Art: Painters, sculptors, photographers and other artists in this state look forward every year to the All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition, and next week, the 59th edition of this oldest such Florida contest opens at the Boca Raton Museum of Art for a run of seven weeks.
This year, almost 1,400 entries were received for the contest, which was judged by New York-based curator Linda Norden, whose CV includes stints at Bard College, the City University of New York’s James Gallery and Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. Norden chose 91 artworks by 80 artists for the exhibition, which opens Tuesday and runs through Aug. 8 at the museum in Mizner Park.
Opening along with the juried show is the biennial Boca Raton Museum Artists’ Guild exhibition, which will feature work by 50 professional artists who are members of the guild. Paper sculptor Francene Levinson won first place in the exhibition, which was judged by Carol Damian, curator of the Frost Museum of Art at Miami’s Florida International University.
Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for students. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call 392-2500 or visit www.bocamuseum.org.
Film: By the time a movie franchise is on its third installment, the creativity and quality have usually disappeared. But Pixar Animation, which is generally resistant to sequel-itis, waited until it had a strong script and a reason to make Toy Story 3 and the difference in their approach is evident throughout the funny, yet dramatic, exhilarating and occasionally tear-jerking computerized tale of growing up and moving on. You see, Andy, the owner of Buzz Lightyear, Woody the Cowboy and all the other playthings, is now old enough to head to college, and his toys become endangered when they are accidentally sent to a day care center where the tots manhandle them badly. OK, you’re right, they have to band together to make their great escape, but the way it is done – in relatively subtle 3-D – has to be seen. It’s early, but it looks like the animated feature Oscar has just been won in a lock. At area theaters now.
Theater: Florida Atlantic University’s Festival Rep is a local summer tradition that can be erratic, but usually features some emerging talent worth watching and professional guest performers like Bruce Linser, who are always assets. This season’s menu will feature Shakespeare’s audience-friendly comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream (opening next weekend), Donald Margulies’ less-well-known comedy adventure Shipwrecked, and it kicks off this Saturday with And the Tony Goes To… a revue of songs from Tony Award-winning shows, from 1947’s Kiss Me Kate to 2009’s Billy Elliot. The rep runs through July 25. Call (800) 564-9539 for tickets and info.
Music: The Chameleon Musicians series at Fort Lauderdale’s Leiser Opera Center has been going for eight seasons now, and now it’s starting to branch out into the summer. Founder Iris van Eck, a Dutch-born cellist, offers a Chameleon recital on Monday night at the Broward Center for the Arts’ Abdo New River Room. Joined by Serbian-born pianist Misha Dacic, van Eck will present an all-Chopin concert in honor of the Polish composer’s 200th birthday.
On the program are the Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3, the great Cello Sonata, Op. 65, and the Grand Duo Concertant, written by Chopin and his French cellist friend, Auguste Franchomme, on themes from Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable, which at the time (1832) was a popular sensation.
The concert is set for 7 p.m. Monday in the Broward Center’s Abdo New River Room. Tickets are $30, and can be had by calling 954-462-0222 or visiting www.browardcenter.org.