Campus calendar

By Catherine Elcik  |  September 17, 2008

"The Art of Fashion Exhibit" reception What better place for a fashion exhibit than the glamorous Natick Collection mall? Students from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design exhibit their latest designs - tailored coats, day and evening dresses, avant-garde ensembles - in "The Art of Fashion." Maya Molina-Araujo's creation is just one of the designs you can see at the reception on Friday. The collection will be on display through Sept. 28. 6-8 p.m. Free. Natick Collection, 1245 Worcester St., Natick. 617-879-7666. www.na tickcollection.com

Opening of "Black Womanhood" The Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College launches "Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body" tonight with an opening that features Barbara Thompson, former curator of African, Oceanic, and Native American Collections at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, and a performance by Zili Misik, an ensemble that takes its repertoire from diasporic rhythm and song. The exhibit displays more than 100 sculptures, , photographs, paintings, textiles, and video installations that look at the icons and stereotypes of black womanhood from three traditions: African, Western colonial, and contemporary global. The exhibit runs through Dec. 14. 6 p.m. Free. Davis Museum and Cultural Center, 106 Central St., Wellesley. 781-283-3382. www.wellesley.edu/ DavisMuseum

Keppie Coutts in Kendall Square Drum Media calls Keppie Coutts "a little lady with a large voice" who is "so musically aware that [her] songs sound like they came before she did." Her songwriting earned her top awards at Berklee (she won both the Performing Songwriter and the Songwriter's Showcase competitions), so be sure to steal away for this lunch concert in Kendall for your treat of the week. Coutts's songs marry soul and folk so gorgeously, you'll cheer when they get stuck on endless repeat on the jukebox in your brain. Noon. Free. Kendall Square, 300 Athenaeum St., Cambridge. 617-577-7354. www.berklee.edu/ news/2008/05/0521.html

24-hour Play Festival Suffolk University students and alumni come together to see what happens when they challenge themselves to write, rehearse, and perform a one-act play in 24 hours. Mayhem? Genius? It's hard to know what to expect from these sleep-deprived thespians, but if last year's inaugural festival is any indication, the performances are sure to entertain. 7 and 9 p.m. Free. Suffolk University, Studio Theatre, Archer Building, 4th floor, 41 Temple St. 617-573-8282.

Beethoven marathon New England Conservatory professor emeritus Laurence Lesser celebrates his 70th birthday and 35th anniversary as a faculty member with a Beethoven marathon. Back-to-back shows present five sonatas and three sets of variations. With opus numbers ranging from 5 to 102, the selections demonstrate Beethoven's musical growth along the spectrum of his career. Pianist Hae Sun Paik will accompany cellist Lesser. 3 and 8 p.m. Free. New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St. 617-585-1122. www.newenglandconservatory.edu/ concerts

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