By Evelyn Cairns
Art lovers will gather at the Woodhaven Community next week for the 27th annual Art Ambience Fine Art Show and Non-Juried Miniature Art Show and Sale, which opens April 25 with a reception and continues on April 26 and 27 with demonstrations by Downriver artists.
There is no charge for admission.
The reception, scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m., will include an art-competition awards ceremony, refreshments and a basket raffle, with each basket containing an original art work. Hours on April 26 and 27 will be noon to 5 p.m.
State Rep. Douglas Geiss is honorary chairman of the event. Geiss serves residents of Taylor , Romulus and Van Buren Township and is a former Taylor councilman.
Prizes in the fine art competition are $300, first place; $200, second; and $100, third. In addition, the winner of the Artists’ Choice category will receive $100. Honorable-mention prizes also will be presented.
The juror for the show is Grace Serra, art advisor of Children’s Hospital of Michigan , who also is adjunct professor of drawing and art history at Henry Ford Community College . In addition, she has been assistant art director of the Susanne Hilberry Gallery in Ferndale and director of education at Pewabic Pottery.
Show spokeswoman Maureen Keast said the public will be “delightfully amazed” at the mediums represented in the show, which include oil painting, watercolor, acrylic, mosaics, sculpture, ceramics and photography. She added that participation in the exhibit was open only to Downriver residents 18 or older.
Downriver has produced numerous noted artists, she said, among them Gloria Dunn, Shirley Ciungan, Fran Hassan and Iva Turner, all of whom have been professional artists and teachers.
Conducting art demonstrations on April 26 will be Susan Charron, fabric art, Carol Lemus, painting; Rita Gazdag, wood burning; Nancy Knapp, pastels; David Matt, wood carving; Mary Lou Riechard, origami; Julie Klein, children’s make-and-take projects; Keast, painting/mixed media; and Elroy Grandy, ceramics.
April 27 demonstrators will be Charron, fabric art; Betty Trombetta, calligraphy; Gazdag, wood burning; Sally Morris, watercolor; Matt, wood carving; Riechard, origami; Felicia Woody, children’s make-and-take projects; and Keast, painting/mixed media.
The community center is at 23101 Hall Road.
Pirate show set at City
“How I Became a Pirate,” a musical based on the book by Melinda Long, will sail into the City Theatre in Hockeytown Café, for performances at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. April 25 to 27.
The play is about young Jacob Jeremy, who joins Captain Braid Beard and his pirate crew in search of buried treasure.
Tickets, $19, are available at all TicketMaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com. and www.OlympiaEntertainment.com.
To charge tickets by phone, call 800-745-3000.
The address of the café is 2301 Woodward, Detroit .
Coming up . . .
May 9, 10, 16, 17 — “Bingo the Winning Musical,” to be presented by the Wyandotte Community Theatre at 7:30 p.m. each evening in the James R. DeSana Center for Arts & Culture, 81 Chestnut, Wyandotte; for tickets, $15 ($14, students/seniors), call 734-775-9635 or email tickets @wyandottecommunitytheatre.com.
May 13-18 — Smash-hit revival of “West Side Story”; at the Fisher Theatre; the play features such classics as “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere”; tickets ($36 to $86, including parking) are available at all TicketMaster locations, at 800-982-2787, www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com.
May 18, 19, 21 — Auditions for Downriver Youth Performing Arts Center production of “Twelve Angry Jurors”; only those aged 13 through 19 are eligible to try out for male and female roles; meeting for parents on May 21; at the Trenton Village Theatre; performances will take place Aug. 7 to 9; for more information, call 313-523-1569 or 734-626-7321.