A 1930 Ford Model A “Woody” is a focal point of the SURFari exhibit.(Photo by Katie Deits)
Surf’s up, dude, at the Lighthouse Center for the Arts, where you’ll find memorabilia, art, photographs and vintage boards from the South Florida surf culture dating back to Palm Beach in 1940, when the surfer’s car of choice was the Ford “Woody.”
SURFari: The Old and New of Surfing in Florida was organized by the Palm Beach County Surfing History Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, documenting and exhibiting a history of surfing in Florida, focusing primarily on Palm Beach County. Five local surfers who started surfing in the 1960s started the group. Thousands of photographs and memorabilia have been donated to the project.
On display are photographs by Tony Arruza, Megan Elyse Bell, Henry Berger, Aaron Chang, Pete Gibson, M.E. Gruber, Mark Hill and others. Surf art includes work by Gerri Aurre, O’Neal Bardin III, Dan Mackin, Julie Silk-Beaumont, Christopher Staples, Serge Strosberg, and well-known local artist Kim Neilson, accompanied by a painting of Malibu surfers by his father James.
Surfboards and art share the exhibit space at SURFari.(Photo by Katie Deits)
Special events include presentations about the Surf History Project and a visit from surfboard makers Tom Orlando and John Parton, who will reveal their approaches to surfboard design (5: 30 p.m. Thursday, July 16). Surfing-themed movies are also being featured June 25 (Step Into Liquid) and July 30 (Surf’s Up); screenings begin at 5:30 both days, and tickets are just $2.
SURFari – The Old and New of Surfing in Florida runs through Sept. 4 at the Lighthouse Center for the Arts, Gallery Square North, 373 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta. The center is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and admission is free. Call (561) 746-3101 for more information.
Two fiber works by Maya Schonenberger.(Photo by Katie Deits)
While you’re at the Lighthouse Center, you can also see Earth Elements, an outstanding exhibit of earth-inspired artwork featuring fiber works, ceramics and jewelry by Melani Kane Brewer, Pam Moody and Maya Schonenberger. This exhibit runs through July 16. –– K. Deits
Donald Fagen, left, and Walter Becker.Music: With the possible exception of Stevie Wonder and early Chicago, no musicians have married the vocabularies of jazz and rock as successfully as Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the founders of Steely Dan. The Dan is currently on a national Rent Party ’09 tour; in other cities it will recreate full albums (Aja, The Royal Scam, Gaucho) or get their set lists from an audience-Internet choice system. Saturday night, it’s a straight show at Boca Raton’s Mizner Park in which you can expect to hear many of the durable songs that make this band so distinctive. 8 p.m. at the Count de Hoernle Amphitheater at the Schmidt Family Centre for the Arts. Tickets: $41.50-$111.50. Call 877-598-8698 or visit www.livenation.com.
Paul Schoenfield.Chamber music: This weekend at St. Paul’s in Delray Beach, there’s an opportunity to hear some worthy chamber music, some of it rarely heard, in a concert by the Trillium Piano Trio, led by Lake Park-based pianist Yoko Sata Kothari. The trio — Kothari, violinist Ruby Berland and cellist Benjamin Salsbury — have programmed the Trio in E-flat of Sweden’s Franz Berwald (1796-1868), the Phantasie Trio of England’s Frank Bridge (1879-1941), and the Cafe Music of Paul Schoenfield (b. 1947), probably the best-known piece by this American composer who teaches at the University of Michigan. The concert starts at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Swinton Avenue. Tickets: $15, $18 for preferred seating; call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.