Weekly Entertainment Guide – Lights! Camera! BLOOM!

Flowers, Women’s History Month activities, Philly Video Music Festival, boxing and dancing, Pennsylvania German folk arts and more. Robin Bloom shares her picks.

Fanciful Flowers

Lights!  Camera!  BLOOM!  The Philadelphia Flower Show

The world-renowned Philadelphia Flower Show, produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, makes its way back to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, February 28 through March 8. The oldest and largest indoor flower show in the world promises to “wow” audiences as it has since it began in 1829 with the theme, “Celebrate the Movies,” as internationally renowned floral and garden designers use Disney and Disney Pixar films as inspiration for their exhibits. Take in 10 acres of garden displays including the eight foot entrance centerpiece, presentations, demonstrations, competitions, marketplace, special events including “Fido Friday,” and more, 12th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia. A Black tie preview party is Friday, February 27, 7pm. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Flower Show.

“Orchid Extravaganza” at Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens’ annual Orchid Extravaganza is underway, celebrating one of the first plant collections by founder Pierre S. du Pont and his wife, Alice. Take in the range of color and fragrance of more than 5000 orchids, through March 29. Enjoy the Mediterranean Garden, Estate Fruit House and special events including OrKID Days (select days when children can learn firsthand about the beautiful blossoms at discovery stations). Also, concerts with the Anat Cohen Quartet, February 28, 8pm, and Fred Hersch Trio, March 21, 8pm. Check out the rare blue-poppies that bloom in the month of March, Route 1, Kennett Square, PA. Photo courtesy of Longwood Gardens.

Michener Art Museum’s “The Artist in the Garden”

James A. Michener Art Museum explores the relationship between artists and nature from the early 20th century to today with The Artist in the Garden, drawn primarily from the museum’s permanent collection and divided into three sections: “The Back Yard,” “The Mythic Garden,” and Intimate Spaces/Private Worlds.” Look for works by regional artists Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, John Folinsbee, Violet Oakley, Rockwell Kent, Max Weber, Arthur Bowen Davies, Jennifer Bartlett, Elizabeth Osborne, Elsie Driggs and Peter Paone, through August 9, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, PA. Special events include American Impressionism and the Garden Movement lecture with Anna O. Marley, Ph.D., Curator of Historical American Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, March 31, 1pm.  The exhibit is supported by Bob and Joyce Byers.  Pictured: Frost Valley in the Catskills by Louis B. Sloan (1932-2008), 1995, Oil on canvas, 54 x 70 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Gift of Elizabeth Osborne.

Art Appreciation

“A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans and the Art of Everyday Life” at Winterthur

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library celebrates the creative artistry of Pennsylvania Germans with the opening of a major new groundbreaking exhibit A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans and the Art of Everyday Life. The exploration of Pennsylvania German fraktur (decorated manuscripts) and folk art offers a glimpse inside the daily life of this distinctive culture with more than 125 objects (many never before exhibited or published) including functional and decorative textiles, furniture, metalwork, and pottery embellished with hearts, flowers, birds, and other traditional motifs. Drawn from Winterthur’s permanent collection (as a leading institution in the country for the study of Pennsylvania German decorative arts) as well as from more than a dozen private collectors and institutions, the display opens with a Members Preview Day on February 28, 12pm-4pm and public opening, March 1, 10am-5pm, through January 3, Winterthur, DE. Accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. A conference Fraktur and the Everyday Lives of Germans in Pennsylvania and the Atlantic World, 1683-1850 will be held March 5-8. Pictured: Religious text by Andreas Kolb, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, c. 1785. Photo courtesy of Winterthur.

Related events include Drawn with Spirit: Pennsylvania German Fraktur from the Joan and Victor Johnson Collection, through April 26 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Framing Fraktur, a three-month celebration at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The Home Project at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists presents New York based artist and filmmaker Jennie Thwing’s Visual Artist Fellowship exhibition The Home Project, a series of long exposure stop motion animated films that address the complexity of the word “home.” Created over the course of two weeks in a constructed 8′ x 8′ set inside the gallery from a series of stories submitted by the public, Thwing uses video, installation, and animation to create imaginary narratives that reference personal history, ideology, social context, family mythologies, and dreams with subject matter ranging from animated dioramas to historical reenactments, through March 27, 237 South 18th Street, The Barclay, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of the Center for Emerging Visual Artists.

The Gender Weave Project at Mt. Airy Art Garage

For Women’s History Month, Mt. Airy Art Garage (MAAG), a non-profit hub for both professional and emerging artists in Germantown, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill, launches The Gender Weave Project: Challenging the “Social Norms” of Gender and Identity. The exhibit asks 12 students and a faculty member of Moore College of Art and Design (the first and only women’s visual arts college in the U.S.) to investigate their relationships to gender and identity. Featuring the work of Moore students Jacquelyn Daley, Emilie Didyoung, Lydia Knopp, Lydia Nobles, Sabrina Salgado, Nicole Melnicky, Ava Mallett, Alexandra Mosoeanu, Mary Boran, Maryann Worrell and Caitlin Tschanz.  Also included is the work of invited guest professional artists including Carol Loeffler, Arleen Olshan, Kathryn Pannepacker, Kathy Robinson, Heather Ujiie, Carol Wisker, and Maryann Worrell, February 27 through March 29, 11 West Mt. Airy Avenue, Mt. Airy. Opening reception February 27, 6pm, free and open to the public. Related events include an International Women’s Day panel “Weaving Equality – Exploring Gender and the Arts,” March 8, 3pm. Pictured: Relationships #10 by Lydia Nobles (Photo courtesy of Mt. Airy Art Garage).

Onstage

Unnecessary Farce at Act II Playhouse

Act II Playhouse delivers the laughs with Unnecessary Farce by Paul Slade Smith, the nonsensical, slapstick, and absurd comedy about two undercover cops and the embezzling mayor they are targeting in a hotel sting, onstage through March 20. Directed by David Bradley and featuring Philadelphia favorites Anthony Lawton, Karen Peakes, Susan McKey, Tom Teti, Gerri Weagraff, Jake Blouch, and Akeem Davis, 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler, PA. Contains adult situations and language. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Fortune Cookies at South Camden Theatre Company

South Camden Theatre Company continues its “Season of Faith” with Fortune Cookies by Joseph M. Paprzycki, February 27 through March 15. The dramatic comedy of dreams, fate and friendship is set in a magical Chinese restaurant in Camden, New Jersey in 1997 as four friends are given a special gift. Cast includes Nicole DeRosa Lukaitis, Aimee Theresa, Megan Pisors, Christopher ‘Jumbo’ Schimpf, and Dan Kim, and directed by Christopher ‘Jumbo’ Schimpf, Waterfront South Theater, 400 Jasper Street, Camden, NJ. $5 tickets available to Camden City residents with proof of residency. Photo by Bob Bingaman.

With the Kids

Celebration of African Cultures

Travel to Africa with music, dance, storytelling, art, crafts, games, and cuisine at Penn Museum’s 26th annual Celebration of African Cultures, this Saturday, February 28, 11am-4pm, with storyteller Queen Nur, Odunde 365, and the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble (pictured), and more. The museum will be available for visitors to explore art and artifacts in the Africa Gallery, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of Penn Museum.

Piffaro’s Recorder Festival

The Renaissance Band Piffaro hosts a Recorder Festival with the International Competition winner Martin Bernstein (pictured), February 28, 7:30pm, Saint Clements Church, 2013 Appletree Street, Philadelphia. Bernstein took first prize in the Piffaro Young Artist National Recorder Competition at age 15 and was the first American to win Belgium’s 2014 International Mieke van Weddington Competition in the “Under 21” category. The free performance features the 17 year old virtuoso playing with other young musicians including Laura Michaels, 17, a Piffaro Young Artist Competition runner-up, Noah Shipley, 16, junior at Germantown Friends School, and three ensembles of elementary school students from the Fountain Woods Elementary School Recorder Sinfonia, The School in Rose Valley, and The Philadelphia School. The students will be joined by Richard Stone of Tempesta di Mare (on theorbo), Rainer Beckman, soloist with the American Society of Ancient Instruments, and Robert Wiemkin, Piffaro’s co-director on percussion, with music by Bach, Telemann, Corelli, and more. Photo courtesy of Piffaro.

Kennett Symphony’s Annual Children’s Concert

Kennett Symphony of Chester County hosts the annual children’s concerts with Music, Stories in Sound, Sunday, March 1, 2pm, at the International Cultural Center on the campus of Lincoln University and Sunday, March 8, 2pm, Emilie K. Asplundh Hall, West Chester University. The interactive program includes Williams’ Star Wars, Copland’s Hoedown from Rodeo, Bizet’s Toreador Song, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 4th movement, and more, with the opportunity for the audience to create a story based on the music. Guest conductor Michael Hall offers a pre-concert conducting class and the popular Instrument Zoo follows each performance, with the opportunity to meet the musicians. Photo courtesy of Kennett Symphony.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Philly Video Music Festival

Attention Gen X-ers! Take part in the first annual Philadelphia Video Music Festival, hosted by PhilaMOCA, celebrating the history of the music video format co-curated by Eric Bresler and music video historian Stephen Pitalo (The Golden Age of Music Video). Events include Philadelphia Music Video Showcase, Name that Video Game Show, Long-form 80s videos, Metal Movie Madness (pictured), Tribute to 120 minutes and more, February 26 through March 1, Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art, 531 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia. Pictured: Buffalo Juggalos (2014) (photo courtesy of PhilaMOCA).

“Rocco” at FringeArts

Boxing and dancing collide with FringeArts’ “knockout” production of Rocco by ICKamsterdam. Created by acclaimed Dutch choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten, the show – inspired by the 1960 Italian film Rocco and His Brothers – is set in a stylized boxing ring with seating on three sides and an intensely physical performance by male dancer-fighters in a suite of choreographed bouts set to electronic music and the sound of boxing bells. Get your ringside seat February 27 and 28, 8pm, 140 N. Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia. Photo by Laurent Ziegler.

Womynsfest at the Rotunda

The 15th annual Womynsfest returns to The Rotunda celebrating female talent this Sunday, March 1, 7pm. Hosted by Denice Witkowski a/k/a Vitamin D Productions and featuring performances by Cory Kram (film), Rabbitry (film), Sophia & Ali (Hoop and Light Poi Dance), Lora Bloom (of Radio Eris), The Femme-Mynistiques (hip hop), Mia Johnson (singer songwriter), Blow Away (Film/Performance), Yucky Nerd, Cicada Jade, and Pitter Patter, and more, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. Free & all ages. Photo courtesy of Vitamin D Productions.

 

 

To submit an event to be considered, email Robin Bloom at artscalendar@whyy.org.