Let’s introduce you to the North Beach Art District. The fun and quaint urban shopping center North Beach Shoppes that is spread throughout the three blocks at Oakland Park Boulevard and A1A has been designated as this new emerging arts district. The Art Guild, an organization partially funded by the county commissioners to support the arts in the county, now takes its place among half-a-dozen other art galleries, restaurants and cafés, and design and clothing stores.
The Art Guild will cut the ribbon on its new headquarters Saturday night by opening the gallery proper with the “Landscapes and Still Life Exhibit.” The exhibit will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and if you get there early, you’ll have the opportunity to mingle with the culturati, reps from the county’s cultural council, and maybe even the mayor himself and to applaud the exhibition cash prizewinners. (If you want to come back for a calmer look-see, maybe even purchase a painting or two, the exhibition will be up through June 24.)
There might be no fireworks, but to welcome the Art Guild (3280 NE 32nd St., Fort Lauderdale) to the hood, the center is staging its First Saturdays North Beach Art Walk. The walk, which is from 7 to 11 p.m., features street vendors, live painting, and strolling musicians as counterpoint to your meanderings. Among the galleries open are 32nd Street’s Barry Gross Gallery, the Art of Alex, and the Rachel Henriques Art Studio (Henriques’ exceptional contemporary paintings were recently displayed at the DCOTA, the interior design center in Dania Beach.). MAC Fine Art, colorful Paul’s Gallery, and Gallery 101 can be found along 33rd Street. The latter used to be at FAT Village in downtown Fort Lauderdale but moved up to North Beach to be where the art action is. And that’s where you should be too.
Call the Broward Art Guild at 954-305-1854, or visit browardartguild.org.
Sat., June 4, 7 p.m., 2011
