A new Masterworks Foundation exhibition has opened in the Colonial Insurance foyer gallery on Reid Street. Entitled 'New Arrivals', it features 17 recent gifts and acquisitions during the fiscal year 2002-2003.

Bermuda has long been an inspiration to visiting and resident artists alike, and the show demonstrates the scope of subject matter and media used by them.

As word has spread, the Foundation has received, and continues to receive, endless enquiries and leads about Bermuda-related artwork from as far away as New Zealand.

Among the paintings in the current exhibition is Reynolds Beal's interior scene, '21 Club Bermuda' (now The Pickled Onion), painted in 1940; Ogden Pleissner's 'Stone Quarry', depicting the stonecutting by hand; a Ross Sterling Turner watercolour, given to the Foundation by Mrs. Elvy Cooper in memory of her husband, Edmund.

Formerly damaged by Bermuda's climate, it has been brilliantly saved by John Slavin. Similarly, Bermudian restorer Margaret Smith has restored the Carl Gaetner oil painting.

US contemporary artist James Toogood's realistic style captures young boys diving off the rocks on North Shore, while Canadian artist Joseph Monk's 'Breakers, Bermuda', is one of the few true seascapes found in the collection - a gift of Mrs. Deborah Butterfield.

Other artists whose works are included in the new exhibition are Canadians Charles Comfort and Andre Bieler, the latter of whom captured the Hamilton waterfront in oils.

Bougainvillea features in works by Harry Pfieffer and Carl Blenner, two of many artists dazzled by Bermuda's exotic blooms, but the work which apparently caused the biggest stir at the opening is Dorothy Austin Stevens' 'Elliott Street'.

Many former residents of this once-vibrant neighbourhood who attended greatly enjoyed renewing old acquaintances and reminiscing about life on Elliott Street before it gave way to warehouses and parking lots.

Masterworks Foundation's Mrs. Elise Outerbridge described the scope of the collection as bearing testimony to the fact that the organisation had established itself in the conscience of art appreciators both here and abroad as a natural repository for all art work Bermudian, and a place where it would be safe, appreciated, and always well taken care of.

'Elizabeth Catlett: Sculpting the Truth' is the title of the video being screened at the Bermuda National Gallery at lunchtime today. African-American artist Ms Catlett recently won the International Sculpture Centre's 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award.

She likes to sculpt in wood, stone and terra cotta "the truth" - people she knows: mothers, workers, children.

Her inspiration comes from women because, she says "women have to try a little harder". Her work is described as "technically flawless and artistically brilliant".

The 28-minute film provides an intimate and personal look at both the artist's life and work, and shows her working in her studio.

Tomorrow is your last chance to see the current winter exhibition at the Bermuda National Gallery.

While certain galleries will be closed during the transition to the Lee Miller photography exhibition, which opens on May 17, others will remain open.

These include the Watlington Room which houses the European collection; the Bermuda Collection, telling the history of Bermuda through fine and decorative arts, will move to the Ondaatje Wing.

The main galleries will host a temporary permanent collection exhibition until the Miller exhibition is fully installed. For gallery hours, see the Bermuda Calendar.

l Warwick Academy hosts a free presentation by still life artist Mary Close in the school's Primary block staff room, beginning at 6.30 p.m., when she will present a perspective of her work.

The event is part of the Sir John Sharpe Memorial Lecture Series. Refreshments will be served.

The first in a new series of rotating exhibitions has opened at the Masterworks Art Centre in the Arrowroot Factory, Botanical Gardens entitled 'The Local Seen: Local artists from the permanent collection'. Bermudian artists such as Alfred Birdsey, Sharon Wilson, Bruce Stuart and Chesley Trott are among those to be showcased. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Reserve May 1 or 2 to attend the Berkeley Educational Society's screening of Trevor Rhone's film, 'Bellas Gate Boy' at City Hall theatre. Rhone, founder of The Barn Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica, is also co-author of the award-winning film, 'The Harder They Come', and writer/director of 'Smile Orange'.

May 1 is patron's night, when tickets are $50, while May 2 is general admission night for which tickets are $40. They are available at Paradiso Cafe in the Washington Mall, or ( 292-6219 for box office hours.