Weekend arts picks: Dec. 4-7

Art: Some people may believe that all the art action is happening in Miami this week, but there’s plenty to see on the art scene in Palm Beach and Martin counties:

At the Lake Park Library, S. Bart Barchat is the featured artist for December 2009. A New York native, Barchat has traveled the world with his watercolor palette capturing vistas and seasons. Barchat will be at the opening reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The exhibit runs through Dec. 30. The Lake Park Library is located at 529 Park Ave. in Lake Park. Barchat is an artist with a passion for nature — landscapes and people. “My watercolors are from around the world,” Barchat said. “Some are from the Northeast, where I grew up, while others are from my travels, such as Greece, Spain and, in America, the National Parks and Florida, of course.” Barchat, who received his bachelor of fine arts from the University of Iowa, also studied at The Art Students League and Atelier 17 in New York City. His style ranges from the near-abstract, in such subjects as the turbulence of sea and rocks in Maine, to a more literal approach in depicting Florida’s palm swamps, the wooded areas of the Northeast and Long Island’s back-bay dunes. For more information, call the Lake Park Library at (561) 881-3330 or Bart Barchat at (561) 630-9212.

In Stuart, 27 local artists who are members of the Seabranch Art League are presenting a fine art exhibit called ART-itude at the Court House Cultural Center at 80 E. Ocean Blvd. The League has partnered with the Arts Council of Martin County, and proceeds will benefit the Marvin S. Cohen Juried High School Art Show 2010. There’s something for every kind of art lover at the show, from minimalism and Zen-like work, to plein-air landscapes and realistic paintings of dogs and cats. On exhibit is also exquisite handcrafted jewelry and fiber art.

The show was curated by Bosha Stone, president of the league, who said the combined mission is “to open the doors of art and to inspire participation in and a passion for the arts.” The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Dec. 12, which is also the day of the Art Is Everywhere Tour. For information, call (772) 287-6676 or www.MartinArts.org.

Palm Beach Community College’s 6th Annual Ceramic Art Show and Sale starts at 10 a.m. and runs through 8 p.m. today, and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is a wonderful opportunity to buy great ceramic art, both functional and decorative. The sale includes work by students and professional artists such as Amelia Costa and Brian Kovachik. Some of the proceeds are designated for the Art Alliance toward scholarships. The Art Gallery at Palm Beach Community College on the Eissey Campus is located at 3160 PGA Blvd., Building BB113, Palm Beach Gardens. For more information, call (561) 207-5015.

On Sunday, a bit of Africa is coming to Jupiter as the nonprofit Kijana Educational Empowerment Initiative will be holding its annual Cookout for Kenya and Art Sale at Ocean Cay Park from 1-4 p.m. Featured artists include Kenyan artist James Gakush with his traditional and colorful African-style paintings, and John Waiguru, also from Kenya, who exhibits batiks. There also will be Kenyan handicrafts for sale, and soapstone decorative bowls and paintings from Zanizibar. The cost is $15 for adults, $10 for students and $35 for families. Ocean Cay Park is located on the corner of Marchinski Road and U.S. 1 in Jupiter, near The Bluffs Shopping Center. For more information about Sunday’s event, call James Cummings (561) 848-1681. For more information about Kijana, log onto www.kijana.org. – K. Deits

Theater: Billy Crystal, star of When Harry Met Sally … and Oscar telecast emcee extraordinaire, won a Tony Award for his Broadway debut, an autobiographical monologue called 700 Sundays. The title refers to his calculation of how much time he had to spend with his father before he died of a heart attack when Billy, his youngest son, was only 15. Sure, Crystal is funny, as he lays on the nostalgia of growing up Jewish in a Long island suburb, but what makes the show special is his emphasis on grief and loss, which he makes quite moving. Tickets are scarce at the Kravis Center through Sunday, (561) 632-7469. — H. Erstein

Film: It’s true, Hollywood is not brimming with new ideas, but at least director Jim Sheridan had the good taste to borrow and remake a worthy foreign film, Susanne Bier’s 2004 Danish film, Brothers. He certainly gets some A-list talent, casting Tobey Maguire as a lean, ramrod-straight Marine, who leaves his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and kids for a second tour of duty in Afghanistan. And when his helicopter is shot down and he is reported dead, his screw-up younger brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) helps the family and perhaps grows a bit too close to Grace. Sheridan does up the melodrama quotient, but the story line still packs an emotional wallop. Opening wide on Friday. — H. Erstein

Music: The classical music season moves into high gear this weekend as James Judd returns to the concert stage and the Delray String Quartet opens its new season, both beginning three-day runs tonight in Miami-Dade County. Judd appears in Boca Raton on Saturday night, and the Delray returns home to the Colony on Sunday afternoon, but since both events have been extensively noted on this site elsewhere, let me point out a few others:

Saturday and Sunday, the Lynn Philharmonia presents its third concert of the season, with pianist Yael Weiss and violinist Mark Kaplan in the rarely heard Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings by Mendelsssohn. Also on the program, directed by conservatory dean Jon Robertson, are the Beethoven Seventh Symphony (in A, Op. 92) and the tone poem Don Juan, by Richard Strauss. 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Roberts Theater, St. Andrew’s School, Boca Raton. Tickets: $30. Call 237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/tickets.

If you can’t get enough of Messiah, you can hear the Christmas portion of the oratorio in a concert Saturday night by the Florida Atlantic University Chamber Singers under Patricia Fleitas at the Univeristy Theatre on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. 7:30 pm. Tickets: $15. For more information, call 297-3820 or visit www.fau.edu/music.

On Monday night at the Rinker Playhouse in the Kravis Center, Martin County violin prodigy Michael Province can be heard in recital with pianist Tao Lin. Province, a 14-year-old from Palm City, has programmed the Grieg Violin Sonata No. 3 (in C minor, Op. 45), a sonata by Albinoni (in D, Op. 6, No. 7) and familiar showpieces such as the Chaconne of Vitali, Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (Op. 28) of Saint-Säens, and Kreisler’s arrangement of The Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $30. Call 800-572-8471 or visit www.kravis.org.

This Saturday also marks another edition of the long-running Buzz Bake Sale, the all-day concert extravaganza sponsored by WPBZ-103.1 FM (the Buzz). This year’s festival begins at 10 a.m.. and features 16 alt-rock outfits including Our Lady Peace, Sick Puppies and Panic at the Disco. All these bands can be seen at the Cruzan Amphitheatre. Tickets: $20-$45. Call 795-8883 or visit www.livenation.com. — G. Stepanich