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Arts

Painting outdoors on Lake Quannapowitt

Andrew Borsari’s “Misty Morning: Plum Sound” will be raffled off in Ipswich.

FRESH PAINT: Artists will fan out around Lake Quannapowitt the morning of Sept. 14 to create works on-site for the fifth-annual Wakefield Plein Air Paint Out.

The new works, as well as others by the artists, are then shown and sold at the Wakefield Farmers Market.

“At the paint out, artists will capture a scene in an area that inspires them, such as the lake, a tree full of crab apples, a historic home on Church Street, the gazebo on the common, or farmers market shoppers,” said artist and paint out coordinator Mary Taggart of Taggart Studio in Wakefield.

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“It is all for a great cause, because the full [artist] participation fee will go toward an art and design scholarship for a graduating senior of Wakefield Memorial High School,” she said.

Twenty percent of proceeds from art sales also go toward the art and design scholarship.

Local artists are invited to paint from 9 a.m. to noon at a location of their choice anywhere along the lake. Observers can locate participating artists by red balloons tied to their easels.

Plein air paintings are typically landscape and every-day life paintings that are done on-site, often completed within four hours or less. The paintings are usually fairly small, since artists face the challenge of capturing a unique moment in time while the light and weather changes, Taggart said.

The art exhibit and sale follows, from noon to 1 p.m., at the Wakefield Farmers Market in Hall Park on North Avenue.

The participating artists can display three paintings, in addition to that day’s plein air creations — Wakefield-related if possible, but not mandatory.

The artist participation fee is $25. Participants can register online at wakefieldpaintout.org, by mail, or at the paint-out table at the Farmers market, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. the day of the event.

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Rain date is Sept. 21. Visit wakefieldpaintout.org.

MUSICAL ROOTS: The Peabody Institute Library is launching a six-week series of documentary film screenings and discussions of 20th century American popular music.

The first event of “America’s Music,” which focuses on blues and gospel music, is Sept. 18.

Blues and gospel emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Anchoring the sounds of African America, these styles were the foundation of the musical innovations of the century: jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, soul, and hip hop.

“America’s Music” is a project of the Tribeca Film Institute, in collaboration with the American Library Association, Tribeca Flashpoint, and the Society for American Music.

The Peabody Institute Library is one of 81 sites nationwide selected to host the series.

The first event begins at 6:30 p.m. Sept.18 at the main library. Visit peabodylibrary.org.

AUTHOR’S CORNER: Erik Warsaw of Malden is the author of “Dark Matter,” a new book on theoretical physics, which discusses how nature physically works. Warsaw says the simplest answers often hold the truth, and even those unfamiliar with science will understand the simple truth found in “Dark Matter.”

IN LOCAL GALLERIES: The 8th annual Art by the Sea to benefit the scholarship funds of the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club and the Association of Great Neck is noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 15. Works by local artists, jewelry makers, and artisans are for sale. There is a raffle of a framed photograph, “Misty Morning, Plum Sound,” donated by Andrew Borsari. Admission is free. . . . “Gardens: Cultivated and Wild,” an exhibit of photographs by Gail Giarrusso, is at the Abbot Public Library in Marblehead Wednesday through Sept. 30. A reception is 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 8. The exhibit consists of black-and-white and hand-painted photographs, all taken with vintage medium-format cameras. The work in the show spans 20 years, with most being new photographs. It highlights a love of gardening, plants, and hiking in the woods, which Giarrusso shares with her husband, Robert Dempster, who is a garden designer . . . For the seventh year, the Salem Arts Association presents a show inspired by an exhibit at Peabody Essex Museum. The association’s exhibit, “The Gift,” is based on “Faberge Revealed” at the museum. Artists were asked to interpret the definition or meaning of a gift. The exhibit runs Friday through Sept. 29. A reception is 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

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