30 p.m. at CoolToday Park, 18800 W. Villages Parkway, Venice
$31-$56
Visit VeniceSymphony.org.

It's a Memorial Day celebration and commemoration with the Venice Symphony. Put your hand over your heart as music director Troy Quinn leads the orchestra in a concert of patriotic songs as a salute to veterans in the community and outside of it. Rockapella, a world famous a cappella group, will be the orchestra's special guest.

The exhibit honoring Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe will stand until June 25. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)
The exhibit honoring Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe will stand until June 25. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)

Our Pick

Flowers, Poetry and Light

Patti Smith just can't quit Selby Gardens. The celebrated poet, author and Rock and Roll Hall-of-Fame inductee has twice visited the exhibit devoted to her early career work and love of the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and she's signed on to be an Artist in Residence with the botanical garden.

Smith is the first Artist in Residence designated by Selby Gardens, and she will return to play shows in 2023 and 2024. But the exhibit will not still be up when she next returns.

Flowers, Poetry and Light will run through June 25, so get out there and see the floral displays inspired by Smith's words and music and by Mapplethorpe's unparalleled artistic eye.

When: Runs through June 25
Where: Selby Gardens, 1534 Mound St.
Tickets: Free with museum admission
Info: Selby.org

'The Little Mermaid'
5 p.m. at Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave.
$25-$60
Visit InternationalBalletOfFlorida.org

Come see the timeless story of The Little Mermaid conveyed by the classic choreography of Vadim Fedotov. The International Ballet of Florida presents this show, full of beautiful costumes and scenery, with a host of performers from around the world. Rebecca Kimsey, an IBF student since age 11, will perform as the Sea Witch. 

Murder Mystery Trolley: Who Killed the Circus Queen?
7:30 p.m. at Discover Sarasota Tours, 1826 4th St.
$50
Visit DiscoverSarasotaTours.com

If Video Killed the Radio Star, then who exactly killed the Circus Queen? That will be the challenge presented to guests as they participate in an interactive theatrical performance that will take them to many local circus locations. If you want to be part of the action, you can be part of the production and you'll receive a costume and script upon arrival.

Isbabel Anchin Becker
2-4 p.m. at Arts Advocates Gallery, 3051 S. Tamiami Trail
Free
Visit ArtsAdvocates.org

The immersive Van Gogh exhibit has been extended due to popular demand. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)
The immersive Van Gogh exhibit has been extended due to popular demand. (Photo: Spencer Fordin)

Isabel Anchin Becker, a veteran of quilting and sewing, is creating art out of fabric, thread and a sewing machine. Her works will he admired and for much of the next month as part of an Arts Advocates Member Exhibit. The display can be visited every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., and it will be up in the gallery until June 25. Free docent tours of the gallery's main exhibit can be accessed — without prior reservation — every Saturday at 3 p.m.

 

Sunday

DON'T MISS

Beyond Van Gogh

Beyond Van Gogh is staying right where it is due to popular demand. The exhibit, which brings you on an immersive tour of the master's catalogue, has already been extended once, and now it's expected to run all the way until Aug. 5.

Stand amongst the sunflowers and watch as 3D brushstrokes fill in the canvas from floor to ceiling.

When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Aug. 5
Where: Starry Night Pavilion, 195 University Town Center Drive
Tickets: $29-$84
Info: VanGoghSarasota,com 

Sharon Lennox Woelfling's paintings will be on display all of June at Island Gallery West. (Courtesy photo)
Sharon Lennox Woelfling's paintings will be on display all of June at Island Gallery West. (Courtesy photo)

 

Tuesday

Laughing Matters: Paranoia on Parade
6 p.m. at John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 1st St.
$34
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org

Do you have your laughing shoes on?

The cast of Florida Studio Theatre's Laughing Matters brings you a topical musical sketch comedy show full of laughs from the world and from everyday Sarasota situations.

Nick Anastasia, Richie McCall, William Selby and Jenna Cormey bring the funny in this sketch show, which was written by Rebecca Hopkins, Kevin Allen, Sarah Durham, Stephan deGhelder, Tony Hendriks and Jim Prosser.

This show, the sixth variation on Laughing Matters, is expected to run until June 12, and then it may be a year or two before Laughing Matters 7.

 

Wednesday

'Coastal Impressions': Paintings by Sharon Lennox Woelfling
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Island Gallery West, 5368 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach
Free
Visit IslandGalleryWest.com

Cool blues and are on the itinerary at Island Gallery West, where Sharon Lennon Woelfling is showing her paintings inspired by the shapes and colors of the west coast of Florida.

Woelfling is Island Gallery West's featured artist for June, and her collection will be displayed until June 30.

The artist will be present at the exhibit on June 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m to answer questions about her art and her process.

 

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