Archguitarist Peter Blanchette and the Northampton Center for the Arts present the ninth annual “Bach Birthday Concert” Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at First Churches, 129 Main St, Northampton.
Blanchette, who lives in Northampton, will play arrangements from Bach’s Violin Sonatas and the Partita for Solo Flute as well as music from Sylvius Leopold, a famous lutenist from Bach’s time.
Blanchette invented the 11-string archguitar in the 1980s, basing it on the baroque lute. Because it has more strings, the archguitar has a larger range than a traditional guitar, making it easier to play classical music, like Bach’s.
Blanchette has received an Artist Grant in Music Composition from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and played at venues around the world, including at Spain’s Festival de Guitàrra de Cordoba, Symphony Hall in Boston and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He is also the founder of the Northampton Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra.
Tickets cost $17.50, $22.50 and $25. Advanced purchase recommended. To reserve, visit www.nohoarts.org. Remaining tickets, if any, will be available at the door for $20 (cash or check).
“Flight,”an exhibit by area artists, including refugee women and youth from Springfield, will open with a reception Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m. and will remain on view through March 27 at Lyman Hall, First Churches, 129 Main St. in Northampton.
The artists use different kinds of luggage as the foundational medium for different “stations,” each serving as a place to pause, reflect and bear witness to the many aspects of the epic global refugee crisis.
Participating mixed media artists include Robin Brooks, Martha Brouwer, Susannah Crolius, Harriet Diamond, Mary Frongillo, Laura Iverson, Catherine Linberg, Naomi Mahay-Tannen, Mona Shiber and Rochelle Shicoff.
The exhibit is initiated by Art & Soul, a portable community arts forum intersecting the arts, spirituality, community building and social justice.
As part of the opening reception, a community grief ritual will take place from 4 to 5 p.m., providing space to lament for all those around the world in some kind of exile. Ceremonialist Phyllis Labanowski and Brazilian drummer Ricardo Frota will facilitate the ritual.
For information, visit www.artandsoulhcc.org.
Rare-book specialist Barbara B. Blumenthal will present an illustrated talk about the Hampshire Bookshop, which was founded in 1916 by Smith College alumna Marion Dodd, and others.
The event will be held at Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge St. in Northampton.
The bookshop sold books to Smith College students and faculty and to the wider community, but also was the core of the literary life of Northampton and the region.
The talk by Blumenthal, who works in the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith, is part of Historic Northampton’s “Hestia Mural 35th Anniversary Lecture Series.”
The Hestia Mural in downtown Northampton was painted by five women artists in 1978-80 and features notable women in the city’s history, from pre-colonial times through the 20th century.
For information, visit www.historicnorthampton.org.
“Observed,” an exhibit by Chesterfield artist Martin Bridge, will be on view through April 2 at Hope & Feathers Framing and Gallery, 319 Main St. in Amherst. Bridge will be painting live, on site, Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a closing reception April 1 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Bridge works in many different media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, theater design and performance. His work expresses his belief in the sacredness of nature and the importance of mankind’s connection to the natural world.
In his artist statement, Bridge says he decided to take up live painting because he wanted to gain a deeper understanding of his process, which he could not do when working alone because he became so immersed in his work.
“Feedback, observations and interpretations from onlookers I spoke with often influenced where I went with a particular painting and energy of the experience fueled my creativity and movement of the brush and paint,” he said.
Gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information, call the gallery at 835-0197.
“Animals Within,” a collection of wildlife prints and paintings by Leverett artist Hillary Wilbur Ferro, will be on view through March 30 at the Burnett Gallery, 43 Amity St. in Amherst.
Ferro teaches visual art at the Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield and has lived in the Amherst area for nearly 40 years.
The Burnett Gallery is located on the second floor of the Jones Library, Hours are Mondays from 1 to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
“A Touch of Whimsy,” an exhibition of quilted wall-hangings by Elizabeth Sylvan of Florence, will be on view through April 29 at the Northampton Cooperative Bank, 253 Triangle St. in Amherst.
Sylvan creates her quilts with raw-edge appliqué, hand-coloring and machine stitching. In her artist statement, she says she incorporates universal symbols like the sun and moon, birds, water and seasons to connect the viewer to the natural world.
This installment features images of a purple cow, triceratops, flamingos, flowers and more.
The exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to noon. For information, visit www.sylvanquilts.com.
Valley Light Opera will sing the Resurrection portions of Handel’s “Messiah” Sunday at 2 p.m. in the sanctuary of Wesley United Methodist Church, 98 North Maple St. in Hadley.
VLO soloists will be Elaine Crane, soprano; Kathy Blaisdell, alto; Ted Blaisdell, tenor; and Ramsey Kurdi, baritone, with the audience singing as the chorus. Some scores will be available, but bring yours if you have one. Donations will be accepted.
“I Breathe With You: Part II,” an exhibit featuring work by artists from the United States and more than a dozen other countries, will open with a reception Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. and will remain on view through May 6 at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Through paintings, drawings, photographs, digital projections and videos, the artists expressed their concerns for equity and justice.
The artists were prompted to create work based on these questions: What form of bias and discrimination has become deplorable to you? What does it look like? Feel like? How are individuals or communities affected? What would best solve this condition? What steps should we take to eliminate it? What one act might you perform to improve this condition? What would full health feel or look like for the one suffering?
Gallery hours are Mondays and Tuesdays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays through Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m. (Closed for academic breaks.) For information, call 545-5177.
At Amherst Cinema
“Sepideh — Reaching for the Stars” will be shown Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Amherst Cinema as part of the theater’s “Science on Screen” film series.
The movie follows an Iranian teenage girl who lives in a small town 400 miles south of Tehran. She is obsessed with astronomy and becomes an active member of a local astronomy club led by her physics teacher.
Salman Hameed, Hampshire College professor and director of the Center of the Study of Science in Muslim Societies, will lead a discussion following the film.
Regular admission.
“The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga” will be shown Wedneday at 7 p.m. at the cinema.
The film is an exploration of Eastern Europeans’ changing perceptions of nature from the sinister forest home of a mythical witch to a refuge from famine, destruction and war.
Filmmaker Jessica Oreck will be at the screening.
Regular admission.
“Florence, Arizona” will be shown Thursday at 7 p.m. at the cinema.
The city of Florence is home to 8,500 civilians and 17,000 inmates spread throughout nine prisons. This documentary film weaves together the stories of four key residents of Florence, whose lives have been affected by the surrounding prisons.
Director Andrea B. Scott, a Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker, editor and writer, will be on hand for the screening.
For tickets to any of the films, visit www.amherstcinema.org.