Excellence exposed
Candid street scenes, dreamy time lapses, intimate black and white portraits and stark desert landscapes. Open Shutter Gallery’s international juried exhibit, “Exposure,” features 32 images that vary in subject matter and format but have one thing in common: quality composition. “Composition is probably the most important thing,” said Margy Dudley, owner of Open Shutter. “Use of light, and composition, that’s the whole point; you don’t have to have the nicest equipment, you have to have the eye and the vision.” “Exposure” will open with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at the gallery, 735 Main Ave. Open Shutter received some 150 images from all over the world for this year’s competition, and gallery staff culled 32 of the best for the show. The final images, from photographers such as James Cammack, Suzi Moore McGregor and Shawn Sumstine, capture everything from biker bars in Texas to Ugandan school girls and ethereal god rays spilling over jagged peaks. Guest juror Jimmy Williams helped select the best of color, black and white and show, among other awards, and winners will be announced during the reception.
Holiday hoopla
If you really want to get your holiday spirit on, this is the weekend to do it. Durango’s schedule will be stuffed tighter than a Christmas goose with caroling choirs, big-band holiday songs, seasonal arts markets, yuletide bazaars and more. For songs of the season, head to the Community Concert Hall at 7 p.m. Friday, where the Fort Lewis College Music Department will be performing its annual Holiday Concert. The band, choirs and chamber ensembles will offer up a night of sacred, traditional and rousing tunes. The show can serve as a warmup for the Durango Choral Society’s annual yuletide performance, “A Traditional Family Christmas,” which will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Community Concert Hall. All four of the DCS’s choirs – Durango Choral Society, Children’s Chorale, Women’s Choir and Durango Youth Chorus – will be on stage with the Durango Jazz Combo for an afternoon of family-friendly holiday entertainment that will include sing-alongs, surprises and a visit by the man in the red himself. For those with a hankering to do some local holiday shopping, meanwhile, options abound. The 40th annual Holiday Arts & Crafts Festival will fill the La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., with all manner of art, pottery, cards, jewelry, ornaments and knitted goods Friday through Sunday. Just down the road, shoppers can find indigenous art at the Native American Winters Arts Market, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave. St. Mark’s Community Christmas Bazaar, which claims to be Durango’s oldest holiday bazaar, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday (and will have its world-famous cinnamon rolls available) at 910 East Third Ave. And finally, the Animas Museum, 3065 W. Second Ave., is holding its Old-Fashioned Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Creature fear
Benedict Cumberbatch is all the rage right now, and for good reason – the actor brings emotional depth and complex embodiment to roles that range from intergalactic villains to brilliant code-breakers. This weekend, you can catch Cumberbatch on the stage of the Royal National Theatre of London – opposite Johnny Lee Miller – in the smash hit “Frankenstein.” The Animas City Theatre will screen the National Theatre Live broadcast of the play to Durango audiences at 11 a.m. Saturday. The play, directed by Danny Boyle, became a sellout success after it hit the National Theatre stage in 2011, and the broadcast since has become an international sensation. Tickets are $15, visit www.animascitytheatre.com for more information.
