for the ARTS record
Cool commission

Artist Johnny Curran has completed an abstract acrylic and oil mural in the renovated lobby of the Cliffside Beach Club, the dimensions of which are 27 feet long by 22 feet high. It was an eight-week project completed in a working studio and scaffolding that had to be broken down every day.

The artist's printmaking training influenced the mural and enabled him to replicate the look of rain on pavement or the weathered stones of the Nantucket shoreline by dragging a squeegee along the surface of the wall, a tool generally relegated to printmaking.

Curran attended England's Cambridge University and the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, graduating in 1999 with a BFA in printmaking and painting. After graduation he worked in commercial and fine art print shops in the United States and Europe, including the Mourlot Imprimatur in Paris where he produced lithographic prints.

To view the mural, contact the beach club at 46

Jefferson Ave., 228-0618.

Organ turns 100

The public is invited to the 100th birthday celebration of the First Congregational Church’s newly renovated Steere organ on Sunday, Sept. 18, 5 p.m., at the church at 62 Centre St.

Peggy Krewson, director of music and organist, leads an organ recital with the music of Bach, Cook, Langlais, Oliver, Mozart and Vierne. Handbells will be performed by Jennifer Ahlborn and Mary Moores and a movement from Mozart Piano Concerto #25 will be performed by John Buttrick.

A reception follows the concert. For more info, call the church at 228-0950, Peggy at 228-3732 or visit www.nantucketfcc.org.

Chinese antiques demystified

Andrea and Lynde McCormick, owners of Han Horse, a New York City gallery specializing in 18th and 19th century Chinese furniture, speak at The Nantucket Atheneum’s Great Hall today, Aug. 31, at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

Following their presentation, the McCormicks will sign copies of their books, “Chinese Country Antiques” and “Old China, New Style.” This is the final lecture in the Geschke Lecture Series, “China.” The McCormicks opened their gallery in 2003. The couple will share images from their gallery, which will include antiquities from the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties.

Isle ‘au Haut revisited

Due to travel complications, a lecture by Linda and Martha Greenlaw was postponed. The mother-daughter cookbook authors speak today instead, Aug. 31, at 8 p.m. at the Coffin School, 4 Winter St.

Linda Greenlaw is the author of “The Lobster Chronicles,” and will share recipes from the new book she co-wrote with her mother, Martha Greenlaw, “Recipes From a Very Small Island.” A reception and book signing by the authors will follow. Admission is $5 at the door.

The recipes and series of essays offer an insider’s view of life on Isle au Haut, a tiny island off the coast of Maine that the Greenlaws have called home for generations.

A purse parade

On Thursday, Sept. 1, the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum will host “A Purse Parade” in honor of its 2005 exhibit “From Hand Baskets to Handbags.” Admission to this afternoon of events is free for anyone carrying a Lightship Basket handbag.

The exhibit features antique and contemporary Lightship Basket purses on loan from dozens of private collections. When the season ends in about a month, the baskets will no longer be on view. Events will begin at 2 p.m. Lee Ann Papale, island scrimshaw artist, gives her talk on “Care and Cleaning Your Lightship Basket.” Immediately following the talk are museum tours, group photos and light refreshments until 5 p.m. Without a Lightship Basket handbag, admission is $4 for adults and $2 for seniors and children. Call 2281177 for further information.

Last chance to lunch and listen

The final Thursday Noonday Concert at the Unitarian Church is Thursday, Sept. 1, from noon to 12:30 p.m. There is a suggested $5 donation at the door.

Mollie Glazer, cello, and Mary Keller, harp, perform. Glazer and Keller are well known to yearrounders and have given several concerts together. Glazer teaches children’s classes and Keller plays at The Company of the Cauldron.

Talking history

Dr. Frances Karttunen, author of the “Other Islanders: People Who Pulled Nantucket’s Oars,” will give a gallery talk and a lecture in the Whaling Museum, 13 Broad St., today, Aug. 31 and Thursday, Sept. 1.

Karttunen’s book is for sale in the museum shop, and she will be available to sign copies after each of her presentations. In the Island Home gallery today at 1 p.m., Karttunen talks about the Armenian merchants who set up shop on Petticoat Row in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

On Thursday at 8 p.m., Karttunen presents an illustrated talk in Gosnell Hall about the presence of Pacific Islanders on Nantucket during the whaling era. The gallery talk is free for members and included with museum admission for non-members. Thursday’s program is free for members and $5 for non-members. For more information, call 228-1894, ext. 0.

Meet the artists

Meet four or five South Wharf Gallery artists on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 10:30 a.m. for a roundtable version of the gallery’s “Morning After” series. 20/21 Old South Wharf.

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