One of the Norton Museum of Arts most popular programs is its weekly Art After Dark series — “Where Culture and Entertainment Meet.” Every Thursday from 5 to 9pm. The popularity has rapidly driven the event into being one of the premier art events in Palm Beach County, providing a bridge between generations by presenting diverse arts to its many visitors — from music and dance, to film — as well as DIY art projects, tours, conversations with curators, lectures, wine tastings, and tantalizing dishes from the Museum café, Fratelli Lyon.
The series was launched in 2009 as a monthly event and has rapidly become so popular that it has blossomed into a rare and exotic flower reminiscent of the Cedar Tavern in New York City, where folks such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and beat writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac spent much of their off time. The museum has become a destination that fosters creativity in the community, and presents programs that relate to the Museum Collection and special exhibitions as well as to holidays and historical and cultural landmark dates. Up and coming bands are even featured alongside the art. Communications coordinator Hilary Greene predicts that it’s going to be around well into the foreseeable future.
The facts are the Norton is a major art destination and holds the largest collection in the South-Eastern United States. It’s a sparkling jewel suspended over a languid pool. They say that in order to understand today, we must first understand yesterday – and what better way to get in touch with your artistic roots than to explore the art of the past while also keeping your fingers on the pulse of the art of today. Art provides a window into the clockworks of the world and the universe around us. Art is ephemeral and defies simple definition as evidenced in some of the Modern contemporary art of the last 50 years, Art that can be seen as wildly challenging.
As de Kooning once said “the atmosphere was so beautiful that I got a little dizzy and when I came to, I was bright enough to take the hint immediately.”
Hint: Get yourself down to Art After Dark and don’t miss this profound on-going event. Half price admission Thursdays 5-9pm at the Norton Museum of Art: 1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401 | www.norton.org
~ Gabriel Laszlo
