The Pan American Art Gallery opens another season Friday with a reception for new show Landscapes of the Americas. The gallery, which carries one of the world's largest collections of Cuban, Haitian and Jamaican art, is expanding, with the goal of eventually including artists from all across the Americas, director Cris Worley says. Exhibit works span from the 1920s to the present and range from Canadian forests to Caribbean shores. Local artist Jay Maggio, gaining recognition for his surreal, pointillist landscapes, and Houston artist Darlene Wall, known for her serene oil paintings of hills, prairies and other Central Texas landscapes, will attend the opening. Foremost Jamaican landscape artist Barrington Watson, popular early-20th-century Cuban artist Juan Gil Garcia and Canadian-born Paul Hunter, who has shown at the Whitney Museum in New York and who works with precious metals on canvas, are among the featured artists. Landscapes of the Americas runs through October 18. The Pan American Art Gallery, 3303 Lee Parkway, Suite 101, hosts an opening reception Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday noon to 6 p.m. Call 214-522-3303 for more information or visit www.panamericanart.com. --Cheryl Smith
9/4
Cookin' With Gas
More beyond than basic
The premise for Sur La Table's upcoming "Beyond the Basics" cooking class is enticing, especially to those of us whose home-dining experience chiefly involves eating over the sink...from a bag...purchased at a drive-through. Unfortunately for us, the emphasis here is more on the "beyond" part than the "basic." To wit: Steve Pilat, a culinary instructor at the Dallas Art Institute, will offer hands-on instruction on preparing soups and risotto, including butternut squash soup, potato and leek soup and risotto with vegetable stock. None of those dishes appears on Wendy's value menu, so obviously Sur La Table's definition of basic is a tad more highfalutin than we require. Where are the lessons on how to boil an egg without having it crack and ooze slimy white goo? And toast--how exactly does one apply cold butter to toast without having it lump up in one corner? Where are the lessons for the rest of us, huh? For the more advanced amateur, however, 16 slots are available in Pilat's class at 6:30 p.m. at Sur La Table, 4527 Travis St., Suite A, for $65. Call 214-219-4404. --Patrick Williams
9/6
General Lee Speaking
Luke Duke picks up the mike
During the height of the Beatles frenzy, a generation of girls divided themselves into four categories: Paul girls, John girls, George girls or Ringo girls. And we suppose something similar occurred with the likes of 'N Sync. In our day, though, we were a Luke girl, as in the dark-haired cousin on The Dukes of Hazzard. We just thought he deserved better than a lifetime of bar fights at the Boar's Nest. So for any other Luke girls out there, we've got good news. On Saturday, Tom Wopat will perform during the Disciples of Trinity 11th annual gala. Tickets are $150, and proceeds will help provide services for the terminally ill. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. at the Fairmont Hotel. Call 214-826-4099. --Rhonda Reinhart
9/8
Beat the Clock
A sure sign that a trend is dead? You see it parodied on Reba. Reba McEntire flogged the dead horse known as dating services such as Dallas' First Glance Dating, which allows singles 34 to 48 to have "at least" 10 three-and-a-half-minute dates, resulting in the names and e-mail addresses of matches, at 7 p.m. Monday at Boca Leather Gallery, 4051 LBJ Freeway. Call 972-620-1011. Personally, we're waiting for 30-second dating. That would be just like, oh yeah, going to a bar. --Shannon Sutlief
