Join skirt!, the media sponsor for this year’s Third Annual Bag Ladies Luncheon, for a champagne luncheon and auction of gorgeous new and gently-used designer handbags to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s Central and Western North Carolina Chapter.

When: May 30; silent auction begins at 10:30, luncheon begins at 12

Where: The Westin Charlotte, 601 S. College Street

Costs: $75 per ticket

Details: 704.339.0334, www.ncwish.org 

Pimp my Gnome is invading NoDa. NoDaRioty is launching its first neighborhood art project: Pimp My Gnome. 25-30 local artists are being invited to pimp-out a clay garden gnome.

After all of the gnomes are painted and decorated, the gnomes will be displayed in shops and galleries up and down North Davidson in April/May so you have a chance to meet each gnome personally. Then, on Wednesday, May 14th at the Neighborhood Theatre you’ll have a chance to adopt your favorite by bidding at a live auction. The proceeds from the auction will go to NoDaRioty and will be used to fund future neighborhood art projects and events.

The live auction will be May 14 at the Neighborhood Theatre.

For details, visit www.nodarioty.com/. 

Charlotte Artist Anne Neilson began painting a series of oil paintings featuring angels several years ago, but after reading Ron Hall and Denver Moore’s “Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman who Bound Them Together,” her work has a new inspiration. 

After reading the memoir of the pair she was moved to paint an angel for them, develop a relationship with the authors, and figure out how she could use her art to serve the homeless in her community. 

She will exhibit her Angel Series at a special art show at Sophia’s Gallery in Dilworth on May 16 from 6-9 pm and will donate a portion of proceeds to Charlotte’s Urban Ministry Center.

Neilson previously owned a successful pottery business but has been focused on oil painting since 2003. Her most recent works include the colorful, impressionistic angels she will exhibit at the May 16 “Angels In Our Midst” show, as well as landscape scenes from her travels.

Her Angel Series has been popular with collectors and won Neilson critical acclaim, including the Charlotte Symphony’s 75th Anniversary Spirit of the Symphony Award in 2007.  Her work is represented locally by Sophia’s Gallery, 1528 East Boulevard, and is also exhibited at 3 French Hens in Charlotte and in galleries in Winston-Salem, Charleston, Atlanta, and Jacksonville, Florida.

This May the Mint Museum of Art will originate a major traveling exhibition of more than 100 rare and unique works by British-born artist and writer Clare Leighton. This collection of Leighton’s work, assembled and donated to the Museum by Charlotte resident Gabby Pratt, is one of the largest in the country and includes more than 180 of the artist’s finely-detailed engravings, drawings and watercolors, spanning Leighton’s career from 1923 to 1965.

Quiet Spirit, Skillful Hand: The Graphic Work of Clare Leighton will provide a full survey of Leighton’s career, from her earliest prints in the 1920s that depict the labors of the English working classes to a selection of her rarely seen watercolors. Unique to the Pratt collection is a set of 12 Wedgwood plates, titled “New England Industries,” for which Leighton designed the transfer-printed images. Among the exhibition’s highlights will be the prints that resulted from Leighton’s early visits to North America, including The Breadline, New York and Snow Shovelers, New York, as well as the artist’s entire Canadian Lumber Camp series.

The exhibit will be on view at the Mint Museum of Art from May 17-September 14.

Visit mintmuseum.org for details on this and other exhibits.

Local jewelry designer Diana Ferry of D Celestine Limited has teamed up with the Charlotte Avon Walk for Breast Cancer to plan an art & craft show.

Pink at the Plaza, an amazing outdoor event, will take place on Saturday, May 17th, from 10am – 3pm at the Providence Plaza on the corner of Providence Rd. and S. Sharon Amity. 

The best artists and crafters around will be selling their handmade goods and donating a portion of the proceeds to The Avon Foundation, while Avon walkers will be selling goods to help raise money for their Walk.

The Avon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that raises funds to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer, with a focus on the medically underserved.  Since the Walk series was launched in 2003, the more than 75,000 participants in the Avon Walks have raised over $200 million to support leading cancer centers, research institutions and community-based organizations in the Walk regions and nationwide, with over $4.9 million raised locally since 2005.  A majority of the funds raised locally go to local beneficiaries, such as CMC and Presbyterian Hospital.  For a complete list of Avon Foundation funding, visit www.avonfoundation.org .

Stop by Pink at the Plaza to shop for the cure and help raise money for a great cause.  Pink at the Plaza will be a free admission, family-friendly event, and shops and restaurants at the Providence Plaza will be having specials on the day of the event.  The first fifty shoppers to show will get goodie bags and there will be a silent auction during the first part of the event to help raise additional funds.

What: Pink at the Plaza – Art & Craft Show
Where: Providence Plaza – corner of Providence Road and South Sharon Amity
When: Saturday, May 17th, 2008 from 10am – 3pm
www.pinkattheplaza.com

The festival, scheduled for May 19-June 7 at Winthrop University, will bring together artists from around the country for a multi-disciplinary arts experience featuring productions by established and emerging artists.

Inspired by the current political climate, Create Carolina participants will write and produce an innovative theatre piece about the untold story of Victoria Woodhull and Fredrick Douglass. Festival writer-in-residence Jonathan Davidson will collaborate with Winthrop University students to create a multimedia theatre production to examine the parallels between the political processes of the late 1800s and now.
A little know fact in American history is that in 1872, Victoria Woodhull, the first female stockbroker, ran for president and nominated Fredrick Douglass, a former slave, as her vice presidential nominee. Currently, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are vying for the Democratic Party nomination for president.
The highly anticipated project will premiere at the Create Carolina Arts and Film Festival on May 30, 31 and June 7.

"We wanted to tell a story through the lens of today, that's why multimedia will be such an essential element,” said Davidson. “The play will be a further testament to the rise of youth interest in the elections of 2008 where youth turnout is three or four times greater then in 2004 election.”

Organizers also will continue a commitment to independent filmmakers who can be present for the festival screening. This year, the festival will present on May 23 “Train Wreck - My Life as an Idiot” starring Sean William Scott and Gretchen Mol. Writer and director Todd Williams will attend and answer questions about the film, which was an official selection of the Hampton and Seattle international film festivals.

Create Carolina also will screen on May 24 the documentary “A Man Named Pearl,” which tells the inspiring story of self-taught topiary artist Pearl Fryar of Bennettsville, S.C. Fryar will lecture about his work prior to the film screening.

Other theater events will include a staged reading on June 5-6 of “God's Man in Texas,” written by David Rambo, and a staged reading on June 4 of Rock Hill writer Terry Roueche's new play, “Discretion.”

To learn more, go to http://www.createcarolina.com/ or call Amanda Woolwine at 803/323-2399.

Polka Dot Bake Shop, like many of Carrie Bradshaw’s fans, is looking forward to Sex and The City: The Movie.  The four famous friends, led by Carrie   hit the big screen in Charlotte on May 30.  

In recognition of the girls’ favorite drink, the Cosmopolitan, Polka Dot Bake Shop will have a Cosmopolitan Cupcake available all week prior to the Friday premiere.  The decadent treat is a cranberry-orange cupcake with lime frosting and will be topped with pink and green sugar crystals.  

Polka Dot’s Cosmopolitan Cupcakes will also appear at Sullivan’s Steakhouse when 96.1 The Beat’s Brotha Fred hosts a Cosmos and Cupcakes party on Wednesday, May 28 from 6:00-8:00pm.   For any Girls’ Nights Out, the bake shop welcomes a cupcake stop as part of the day’s shopping and dining.

To view the cupcakes, visit polkadotbakeshop.com.

Debut author Kerry Reichs will be signing The Best Day of Someone Else’s Life today at 7pm at Joseph-Beth at South Park.  You may recognize Kerry’s last name from best selling author Kathy Reichs.  Kerry has taken a fresh genre path from her mother, but big things are expected from her and this book.

The Best Day of Someone Else’s Life tells the all too familiar tale of a good woman who is a bridesmaid one too many times. Join us and bring your worse bridesmaid dress so you can enter to win a home spa basket!

Don’t miss the first annual Charlotte FemmeFest, a celebration of women in
music and the arts that benefits Shelter Health Services in its mission to provide healthcare for the homeless in Mecklenburg County. In three venues, Visulite Theatre, SKNET Cafe, and the Double Door Inn, the event will feature The Near Misses, The Moaners, Gigi Dover & the Big Love, Jennifer Daniels, Mieka Pauley, and more national, regional, and local female songwriters and musicians—more than 15 artists and bands on three stages.

May 31, 7 pm-1am • $15 in advance, $20 day of event • CharlotteFemmeFest.org