THU 11/18
If your husband (wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever) won't even bring you a stinking cup of soup when you're feeling all pukey, I wonder what he (or she) would make of a guy who was inspired to sculpt when his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Like, the cancer was his muse. When Mary Magnan got her diagnosis, her husband, John, was stunned. A lifelong woodworker with a day job as a program manager, John started sculpting maniacally to manage his pain. The result? A touring exhibit called "Body Image/Body Essence: Viewing Ovarian Cancer Through the Art of Sculpture."
It's heady stuff. The exhibit's touchstone, a piece called Sharps, is not for the needle-phobic; it's a wooden "egg" covered in 46,000 straight pinheads. The artist says that sculpting the egg "became both a calming mantra and symbol of [his] wife's convalescence." It looks shimmery and pretty at first, but the nest of needles in which the egg sits is made of copper and hair, invoking the tragedy of lost hair and lost fertility from treatment (which ultimately saved Mary Magnan). Magnan's pieces are stark -- but the subject matter is important. Too bad for Auguste Rodin that Camille Claudel was a sucky muse in comparison. See Magnan's work at the Las Olas Art Center (600 SE Second Ct., Fort Lauderdale) through February 6. Call 954-463-8833, or visit www.bodyimage-bodyessence.com. -- Megan Kenny
Free Tibet
And Hollywood will follow
FRI 11/19
Fox News alert: Coming to town is a movie about Tibet featuring Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins. Quick -- where's Bill O'Reilly to shut them up? Snicker if you will at its perceived trendiness, but the film Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion conveys the kind of real-life imagery that would make even the most ignorant "America first" jackass feel compassion for the rest of the world. The film ventures into monasteries, to the top of the Himalayas, and into the streets of Lhasa to show life where oppression is the norm but people still have hope. Take note, Kerry supporters. The free screening starts at 7 p.m. Friday at the Central Campus Fine Arts Theatre at Broward Community College (3501 SW Davie Rd., Davie). Call 954-201-6720. -- Jason Budjinski
