Exhibits, galleries, theater and more: Seacoast arts and culture news
Portsmouth Book & Bar hosts ‘Noir at the Bar’
PORTSMOUTH — Do you love mystery, true crime, or crime fiction? Join 11 local masters of the genre for “Seacoast Noir at the Bar,” an evening of murder most foul as they read excerpts from their works in progress. This free, all-ages literary event runs 7 to 9 p.m., on Wednesday, March 8.
Featuring the talents of Toby Ball, Lara Bricker, Dick Cass, Bruce Robert Coffin, Brendan DuBois, Tess Gerritsen, Zakariah Johnson, Gledé Browne Kabongo, Edith Maxwell, Lynne Reeves, and Emily Ross. Murder ballad intermission by Karen McCarthy.
Come for the blood; stay for the Bloody Marys.
Book & Bar (https://www.bookandbar.com/) is a full-service restaurant, bar, and live entertainment venue tucked inside a bookstore at 40 Pleasant St., in the heart of downtown Portsmouth, N.H. Their kitchen offers a full menu and their bar has a wide selection of signature cocktails, beer, wine, coffee, and tea. And, of course, they’ve got books: find best-sellers and hidden gems in their curated collection of more than 10,000 new and used books.
For more event details visit: https://www.bookandbar.com/events-upcoming#/events?event_id=68579 or https://www.facebook.com/events/1529467897543539.
Showstoppers celebrates 70 Years of Garrison Players Musicals
ROLLINSFORD — In 1953, the seeds of Garrison Players were planted with a production of Brigadoon staged in the Dover City Hall auditorium by a group of local actors. In celebration of the organization's 70th birthday, its Showstoppers troupe will present a Broadway revue featuring selected favorites from seven decades of the community theater's musical productions.
Shows represented include 9 to 5, Annie Get Your Gun, Baby, Brigadoon, Camelot, The Fantasticks, Fiddler on the Roof, Finian's Rainbow, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Good News!, Guys and Dolls, Honk!, Into the Woods, Little Shop of Horrors, The Music Man, Nunsense, Oliver!, Once Upon a Mattress, The Pajama Game, South Pacific, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Performance dates are March 10 and March 11 at 7 p.m. at Garrison Players Arts Center, corner of Roberts Road and Portland Avenue (Route 4), Rollinsford. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at garrisonplayers.org or at the door.
The Great New England Craft and Artisan show is coming to Hampton
HAMPTON — The Great New England Craft & Artisan show is coming to the Seacoast in a big way with great shopping, great fun and fantastic food.
On Saturday, March 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the huge Rim Sports Complex in Hampton, N.H. will transform into 40,000 square feet of delicious delights (including vegan and gluten free) and handmade creations from the finest specialty food makers, craftsmen and artisans in the region.
Live music, Irish dancing, face painting, green cocktails and beer, and you bet the food truck's menu will include corned beef, shamrock cookie decorating and a visit from a guy in green.
Bring your appetites as you will want to sample before you buy the whoopie pies, cannolis, hot sauce, fudge, toffee, jams, jellies, pretzels, mustards, biscotti, cinnamon buns, macaroons, honey, spices, oil, black garlic, beef jerky, donuts, chocolate and more! Looking for a gift or home decor, we will have it all from glass art to leather goods.
Enter a chance to win $100 door prize just for attending. Or try your chance at a raffle for $250 scratch ticket giveaway where the proceeds benefit a local sports team.
Tickets are just $5 and ages 14 and under get in free. For tickets, show details and a schedule visit GNECraftArtisanShows.com or find us on facebook at (3) Great New England Specialty Foods & Artisan Show | Facebook
March at the Franklin Gallery
ROCHESTER — The Franklin Gallery at RiverStones Custom Framing, 33 North Main St., in Rochester, will host an exhibit during the month of March entitled “Twins, Shadows, and Ghosts.” It will feature the work of Beth Wittenberg.
Wittenberg is a local contemporary artist who works in a variety of media. In October 2021, she was awarded an artist’s residency in Printmaking at The Art Center in Dover, N.H. Wittenberg has been printmaking almost exclusively during the past 16 months and she is a member of The Printmaking Studio where she works daily.
Wittenberg has been using mylar stencils to create compositions which are active and lively. These stencils can be used over and over again; however, Wittenberg enjoys creating new stencils daily. She uses the stencils to build compositions over many days in the printmaking studio.
Wittenberg is delving into Carl Jung's archetypes, especially the Shadow Archetype. The shadow is an archetype that consists of the sex and life instincts. The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings. “The work in this exhibit revolves around the concept of The Shadow Archetype and the notion of Twin Flames,” says Wittenberg. “There are a few signs which could point to a twin flame relationship, which I have experienced. Twin Flame is characterized by the sense that you're meeting yourself,” she explains, “multiple similarities, sometimes uncanny; deep connection; desire to grow; prioritization of growth over being in a relationship.”
While Wittenberg has been considering these ideas as a starting point for the artwork she does not have any particular dogma in mind when creating her artwork. She leaves the critics outside the studio and explores her iconography to create a new lexicon. Wittenberg says of the artwork that it is cathartic and prophetic at the same time.
Wittenberg received her MFA at The Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1989. She has been exhibiting as a professional artist for 35 years. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Recently her painting was chosen to be included in a coffee table book entitled Ten Piscataqua Painters, which was released in 2021. Wittenberg is fond of collaboration and has an open invitation to artists on the Seacoast who are interested to please contact her. Wittenberg lives with her wife and their three rescue dogs in Rochester, N.H.
RiverStones Custom Framing and the Franklin Gallery are open Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The public is encouraged to drop by during regular business hours to view Wittenberg’s work. For information about this exhibit and other RiverStones events and services, call 603-812-1488, or send an e-mail to riverstonescustomframing@gmail.com.
‘Abstracting the Grid’ art exhibit at Art Up Front Street Studios & Gallery
EXETER — Ree Hall Katrak’s abstract paintings and Anne Marie Kenny’s Industrial Quilts will be exhibited together using the Grid as an inspiring element in their art in the exhibit titled “Abstracting the Grid” at Art Up Front Street Studios & Gallery in Exeter, N.H. The pieces in the exhibit contrast in materials yet have a modern interpretation of process and aesthetics. Bold color and intriguing materials will draw you in.
Katrak’s paintings are distinctive in color and abstract mark making. Her process is influenced by current modern themes and the expressionist movement. Katrak says her art is more from the heart than the mind, it is an expression of thoughts and feelings. Her process starts out spontaneous then progresses in a more considered way. Katrak was born in San Francisco, Calif., and currently lives in Exeter, N.H. Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and is included in numerous private collections.
Kenny’s Industrial Quilts are inspired by textile history, the Industrial Revolution, the Amoskeag and Lowell Mills, and the “Mill Girls”. Her quilts emphasize the contrast between machinemade versus hand-made. Anne says her art parallels progress, modern industry, and invention. These influences create new forms of expression and aesthetics. She explores these forms and new ways of seeing. Recently, Kenny’s quilt is included in the Gee’s Bend Quilt exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art. Her work incorporates salvaged 1980’s and 1990’s cast-off computer and electronic parts, and microchips from businesses in N.H. and the Amoskeag mills, wirecloth, patina painted on copper, hair, garment paper, sewing needles, and wire hand stitching. The pieces in this exhibit were a year in the making. Kenny’s Industrial Quilts have been exhibited internationally and are included in the permanent collection of the Currier Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts Design in New York City. Her work is in numerous corporate and private collections. Kenny was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and currently lives in Exeter, N.H.
The artists will have an opening reception for the public on Saturday, March 25, from 3 to 8 p.m. Light refreshments and beverages will be served. Families and children are welcome. In addition to the exhibit, you can walk through the seven artist studios at Art Up Front Street Studios & Gallery.
For further information visit artupfrontstreet.com.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exhibits, galleries, theater and more: Seacoast arts and culture news
