Lilac festivals paint nation purple
Vacations in Europe have a new attraction: The euro’s steep drop in value is making it a much cheaper destination, especially for visitors from the United States and China. For Americans the dollar’s strength translates into a discount of about 25 percent compared with this time last year, while China’s currency has risen some 20 percent. Above, people lined up Wednesday to enter St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
They look nice but they smell even better. Lilac season is coming up, and several destinations host festivals to celebrate lilacs and their delicate fragrance.
Taos, N.M., is known for turquoise as an element in jewelry and a color in artwork and design, but May 15-17 the focus is on purple in honor of the Taos Lilac Festival. Details at taoslilacfestival.com.
The Spokane Lilac Festival in Washington state takes place May 14-17. The event, which began in 1938, has evolved into a large celebration that includes a tea party, a contest for third- through sixth-graders for the best lilac-themed float in a shoe box, and a torchlight parade. Details at spokanelilacfestival.org.
The Rochester Lilac Festival in New York takes place May 8-17, 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. daily in Highland Park. Events include a parade, runs and performances. Details at rochesterevents.com/ lilacfestival.
In Calgary, Alberta, the 4th Street Lilac Festival is scheduled for May 31, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The event kicks off the city’s festival season and includes entertainment and crafts. Visit lilacfestival.net.
Contemporary art on display
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Two historic homes associated with the Hudson River School of Art, which is known for 19th-century romantic landscape paintings, will soon be hosting a show of contemporary American art.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, N.Y., and Olana, the home of Frederic Edwin Church, in Hudson, N.Y., will be hosting "River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home" from May 3 to Nov. 1. The exhibition will include works by Chuck Close, Maya Lin, Cindy Sherman and Romare Bearden, among others.
Nighttime paintings get spotlight
An art exhibition themed on depictions of night is opening at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, this summer.
"Night Vision: Nocturnes in American Art" will look at 90 works from 1860 to 1960 by American artists including Ansel Adams, Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keeffe and Andrew Wyeth. Scenes range from nature to World War II air raids, with works showing a move over time away from natural settings to more interpretive modernist and abstract styles and techniques. The show will run June 27-Oct. 18 at Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Details at bowdoin.edu/art-museum/ exhibitions/2015/night-visions.shtml.
Brunswick is also an interesting destination for Civil War history buffs. Joshua Chamberlain, the brigadier general who accepted the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865, is buried here in Pine Grove Cemetery, and you can also tour his home.
