A real handful
"Making these works reminded me that both a creative life and a useful life are things of beauty." So says Tami Phelps concerning her exhibit "Serving Art" on display this month in Alaska Pacific University's Grant Hall. The show features her photographs -- some hand colored, some not -- "framed" in serving trays with handles, "to be handled," the artist says. In the adjacent Carr Gottstein building, plein aire painter Don Kolstad is showing his watercolors and oil paintings in an exhibit titled "Oil and Water Do Mix."
Long and luscious
The Metropolitan Opera's production of "Parsifal," originally given a same-day showing on local movie screens on March 2, will be reprised at local Regal and Century theaters at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Six hours long, slower than a legislative hearing but much more sensual, this is opera only for devout lovers of the art. The conducting leaves something to be desired, but the second act, performed in an onstage basin containing 1,200 gallons of fake blood, goes far toward getting the plot to make sense. Sensational singing and good acting from Jonas Kaufmann and Katarina Dalayman. Rene Pape, most recently seen as Mephisopheles, commanded the stage as the saintly and wise Gurnemanz. Two intermissions will help you make it to the end, sometime after midnight.
Looking at Loussac
A team of architects, planners, designers and technology experts has been working on a long-term vision for Z.J. Loussac Library. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday they'll show what they've come up with at the Loussac Facility Master Plan Open House. Meet the team, learn about the plan and bring your questions to the Marston Theatre in the library's ground floor.
Compiled by arts reporter Mike Dunham