The Cornell Art Museum spotlights upcycled art, the Flagler Museum offers free admission, and the Riviera Beach Marina celebrates World Ocean Day. Plus, Broadway’s “Beetlejuice” and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Opening night of “Beetlejuice”
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $34.50-$92
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
If we haven’t yet reached peak Gen-X nostalgia, this musical adaptation of Tim Burton’s cult comedy moves us one step closer up the mountain. But unlike other reboots of cherished 1980s entertainment, this ghoulish horror-comedy seems perfectly attuned to its new format: Its title character, a scheming and maniacal bio-exorcist jonesing for a good time, is tailored for the footlights. As in the film, Beetlejuice is summoned by a newly deceased couple that only in death discover a zest for life; perhaps, with the help of their crazy-haired, stripe-suited fiend, they can have some fun haunting the absent father and morose little girl now inhabiting their former home. Joining, of course, the Jamaican classic “Day-O” is a slate of fresh songs from Australian musical comedian Eddie Perfect, and a script that updates the 1988 original with a flurry of contemporary pop-culture references. The Kravis on Broadway touring production runs through Sunday.
FRIDAY
What: Founder’s Day
When: 10 a.m., noon, or 2 p.m.
Where: Flagler Museum, 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/655-2833, flaglermuseum.org
Sometimes, when national treasures have existed in our backyard for so long, we take them for granted. When was the last time you visited the Flagler Museum, the immaculately restored former residence of visionary industrialist Henry Flagler? There’s no better time to reacquaint yourself with this National Historic Landmark than Founder’s Day, celebrated every June 5 to honor Flagler and his descendants. It’s the only day you’ll find free admission to the Flagler, and it’s traditionally one of the museum’s most-attended days. So show up early and take a leisurely stroll through the Gilded Age treasures on display, climb aboard Flagler’s own private railcar, and marvel at the stunning architecture during your self-guided tour. Availability is limited to 500 visitors during each of the two-hour time slots listed above, so visit the website to reserve your tickets.
What: Opening night of “Persistence of Matter: Transforming Discarded Materials into Art that Inspires & Provokes”
When: 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Cornell Art Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
Cost: Free, but donations welcomed
Contact: 561/654-2220, delrayoldschoolsquare.com
As the old saying goes, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. This adage can ring especially true for artists, whose ability to see renewed utility in consumer detritus—Americans produce 268 million tons of waste each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency—makes them top stewards of a “waste not, want not” culture. Curated with the understanding that what we discard doesn’t disappear—instead, it evolves—“Persistence of Matter” gathers artists in the mediums of sculpture, installations, and mixed media who deploy reclaimed objects in their work. Selected artists include Boca Raton’s Ron Garrett, who creates maritime-inspired art from materials collected at sea; Mike Silverman, who forms figural sculptures from antiquated hard drives and motherboards; Ronda Gale, who creates floral sculptures from shell bits washed up on Delray Beach; and Autumn Kioti, whose repurposed fabrics and objects are central to the artist’s mystical visions. There will be live music and refreshment at Friday’s opening reception; the exhibition runs through Sept. 27.
What: Ocean of Notes Concert and Art Exhibit
When: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Riviera Beach Marine Event Center, 190 E. 13th St., Riviera Beach
Cost: Free
Contact: taras.org/event/world-oceans-day-concert-and-art-exhibit
Next Monday marks World Ocean Day, a time of reflection and action on the pressing issues of oceanic health and climate stability. The Taras Oceanographic Foundation, a Palm Beach County-based nonprofit that raises awareness about the threats facing oceans and marine mammals, is celebrating early at this oceanside concert and art exhibition. Local visual artists, including Michael Arsenault, Jerilyn Brown, Ellen Deroxtro, Ron Garrett, Rochelle Irons, Cynthia Oakes, and Stephanie Stinch, contributed the marine-themed artwork on display, while a trio of roots-music luminaries will perform an atmospheric set. They include Grammy-nominated Nashville guitarist Tim May, a Grand Ole Opry regular who has performed with artists such as Charlie Daniels and Patty Loveless; Mark Russell, a violinist rich in musical diversity, who has opened for Dire Straits, collaborated with jazz violin pioneer Stephane Grappelli, and scored films; and veteran mandolin virtuoso Steve Smith, who has appeared on more than 50 albums in a 40-year bluegrass career.
SUNDAY
What: Opening day of “Frantz Zéphirin: The Messenger”
When: Noon to 5 p.m.
Where: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $16 adults, $10 seniors
Contact: 954/525-5500, nsuartmuseum.org
When it came time to immortalize the devastating Haitian earthquake of 2010 on its cover, The New Yorker selected a painting by one of that country’s most celebrated artists. Frantz Zéphirin’s “The Resurrection of the Dead” depicted members of a skeletal family opening their door to a natural disaster in which a piece of plywood floats by the stoop of their home, and innumerable faces—the ghosts of those lost, perhaps—gaze from the tiled exterior of their abode. A self-taught wunderkind, Zéphirin received a lot of media attention in the aftermath of the quake, and interest has seldom waned for his phantasmagorical works, with their feverish, outsider visions of Biblical passages, Vodou rituals, chimeric creatures and mystical voyages. Claiming to channel the Haitian mermaid goddess La Sirène, Zéphirin has painted her form more than 2,000 times, while asserting the completed works “made themselves.” “The Messenger” marks Zéphirin’s first solo museum exhibition, and it runs through Oct. 4.
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