The exhibition is one of 10 projects created by an international group of artists to commemorate the March 2007 bombing victims of Mutanabbi Street.  The collection of broadsides was created to respond in a creative way to the loss of 30 lives and the 100 injured during the attack, and to protest a targeted attack on a street that has always been an exchange for ideas. Broadsides are single sheet printings that were widely used for royal proclamations and official notices after the development of printing in the 15th century. Today, they are more likely to have a literary association, challenging letterpress printers to make the most of one confined plane.

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John Sevigny, an American contemporary photographer who spent more than a decade photographing and writing about marginalized populations, including prostitutes and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and Mexico, is exhibiting 25 black-and-white snapshots in “Ladies’ Bar.” Diane Arrieta, the gallery’s exhibition coordinator and an interdisciplinary artist, is exhibiting “Product of My Environment,” which features illustrations, sculptures and video.

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Musicologist and music collector Richard Beattie Davis celebrated the publication of his new book, The Beauty of Belaieff, at Florida Atlantic University’s S.E. Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus. As part of the celebration, Davis answered questions about his book, which he began researching in 1946.

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The Judaica Sound Archives® (JSA) at Florida Atlantic University Libraries has received a gift of 4,408 Judaica recordings, many of them rare and in mint condition, from the family of the late Dr. Harold Kahn, of Toledo, Ohio.  The collection is the single largest and best preserved collection ever received by the JSA, which houses more than 94,000 tracks of recorded music on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.  “Many of the LPs were still sealed in cellophane and the 78s still snuggled in their original paper sleeves,” said JSA Founder and Director Nathan Tinanoff.  “It is amazing to see 78s produced between 1910 and the 1930s in mint condition.”

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“Judaica Music Memories,” a presentation by Dr. Maxine Schackman, assistant director of the Judaica Sound Archives ® (JSA) at Florida Atlantic University Libraries, features music and comedy of popular Jewish performers, nostalgic photographs and original recordings from the JSA’s extensive collection.

WHEN: Friday, April 4, at 11:30 a.m.

WHERE: FAU Boca Raton Campus, Paul C. Wimbish Wing of the S.E. Wimberly Library, Hillel Golden Pavillion, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL

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“Yarn,” an exhibition by Miami artist Martin Casuso, features artists’ books, sculptural pieces and wall works created with odd materials and supplies from home improvement, thrift and craft stores.  Casuso’s style as an artist was influenced by “Unusual Occupations,” a 1930s TV series of short films that spotlighted odd characters who made awkward objects, such as paintings on spider webs and neon-colored desert dioramas, and who fashioned decorative quirky objects from refuse or materials of little value.

The “Shiny, Sparkly Show,” by Jonathan Stein, is an exhibition of photographs of Swarovski jewel encrusted foods and containers from the 1950s. Stein makes all of the works by hand and then photographs them in opulent settings. The food items are sculptured out of clay and themes of socioeconomics, class, pop culture and nostalgia permeate this series.

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Dr. Claudia Koonz, a professor of history at Duke University, who will present a lecture titled “How Racism Became Respectable in Nazi Germany,” as the fourth lecture in the biennial K. Frank and Rita Korf Lecture Series. By exploring visual culture and scientific expertise in the Third Reich, Koonz will trace the evolution of racist thinking before the Holocaust.

WHEN: Thursday, March 27, at 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: FAU Boca Raton Campus, S.E. Wimberly Library, Fifth Floor East, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL

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The Friends of Yiddish and KULTUR at Florida Atlantic University Libraries on the Boca Raton campus invites the community to join Nahma Sandrow, a professor emeritus of English at Bronx Community College, for a lecture titled “Vagabonds of Yiddish Theatre,” on Wednesday, March 12, at 4 p.m. on the fifth floor of the S.E. Wimberly Library. Yiddish theater offered Yiddish-speaking Americans highly artistic productions, from melodrama to avant garde, and a rich range of popular shows. Sandrow is the author of the definitive Vagabond Stars: A World History of Yiddish Theater and God, Man and Devil: Yiddish Plans in Transition. She has also written two award winning off-Broadway musicals based on Yiddish theater material. This is the final event in the five-part 2007-2008 KULTUR series.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 12, at 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: FAU Boca Raton Campus, S.E. Wimberly Library, Fifth Floor East, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL

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WHEN: Wednesday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: FAU Boca Raton Campus, S.E. Wimberly Library, Fifth Floor East, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL

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WHEN: Sunday, March 2, at 3 p.m.

WHERE: Florida Atlantic University, Carole & Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium

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Hanmer, a Chicago book and installation artist, showcases her best work in RETRO TECH. Her exhibition includes artists' books, design bindings and even an installation featuring over-sized computer punch cards.  Hanmer’s books are intimate and playful. They fragment and layer text and image to mirror the experience of personal and cultural memory. Her themes intertwine memory, history, and the history of science with the archaic act of making a book and the non-archaic act of using the computer as a tool in the process.

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WHEN: Thursday, February 14, at 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: Florida Atlantic University, S.E. Wimberly Library, Boca Raton

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“Undercover” is an exhibition of contemporary art by Giannina Coppiano Dwin, whose work connects symbolically to the way women have created while performing traditional roles and duties as mothers, wives and caregivers. Dwin’s goal is to arouse the senses of the viewer with a mixture of colors, odors and sounds to create or recreate a sensorial memory through the experience of her work. Besides bronze, porcelain and other traditional materials, she uses flour, sugar, spices, unfired clay slip and wax to create her art.

“Mystery Beneath the Surface” is a photography exhibition by Patricia Roshaven, a hiker and an avid photographer interested in nature and architectural photography. “My interest as an artist is in revealing the mystery of life that lies beneath the surface of everyday reality,” said Roshaven. “As a painter, I explore the unconscious, letting paint, canvas and intuition lead me in unexpected directions. As a photographer, I combine this method with the realism of photography to further explore this mystery. These photos can be better understood by experiencing the feelings they give rise to rather than by studying them intellectually.”

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WHEN: Sunday, January 27, at 3 p.m.

WHERE: Eissey Campus Theatre, Palm Beach Community College, 3160 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens

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WHEN: Friday, January 4, through Friday, February 15, 2008

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WHEN: Sunday, January 6 at 3:00 p.m.

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WHEN: Wednesday, December 19 at 2:30 p.m.

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“Long Ways to Travel” is an exhibition of handmade books and broadsides by Lake Worth printers John Cutrone and Seth Thompson, who are also employees of the Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts at FAU’s Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus. “Today’s books are mass produced overnight by the thousands,’’ said Diane Arrieta, exhibition chairman. “‘Long Ways to Travel’ is a great example of the craft of book art. Each one is a treasure.” Cutrone and Thompson create letterpress-printed limited edition books and broadsides at Convivio Bookworks, a small studio in their home in downtown Lake Worth.  Before settling into the studio, their work was done in the spirit of the itinerant printers of yore, working at presses and book studios across the country.

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The Friends of Yiddish and KULTUR at Florida Atlantic University Libraries on the Boca Raton campus invites the community to join Joe Elias and guitarist Maurice Sedacca for a lecture and performance titled “Ladino Lives! Authentic Music of the Sephardic Jews,” on Friday, December 7 at 1:30 p.m. Elias, who was born and raised in the oral tradition of Ladino, the medieval Spanish language preserved by the Spanish Jews, has traveled to every corner of the Ladino-speaking world performing and collecting folksongs. This is the third event in the five-part 2007-2008 KULTUR series, and it is hosted by the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.


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“Justice Illuminated: the Art of Arthur Szyk,” an exhibition that examines the art, life and times of Arthur Szyk, a master illustrator and political artist. During World War II, Arthur Szyk, a Polish-born artist and illustrator, was considered the foremost political artist in the world. He was an advocate for social justice and civil liberties in America and was known as “Franklin Roosevelt’s Soldier in Art.” Eleanor Roosevelt declared that his work fought the Axis powers “as truly as any of us who cannot actually be on the fighting fronts.” With themes of freedom and human dignity, Szyk established an international reputation as a master of miniature paintings, book illustrations and illuminated manuscripts, such as “The Haggadah” and “The Book of Esther.” He died in 1951 at age 57.

WHEN: Thursday, November 1, through Sunday, December 30, 20077

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The innovative, critically-acclaimed Klezmer Company Orchestra (KCO) is warming up for its 2008 concert series.  The season will open in January with a celebration of the release of its studio-produced debut album and continue with three ambitious and diverse concerts, including its annual celebration of America’s independence, its June finale. Tickets are on sale now, early reservations are recommended. The entertainment roster for KCO, the professional ensemble-in-residence at FAU Libraries, features concerts with new arrangements performed by orchestral and jazz musicians. The ensemble’s high-energy performances will include favorite Yiddish and Klezmer songs and several musical surprises arranged by conductor-accordionist Kula, who continues to create highly-stylized compositions.

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FFlorida Atlantic University Libraries are holding auditions for the Judaica Choral Society (JCS), a semi-professional community Jewish music chorus, at the S.E. Wimberly Library on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.  Singers of all denominations are invited to audition for the 16-20-member advanced level ensemble.  Knowledge of music is required. Auditions are by appointment and will require singing a prepared piece, sight singing a short passage and identification of musical notation.  The JCS, now in its fourth year, is the only known Jewish music chorus in residence at a state university in the United States.  Its mission is to rehearse and perform choral music from the libraries’ Judaica Music Collection.  The JCS is under the direction of Aaron Kula, director of music collections and performance at FAU Libraries and faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.

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Florida Atlantic University’s John D. MacArthur Campus Library Gallery is hosting “Beyond Abstraction” from Monday, October 29, through Friday, December 21, 2007, on FAU’s Jupiter campus, located at 5353 Parkside Drive.  “Beyond Abstraction” is an exhibition of works on paper by Nancy Nieves, an art professor at Gaston College in Dallas, N.C. and a former art instructor at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Her exhibition features works in watercolor, acrylic paint, pencil and mixed-media.  Nieves incorporates circular, square or organic shaped pencil drawings into her paintings. “Beyond Abstraction” features two installations. One is a circle of nature, and the other is a spiral made from 26 squares that have been cut into smaller squares and painted with watercolor and pencil. Nieves wrote her thoughts around the painted circles on each square, and without touching the squares, one can match the numbers and read her thoughts.

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All events will be on the fifth floor of the S.E. Wimberly Library on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. All programs are free and open to the public. Reservations are not available and seating is limited. The Friends of KULTUR and Yiddish at FAU, based at FAU Libraries, is committed to developing the study of Yiddish language and culture, which upholds its mission to support the scholarly endeavors and provide information to local, regional, national and international communities. The series is funded by FAU Libraries and is supported by the Friends of KULTUR and Yiddish at FAU. Members receive advance notice of KULTUR events. For more information, call the FAU Libraries’ at 561-297-2116, visit its web-site at www.library.fau.edu/news/news.htm or email librariespr@fau.edu.

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Aaron Kula and members of the Klezmer Company Orchestra will perform and lecture on traditional Klezmer and Yiddish songs from the Florida Atlantic University Libraries’ Jewish Music Collection. KlezFestJam, an interactive performance with Aaron Kula and members of the Klezmer Company orchestra, will demonstrate the creative process of improvising traditional Klezmer songs in a style dating back to the first half of the 20th century. The audience can participate in a sing along of familiar songs and will be invited to ask questions. Guests are encouraged to bring their instruments and join KCO members for an improvised Freylach finale.

WHEN: Sunday, October 28 at 3:00 p.m.

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“Memories of My Father: The Artist Arthur Szyk,” a film screeningand discussion with Highland Beach resident Alexandra Bracie, who since her father’s death has conserved and promoted his artistry through lectures, presentations and donations. Szyk was a master illustrator and political artist. Arthur Szyk’s career as an artist, cartoonist and illustrator spanned 37 years and two World Wars. His love of art was so strong that his daughter Alexandra Bracie cannot remember a moment when he wasn’t drawing or painting. Before his death in 1951, at age 57, Syzk had established an international reputation as a master of miniature paintings, book illustrations and illuminated manuscripts, such as The Haggadah and The Book of Esther. He was considered the foremost political artist of his day and known as “Franklin Roosevelt’s Soldier in Art.” Eleanor Roosevelt declared that his work fought the Axis powers “as truly as any of us who cannot actually be on the fighting fronts.” A celebration of his art and life, “Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk,” is on exhibit at the S.E. Wimberly Library from Thursday, November 1, through Sunday, December 30, 2007.

WHEN: Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.

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“The courage and excitement to experiment beyond traditional boundaries has produced a new kind of visual art that has moved the classic quilt from the bed to the wall,” said Marianne Haycook, the guild’s president-elect and co-chairman of the book arts competition. “Even the shape of the traditional quilt has changed. In recent years, quilters have been exploring a new art form, the quilted fabric artist book.”

“Through the Lens” is an exhibit by Karen Chinander, an assistant professor in the Barry Kaye College of Business at FAU. She is an avid photographer and hiker, with a particular interest in nature and architectural photography. Chinander, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, enjoys searching for just the right viewpoint and subject matter to enhance the emotion that is conveyed in photography, and finds that close-ups and abstracts best achieve this goal.