Red, White & The Blues, an annual fundraiser for the Museum, is part wine tasting and part rocking blues concert. This year’s event will include heavy hors d’oeuvres from the Texas Cattle Company. For the first time, the event will include an opening act.

Birchwood will play beginning at 6:30 p.m. during the wine tasting. His band just won the 2011 Suncoast Blues Challenge in Tampa on Oct. 2 and will represent the Suncoast Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

About 9 p.m., Walker will take the stage. Walker, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and has played with musicians as diverse as B.B. King, Thelonius Monk and Jimi Hendrix, has released 22 albums in only 26 years. His 2009 album, Between a Rock and the Blues, won the Blues Music Awards’ Album of the Year.

Tickets are on sale online at www.PolkMuseumofArt.org/RWB2011 or by calling 863.688.7743, ext. 240. VIP tickets ($75) get patrons in the door at 6:30 to enjoy Birchwood’s set, the wine tasting and heavy hors d’oeuvres. After 8:30, VIP ticket-holders have access to an open bar. General admission ticket-holders ($30) will be admitted after 8:30 for Walker’s concert and will have access to a cash bar. Attendees must be 21 years old.

9:00am – 4:00pm
FREE Admission!

Begun as a crafts fair on the lawn of the Lakeland Public Library, MIDFLORIDA Mayfaire by-the-Lake has grown into one of Florida’s premier outdoor art festivals. Held on Mother’s Day weekend each year, Mayfaire is located on the shores of beautiful Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland, Florida. Mayfaire is one of the largest and oldest outdoor art festivals in Central Florida. Come see why it has such a great reputation!

• Over 180 artists: With so many to choose from, you’re sure to find one you love! From jewelers, to clay artists, to painters; landscapes and wildlife to pure abstraction, any artistic taste will be satisfied.
• Free parking and shuttle service: Free parking at Florida Southern College on the corner of Johnson and McDonald. A free shuttle will run between the parking lot and the festival.
• MayFerrys: Free shuttles will run around Lake Morton and up to the Museum during the festival.
• Food and beverage vendors: A wide variety of great edibles are available for purchase including smoothies, funnel cakes, shaved ice and MORE! Vendors should contact the concessions company, Seivers Concessions at seiversconcessions@yahoo.com.
  
• Live entertainment: Local musicians, dance companies, and VSA arts of Florida perform on stage on the shady front lawn of Lakeland Public Library throughout the weekend.
• Hands-on Children’s Art Tent and Kids Zone: Located in the Museum’s parking lot, this part of Mayfaire will include several FREE art activities designed for participation by children of ALL abilities, as well as bounce houses and a rock climbing wall. (There will be a small fee to play on the bounce houses and rock wall). Volunteers are always needed for this happy area. See hands below.

Mayfaire Saturday Night/Festival of Arts & Athletes
Saturday, May 7 | 5-11pm
Cost: FREE to everyone!

Bring your lawn chairs or blankets for a free party on the shores of Lake Mirror, just two blocks north of Lake Morton. This event includes fireworks and the Mayfaire Classic 5k Race. (For more information about the race, contact Lakeland Runners Club.) Food vendors will be available on site, or you can pack your own and have an evening picnic!

Volunteers are always needed. To volunteer for Mayfaire, call 863-688-7743 ext. 237.

http://polkmuseumofart.org/events/mayfaire-by-the-lake-2011/

Monday, February 14, 2011 — 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Free for Members; $5 per child, per visit for Non-Members

Learn about clay, with inspiration from our Pre-Columbian gallery. Come make your own unique Pre-Columbian statue and learn about art. Classes vary in medium and are always fun.

Creative Studies Series – “Eros vs. Agape: Finding Love in a Month of Love”

Saturday, February 19, 2011 — 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Presented by: Kate Posey

Cost: $12 Members, $15 Non-Members

The Center for Creative Studies is a group of adults who get together to share an evening of intellectual stimulation while enjoying wine and light hors d’oeuvres.

Does heavenly love contain elements of Eros—a mystical union of the divine and human kind? Is Eros the opposite of Agape or its completion? Could the love bond be part of our evolutionary make-up? Together, these questions and more will be unwrapped like a forgotten holiday gift. Through improv, role play, and the sharing of wisdom, it will be discovered if love can be beckoned to a group gathering like a shy bride.

Sandra Dimsdale Horan
PR & Marketing Manager

The Museum and the Shop will be closed on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, but will be open as usual on December 26 from 1-5pm, and also December 28-30 from 10am – 5pm. The Museum is closed on Mondays.

Polk Museum of Art will once again host its annual Gems & Jewels Artist Market on Thursday, November 18. This year, the event will have new hours, 10am – 7pm. Admission to the event is free, and nine artists will be selling their wearable art in the Museum’s galleries.

Gems & Jewels Artist Market brings local and regional jewelry, apparel, and décor artists to the Museum for a one day trunk-show style event. Artists set up in the galleries, and the public has the opportunity to shop for unique holiday gifts directly from the artists.

This year’s confirmed artists are: Anisa Stewart (jewelry), Mary Bassham (jewelry), Ilene Phelan (stained glass ornaments and décor), Punam Saxena (apparel and accessories), Vicky Luffman (painted silk apparel and décor), Diane Horn (jewelry), Stefanie von Paleske-Bush (jewelry), Pamela Huizenga Alexander (jewelry), and Delores Chamblin (knitted apparel).

For more information about this event, call 863-688-7743 x245 or visit www.PolkMuseumofArt.org

The workshop is inspired by the Museum’s current exhibition Visual Unity 2, in which 19 artists were teamed in pairs (and in threes in one case), and asked to create a piece of art as a team. The results were surprising and exciting.

Rocky Bridges, one of the artists from VU2, as well as the guest co-curator, is leading this workshop at the Museum. All he asks is that participants bring at least one photo of his or herself, as well as some collage material that can be shared with the group. Everyone will walk away with one 12″ x 15″ ready-to-hang piece of art. You can bring a friend to be partnered with, or, if you come alone, you will be partnered with another single participant.

The fee for the workshop is $25 for Museum members and $40 for non-members. For more information or to register, call 863-688-5423 or visit the Museum’s website.

For November 6, the topic is Clay. Participants will take a quick, guided tour of the exhibition Ancient Art of the Americas for inspiration, and then will head upstairs to create their own ceramic sculpture. The workshop is from 1:00 – 2:00pm, and costs $10 for PMoA members or $25 for non-members.

Pre-registration is required. Call 863-688-5423 or go to the Museum’s website to register.