Shop for Success Pop-Up Store Sale – Thursday and Friday, 10am-6pm, Saturday, 10am-5pm – Find your dream holiday dress and update your work wardrobe during this sale at Northgate Mall with high-end designer brands and labels at a fraction of their retail cost. Part of Dress for Success Triangle, each purchase supports unemployed and underemployed women as they transition into new careers.
Tinker Works – Thursday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and Sunday, noon-5pm – This pop-up exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science will get your creative juices flowing. Embrace your inner Thomas Edison while tinkering with building supplies, circuits, fibers and more to invent a new contraption. The exhibit will continue through November 20.
A Conversation with Shara Nova – Thursday, 3pm – Formerly Shara Worden, the Detroit-based composer and guitarist is the powerhouse behind the band My Brightest Diamond. This former child evangelist, operatically-trained singer, and one-time Sufjan Stevens protégé has released five albums in the past decade under the My Brightest Diamond moniker. At this special coffee chat at Beyù Caffè, Shara Nova joins Karen Strittmatter Galvin, New Music Raleigh co-curator and Assistant Concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, to discuss her career, her work across musical styles, and her activism through her music.
U.S Poet Laureate Reading – Thursday, 4:30pm – Hear the nation’s 21st official poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera recite a few of his works at Duke’s David M. Rubenstein Library’s Gothic Reading Room. Herrera is the first Mexican-American and Latino to be selected for the position; he’s created 14 collections of poetry and 21 books.
Free Highlights Tour – Changing Face of the South – Thursday, 6pm – Join Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University gallery guides Meg Williams and Susana Burns for a guided discussion of “Southern Accent: Seeking the South in Contemporary Art.” This tour will examine the changing face of the South through works in the exhibition. Tours last approximately one hour.
shirlette ammons: Live Performance – Thursday, 7pm – The Durham-based artist brings her perspective as a NC native, African-American and queer artist to this performance at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Come early for the cash bar and Highlights Tour.
Gallery Talk: Artist Mel Chin and Author Roy Scranton – Friday, 2pm – “Southern Accent” artist Mel Chin and author and Iraq war veteran Roy Scranton will talk about climate change, war and questions of responsibility and sustainability in the gallery near Chin’s work, Terrapine Carolina (Hillbilly Armor) at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Listen to the artist’s original song about the sculpture in an episode of the Nasher Museum’s Open Studio podcast. Free with admission. Free to all active duty military personnel and military veterans with I.D.
Iron Pour – Friday, 5-9pm – Durham Central Park and Liberty Arts Sculpture Studio & Foundry present the “Iron Furnace.” Witness the pouring of 1,500 pounds of molten, 2,500-degree iron into molds. Check out the works sold by Liberty Arts and take in the live buskers (street musicians) and fire spinners while enjoying local food trucks Captain Cookie & The Milkman, Route Bistro and Fullsteam Brewery beer. Make your own mold and cast iron art at the Liberty Arts Foundry at Durham Central Park during a pre-pour workshop that costs $30 per person from 2:30-7pm.
$25/$50/$100 Art Show – Friday, 6-9pm – Give the gift of local art for the holidays. To celebrate The Scrap Exchange’s 25th year, the Cameron Gallery presents this community show with artworks priced at $25, $50 or $100. The evening’s festivities include light snacks and drinks, as well as free art making in the Make N Take Room. The show runs through December 10.
Holiday Gift Market – Friday, 6-9pm – The Makery invites you to take part in a festive evening of meeting local makers and perusing their art, jewelry, scarves, home goods, food and vintage items while enjoying music and indulging in warm beverages.
Roy Scranton – Friday, 7pm – The author discuss his new Iraq war novel, “War Porn: A Conversation,” at The Regulator Bookshop in conversation with Duke University Professor, author and literary scholar, Abdul Sattar Jawad.
“The Ballad of Fred Hersch” – Friday, 7pm – The Full Frame Theater presents this documentary about Fred Hersch and his unique journey becoming one of today’s foremost jazz pianists and composers as an AIDS survivor and openly gay man.
Victoria’s Requiem – Friday, 8pm – Come hear the Duke Vespers Ensemble and UNC Sackbut Ensemble perform this Mass for the dead, a monument of Renaissance choral music. The combination of voices and brass will fill Duke Chapel with meditative and captivating sonorities.
Fourplay 25th Anniversary – Friday, 8pm – For more than two decades, the contemporary jazz quartet has enjoyed consistent artistic and commercial success by grafting elements of R&B, pop and a variety of other sounds to their unwavering jazz foundations. See them tonight on The Carolina Theatre‘s stage.
Shara Nova – Friday, 8pm – The singer and guitarist joins the innovative quartet So Percussion, who will play one of their signature works, Reich’s “Music For Pieces of Wood”; “Music For Wood and Strings” by The National guitarist Bryce Dessner, a work written especially for So; and “Timeline,” a 45-minute song cycle recently commissioned from Shara Nova and So Percussion by Carnegie Hall, tonight at Baldwin Auditorium.
The Temptations and The Four Tops – Friday, 8pm – The legendary Motown originators and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers return to DPAC to perform their classic hits.
Screening Extravaganza – Friday to Sunday – UNEXPOSED Microcinema screens four films, including a three-part trilogy of documentaries by George Koszulinski, made in Florida and focusing on the Sunshine State. Friday: “Cracker Crazy: Invisible Histories of the Sunshine State,” 8-9:30pm, $5. Saturday: “Immokalee, U.S.A.,” 8-9:30pm, $5. Sunday: “Last Stop, Flamingo,” 2-3:30pm, $5. The fourth screening is free to attend and includes two short films by director Bill Brown, who will attend the showing, at 6-7:30pm.
Sketching in the Galleries with Mark Iwinski – Saturday, 10am – The artist presents a brief lesson and demonstration of ways to respond to art by sketching. Then you can try it out in the galleries! The Nasher Museum will provide drawing materials. You are welcome to bring your own, but please note that pens, charcoal and wet media are not permitted in the galleries. The program is free with admission.
Durham Art Walk Holiday Market – Saturday, 10-5pm, and Sunday, 1-5pm – Start on your holiday shopping list by browsing works from local artists like Cinc Hayes, at this weekend-long arts and crafts festival that stretches over several walkable sites including the Durham Arts Council, Vega Metals and the Durham Armory.
Book Signing – Saturday, 4pm – Duke’s Daniel Ariely visits The Regulator Bookshop for a discussion and signing of his new book “Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.”
Tails at Twilight Gala – Saturday, 6pm – Want to help animals in need? Join the Animal Protection Society of Durham at the Washington Duke Inn for an elegant evening featuring dinner, raffles, a silent auction, a live band and lots of dancing to benefit the shelter in its mission to find loving homes for all its pets.
Tamara Saviano – Saturday, 7pm –The author visits The Regulator Bookshop to celebrate the release of her biography of Guy Clark, “Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark.”
My Brightest Diamond – Saturday, 9pm – The brainchild of singer and guitarist Shara Nova, My Brightest Diamond builds angular art-rock around her unmistakable voice. Presented by Duke Performances at Motorco Music Hall, the band will perform songs from across their catalog, including brand new material.
Party Illegal – Saturday, doors open at 9pm, show starts at 10pm –This monthly dance party at The Pinhook presents two out-of-town headliners, DJ Chela and DJ Harem, as well as local favorites Vespertine and PlayPlay, with a special performance by Blake Diiamond.
Southern Cinema Film Screenings – Sunday, 2pm – Watch four short, Southern documentaries by N.C. filmmakers that are featured as part of the “Southern Accent” exhibit at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University: “Kudzu Vine” (2011, director Josh Gibson, 20 minutes), “One Night in Kernersville” (2011, director Rodrigo Dorfman, 20 minutes), “After Sherman” (2016, director Jon-Sesrie Goff, 30 minutes), “The Last Barn Dance” (2014, directors Ted Richardson and Jason Arthurs, 32 minutes).
Highlights Tour – Conversations on Race – Sunday, 2pm – Join gallery guides Kate Newman and Meg Williams for a guided discussion of “Southern Accent: Seeking the South in Contemporary Art.” This tour will examine representations of race within the exhibition. Tours are free of charge with admission. Tours last approximately one hour.
Sangria at Sunset – Sunday, 3-6pm – Calling all movers, shakers, builders and makers: Join Habitat for Humanity of Durham at 405 E. Lavender Ave. for an evening of sangria, snacks and a short video screening.
From Quartet to String Orchestra – Sunday, 3pm – The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle plays a program featuring S. Barber’s “Serenade for String Orchestra, op. 1,” L. Janaceck’s “Suite for String Orchestra,” G. Mahler’s “Adagietto for Strings from Symphony No. 5” and D. Shostakovitch’s “Chamber Symphony op. 110a.”
Straight No Chaser – Sunday, 7pm – Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the a cappella group’s formation in 1996 and first show at Indiana University, they stop by DPAC on their “I’ll Have Another…World Tour,” which follows their most recent release, 2015’s “The New Old Fashioned.”
