This weekend in the Catskills and surrounding area: books, daguerreotypes, pastels, Brubeck, and poetry: what can be better?

Writers in the Mountains’ “Meet the Authors” Book Festival

Writers in the Mountains (WIM) is hosting “Meet the Authors,” Second Annual Catskills Book Festival, Sunday, April 12, 2015 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at the Roxbury Arts Center. Participants include award-winning writers Jenny Milchman, author of Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, and Night Falls, Mermer Blakeslee, author of When You Live by a River, and Breena Clarke, author of River, Cross My Heart, Stand the Storm, and Angels Make Their Hope Here.

From WIM: “The daylong event welcomes all writers and readers, artists and audience, and community members from every walk to brave the mud and chill of early spring and enjoy a warm gathering of a range of successful and fascinating writers, illustrators, editors, educators, booksellers, and publishers from Cooperstown to New York City and points between and beyond. The venue is an intimate setting that allows for one-on-one introductions, focused dialogue, and a sharing of the love of literature, all in the spirit of local energy, inspiration, and support. Come by to shop for books directly from their authors, hear readings and peer-to-peer discussions, join in an enticing raffle (books are the prize, of course), and vote in the Best Book Cover contest.”

For full program and authors’ bios, go to http://writersinthemountains.org/book-festival/.

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College

Founded in 1864, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center houses over 18,000 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, textiles, ceramics and glass wares from ancient times to the present. The collections include many European and American masters, such as Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso, and others. The Warburg Collection contains works by leading artists of the Hudson River School of Painting such as Frederic Edwin Church.

Friday, April 10 the gallery opens Through the Looking Glass: Daguerreotype Masterworks from the Dawn of Photography, an exhibit that will remain on view through June 14. The exhibit includes a variety of daguerreotypes from Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, and showcases an assortment of subjects: landscape and portraiture, architectural studies, and everyday occupational instances. Over a hundred works lent from private collections are included in this exhibit, many of whom are rare or never published before. French artist Louis Jacques Daguerre invented the daguerreotype in 1839; shortly after, the invention made it to the U.S. For more information, visit http://fllac.vassar.edu

Bardavon Theater

Bardavon Theater in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, located in a historic building designed in 1869, is the oldest continuous theater in New York State. Since the 1970s it’s been home to the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. The theater will be hosting Brubeck’s America Saturday, April 11 at 8 p.m., featuring Brubeck’s final symphony Ansel Adams: America. The program also includes Dvorak’s Concerto for Cello in B Minor with Su Jin Lee, winner of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic 2014 String Competition. For more information, visit https://www.bardavon.org/calendar.php

Mark Gruber Gallery

Mark Gruber Gallery in New Paltz, Ulster County, is hosting an opening reception Birds and Art, Saturday, April 11 at 5 p.m. This is a group show featuring the work of eleven artists, including Mireille Duchesne. Duchesne, a French-born artist, won numerous awards for her pastel and oil paintings, including awards from the Pastel Society of America, and the American Artists Professional League. Duchesne is teaching at Katonah Art Center. For more information about Birds and Art, visit http://markgrubergallery.com/.

Albany Word Fest

Albany Poets celebrate National Poetry Month with a Word Fest held in Albany from April 12 to 18. The festival kicks off Sunday, April 12 at 6 p.m. at McGeary’s Pub at Clinton Square. The third edition of Albany Poets’ literary journal Up The River will be launched at this inaugural event. For more information, visit http://www.albanypoets.com/2015/04/upcoming-poetry-events-week-of-april-12-2015/.

Have a fabulous weekend!

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