'Discovering Diversity' winners announced
PAUL SMITHS — Winners have been chosen in the Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks and the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Center's 20th-annual Artistic Interpretations of the Environment Juried Art Show: "Discovering Diversity."

Best in Show went to Sandra Hildreth for "Diversity with Harmony"; first place for 2-D Media was won by Annoel Krider for "Between the Trees"; and first place for Photography went to Karla Brieant for "Magic Carpet."

The exhibit, at the Visitor Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths, will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday until Feb. 16, 2010. Twenty-two pieces of more than 60 entries were chosen for display. See the list under Events at www.artsnorth.org.

This year's jurors were Linda Smyth, artist and retired art teacher from Saratoga Springs and Port Henry; and Hillary Smith, director of Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program for the Nature Conservancy of Saranac Lake.

Museums to feature shopping night
PLATTSBURGH — Museum shops here will open for a special evening of Christmas shopping from 5 to 8 p.m. Dec. 10, including the Battle of Plattsburgh Association, Champlain Valley Transportation Museum and the Clinton County Historical Museum.

The Battle of Plattsburgh History Shoppe at 31 Washington Road has a new pewter ornament by artist John Purdy plus clothing based on period designs, books, posters, candles and other items. The Transportation Museum at 12 Museum Way has model trains, cars and transportation-theme gifts.

The Historical Museum, located at 98 Ohio Ave., is offering "Lake Champlain: An Illustrated History" for $35 instead of the list price of $44.95, plus an extensive list of books on the region's history.

For more information, call the association at 566-1814, the Transportation Museum at 566-7575 and the Historical Museum at 561-0340.

Bartók piano restored, celebrated
SARANAC LAKE — The Werlitzer upright piano once played by Ditta Bartók, wife of famed 20th-century composer Belá Bartók, was celebrated in a special service of the Adirondack Unitarian Universalist Community Nov. 8.

The Bartóks spent three summers in Saranac Lake, including 1945, the last summer of Ditta's life, when they lived in a tiny, four-room cabin on Riverside Drive. The cabin had no piano, but Bartók had no difficulty composing in his head. However, Ditta, who was a renowned pianist in her own right, often played on a piano owned by the Levy family nearby and may have played some of Bartók's compositions-in-progress. For that reason, the piano is referred to as the "Bartók piano."

Recently, the Unitarian Universalist Community and Historic Saranac Lake combined resources to have the piano restored in its current location at the Saranac Laboratory Museum, 89 Church St., which houses both groups.

The service included Bartók compositions performed by Rose Chancler Feinbloom on the piano, Sue Grimm on flute and Wade Wheelock on violin. Bartók's biography was presented by Anne Marsh as the sermon for the day. After the service, about a dozen attendees toured the Bartók Cabin on Riverside Drive, where Nancy Murphy told vignettes about Bartók.

Museum joins Facebook
CHAZY — The Alice T. Miner Museum has recently joined the social networking site Facebook with a page called "The Alice."

Offerings there include upcoming events, recent visitors to the museum, new exhibits and a link to the museum blog.

Facebook users can find the page by typing "The Alice" in the upper right search window or going to the link www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Chazy-NY/The-Alice/186065107808.

Adirondack Museum wins grant
BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE — The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake has received a $10,000 grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation in support of general operations.

The funding was acquired as part of the museum's 2010 Annual Fund appeal.

The foundation, based in New York City, promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions that transmit cultural heritage.

To learn more about the museum, call 352-7311 or visit www.adirondackmu

seum.org.

Packbasket workshop set
CANTON — Visitors to Traditional Arts in Upstate New York's "Anatomy of a Packbasket" exhibit can try their hand at making their own packbasket at a workshop by basketmaker Mick Jarvis of Chateaugay from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12.

The workshop fee is $100 for Traditional Arts members and $125 for nonmembers (includes instruction and the cost of materials). Class size is limited and registration is required. For more information or to register, call (315) 386-4289 or e-mail info@tauny.org.

Traditional Arts is located at 53 Main St. in Canton. Gallery and Folkstore holiday hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, visit www.TAUNY.org.

TAUNY begins capital campaign
CANTON — Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) has launched its $1.25 million Evergreen Campaign to raise funds for renovations to the folklife organization's new home at 53 Main St. in Canton.

So far, $468,285 — or 37 percent of that goal — has come in from North Country friends, private foundations and public funders.

Find details about the campaign and renovations on the organization's new Web site: www.TAUNY.org.