Another hopeful sign that new players in the Vero Beach arts scene have taken the initiative to encourage young artists: Saturday night, the new and on-the-edge Off Island Studio, which was opened recently by Saskia and Linwood Fuller in a space near the Vero airport, is having a five-artist show called Nowhere to Go.
It features Taylor Beatty, a photographer who staged a novel exhibit of photographic portraits of random people, all of whom met up on a prior night at Project Space 1785, another talked-about and unconventional gallery; it, too, is off the beaten path and attracting younger people.
The German-born Saskia is a jewelry maker; Linwood, who goes by Skip, designs boats for Pursuit in Fort Pierce. The two first opened gallery space in Fort Pierce’s Art Mundo building, and opened in Vero after moving here two years ago. Since then the space has hosted several one-night-only events; at the end of the evening, the space reverts to a workshop. So far the evenings have drawn a great crowd.
If you’re the smooth jazz sort, Friday night, the French-born jazz guitarist Marc Antoine performs in the King Center’s Studio Theatre in Melbourne. Antoine, whom George Benson once listed as one of his favorite guitarist, was born in Paris, and first studied classical guitar in his middle school years at the Paris Conservatory.
Then at 18, he sliced his hand falling into a glass door. Doctors doubted he would ever play again. He persevered, and with three years of rehab, he was back to playing in Paris clubs. He moved to London and then to Los Angeles, where his value as a studio musician was noted by Sting, Cher, and George Benson, among many others. He began releasing solo albums beginning with “Classical Soul” and soon hit the charts on the American contemporary jazz scene.
The 2010 American Smooth Jazz Awards named him International Artist of the Year. He’s often present on the tours of Dave Koz, Jeffrey Osborne and Chris Botti.
Along with the new Civil War photography exhibit opening Saturday at the Vero Beach Museum of Art (see separate article in this issue), the launch of the new season begins with the first course of the popular Film Studies series. Opening Oct. 5 is Turning Points: Common Themes, Uncommon People. It will include five films, each from a different country, focusing on life-changing moments in people’s lives. Film Studies instructor Diane Thelen introduces the film with a brief lecture and then moderates a question-and-answer session afterwards.
Each film course, listed on the museum’s website, runs on five consecutive Tuesdays with participants signing up for either the 1:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. screening. Tuition is $70; $50 for museum members.
Riverside Theatre’s Comedy Zone isn’t waiting until October to bring on the beer. They’re setting up a biergarten this weekend outside on the loop, with lagers and sausages and with luck, a polka band.
We know at least a couple of church music directors known to belt down a cold brew after a rigorous rehearsal. Not sure Oktoberfest is what they had in mind, but a four-choir concert billed as the Atlantic Choir Festival is in the works for October.
Saturday is the public’s day to visit the Save the Chimps Sanctuary – the public that has paid the $50 membership fee to the remarkable Fort Pierce-based organization that has rescued 250 chimps from the confinement and often squalid conditions of research labs, or the unnatural existence they endured beyond their will within the entertainment industry or as pets. From my experience, the chimps aren’t above a little payback; when I was visiting for a story a few years back, a mischief-making male spit directly into my yapping mouth from ten feet away.
Tours run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the sanctuary, located on Orange Avenue west of Fort Pierce. To reserve a space – a requirement – call 772-429-0403.
The first in this season’s Community Church Concert series, the choirs in the coming concert will be under the direction of André J. Thomas of Florida State University.
Thomas, the director of choral activities and professor of choral music education, is a frequent judge of choral competitions as well as an instructor in choral clinics here and abroad. The church choirs involved are from Community and First Presbyterian in Vero; Eastminster Presbyterian in Indialantic (where Community’s recently appointed music director Ryan Kasten conducted until he accepted the Vero post this summer); and the Vero Beach Choral Society, newly relocated to Community Church under the direction of Jason Hobrascht. Both the Choral Society and Hobrascht were formerly at Trinity Episcopal.
The Atlantic Choir Festival is Oct. 11 at 4 p.m. and in keeping with Community’s new focus on inclusion, there is no charge, although donations are accepted.