Culture Lust Weekend: Art San Diego, Dance And Cuban Salsa

ART

September is newly designated as Arts Month in San Diego and kicking it off is the Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair. The three-day fair will feature close to 50 galleries selling their wares in the exhibit hall at the Hilton Bayfront downtown. In addition to the actual art for sale, there will be films, concerts, conversations with some of San Diego’s own curators as well as seminars on everything from “Professional Resources for the Serious Art Collector” to an "Art Collectors Boot Camp.” Don't forget to wander outside of the actual fair and visit the "Arts Labs" at designated spots all around town.

Proving "The Graduate" correct, it’s all about the “plastics” this Friday at Subtext. The APASD has come together with curator Joseph Bellows to present Plastic Fantastic - a group photography exhibition featuring images made from plastic cameras. SD CityBeat has a nice interview with Bellows on his curatorial process. The show is on view for one night only and San Diego band Pocket is performing.

Fiber arts from up and down the west coast will be on view in Escondido during the Fiber Book Arts Exhibition opening this week. Beading, pine needles and crochet paper are just a few of the materials used by this year’s artists, so to get your dose of filament, find your way to the Escondido Municipal Gallery sometime this month.

Man meets machine this Friday at Device Gallery. At the hands of sculptors Greg Brotherton, Nemo Gould, Jeremy Mayer and Guillermo Rigatteri, metals come to life in a group show called "Creatures of Industry." The gallery is located in the Glashaus space in Barrio Logan, which the U-T wrote about this past weekend.

Five days of 5,000 square feet of art, for five dollars? Sign us up. Opening tonight, Alexander Salazar is hosting an off-beat art fair called Easel Art Af(FAIR). We’re excited to see an extensive collection of local, international and student work, and we’re thrilled that 10% of all proceeds going to It’s All About the Kids Foundation.

THEATER

Probing into the ties that bind this month is "Eleemosynary" at at Moxie Theater. The one act play by Lee Blessing follows Dorothea (the eccentric grandmother), Artie (Dorothea’s strong-willed biochemist daughter) and Echo (Artie’s estranged, but highly intellectual daughter) as they navigate the familial and female. Opening night is this Saturday.

Motherhood, the environment and crossing the boarder are all topics that will be explored - as dance - in this weekend's "Blurred Summer Dance Festival." Presented by Sushi Performance and Visual Art, the always innovated Patricia Rincon Dance Collective will host seven diverse dance companies (and styles!) from both sides of the border.

Test-drives turn predictable lives upside down this month at the North Cost Rep. Becky Foster literally backs onstage asking for the audience's advice, setting the tone perfectly for Steven Dietz’s comedy "Becky’s New Car." It opens this Saturday with previews tonight and tomorrow.

MUSIC

We can hardly keep our hips in line after listening to Cuban musical group Septeto Nacional. Champions of the African/Mambo/Salsa/Latin Jazz movement “Son,” they have already secured their position in Cuban musical history and are ready to sway San Diego audiences They’re play this Friday and Saturday at Anthology.

EVENTS

This Saturday, stickball is hitting the streets of Little Italy. Part baseball part back alley brouhaha (with broomsticks), this classic east coast city street game (complete with the traditional taunting) has moved west for the weekend. Six local teams showoff their stickball skills and will compete next weekend for the championship