The Artful Bloggers’ Spring 2013 Guide to Princeton events

Put down your trowel, your spade and your hose, it’s time for a holiday. There are so many fun events happening in the Princeton area in the coming weeks, you’ll need all the vacation time you’ve accrued to see and do it all.

The Weather it is a Changin’Last week was really hot. Then it was really cold. Just when you stuffed the down quilt back into its summer home in the closet, the nighttime temperature dipped below freezing. What’s going on?

Professor of Atmospheric Science at Rutgers University Anthony Broccoli will give a talk, Climate Change and Extreme Weather: A New Normal? Sunday, April 28, 3 p.m., at Mountain Lakes House, 57 Mountain Ave., Princeton.

“In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and other recent powerful storms in our region, there is tremendous interest in the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events,” said Wendy Mager, president, Friends of Princeton Open Space, the organization hosting the talk. “Professor Broccoli will discuss this relationship as well as the implications for how we prepare for the impacts of future extreme weather events.”

Following the talk and refreshments, AeLin Compton, Natural Resources Manager for FOPOS, will lead a walk in the Preserve and adjacent Tusculum.Free; RSVP by April 24 at 609-921-2772 or FOPOS.

My Dinner with WallyOn Monday, April 22, renowned playwright (The Fever, The Designated Mourner, and Grasses of a Thousand Colors) and actor (Manhattan, My Dinner with Andre, The Princess Bride, Clueless, Taxi) Wallace Shawn will read from his work at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University. The reading, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the James M. Stewart ’32 Theater at 185 Nassau Street, is free and open to the public. 

Wanted: Artists and DetritusThe Arts Council of Princeton is presenting Paint Out Princeton during the Communiversity Festival of the Arts Sunday, April 28,. Artists are invited to set up an easel from 12:30-4 p.m. to “capture the moment, the mood and the magic,” according to the prospectus. Pre-registration is required. E-mail your name and preferred designated location (Hinds Plaza, Palmer Square Green, Tiger Park, stage-side at Chamber Street, or University Campus) to info@artscouncilofprinceton.org by 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 26. Registrations, not to exceed 25, will be accepted in the order in which they are received.

Arts Council of Princeton’s Spring 2013 Anne Reeves Artist-in-Residence Nancy Shill will create a collage dedicated to the consolidated Princeton. The collage will become a public art installation displayed at the Princeton Municipal Building at 400 Witherspoon Street. The public is invited to be a part of this project. Shill will be at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon St., Princeton, Saturday, April 20, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., where residents of Princeton can bring found objects gathered throughout the town including discarded paper, ticket stubs and other detritus appropriate for a two-dimensional collage.  www.artscouncilofprinceton.org

New DealThe Roosevelt Arts Project will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a weekend of art, music and poetry May 4 and 5, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Activities will take place in and around the Roosevelt Public School. An art show by Roosevelt’s past and present artists will include Ben Shahn, whose famous mural is in the school’s lobby.

David Brahinsky, Paul Prestopino, Nancy Hamilton and Chris Martin will perform music, and David Herrstrom, Judith McNally and David Keller will read their poetry. Gallery talks will be given on the Shahn mural, and Ben Johnson’s video on the Louis Kahn architecture of Roosevelt will be screened.

Children can explore their creativity under the leadership of Roosevelt artist and teacher Barbara Atwood.

A sound and light parade will begin in the FDR Amphitheater adjacent to the school Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Children and adults will have the opportunity to construct their own light devices to carry in the parade.

Sunday at 3 p.m., Roosevelt pianist and composer Alan Mallach will present a piano recital with commentary, featuring the music of prominent American composers of the New Deal era and Roosevelt composers, including Mark Zuckerman, Brad Garton and Laurie Altman. The recital will be held at 15 Pine Drive, a short walk from the school.

All events are free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be available throughout the day.

 

Foraging for Treasures and a Feast

The annual fundraiser for Morven Museum & Gardens, Morven in May, kicks off on Friday, May 3,with a preview garden party from 6:30 – 9 p.m. The event opens to the public Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5. Twenty artists and artisans working in glass, ceramics, decorative and wearable fiber, mixed media, jewelry, furniture and fine art, will be displayed in gallery-style booths under a tent on the museum’s Great Lawn.

Artist and book publisher Wendy Hollander will be the guest speaker Saturday, 2 p.m., with a program about tasty and nutrient-packed foods that grow rampant in fields, forests, and backyards. Her three-year foraging adventure has taken her from field to forest to drawing studio, and into the kitchen. Hollander is the illustrator and co-author of Foraging and Feasting, a combination field guide and cookbook scheduled to be published in June. The program is free with art show admission.

Preview Garden Party tickets are available by calling the museum at 609-924-8144 ext. 113. Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday public sale hours are available at the door, $10; no ticket necessary for plant sale.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, Princeton.