Ever the versatile community resource, Harwood Art Center (1114 Seventh Street NW) invites Burqueños to enjoy two events in one this Friday, March 6, from 6 to 8pm—Encompass: 7th & Mountain Community Celebration and Women & Creativity’s Tenth Anniversary Program.Encompass, presented as part of On the Map: Unfolding Albuquerque Art + Design, is a multifaceted (and multigenerational) art event. Four exhibitions—Interchange, Pets’ Corner Shop, Radius and Four Points—run through April 17 and feature work from creative folks of all ages and abilities, from Escuela del Sol students to seasoned artists. Enjoy vibrant and expansive mixed media works by Lea Anderson, portraits from Nani Chacon, Molly Geissman’s encaustic paintings and work from photographer and former UNM professor Patrick Nagatani, among others. Almost 40 resident Harwood artists also open their studios. Cactus Tractor provides the tunes; food trucks provide the menu.With the 10th Annual Women & Creativity celebration, guests are also invited to commemorate Women’s History Month. Poet and slam champion Mercedez Holtry unleashes the words at 6:45pm. Refer to the Women & Creativity Community Calendar at womenandcreativity.org to learn more about the month’s many medium-hopping collaborations, including creative salons, dance performances, workshops and pop-up dinners around town. Think all this comes with a steep admission price? Think again. It’s free! For more information, call 242-6367 or visit harwoodartcenter.org.
Culture Shock: No Accounting For Beauty No Accounting For Beauty
“By the River” by Barbara Clark
Barbara Clark wasn’t supposed to be an artist: A lifetime of Quickbooks entries and balance reconciliations awaited her as an accountant. But after one summer off in 2006 to pursue “hobbies,” she bucked expectations, picked up some pastels and started on a new career.Clark is the featured artist at Corrales Bosque Gallery for the month of March. Interpolating bold, bright facets of color with canted lines, her work in pastels and oils wins viewers with its immediacy and appeal. Pieces like “By the River” and “Cindy Rides Again” flesh out the mundane world in coruscating purples, blues and greens.Her work stays up through the end of the month. The Corrales Bosque Gallery is located at 4685 Corrales Rd. (in Corrales, surprise). It’s open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm. For more information, visit CorralesBosqueGallery.com or call 898-7203.
Culture Shock: Dolled Up Dolled Up
With popular successes like Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has become known for impeccably researched, empathetic historical novels centered on Chinese and Chinese-American women. She opens her latest, now out in paperback, in bustling 1938 San Francisco just before Europe’s plunge into world war. China Dolls (Random House; $16) braids together a trio of distinct personalities: Shy, talented Grace has left her abusive father far behind; savvy Helen feels smothered by the demands of her traditionalist Chinatown family; and brazen Ruby is hellbent on fame and acclaim. All three hope to make their way in the low-status but lucrative world of entertainment. While See’s prose is pleasing and readable, her ability to make authentic historical tensions reverberate in personal terms keeps her work magnetic.See brings her New York Times-bestselling self to Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande NW, bkwrks.com, 344-8139) on Tuesday, March 10, at 7pm, to discuss and sign her latest. If you happen to be in the Fe, she visits the Jean Cocteau Cinema (418 Montezuma Ave., jeancocteaucinema.com, 505-466-5528) the night before, also at 7pm.
