Friday afternoons in May will look a little different in select Downtown Chattanooga alleyways. Picnic in the Passageways, set for two of the alleys on the 700 block of Cherry Street, will take place every Friday in May, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. with food trucks, local music and art projects for everyone to enjoy.
- May 5: 2 Son’s Kitchen and Market, music by Tryezz
- May 12: I Love Tacos, music by Randy Steele
- May 19: Chatter Box Café, music by Swayyvo
- May 26: California Smothered Burritos, music by Hip Hop CHA
Information: www.passagewayschattanooga.com
Artist Maria Brito to speak at Hunter Museum
As part of its ongoing Art Wise Distinguished Speakers Series, the Hunter Museum of American Art will welcome artist Maria Brito on Thursday, May 11 at 6 p.m. Brito is a painter, sculptor and installation artist who will discuss her process as well as the installation piece included in the Hunter’s current special exhibition, “Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.”
Our America presents works in all media by nearly 70 leading modern and contemporary artists. Drawn entirely from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this exhibition showcases artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican descent as well as other Latin American groups with deep roots in the United States.
Maria Brito was born in Havana, and came to the United States in 1960. She holds B.E. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Miami and B.F.A. and M.S. degrees from Florida International University in Miami.
Brito is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including two National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grants, a Joan Mitchell Grant, a South Florida Consortium Fellowship and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.
Her work is in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seoul, Korea, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Art in Public Places in Metro-Dade Center in Miami, Florida, the Oscar B. Cintas Foundation in New York, New York and elsewhere.
Chattanooga Zine Fest
The Chattanooga Public Library will host the fourth annual Chattanooga Zine Fest, a festival of independently produced and published books, zines, comics and other small publishing works, on Saturday, May 13, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., on the fourth floor of the library’s downtown branch. Information: 423 643-7753, www.chattlibrary.org.
Cam Busch health lecture
CHI Memorial Foundation and Hunter Museum of American Art are co-presenting the annual Cam Busch Endowed Arts for Health Lecture Series. This year’s event will be held Thursday, May 18, 5 p.m., at Hunter Museum. Dr. Ysaye Barnwell will return as the guest performer and speaker.
Individual tickets are $50 and include heavy hors d’oeuvres, a host bar, a performance by Barnwell and admission to Hunter Museum.
Information: 423 495-4141, www.memorial.org/art-lecture
Lecture and book signing at Townsend Atelier
Visiting artist, author and expert on human anatomy, Roberto Osti, will give a lecture at Townsend Atelier’s Southside studio and school on Friday, May 26, 6-7:30 p.m. The event is open to the public free of charge.
Osti, an expert on anatomy and figurative art, will discuss how the knowledge of anatomy, or the lack of it, has influenced the way artists have represented the human body in art during the millennia. The talk will be supported by a PowerPoint presentation.
Following the lecture, Osti will be available to sign his newly published book, “Basic Anatomy: An Essential Guide for Artists.”