Learn to weave at Old Fort Bliss

Do you want to learn how to weave a lap blanket or shawl using centuries-old techniques? Register for weaving classes at the Old Fort Bliss Museum! All skill levels are welcome. We provide the loom and you bring the yarn. Classes form throughout the year. For details, call 568-4518 or 588-8482.

Local cultural activities

Puerto Rican Festival

The Labor Day Puerto Rican Festival will be at Biggs Park on Sunday, September 5 from 12:00-1800hrs. Entrance is free to enjoy traditional Puerto Rican dance, D.J., music, food and vendors.

EPMA offers FREE museum access to active-duty military, Families

The El Paso Museum of Art will participate in a National Endowment for the Arts pilot program called Blue Star Museums, which will provide active-duty military and their families free access to the Museum, including ticketed exhibitions, through Labor Day (Monday, September 6).

Tickets: Active military personnel and their families should visit the Museum Store to receive their free pass stickers to ticketed exhibitions. Current military identification is required. No tickets are required to view the museum’s permanent collections.

For more information, please call (915) 532-1707 or visit www.elpasoartmuseum.org.

KTEP broadcasts El Paso Symphony's 2009-2010 season
KTEP 88.5FM will broadcast the El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s 2009-2010 Classical Concert Series every Tuesday at 8 p.m. Concerts continue each Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. Broadcasts include interviews with the guest soloists and conductor. Concerts can also be heard online at www.ktep.org.

For further information contact the El Paso Symphony office at (915) 532-3776.

Join the Bravo! Alliance and enjoy opera nationwide

El Paso Opera supporters who join the BRAVO! Alliance become part of a nationwide network with great benefits: OPERA America’s Young Friends of Opera initiative. This exciting program gives you the opportunity to see and hear opera in El Paso plus other cities around the country. Take advantage of discounted opera during business trips, weekend getaways or family vacations!

As a BRAVO! Alliance member, you can take advantage of special pricing and events that El Paso Opera and other participating opera companies have to offer. Membership is $25 per person or $45 per couple. All proceeds benefit the El Paso Opera Foundation, which helps keep arts education and opera outreach going in our city.

One of the biggest benefits of BRAVO! Alliance membership is 10 percent off season tickets for our best year yet! Join now or renew your membership in the month of July for a big deal that includes both memorable performances — Opera For All! on September 11 and Madama Butterfly in March 2011 — from the best seats in the house for a great price. Other benefits for our BAM-ers include:

• Exclusive pre-show receptions
• Subscription to the El Paso Opera mailing list, giving you invitations to special events and discount offers before anyone else
• Invitation to the El Paso Opera Annual Gala, "Encores & Overtures", at the Camino Real Hotel
• Subscription to the Young Friends of Opera program giving you reciprocal ticketing benefits from participating opera companies around the country (click here for a complete list)

Join BRAVO! Alliance and make the most of these benefits today! Call El Paso Opera at 915-581-5534 or visit www.epopera.org to join online.

El Paso Artisan gallery hosts "Hues of Blue" exhibit

Artistic interpretations of the color blue are showcased in a unique, interactive art show opened August 5 inside the El Paso Artisan Gallery at Lynx Exhibits.

“Hues of Blue” features one work by each of 15 area artists. Visitors to Lynx Exhibits and the Artisan Gallery will be given a ballot to cast in favor of the artist they believe created the best artwork incorporating the color blue. Artists are competing for a cash prize, while everyone who votes will be entered into a drawing for Lynx Exhibit prizes.

There is no fee to visit the Artisan Gallery or to see “Hues of Blue.”

The innovative art show was created in honor of the current exhibit at Lynx: “Color Play, Exploring the Art and Science of Color.” An entire room of the Color Play exhibit is devoted to the color blue, proven by scientific studies to be the favored color of both genders of all ages.

“Hues of Blue” is open only through September 5, when Color Play also closes. Color Play features an array of color-themed activities and games for the entire family. Prices for Color Play are $6 for children 4 to 11; $8 for seniors, students and military with ID, and $10 for adults.

Lynx, across from the convention center parking garage, is El Paso’s only traveling exhibit museum. Located at 300 W. San Antonio St., Lynx is open Tuesdays through Sundays. For more information call 533-4330 or visit www.LynxExhibits.com.

Artist needed for Chalk the Block
Calling all artists! The City of El Paso's Public Art Program and the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department is looking for local and regional artists who would like to produce chalk art on the city sidewalks of Downtown El Paso as part of the Third Annual Public Art Street Festival titled "Chalk the Block." 

Participation is open to all artists, who reside in El Paso, Las Cruces, and Ciudad Juarez. Interested artists may choose to apply as a Feature, Showcase, or High School Artist or Artist Team. Each category will be competing for a First, Second, and Third Place cash prize, and be considered for a Best of Show Award.

The event will be held on October 8, 9, and 10! Spaces will be limited, so apply today! Interested artists are encouraged to apply online at www.callforentry.org . Applications will be taken through Friday, August 27 and those winning artists selected to participate will be announced by September 3. For a detailed description on how to apply, project qualifications, and submission requirements pleaseclick here.

El Paso Museum of History opens two new exhibits

The El Paso Museum of History, in cooperation with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General of Mexico, is pleased to present a unique photographic exhibit containing images of early editions of Los de Abajo (The Underdogs), copies of illustrations, including some never published, by two different artists, and pictures from the Azuela family.

Vernacular Houses in Ciudad Juarez: Itinerant Images is a unique photographic exhibit organized by Professor Teresa Estrada of the Architecture Institute of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez and is funded by a grant from the Chihuahuan Institute of Culture. This is a photographic record of the traditional architecture of Ciudad Juarez and refers to how people have built their houses ever since they occupied the oldest part of what once was El Paso del Norte. The immense variety of forms and types of the vernacular construction with which humans have resolved the necessity for shelter is the result of diverse socio-cultural and physical factors and is the direct expression of a culture. It has been described as "architecture without pedigree, architecture without architects."

Call (915) 351-3588 for more information.