The List
A highly selective preview of upcoming events
By John Sollenberger 04/01/2010
Sculpture Blooms in Pasadena
Through April—Pasadena’s Artworks Gallery hosts “The Rose Collection,” a show of Michael Kalish’s sculpture celebrating Pasadena’s symbol, the rose. The artist characterizes his approach to flowery metal sculpture, which he creates from the remains of old automobiles, as a “Rust Renaissance.”
Artworks Gallery is located at 59 W. Del Mar Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 229-0700 or visit artworksgallery.com.
From Child’s Play to War at the Huntington
April 3—“Child’s Play? Children’s Book Illustration of 19th Century Britain” opens and runs through July 26. This selection of rare drawings by celebrated illustrators of the era, including Walter Crane, Arthur Rackham and Kate Greenway, enlivened works by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll and others. The show is on display in the Huntington Art Gallery’s Works on Paper Room.
April 17 and 18—The Pasadena Garden Club’s 2010 Flower Show comes to the Huntington with the theme “Beautiful Science! Observation & Perception.” The show, free with Huntington admission, is on view from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
April 24—“A Clash of Empires: The Seven Years’ War and British America,” a new exhibition of newspapers, brochures and other printed materials, illustrates the conflict also known as the French and Indian War (1754–63). The show includes a long report by the young Lt. Col. George Washington to his commander, John Campbell, the 4th Earl of Loudon, whose archive is at the Huntington. “A Clash of Empires” continues through July 26.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626) 405-2100 or visit huntington.org.
Hunting down L.A. History
April 11—The third annual L.A. Heritage Day celebration, hosted by the L.A. Heritage Alliance, comes to Heritage Square Museum in northeast Los Angeles from 11 a.m. to
4 p.m. Local history will be explored through tours of historic structures, a scavenger hunt, presentations, performances and cooking lessons.
Heritage Square Museum is located at 3800 Homer St., Los Angeles. Call (323) 225-2700 or visit heritagesquare.org.
Blinding Grown-ups With Science
April 15 and 16—The Pasadena Convention Center hosts the 60th annual Los Angeles County Science Fair. More than 1,000 middle and high school students from private and public schools compete for medals, scholarships and special awards honoring their prowess in projects ranging from astrophysics to zoology. Top winners compete in the California State Science Fair. Exhibit halls are open to the public from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday; on Friday, interactive sessions run from 1:30 to 5 p.m., and the awards ceremony follows at 7 p.m.
The Pasadena Convention Center is located at 300 E. Green St., Pasadena.
Call (626) 793-2122 or visit lacoe.edu/sciencefair.
How the West Was Won by Women
April 16—The Autry National Center celebrates the spirit and contributions of diverse Western women in “Home Lands: How Women Made the West,” a major exhibition of nearly 200 objects spanning more than 1,200 years. The show, which opens today and continues through Aug. 22, examines the lives of women like Dr. Justina Ford, Colorado’s first African-American woman doctor; educator, home economist and author Fabiola Cabeza de Baca of New Mexico; and Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle’s mayor from 1926 to 1928, the first female mayor of a major American city. In conjunction with the “Home Lands” exhibition, a new, small gallery at the Autry Store presents colorful glass art by Laila Asgari through June 27.
The Autry National Center is located at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. Call (323) 667-2000 or visit theautry.org.
Sweet Sounds at Caltech
April 17—The 10th annual Caltech Jazz Festival runs from noon to 6 p.m. at Gates Patio, featuring Caltech jazz bands and special guests the Night Blooming Jazzmen—Dixieland jazz favorites at festivals across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Admission is free, and no tickets are needed. Guests are encouraged to bring a blanket and picnic on the lawn.
Some lawn seating is also available, and snacks are available for purchase.
Caltech is located at 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 395-3295 or visit bands.caltech.edu.
Celebrating Mother Earth
and Botanical Bling
April 17—Descanso Gardens honors Mother Earth in an Earth Day celebration from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit the Butterfly Appreciation Corner on the Main Lawn from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for demonstrations and hands-on activities illustrating the pollination powers of the fragile creatures. A “Jack Rabbit and the Beanstalk” puppet show starts at 9:30 a.m. in Van de Kamp Hall. At the Under the Oaks Theater, “A Faery Hunt,” an interactive show, takes the stage at 10:30 a.m., followed by “Martina’s Undersea Adventure” puppet show at noon. At 1 p.m., rock to the sounds of the Mobile Homeboys on the Main Lawn stage. Eco-friendly barbecue and a selection of local organic foods are available from Patina Catering from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Seating is limited, but guests can bring blankets and folding chairs for dining under the trees. All events are free with Descanso admission.
April 18—A jewelry and accessories trunk show takes place at the Rose Pavilion from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free with Descanso admission.
Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Call (818) 949-4200 or visit descansogardens.org.
Big Band Era Revisited
April 18—The San Marino Celebrity Series brings back the
big band era with “Dreaming and Dancing to Big Band Sounds,” a 3 p.m. performance by the Esquires Big Band. Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association founders Tammy and Erin Stevens will be on hand to teach ballroom and swing dancing. The series benefits the pediatric section of Huntington Hospital’s new Trauma and Emergency Center. Tickets cost $30.
The event takes place at Santa Anita Church, 226 Colorado Pl., Arcadia. For tickets, call (626) 405-0497 or (626) 441-1465 or email smcelebrityseries@gmail.com.
The Garden As Art
April 18—The Foothill Creative Arts Group in Sierra Madre celebrates its 50th anniversary with this year’s annual “Art of the Garden” tour and fundraiser from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The tour visits notable gardens in Pasadena, South Pasadena and San Marino, including those surrounding a 1929 Monterey Colonial home designed by Roland Coate, a 1913 Japanese farmhouse recently the subject of a seven-year restoration, a classic Colonial manor with gardens designed for entertaining and a California traditional home inspired by Coate’s work, with elements of English Soanean Regency design and a newly created English garden. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 the day of the event.
Tickets can be purchased at the Foothill Creative Arts Group, 108 N. Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre. Call (626) 355-8350 or visit creativeartsgroup.org.
Touring Historic Caltech
April 22—The Caltech Women’s Club presents the Caltech Architectural Tour Service, offering free tours at 10:30 a.m. the fourth Thursday of each month. Tours of the historic campus run from one-and-a-half to two hours. Groups can also be accommodated.
Tours meet at the Athenaeum, 551 S. Hill Ave., Pasadena. For reservations, call (626) 395-6328.
Flora by Ellsworth Kelly
April 23—“Plants, Flowers and Fruits: Ellsworth Kelly Lithographs” opens, featuring 20 images of botanical subjects by the artist, better known for his large-scale color field paintings. The exhibition continues through Aug. 23.
The Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.
They’re just Wild About Harry at the Ambassador
April 24—The Ambassador Foundation and Theaters of Vision Productions present Harry Who?, a musical celebrating prolific songwriting legend Harry Warren, at the Ambassador Auditorium. Warren’s hits include 42nd Street, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, I Only Have Eyes for You and numerous others. Tickets range from $15 to $40; a portion of the proceeds benefits school and college music departments in the San Gabriel Valley. Discounts are available for children, seniors and groups. Performances are at 2 and 8 p.m.
The Ambassador Auditorium is located at 131 S. St. John Ave., Pasadena. For tickets, call (800) 595-4849 or visit harrywho.org.
Santa Cecilia Orchestra Celebrates Mexico
April 25—The Santa Cecilia Orchestra presents “Mexico!,” a concert celebrating the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution through the music of prominent Mexican composers. The 4 p.m. concert at Occidental College’s Thorne Hall, conducted by Sonia Marie De Léon de Vega, includes Chavez’s Sinfonia India and Chapultepec, Galindo’s Sones de Mariachi, Marquez’s Danzon no. 4 and Danzon no. 2 and Moncayo’s Huapango. Tickets cost from $20 to $26, $7 for youth ages 17 and under.
Occidental College is located at 1600 Campus Rd., Eagle Rock. Call (323) 259-3011 or visit scorchestra.org.
Tufts Poetry Awards
April 28—Claremont Graduate University’s 18th annual Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards ceremony comes to the Pasadena Museum of California Art at 6:30 p.m. The event includes poetry readings by the winners and a book signing. The university awards two poetry prizes annually: the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Award (the nation’s largest prize for a mid-career poet) and the $10,000 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Past Kingsley Tufts award winners include Robert Wrigley, Tom Sleigh, Linda Gregerson, Matthea Harvey and Yusef Komunyakaa. Matthew Dickman won the 2009 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required.
The Pasadena Museum of California Art is located at 490 E. Union St., Pasadena. To RSVP, call (909) 621-8974 or visit cgu.edu/tufts.
The L.A. Garden Show Flowers Again
April 30 through May 2—The L.A. Garden Show comes to the L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The West Coast’s largest outdoor gardening event showcases innovative and environmentally responsible garden design in workshops, lectures and displays. Also featured is a marketplace for rare and exotic plants, specialty books and other items of interest. Admission costs $3 to $8 (free for Arboretum members).
The L.A. County Arboretum is located at 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia.
Call (626) 821-3222 or visit arboretum.org.
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