Arts Agenda

Other Events:

>>Meat Market Gallery’s Performance Week continues through Saturday with two performances tonight, by Benjamin Jurgensen from 6-7 p.m. and the Yay! Team from 7-8 p.m., three performances tomorrow from 5-8 p.m., and a closing party on Saturday from 6 p.m.-1 a.m. There are also film screenings on Saturday afternoon, including one by local artist Kathryn Cornelius. All events are at 1840 14th St., NW; 202-328-6328. Free.

>> Budding art collectors should head to the Corcoran Gallery tonight at 7 p.m. for a discussion on purchasing art. Paige West breaks down the art market and signs copies of her book, The Art of Buying Art: An Insider's Guide to Collecting Contemporary Art. $20.

>> Art meets music at American University’s Katzen Arts Center with Painted Music: The Art of Sound, The Sound of Art. Composer/pianist Jerzy Sapieyevski performs while painters interact with and respond to the sounds, notes, and rhythm of a piano while the canvas becomes a musical instrument. Performances are on Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m.

>> The National Gallery of Art is showing films that were screened at Montreal’s annual International Festival of Films on Art on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. in the East Building concourse, large auditorium. Saturday’s films include Car-men, a short dance interpretation of the opera by Czech choreographer Jirí Kylián, The Giant Buddhas, a feature-length documentary on the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 and Yves Klein, La Révolution Bleue, a portrait of the artist. On Sunday selections include Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture, a glimpse into the world of Canadian architectural historian and urban activist Phyllis Bronfman Lambert and selections from Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film, part 1.

>> The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Chief Curator Eleanor Harvey has a conversation with artist John Alexander on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the McEvoy Auditorium. Alexander is the subject of a retrospective at the SAAM. His art ranges from landscapes to abstracts and incorporates satire and humor. Tickets are free and are available one hour prior at the G St. lobby.

Art Notes:

>> The Phillips Collection holds its weekly Artful Evenings lecture at 6 and 7 p.m. tonight. This week hear about how Mediterranean light affected artists’ works in Painting Provence — The Riviera of van Gogh and Bonnard.

>> Caramel Fashion, a U Street boutique that promotes local art, is holding a wine and champagne reception Friday from 6-9 p.m. to showcase 40X26.667, the photographic collaboration of artists Stirling Elmendorf and Mark Parascandola.

>> Nature and art collide with Frogs: A Chorus of Colors, a traveling exhibition featuring live frogs, which opens at the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall on Friday. A companion exhibition, Face to Face with Frogs, Photographs by Mark W. Moffett, features images by Moffett, a photographer, ecologist and explorer who has spent years documenting frogs and other wildlife across the globe.

>> The Nevin Kelly Gallery’s current show, An Ideal Mix-Up, is an exhibition of works by Polish and local artists. Gallerist Nevin Kelly lectures on the Polish artists on display on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Untitled Film Still no. 2, from New York is Now, 2007. C-print. 15 x 24. Image: Courtesy Irvine Contemporary.