Park concerts

• Concord holds concerts in Eagle Square on six Thursdays at 7 p.m., and the Nevers’ Band performs at different parks throughout the summer.

• The Londonderry Arts Council plans Concerts on the Common, mostly on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the bandstand on the Londonderry Town Common at Mammoth and Pillsbury Roads. They also run the monthly open mic Nutfield Sessions.

• New Boston’s Recreation Department organizes summer concerts on alternate Sundays at 6 p.m. (New Boston’s Blues Association’s “Barnful of Blues Festival” Aug. 1 is at the county’s 4H Youth Center.)

• Derry uses their MacGregor Park bandstand for Tuesday and Thursday night summer concerts.

• Milford’s “Sounds on the Soughegan” concerts run Wednesdays for about 10 weeks this summer at Emerson Park.

• Merrimack holds concerts mostly Wednesdays at 7 p.m. through Aug. 26 at the Abbie Griffin Park bandstand. (The form to request use of the bandstand is here.)

• Community Events, LLC, is running outdoor family film series at Veterans Park in Manchester and Greeley Park in Nashua this summer.

• New Thalian Players produces Disney’s High School Musical at Veterans Park and Nashua Theatre Guild produces Shakespeare’s The Tempest at Greeley Park (July 17-July 26). (The application to use Veterans Park is here.)

• For information about concerts and other events at Nashua’s Greeley Park’s bandshell see Nashua’s “SummerFun” calendar and check for updates here.

• For more downtown Manchester events, also see Intown Manchester.

• Not outdoors, or in a park, but still free, the SummerSundays Concert Series is at the Hillsborough Center Congregational Church.

~Let me know what else to list…

Where are you going today?

I highly recommend, if you can find your way through the maze that is 21 West Auburn St. in Manchester (it’s sort of behind Murphy’s Tap Room), head to the third floor for painter Dan Greuling’s open studio, between 3 and 9 p.m. (March 1). He’s got some wicked cool stuff, and says other third floor creative types might be participating. Should be a good time with good people.

If you are up in the Concord area, storyteller and author Rebecca Rule is trying out a piece she created from interviews of folks in the Berlin area after the paper mills closed. It’s free, and starts at 3 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium.

Aponovich and Lamb

If you are one of those people who gets out of work at 4 p.m., and if you have an interest in fine wood crafts and painting, the public unveiling of the the Griffith Secretary should be interesting. A long time patron of New Hampshire Furniture Master David Lamb wanted to see what would happen if Lamb and acclaimed New Hampshire painter James Aponovich worked together. The resulting mahogany with ebony and flame birch secretary for patron Diane Griffith has a cabinet adorned with a triptych by Aponovich. The public reception is going on from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 25 in the Governor and Council Chambers in the State House.
Earlier tomorrow, there’s also a gallery tour planned at Sulloway & Hollis Gallery, (29 School St.in Concord) for the exhibit “Synesthesia,” of work by Michael Roundy, Charlie Goodwin, Tom Driscoll and Thaddeus Beal. The 1 p.m. tour is followed by a discussion there called “The Art of Collaboration” at 2 p.m. You’ll year from Lamb, Aponovich, New Hampshire Furniture Master Bill Thomas, artist Tom Meyers, the state’s commissioner of the Department of Cultural Resources, Van McLeod, and Rebecca Lawrence, director of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.

The outdoors

“Bubble Wrap” by Gintz Grinbergs, in stainless steel is one of 27 new sculptures at the Mill Brook Gallery and Sculpture Garden’s annual summer exhibit. Pass by the reception June 22 between 2 and 4 p.m. for strawberries, champagne and to meet the artists. The pieces will be there to peruse through Oct. 19.

Totally unrelated

Zenta Davidonis is a self-taught oil painter from Concord. Her daughter Shay Burleigh is a former student at NHTI. The two are exhibiting work at the college’s library in Concord through June 22.

Looking for a strange new play to watch? House of Gold by Gregory Moss closes June 14 at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Newburyport, Mass.

Wax work

Lynette Haggard’s “Circa 009″ captured my attention first at “WAX-IT ‘08,” a collection of encaustic work from New England Wax members at Mill Brook Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Like some of her other work there, and work by her colleagues, the piece has bold textures and colors. Most have a sturdy quality to them as opposed to delicate hues or feathery edges. They look confident. To get the full effect though, you really should see them in person. The show is up through June 22. Mill Brook is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

You can almost see Jeanne O’Toole Hayman’s “Dancing Women” on the right here. At first glance it just looked muddy, but as I continued to look at it I could see several female forms within it. The interesting part is how much depth there is. I was also drawn to Nancy Natale’s two pieces on the left.

Now what is this interesting medium? Here’s the New England Wax explaination:

“Encaustic, meaning “to burn in” in Greek, dates back to the 5th century B.C. Used as a contemporary medium, it is a versatile method of painting with a beeswax-based paint kept molten on a heated palette. Using an absorbent and sturdy support, encaustic artists mix colors, apply wax, fuse, etch, layer, collage, transfer Xerox images and incorporate found objects.“

Janet Bartlett Goodman used it for “Forest,” on the right. More works in the show are on the left.

Concord music and Londonderry art

Paul Dykstra and Gregg Pauley, musicians who are both Concord Community Music School faculty members, will perform a free lunchtime concert called “Evening at Symphony: Transcriptions for Piano Four-Hands,” on June 12. But get the background on that by coming to Dykstra’s free lunchtime lecture today (June 5, 12:10 p.m., at 23 Wall St. – bring your own lunch) called “Piano in the Parlor: Orchestral Listening before the iPod.”
And on Friday evening, The Wine Studio in Londonderry is welcoming artist Barbara Scott with a reception at 6 p.m. for a show of her work there in June. They are also pouring some California wines to taste.

From the source

Frequently, I turn to the state’s galleries for input for stories. Now, Sarah Chaffee, gallery director at McGowan Fine Art in Concord, has posted her take on burning questions like “How do you collect art?” along with practical advice on topics like hanging and insuring work at her new blog, mcgowanfineart.blogspot.com. “I thought I would try to keep up with the youngsters,” she wrote in an email.

Friday gallery openings

Northwood photographer Scott Bulger is showing work at the Jill Coldren-Wilson Gallery at Kimball-Jenkins School of Art this month. The opening reception is Friday, May 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. Learn more about him at his blog. And while you are in Concord, stop by McGowan Fine Art where Sandy Wadlington is showing pastels, oils and woodblock prints in a show called, “A Sense of Light.” Meet her at the opening May 9, from 5 to 7 p.m.

P.S. Before I get in trouble with someone, let me apologize for my flighty ways. May 9 is also the 2008 return of Art Concord, a string of gallery openings around the town. The full listing of gallery spaces that are open is at Mill Brook’s Web site. Enjoy.

More on stage

I reviewed a couple of shows for the April 17 Hippo, but there is a lot going on besides Clean Alternatives and A Chorus Line. Let’s start with tours. Ring of Fire, an ode to the “Man in Black,” comes to the Capitol Center for the Arts April 17. The St. Petersburg Ballet brings Giselle to the The Music Hall April 20.

From the locally produced side of things, New Hampshire’s improv comedy troupe, Stranger Than Fiction, is at the The Barley House in Concord April 17. The Leddy Center in Epping opens a two weekend run of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility April 18. The Park Theatre in Jaffrey is producing “It’s Showtime,” a revue of Broadway tunes April 19. And the Acting Loft has been touring a three-man production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) through schools, but have public performances coming up.