A pitcher by Ellen Bates.Art: Today and tomorrow, the Ceramic League of the Palm Beaches is holding its annual holiday sale and exhibit. On display will be affordable, handmade art that is ideal for gifts, including pottery, sculpture, fused glass and mixed media. The Ceramic League is a nonprofit artist group dedicated to the advancement of its members as well as promoting public interest in the appreciation of the ceramic arts. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday, and artists will be present each day to chat with visitors. Admission is free. Craft Gallery is located at 5911 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. For more information, call (561) 762-8162.
A sculpture by Karen Windchild.Meanwhile, an exhibition called Tropical Visions opens tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Clay, Glass, Metal and Stone Gallery at 605 Lake Ave. in downtown Lake Worth. Some of the more than 20 artists include ceramists Amelia Costa and Karen Windchild, stained-glass artists Debra Gower and wildlife jewelry artist Karen McGovern. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. For information, call 561-588-8344 or visit the gallery’s Website.
This installation by the artist’s collaborative Kaput!was part of last year’s 10×10 show. (Photo by Jacek Gancarz)
Saturday night, Kara Walter-Tomé, contemporary art curator and creator of Showtel, is staging the one-night 10X10 exhibition featuring 21 artists. On view from 6 to 10 p.m. at Lake Worth Storage at 4166 S. Military Trail in Lake Worth are multi-dimensional site-specific installations in 10 square feet or less. Last year, more than 600 people roamed through the storage facility to see the unusual installations by artists from Palm Beach County, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Gainesville. For more information, call (561) 670-9658. –– K. Deits
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious. Film: There is substantial Oscar buzz about a film with the terribly unwieldy title, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. It concerns an overweight, illiterate, pregnant teenager who gets an opportunity to turn her downbeat life around. Making her feature debut in the title role is actress Gabourey Sidibe, a true natural, and comedian Mo’Nique in a career-making performance as her abusive mother. At area theaters beginning Friday. — H. Erstein
Theatre: The turnaround of the Caldwell Theatre — at least artistically — continues with David Mamet’s adaptation of Harley Granville -Barker’s 1905 drama, The Voysey Inheritance, about a wealthy Victorian family that learns that its money was acquired through a blatant Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff redux, anyone? Clive Cholerton gathers 12 of South Florida’s best actors in a rich, polished production led by Terry Hardcastle as the con man’s son who tries to make restitution, but comes to realize it is not as easy as it seems. A century-old play that is up to the minute and easy for the Caldwell audience to relate to. Tickets: $34-$55. Call: (561) 241-7432 or (877) 245-7432, for reservations. Through Sunday, Dec. 13. –– H. Erstein
A page of William Blake.Music: A new chamber music group debuts this Saturday afternoon at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton, which at least goes to show that the economy is no obstacle to artistic ambition. Vivre Musicale, which consists in part of three Lynn University students and two graduates of Florida State University, says its mission is to “provide young, up-and-coming musicians with a strong foothold in the classical music world” through diverse programming. Saturday’s program will feature tenor Jorge Toro, one of the two co-founders of the group, in the Ten Blake Songs of Ralph Vaughan Williams, three songs from Schumann’s Dichterliebe, and For nothing lesse than thee, a song cycle by the young American composer Zachary Wadsworth. Also on the program are a solo viola piece, Viola Soliloquy, by another young American, Martin Blessinger, and three of Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano. Pianist Nastasa Stojonovska, oboist Evelyn Sedlack, clarinetist Berginald Rash (the other founder) and violist David Pedraza join Toro in this first concert, which begins at 4 p.m. A free-will offering of $5 is suggested. For more information, call 846-2524. — G. Stepanich