PICK OF THE DAY
No failure to launch
To honor her father’s role in getting America’s space effort off the ground, Caroline Kennedy arranged to “borrow” Freedom 7 from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum through December 2015. The first manned spacecraft carried US Navy Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. out of this world on May 5, 1961, for 15 minutes and 28 seconds. Sept. 12 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. $12, $10 for students, free under 13. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Park, Dorchester. 617-514-1600. www.jfklibrary.org
TUESDAY
Thinking cap Since it’s back to school for the kids, join them on their intellectual journey by pondering abstraction and illusion. Artists chew and digest abstraction at “Simpatico,” and there’s a reenactment of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” for your illusion investigation. Tuesday hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (through Oct. 21). Free. The Boston University Art Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. 617-353-3329. www.bu.edu/art
Put it on, not out Students from MassArt’s Fashion Design Department make outfits from the stuff we toss out. Water bottles, newspapers, sponges, paper clips, and more are transformed into 36 ensembles for Massachusetts College of Art and Design Wearable Art. Tuesday hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (through Sept. 27). Free. Copley Place, 100 Huntington Ave., Boston. 617-879-7000. www.massart.edu
Bedford on Benson Foregoing commerce for art, 10 painters packed up their brushes and left the Society of American Artists in 1898. “The Ten” known as the American Impressionists included Frank W. Benson, director of the Museum School in Boston. Benson scholar Faith Andrews Bedford will discuss “Frank W. Benson and the American Impressionists.” 6 p.m. Free. Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen St., Lowell. 978-452-7641. www.whistlerhouse
.org
WEDNESDAY
French Night in Waltham If you’re not up to snuff on traditional dance music of central France, the band French Night comes to the rescue at Gore Place. The quartet plays banjo, guitar, hurdy gurdy, and English concertina at the 1793 Carriage House. Sept. 12 at
7:30 p.m. $5. Gore Place, 52 Gore St., Waltham. 781-894-2798. www.goreplace.org
What a Pip Phillipa “Pip” Brown goes by the name Ladyhawke , the title of a 1985 movie. In 2006, the New Zealand singer, songwriter, and guitarist was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and she addresses that in her new release, “Anxiety.” Sept. 12 at 9 p.m. $16, $18. 18+. Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Boston. 800-745-3000. www.livenation.com
Something’s cooking Beth Henley’s first play struck gold. “Crimes of the Heart” won the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the film adaptation was nominated for an Oscar. The play is set in Mississippi where three sisters hang out in the kitchen to bake, broil, and sauté life. Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. (through Sept. 16). $40, $35 students and seniors. Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main St., Gloucester. 978-281-4433. www.gloucesterstage
.org