This weekend, Saturday, Sept. 13, drop by LibraryFest for a day of free family fun and entertainment. Aside from bargains on thousands of books, there will be a free drawing for a Kindle Paperwhite eReader, plus snacks available from Whole Foods Market. The Lakewood Branch Library is at 6121 Worth Street. Go to lakewoodlibraryfriendsdallas.org for more, or call 214.670.1376. The event is free.
The Promise of Peace community garden is hosting its 5th annual Okrapalooza event this Sunday on Sept. 14. The Okrapalooza is an East Dallas-based cook-off that features live music, beer and lots of specialty okra dishes created by Dallas chefs. “Celebrity chefs and Home-Cooks come together in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to present their best okra dishes to compete for the title of Okrapalooza champion of the world,” the website jokingly describes. This year’s event will be hosted at The LOT at Gaston-Garland-Grand on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A $35 ticket include okra dish tastings and sides, local beer, and live music. All proceeds benefit the Promise of Peace Community Garden. Visit the Okrapalooza website to learn more.
Sept. 11 marks the beginning of “The Cycles of the Fig Tree” by Carlos Cázares, a Mexican visual artist specializing in the disciplines of painting, sculpture and graphics. Cázares work seeks to “expose his heart to the light of the Creator, and constantly seeks a way to impress the life of God on his canvases.” Through his experimentation with pigments and mineral deposits, he has found that materials such as gold and silver offer a beautiful refraction of light that enriches his work. His abstract works reflect an appreciation of ancient techniques applied in a contemporary setting. The exhibit is available at St. Matthew’s Cathedral Arts center, in the Justus Sundermann Gallery, located at 5100 Ross. Go to cathedralartsdallas.org, or call 214.887.6552 to schedule a free visit.
On Sunday, Sept. 14, young soprano Emily Poulsen and pianist Heeyoung Choi will present a recital of Romantic and 20th-century vocal music. The program features Edvard Grieg’s ‘Hjertets Melodier,’ a collection of songs written to poems of Hans Christian Andersen, and John Woods Duke’s setting of ‘Six Poems by Emily Dickinson,’ as well as songs and arias by Henri Duparc, Richard Strauss, Otto Nicolai and Hector Berlioz. The event is available at St. Matthew’s Cathedral Arts center in the Justus Sundermann Gallery, located at 5100 Ross. Go to cathedralartsdallas.org or call 214.887.6552. The concert is free.
On Sept. 13, East Dallas local, Rachel Nash, who opened The Rachel Nash Gallery in Deep Ellum earlier this year, welcomes local artist, Jason Mehl and his newest body of work, “Remnants.” Dallas artist Mehl has spent the better part of a decade exploring the world while creating art. After living in South Korea for five years making art, Mehl closed his Seoul studio and returned home to Dallas in 2013. “Remnants” will display what Jason has become known for — his “ambiguous, composite forms based on the intuitive geometry of nature.” This exhibit augments his previous body of bronze sculptures, increasing his scope with a variety of media including wood, stoneware, and cast glass.
On September 10 and 21, Open Classical, which is a non-profit arts organization in Dallas, presents the first program of a new season with “Around the World and Beyond” in two venues in our neighborhood — AllGood Café in Deep Ellum and Times Ten Cellar in Lakewood. “Around the World and Beyond” is a musical journey that begins with a trip through varying cultures and culminates in the universal tale of the sacrificial hero. The first event is this weekend on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 8 p.m. at AllGood Café, located at 2934 Main. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. There will also be another event on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at Times Ten Wine Cellars, located at 6324 Prospect. Tickets will be $20 for adults.
If you have an itch for some live music this weekend, Black Lips’ is showing with King Khan & BBQ at Granada Theater on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. Learn more about the event on the website. Lips’ most recent album, Underneath The Rainbow, released in April. To sample, you can view a stream here.
On Saturday, Sept. 13, The City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is hosting the workshop The Business of Art: Public Art 101, a professional development workshop for emerging artists throughout North Texas interested in pursuing public art opportunities. The workshop will be held at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary across Central at 3232 McKinney Ave, Suite 855, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. That includes lunch and seminar resource materials. Tickets can be purchased in advance at eventbrite.com or by calling 214.914.1099.
On Monday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m., Oral Fixation — hosted by East Dallas neighbor Nicole Stewart — will present 7 stories from the “Best of Season 3” at the Studio Theatre in the Wyly. The event will feature juicy “Best of Season 3” favorites, each voted in by hundreds of Oral Fixation fans. The Wyly in the Dallas Arts District accommodates 325 audience members and tickets sell quickly. A satellite performance of the same show will be held at WaterTower Theatre in Addison on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. with the same cast. Even with two shows, they expect to sell out. But if you miss it, they’ll soon be back with season four, every month through April 2015.
Through Sept. 27, visit the Bath House Cultural Center to see “Split Seconds,” an exhibit presented as part of the center’s Curate+Collaborate Exhibition Series. Marilyn Waligore and Emily Loving are the co-curators of this exhibition, and their exhibit aims to “rethink the emphasis on a single moment in time.” Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther, bathhousecultural.com, 214.670.8749, free.
Also through Sept. 27, the White Rock Lake Museum in the Bath House Cultural Center presents ‘Refreshing Journey,’ an exhibition of drawings inspired by White Rock Lake from Dallas artist Jenny Hong DeLaughter. The exhibition depicts scenes from life at the lake — images of family gatherings, landscapes, wildlife and other special moments. Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther, bathhousecultural.com, 214.670.8749, free.
