Acts & Openings

Craft fair and bonsai at the Kaua‘i Museum tonight

The annual Christmas fair at the museum today is held in conjunction with the “Festival of Lights” in downtown Lihu‘e. The fair affords children and adults the opportunity to visit the museum, support local artisans, enjoy culinary delights, participate in Hawaiian music and hula performances and partake of the diversity and exchange of culture between visitors and residents. For more information call 245-6931 or visit kauaimuseum.org.

There is also a winter bonsai exhibit today and Saturday only. Kaua‘i Bonyu Kai once again joins the museum to host a winter exhibit of fine bonsai Kaua‘i-style in the Senda gallery and courtyard.

Narrated tours of the exhibit are scheduled, as are a series of demonstrations of advanced techniques. Plants will be sold and bonsai supplies will be available for purchase. Members are creating special Christmas plantings for sale.

Doors open at 10 a.m. Admission to the bonsai exhibit is free.

Student performances tonight and tomorrow

Students from Waimea Canyon School, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, and Kapa‘a Middle School will be performing three plays at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall tonight and tomorrow night. Waimea Canyon School students will perform “Miss Polly’s Institute for Criminally Damaged Young Ladies Puts on a Show,” written by Don Zolidis and directed by Kathryn Bankhead. Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students will perform “The Ever After,” written by Nathan Hartswick and directed by Dennis McGraw. Kapa‘a Middle School students will perform “Dizzy High School Snoozical,” written and directed by Keith Amano and Amy Amano. Shows start both nights at 7 p.m. Tickets are $3 for students and $6 for adults, and will be available at the door.

Kaua‘i Society of Artists opening reception

Over 150 artworks in all media presented by 84 Kaua‘i artists will be on display tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the opening reception for the Kaua‘i Society of Artists annual Small Works Show. The Kukui Grove Exhibition Hall, Unit B-6, in Lihu‘e will host the pieces, none larger than 16 inches in any dimension. The juror for the show is Hawai‘i artist and gallery owner Pegge Hopper, who will give a presentation at 5 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony. Holiday tree ornaments by the artists will be featured during the first week of the show. The exhibit continues through Jan. 18 open daily except holidays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and until 8 p.m. on Fridays. Free to the public. For more information visit the Web site www.kauaisocietyforartists.org.

Badi Assad at the K-PAC 7 p.m. Tuesday

With the worldwide PolyGram release of “Chameleon,” Badi Assad (pronounced Bah-Jee Ah-Sahje) emerged as an important new voice. Badi transcends traditional styles of her native Brazilian music with an exotic mixture of ethnic sounds from around the world. As a result, this singer, guitarist and percussionist is forging an exhilarating genre of music that defies categorization.

In 1987, she was named Best Brazilian Guitarist of the International Villa Lobos Festival. A year later, Assad recorded her first solo album, entitled “Danca dos Tons,” which was only released in Brazil.

The following year she composed “Antagonismus,” a solo work that incorporated her talent as a singer, guitarist and dancer.

Her first album, entitled “Solo,” introduced Badi as a potent force in the guitar world. Her international stature grew with the release of her second album “Rhythms” in 1995 which was lauded as one of the most important guitar recordings of that year. It won Guitar Player magazine’s readers’ poll for “Best classical album of the year.” In addition, she was voted “Best Acoustic Fingerstyle Player” by Guitar Player magazine’s editors.

Assad fulfilled her Chesky contract with the 1996 anthology of Brazilian guitar composers appropriately entitled “Echoes of Brazil.” Then in 1997, Badi was quickly signed to her first major label contract with the brand new PolyGram subsidiary i.e Music. The result is the ambitious and critically acclaimed ethno-pop soundscapes of “Chameleon.”

The energetic intent of “Chameleon” is connecting with a multitude of cultures without the benefit of major marketing dollars or mass airplay.

Her breathtaking appearance on the French night-time talk show “Canal+” was seen by over 2 million viewers leaving the hosts speechless and the studio audience on their feet. In July 1998, Badi played Europe’s most renowned summer festivals sharing the stage with such artists as Cassandra Wilson, Joe Cocker, Maria Joao and fellow Brazilians Chico Cesar, Marisa Monte, and Gilberto Gil.

Tickets available through Borders Books, Magic Dragon, Island Soap and Candle in Koloa and in Kilauea, Scotty’s Music, Dr. Ding’s Westside Surf Shop, Bounty Music and Aloha-n-Paradise. Or, you can order tickets online at www.kauai-concert.org. Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for kids.

‘Songs for Spirit’ at the Kaua‘i Museum Thursday

An exhibition of art quilts by M. Lea Ingram and hot glass sculpture by Bud Spindt in the Kaua‘i Museum Mezzanine Gallery opens Thursday with an artists’ reception 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“Songs for Spirit” is art that visually expresses the joy and wonder of life’s ebb and flow; a tribute to the divine love that sustains us all.

This show is a continuation and expansion of the 2006 exhibition “Golden Threads” presented at the Honolulu Academy of Arts’ Linekona Art Center.

M.Lea Ingram’s art quilts began about 10 years ago when she merged her passions for quilting and painting. Since then she has been exploring the possibilities of layering traditional quilting techniques with painting onto fabrics — to integrate the feelings of comfort and caring a quilt evokes with images that open the heart.

Ingram attended Kootenay School of Fine Arts in British Columbia. Her mother was a professional seamstress and taught her to sew from the age of three.

Bud Spindt’s art began with studies at glass maestro Dale Chihuly’s Pilchuck School and is inspired by his years living on Kaua‘i. His new work is influenced by diverse sources, ranging from the sublime stylized intimacy of Japanese woodblock prints and sumi-e to awe-inspiring images of galactic star clusters radiating their beauty in invisible spectra.

Vessels and sculptural forms use the light-holding and transmitting qualities of glass to imply inner contemplative melodies through the layering of organic form with luminous colors.

A Hawai‘i resident since 1970, Bud began creating award-winning art in glass while living on Kaua‘i from 1972 through 1988. In 2004 he earned his MFA in Glass at the University of Hawai‘i.

Currently a resident of O‘ahu, he is active in the Honolulu art scene, managing the Glass Studio at the University of Hawai‘i, teaching children’s’’ art classes and participating in public glassblowing demonstrations. Bud’s current work is a festival of light in blown, cast and fused glass.

The exhibition continues through Feb. 15. For more information, call the Kaua‘i Museum at 245-6931.