El Anatsui,Stressed World
EL ANATSUI GETS FIVE DECADE RETROSPECTIVE at THE SCHOOL
(KINDERHOOK, N.Y.) – Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui will be the subject of a comprehensive survey spanning the last fifty years of his celebrated career, at Jack Shainman Gallery: The School, opening on Sunday, May 17, with a reception from 1 to 4pm. The works will remain on view through September 26, 2015. The exhibition, “Five Decades,” includes compositions in painting, wood, and clay, and metal works. The show, which marks the first anniversary of the opening of The School, comes on the heels of El Anatsui being awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale.
Rhett Miller
RHETT MILLER BRINGS MELODIC POP-ROCK to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Rhett Miller brings his rootsy, melodic brand of original rock to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, May 15, at 9 pm, just days after the release of his brand new album, “The Traveler.” While perhaps best known as lead singer and songwriter of seminal alt-country band the Old 97’s, Rhett Miller has enjoyed an equally successful solo career, emphasizing his brilliance as a songwriting craftsman drawing on a wider, pop-rock palette, and delivering hooks around every corner – not unlike his friend Tommy Stinson’s group, the Replacements. North Texas-based singer-songwriter Salim Nourallah, who has produced albums for Miller and the Old 97’s, warms up the crowd for Miller.
Edie Bresler, Owner and Winner, Herndon VA, from We Sold a Winner
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION EXPLORES CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The contemporary American immigrant experience is the focus of two solo exhibitions of photography by Thomas Holton and Edie Bresler and a portfolio showcase of images by Mary Beth Meehan and Eleonora Ronconi at Davis Orton Gallery, opening with a reception on Saturday, May 16, from 5 to 7 pm., and remaining on view through June 21, 2015. From the closely documented world of a family in New York City’s Chinatown to small shop owners across the country who sell lottery tickets; to undocumented people in our midst to the experience of adapting to the US while longing for the connections to home, the photographs are timely, resonant, and suggestive of the promise – fulfilled or otherwise – of America.
LITERARY FESTIVAL at TSL CELEBRATES NEW DIRECTIONS PUBLISHING HOUSE
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – A free reading and discussion devoted to the groundbreaking literary publishing house New Directions will take place at Time and Space Limited on Sunday, May 17, at 1pm. The event, “Literchoor Is My Beat: A New Directions Festival,” will feature a reading by Ian MacNiven, author of the biography “Literchoor Is My Beat: A Life of James Laughlin, Founder of New Directions,” plus a roundtable discussion with MacNiven, current New Directions president Barbara Epler, and former New Directions president Peggy Fox.
Rosanne Cash (photo Clay Patrick McBride)
ROSANNE CASH to SING of AMERICAN SOUTH at MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Rosanne Cash brings her “The River & the Thread” tour to the Mahaiwe on Sunday, May 17 at 7pm. Accompanied by longtime collaborator, producer, guitarist, and husband John Leventhal and musical partner Zev Katz, Cash will take the audience on a journey through song to the people, places, and musical traditions of the American South that have fed her music and that of her parents. Smithsonian Magazine feature writer and national music critic Geoffrey Himes will give an in-depth, pre-concert talk about Cash’s Grammy Award-winning album, “The River & the Thread,’ at 6pm.
Writers Omi resident Daniele Bernardi reading at Omi in fall 2014
OMI HOSTS READING of WORKS by WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE & BARBECUE
(GHENT, N.Y.) – The spring writers-in-residence program at Omi concludes with a public reading by nine Writers Omi residents followed by a barbecue celebration at the Visitors Center at Omi International Arts Center on Saturday, May 16, at 5pm. The reading is free and open to the community at large; donations are appreciated for the barbecue to follow. At this reading, according to DW Gibson, Director of Writers Omi, attendees can expect a diversity of literary talents ranging from genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and theater.
Avalon String Quartet
AVALON QUARTET to PLAY DEBUSSY & SCHUBERT at MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – The Avalon String Quartet performs works by Schubert and Debussy at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, May 16, at 6pm, as part of the Close Encounters With Music chamber series. After performing Debussy’s String Quartet, a seminal work of musical Impressionism, the quartet will be joined by CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani on cello to perform Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major. The concert marks Avalon’s fourth in the Close Encounters series.