Local Artists

In partnership with Cecil College, the Maryland Humanities Council will present "Chautauqua 2007: Food for Thought" at 7 p.m. Friday through July 16 on the North East campus. The free program features scholars assuming the costumes and characters of historical figures, talking about their lives and answering audience questions. In event of inclement weather, performances will be held in the Milburn Stone Theatre. The event will features impersonations of farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, presented by Fred Blanco on Friday; agricultural scientist, educator, artist, musician and humanitarian George Washington Carver, presented by Paxton Williams on Saturday; novelist, essayist, short story writer and social activist Upton Sinclair, presented by Doug Mishler on July 15; and chef Julia Child, presented by Mary Ann Jung on July 16. Lead-in programs precede the Chautauquans.

SONiA returns The lowdown -- Baltimorean Sonia Rustein, who tours solo as SONiA, makes up the band disappear fear with her sister Cindy. Through their music, the band seeks to drive the audience to care about global issues. Disappear fear performs Saturday at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson Theatre. If you go -- The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $20 general admission and $18 for Creative Alliance members. The Creative Alliance is at 3134 Eastern Ave. Go to missiontix.com or the Patterson Theatre box office for tickets.

Carroll group plans trip to Annapolis for state Arts Day Carroll County Arts Council will sponsor a trip to Maryland Arts Day in Annapolis on Jan. 30. "The Arts - Part of the Solution" will include learning, networking and celebrating the arts statewide. The event is sponsored by Maryland Citizens for the Arts and the Maryland Citizens for the Arts Foundation in association with Maryland State Arts Council. The event brings together Maryland legislators and people from around the state who support the arts.

If Claude Pereira has his way, Fells Point will be the next hot spot for up and coming local artists. Mr. Pereira, who is a painter and president of the Art Resource Center of Fells Point, is determined to give artists an opportunity to show their work.His answer to struggling artists everywhere is "First Tuesdays," Fells Point's answer to First Thursdays, Charles Street's popular art happening. First Tuesdays in Fells Point features art openings in such unlikely places as bars, restaurants, theaters and bookstores, which won't charge the artists to display and sell their work.

Carroll Community College is full of beauty.The public can see just how much beauty at the Maryland Art League's reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Great Hall of the Westminster campus, 1601 Washington Road.Works of art by 27 Maryland artists will be on display and for sale. Light refreshments will be provided during the viewing of the works in pen and ink, watercolors, oils, photography and other media.The reception will be in conjunction with the college's Faculty Recital, featuring Evan Paul Walker, tenor, and Rebecca Long, pianist.

Three Baltimore youth arts programs made big catches -- and the event organizers were delightedly caught by surprise -- as the "Legg Mason Big Catch Dinner & Auction" netted more than $370,000 for the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Arts and Culture arts grants program, Baltimore City School Fine Arts Program, and the mayor's initiative to wire all city classrooms. Some 450 guests gathered at the Walters Art Museum for the culminating event of the city's Fish Out of Water program. For several months, fish sculptures -- decorated by local artists -- had dotted the city landscape.

LANDLOCKED Switzerland, the home of yodeling, cheese and watches, is not known for aquatic life. That's why artists there started erecting painted fiberglass cows in public places a few years back. They unleashed a worldwide craze. Chicago artists wanted to do cow sculptures, too. Cincinnati followed with pigs, Miami with flamingos, Boston with cod, Orlando with lizards. And so on, until 183 whimsical fish surfaced around Baltimore's downtown last spring. Those zany fantasy figures quickly captured the imagination of Baltimoreans.

Banana Republic goes petite Good news for the vertically challenged prepster: Banana Republic has launched a petite line that scales down the company's entire collection (much of which is made up this season by blazers, wide-legged pants and tailored skirts). The petite sizing is only available online, though, and not in stores: www.bananarepublic.com.- T. B. Events Nov. 10 - The third annual Harvest/Holiday Show, featuring the work of local artists (much of it wearable), will be held this year at Ellie's Smellies (227 Main St., Reisterstown; 410-526-1100)

846 W. 36th St., Hampden 410-889-4025 botani846.com Like other Hampden shops, Botani is a classic example of Baltimore chic. That means in spite of its exotic name (pronounced botany), it has an old-fashioned, almost frumpy charm. The plants, cut flowers and gifts are anything but. All three of the owners were at Whole Foods before they decided to open their own store, and the same eco-philosophy is at work here. There are unusual plants like Madagascar palms and button ferns. Cut flowers range from what's in season and traditional (such as chrysanthemums)

Though Baltimore has long been known as a center of the arts, local artists and cultural institutions could be doing even more to make the arts a magnet for visitors to Baltimore.That was the advice of arts experts from five other cities who came to town yesterday to share strategies for promoting cultural tourism and the arts.The symposium, which drew several hundred people to the Baltimore Museum of Art, was sponsored by the Baltimore Arts Advocates, a group of artists and arts administrators searching for better ways to showcase Baltimore's cultural resources.