Art Gallery

By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

Connections and Transforming Vision

Where: Mobile Museum of Art, 4850 Museum Dr. in Langan Park

When: Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5

Entrance: Adults $10, students, $6

It’s one of our earliest manipulated materials and carries a warmth and organic element hard to match. Fans of wood have a true treat in store with the latest exhibits at the Mobile Museum of Art.

Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005 was organized by the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia and features more than 170 works on loan from the City of Brotherly Love.

Transforming Vision: The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter 1970-2005 was organized by the Long Beach Museum of Art and the Mobile stop is the second presentation on the national tour of the exhibition. Hunter, considered one of the foremost figures in the field, led woodturning away from the conventional and into invention and experimentation. This survey traces that journey into the abstract.

Both exhibits run through June 17.

For more info, call 251-208-5200 or go to www.mobilemuseumofart.com

Plato’s Apology of Socrates

Where: University of South Alabama, Laidlaw Performing Arts Center

When: Saturday, April 28, 7:30 p.m.

Entrance: General public- $16; students- $8

In 399 BC, Athenian philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death for daring to buck the status quo and bluntly defend the virtues of philosophy over the flaws of the mundane. Bravely, he accepted his fate and set a course that forever altered Western thought.

Actor, former chair of the NYU Drama Department and Emmy award-winning producer Yannis Simonides brings the last days of this father of philosophy to life with a one-man portrayal of Plato’s Apology of Socrates. The performance is a fundraiser to support the new Classical Studies minor at South Alabama, a discipline with concentration in philosophy and instruction in the classical Greek language and is sponsored by the school’s Paideia Endowment in Hellenic Studies and the Mobile Chapter of the Greek-American civic association AHEPA.

For more info, contact Calvin Jones at 251-460-6291

Community Art Show at Peace Park

Where: Peace Park, corner of Carlen and Clearmont streets

When: Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

It’s not a high-tech show with the slickest p.r., but it is a healthy sign of a community ready to embrace the arts as something for the hoi polloi and not merely the reserve of the cognescenti.

The tiny greenspace across from historic Murphy High School will host the celebration, sale and silent auction as a benefit for Alabama Art With Heart, an organization that provides arts education for those who otherwise can’t afford it.

Organizer B. Yobe calls this third incarnation a “Midtown Happ’nin’” and the growing event includes bohemian ventures like impromptu exercises of speech and musical displays. From description, it promises to be little bit of the Left Coast and Greenwich Village in Midtown and a breath of fresh air to a scene that can sometimes seem a bit stiff.

For more info, call 209-4077.

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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