IN AND AROUND BEDFORD

• Prom Stroll - Tuesday, June 7
• BHS graduation will take place on  Thursday, June 9.
• The 61st annual Strawberry Festival at the First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Road will take place on Thursday, June 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. You will enjoy modestly priced but delicious homemade strawberry shortcake and ice cream sundaes smothered in homemade hot fudge. There will be musical entertainment by Jim Felker the band director for the Bedford Public Schools. For additional information call (781) 275-7951
• Bedford High School Freshman Natalie McDaniel recently donated 1,000 paper cranes to Emerson Hospital where you'll find them in a large glass case. The cranes are intended to confer a sense of hope. "I truly wish that no child will ever have to suffer through cancer ever again," said Natalie. "I know the wish will take a while to come true, but in the meantime, 1,000 brightly colored paper cranes could greatly lift cancer patients' spirits."
• From 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday, June 11, over 400 kids from Bedford and surrounding towns will ride in the Kids' Pan Mass Challenge to support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and its Jimmy Fund.  There are many routes to choose from the obstacle course for tots on trikes to a 12-mile off-road route.  After the ride participants will enjoy music, food, drinks, a great raffle and more!  This year's PMC Pedal Partner is Jesi Watson, a 13-year old girl from Lexington who is battling leukemia, and whose poise, courage and strength lift us all. Click and register to ride or volunteer. 

AT THE LIBRARY

• A new GPS geocaching kit has been donated to the library by Christine Bahtiarian for her Girl Scout project. With dozens of sites within a mile or so of Bedford, this is apt to be a popular item.
• The kids' summer reading program, One World, Many Stories, begins on Thursday, June 23.
• Jeff Boyer and his presentation A Scientist's Trip Around the World will present a fascinating science night for ages 6 to 12, without once leaving the building. In the library's meeting room on Monday, June 27, at 7 pm.
• Wednesday summer story hours resume on June 29 and continue through August 24. Children ages 0 to 5 years old and their caregivers are invited to meet on the parachute under the tree in front of the library (or in the Meeting Room if it rains!)

GARDEN TOUR

Rhapsody in Bloom, Indian Hill Music's celebrated garden tour will take place in Harvard and Boxborough on Saturday, June 11, from 10 am to 4 pm. The tour will feature six private country gardens, each enhanced by live music performed by Orchestra of Indian Hill musicians or Indian Hill Music School faculty and outstanding students. You'll visit garden rooms and nearly 100-year-old plants and hear music from string quartet and brass ensemble to solo harp and classical guitar. Order your advance ticket and box lunch by June 3. Click to learn more about the tour or order on line  or call 978.486.9524 x116.

ON THE RIVERS

• Join the Revels in Winthrop Park (on JFK Street, between Winthrop and Mt. Auburn streets) for Music and Song at 11 am and then join the Grand Procession to the Charles River to join in the fun of the Cambridge River Festival on Saturday, June 4 at 11:30.   
• The 10th annual SuAsCo RiverFest celebration will take place on June 11 and 12. A myriad of family-friendly events will take place on and along the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord wild and scenic rivers. Come to any Riverfest event and discover what makes each of these rivers so special. Click to view a full listing of events , or call 617-223-5225.
• The Musketaquid/OARS Summer Solstice celebration on Tuesday, June 21, will herald the arrival of summer along on the Concord River at North Bridge and near the Old Calf Pasture on Lowell Road. There will be a Musical Picnic, accompanied by Snow Crow, at the Old Manse at 6:30 pm (bring your own picnic supper); Voices for the Earth chorus will sing on Old North Bridge at 7:45 pm; a flotilla of lantern-lit kayaks and canoes will paddle from the bridge to the Old Calf Pasture (near Lowell Road) at 8 pm; and a fire circle with the Earth Drum Council will take place at the Old Calf Pasture at 8:30 pm. For more information, call OARS at 978-369-3956 or Musketaquid Arts and Environment at 978-371-0820.

IN THE GALLERIES

• Calendars you'll want to check regularly: Artscope · Art New England · Arts Boston 
• Vessels of Color and Light, paintings by Marion Dioguardi and B. Glee Lucas, is hanging at Maynard's Gallery Seven. The artists' reception will take place on June 4 from7 to 9 pm and the exhibit closes on June 18. For additional information, call 978-897-9777 or click to visit the web site www.gallerysevenmaynard.com
• Gallery Della Piana presents its summer-themed show, Down to the Sea, through July 15. There are 145 works with a watery theme by 60 different artists. The gallery is located at 152R Main Street in Wenham. For directions, hours and more information, call 978-468-1944 or click http://www.gallerydellapiana.com/  

IN SELECTED MUSEUMS

Peabody Essex Museum  

Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection closes June 19, 2011 and will offer extended hours (until 9 pm) from Tuesday, June 14, through Friday, June 17. Click to find out if the Friends of the Library museum pass available to reduce your admission fee.  

The  Peabody Essex Museum is located on East India Square (161 Essex St) in Salem, Massachusetts 01970.  Telephone: 978-745-9500

Museum of Fine Arts

Check the amazing reflections in the Dale Chihuly exhibit, Through the Looking Glass, during regular museum hours through August 7.

The Museum of Fine Arts is located at 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston. Telephone:  

deCordova Museum  

As part of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch's Museum on Us program deCordova Museum is proud to offer FREE admission to any visitor who presents a valid Bank of America/Merrill Lynch credit or check card and a photo ID at the Visitor Station on the first full weekend of each month.

Current exhibits: Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture and Andy Goldsworthy: Snow, with Wall Works opening on June 11. 

Curious about the large red man in the Sculpture Park? Artist Douglas Kornfeld will help you to discover Ozymandias. Please meet outside the front entrance on Saturday, June 4, at 3 pm (free with museum admission).

deCordova welcomes back partner Stil Studio  to lead three summer sessions of fitness and relaxation for the entire family in the Sculpture Park. Yoga in the Park will be offered on June 12; July 10; and August 14. Fees apply for non-members. Click to learn more.

 DeCordova Museum is located on Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln (781-259-8355) 

Museum of Printing

If you enjoyed BCA's screening of Typefaceon June 15, you'll surely want to drive to North Andover for its annual Printing Arts Fair. It's taking place from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday, June 19 with free admission. You'll find print and craft exhibitors; handmade paper; printing and book art demonstrations; a rare book sale; and you'll learn about the glory of Chinese printing.  

The Museum of Printing is located at 800 Mass Avenue in North Andover   

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mass Audubon seeks entries for its second statewide photo contest, Picture This: Your Great Outdoors. The adult and student grand prize winning images will be featured on the cover of a Mass Audubon publication, and all winning entries, including honorable mentions, will be featured on Mass Audubon's website. Click to submit photos and view the complete rules.

Flash Forward, a new festival featuring emerging photographers will take place at the Fairmont hotel on Boston's Battery Wharf from June 2 to 5. There will be panel discussions and lectures led by internationally respected industry professionals and exhibitions featuring the best emerging photography from Canada, the UK, the US. The mini-guide provides a glimpse of what to expect at this free event. 

The Griffin Museum of Photography's Senior Sundays/Family Sundays will feature photographer Lauri Robertson discussing her exhibit Embodied by a Landscape: Images of Nantucket's Interior  on June 5 from 3 to 4:15 pm. Senior Sundays/ Family Sundays are designed to provide an opportunity to socialize and hear area photographers speak about their work. The program is free for seniors and their friends.

MUSIC

The Boston Early Music Festival (June 12 to 19) offers dozens of exceptional concerts, exhibitions from around the world, and two operas -- a chamber work, George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea, and the fully-staged North American premiere of Niobe, Regina di Tebe, after Ovid's Metamorphoses, with music by Agostino Steffani (1653-1728). Click for full details  or call 617-868-BEMF.

A pair of concerts is coming up in Acton

• Bluegrass Festival on Saturday, June 11 from noon to 10 pm. Hosted by the Town of Acton with support from the Acton Boxborough Cultural Council, you'll find classic cars (noon to 5 pm); assorted grilled foods, soft drinks, beer and wine for purchase; and bluegrass performers including Blackstone Valley Bluegrass, Monadnock, The Dawn Kenney Band, Hot Mustard, The Bag Boys, and headliner performer, Amy Gatlin & Stillwater. Tickets are on sale now through MKTIX.COM for only $10 each.
• Acton's annual Selectman's Concert hosted by the Town of Acton and a generous patron, will take place at 6:30 pm on Thursday, June 23. A Far Cry, the self-conducted string orchestra that is Chamber Orchestra in Residence at Boston's Isabella Stewart Museum, will present one-hour program of music of Osvaldo Golijov, Haydn, and Schumann.

Both events will be held at NARA Park, located off Rt. 27 on Ledge Rock Way in Acton. The Amphitheater is located in the upper portion of the park. Parking will be available on-site at both upper and lower lots.  

LOCAL ARTS CENTERS

Emerson Umbrella

BIG ART 2, Emerson Umbrella's second annual exhibit of large-scale outdoor sculpture represents works in many styles and media - figurative and abstract, monumental and intimate - and materials ranging from carved granite to cast bronze to concrete to carved wood to natural branches and hand-made stone. The exhibition will be on display through November 1.

A supporting exhibit in the Gallery, the BIG ART 2 Gallery Show, features smaller works, sketches and maquettes by artists included in the outdoor exhibition as well as by invited artists. It will be on display through June 6.  

Emerson Umbrella is located at 40 Stow Street in Concord - 978-371-0802

Concord Art Association

Renowned Irish artist Nick Miller's Tree House 360 is a panorama of paintings made from a tree house platform at the Josef and Anni Albers foundation during the fall of 2009. The exhibit opens on June 16 with a reception from 6 to 8 pm and an introduction by Nick Miller at 7 pm.

If you're interested in the MFA's Dale Chihuly exhibit, you'll enjoy this months compilation of fourteen short films that document a decade of his personal odyssey and provides an intimate guide to some of his most well-known projects, including Chihuly Over Venice, and Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem, as well as some of his lesser-known works that will surprise even the most avid follower. Wednesday, June 1  at 7 pm Free and open to the public

Celebrate the longest day of the year with Siri Smedvig and the Egg Rock Quartet in a summer solstice concert held on Tuesday, June 21, from 7 to 9 pm. Free for CAA members; non-members, $10.

Joelle Lavallet-Feldman will demonstrate her superb pastel techniques on Wednesday, June 8, at 10:30 am (doors open at 10). CAA's free demonstration series will resume in the fall.

The Concord Art Association is located at 37 Lexington Road in Concord - 978-369-2578.

Lexington Arts and Crafts Society

Registration is open for summer classes and workshops for adults and teens. Offerings include: Painting and Drawing, Metalsmithing, Basketry, Pottery, Woodworking, Weaving, Techniques of the Old Masters, Decorative Arts, Digital Arts, Beading and Polymer Clay and Fiber Arts. Visit the LACS website and select classes; or request a brochure of offerings by calling 781.861.9696.

From Seeing To Imagining, the annual Painters Guild exhibit of landscapes, portraits, nature and still life arrangements rendered in a variety of styles and medium will run from June 7 through June 18 during regular gallery hours. Among prizes to be awarded will be Best in Show and a prize voted by the viewing public.

Lexington Arts & Crafts Society is located at 130 Waltham Street, Lexington 781-861-9696

A Place for Words and Workshops

Lynda Lee Aldorisio will host an all-day workshop, Tools for Transformation, on Saturday, June 11, from 10 am to 4 pm. The workshop is open to a dozen women wishing to work on defining various life goals.  For additional information, contact Lynda at lyndaaldo@yahoo.com. The fee is $55 for the all-day event.  Registration closes on June 4.

Instructor Dianalee Velie (www.dianaleevelie.com) will present Introduction to the Short Storyon Saturday, June 11, 10 am to 4 pm. The fee for BCA members is $55; registration closes on June 7.

Lunch is on your own, but there are many interesting options available nearby. More details and registration are available on line  or contact Mindy (mindy@tiac.net) or by phone at 781-275-7301. Open to all, ages 17+.

LOOKING AHEAD

Help to construct lanterns for one of Boston's most-loved community events, Forest Hill Cemetery's annual Lantern Festival at a shade-making party on Thursday, June 16, or Thursday, June 30, from 6 to 8:30 pm at the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain   

The festival, a breath-taking ceremony of remembrance inspired by Buddhist practice, will take place on July 14 (rain date, July 21). Contact Jonathan Clark at the Forest Hills Trust (j_clark@foresthillstrust.org ) to learn more.

RETURN TO TOP