Picasso Hangs Steps From the City Hall Lawn Until Dec. 5. Plan Around the Gallery's Hours

Fifty-seven original Pablo Picasso prints are on view in downtown Coral Springs with free admission, and they leave on Saturday, Dec. 5. The gallery is on the ground floor of an apartment building at Sample Road and University Drive. The city's free November and December evenings on the City Hall Lawn happen a short walk away. With about a month left in the run, the easiest way to see the show is to pair it with something already on your calendar. The gallery's posted hours decide which of those pairings work.

A Picasso Show With a Sample Road Entrance

"Picasso: A Graphic Journey" opened Oct. 9 at the Coral Springs Museum of Art's new Downtown Gallery. Its 57 prints were made between 1923 and 1972 and come from the collection of Timothy Collins of Los Angeles. They include etchings, lithographs, linocuts and a rare canceled copper printing plate. The show also includes several proofs of Tête de Femme au Chapeau. Together they trace one image from early color studies to the finished composition, and they are the reason to slow down in that part of the room.

This is also the museum's first exhibition at the new address. Coral Springs Talk reported that the museum held a private opening Oct. 8 and a community event Oct. 9, after moving its gallery from 2855 Coral Springs Drive to the Modera site. The move had been planned for late summer. TAPinto reported in August that the public opening had been pushed to Oct. 9. The museum still uses the old Coral Springs Drive building, now called Creative Studios, for classes and programs.

The entrance is easy to miss the first time. The gallery is at 3380 N. University Drive, but the door faces Sample Road. Parking is free with front-desk validation in the Modera ground-level lot, which you enter from Sample Road. The City Hall garage is also free and a short walk away, according to the museum's Plan Your Visit page. The gallery has a ramp entrance, and the museum lends a manual wheelchair free on request.

The Hours That Set the Schedule

The gallery is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. It is closed Sunday. Monday visits are by appointment only, booked at least 24 hours ahead at 954-340-5000.

Because of those late Friday and Saturday hours, the gallery and the Lawn's evening events overlap by a few hours. A Sunday plan never works. Here is how the city's calendar between now and closing day lines up with the gallery:

As of Nov. 5, five Saturdays remain in the run: Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28, and Dec. 5. Each one gives you the full noon-to-8 window.

Friday Night, Concert First or Gallery First

The first good pairing is tomorrow night. The city's free Patriotic Community Concert fills the City Hall Lawn at 9500 W. Sample Road from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. The headliner is Home Grown, a Zac Brown Band tribute, and veterans and their families have a VIP area and an Honor Walk. Four food trucks are confirmed: Heavenly Churros, Cecilie's Ices, Dank Frank's Hot Dogs and Fat Boyz BBQ. Leashed dogs are welcome, lawn chairs and blankets are encouraged, and the City Hall garage is free. That is the same garage the museum recommends, so you can park once and walk to both.

The gallery closes at 8 that night. Seeing the prints before the music starts is the more relaxed order, since you won't have to give up a spot on the lawn halfway through the set.

Veterans Day itself is a separate plan. The city's ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 11, is at Veterans Park, 8601 Royal Palm Boulevard, not downtown. Seating begins at 10:30 a.m., the call to order is at 10:45 a.m., and the featured speaker is retired Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown. The gallery opens at 11 that morning, so a visit fits easily afterward.

The Museum's Own Calendar Fills the Saturdays

The museum has built programming around the run, and most of it costs nothing. Members have their own free Member Appreciation evening tonight, Nov. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Downtown Gallery. It includes live music, a tour of the Janet Gold exhibition, a complimentary drink and light bites.

For everyone else, the Saturday options are:

1. ARTventures, Nov. 7 and Dec. 12, 2 to 3 p.m. This free family program pairs a tour of the current exhibition with an art activity at the Downtown Studio, 3380 N. University Drive. The Nov. 7 session is the one that falls during the Picasso run.
2. Art Spectrum, Nov. 21, 2 to 3 p.m. This free program is for children who need extra support and their families. The museum encourages an RSVP because space is limited.
3. Gelli Printmaking, Dec. 5, noon to 2 p.m. This beginner workshop is linked from the Picasso exhibition page. It costs $45 for members and $50 for nonmembers.

The one weeknight option is Janet Gold's "No Wrong Answers: Exercises in Creativity" workshop on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Downtown Studio. It costs $65. The gallery closes at 7 that evening, so arrive early to see the prints before class.

Thanksgiving Week Splits Across Two Addresses

The week of Nov. 23 moves the museum's activity back to its former building. One-day camps for ages 6 to 10 run Monday through Wednesday, Nov. 23 to 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Creative Studios, 2855 Coral Springs Drive. They cost $60 per child, or $55 for members, and children bring their own lunch, snack and water. The Coral Springs Center for the Arts shares that address. Its Thanksgiving-week listings are The Unauthorized Hallmark(ish) Parody Musical on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. and Boopsie Homecoming on Sunday, Nov. 29, at 6 p.m., billed as a Thanksgiving-weekend premiere.

The Downtown Gallery keeps its Tuesday and Wednesday hours that week, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you have visitors in town for the holiday, Tuesday works well. See the prints during the day, then drive to the Center for the 7 p.m. curtain.

Lunch Within the Same Block

Most of the gallery's neighbors on University Drive opened this year, so if you haven't been downtown since spring, the block looks different.

• Paris Baguette, 3326 N. University Drive. It opened Aug. 19 and serves pastries, breads, cakes, sandwiches and coffee. Coral Springs Talk lists daily hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., which cover every gallery session, including Saturday evening.
• Mitch's Downtown Bagel Cafe, 3334 N. University Drive. Coral Springs News reported in March that it was scheduled to open March 23.
• How Ya Dough'n, 3260 N. University Drive. It celebrated its grand opening in April, according to Coral Springs Talk.
• Maha Juice Bar, 3256 N. University Drive. It opened Aug. 15 as its first South Florida location, Coral Springs News reported.

The city's Cornerstone page lists Let's Chill Homemade Ice Cream among the tenants and Pilar Coffee Bar as coming soon.

Dec. 5: Closing Day and the Tree Lighting

The run ends on the busiest Saturday of the season. Picasso's last day is Saturday, Dec. 5, the same evening the city holds Light Up the Lawn, its free tree lighting at City Hall from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. The listed activities are the tree lighting, a snow zone, a police stuffed-animal giveaway, free cookies and train rides. The train rides are limited-capacity and open to residents only. The gallery is open noon to 8 p.m. that day, so you can go from the Gelli workshop to the prints and then to the lawn after 5:30 without moving the car.

Expect closing-day crowds and the tree-lighting crowd to arrive at the same time. If you would rather see the prints on a quieter day, the Tuesday-through-Thursday hours earlier that week are the better choice.

Downtown keeps going after the prints leave. The city's Downtown in December program keeps the City Hall Lawn trees lit nightly from Dec. 1 through Dec. 31, free and dog-friendly. The free Coral Springs Holiday Parade runs along Sample Road on Wednesday, Dec. 9, from 7 to 9 p.m., with a theme honoring the nation's 250th anniversary. The city says road closures begin at 5 p.m. By then the Picasso prints will have left Sample Road. The museum's next ARTventures session is Dec. 12.

If downtown Coral Springs is starting to feel like your regular Saturday, Roi Danon knows the blocks around Sample and University well and is happy to talk through what the area looks like now that the gallery has opened. Request a Free Concierge Consultation whenever you're ready.