Prolific artist Don Trousdell opens his latest mixed media exhibition, 'Tinsel Time', in the main gallery of the Bermuda Society of Arts at City Hall this Friday. Known for his unique, colourful style, his focus this time is abstracts based on the theme 'colour and light'. His palette will include a mixture of bright and glittering colours, including silver and gold. The artist particularly enjoys painting abstracts and, fresh from a successful show in Atlanta, Georgia, is interested to see how they will be received in Bermuda. Of the approximately 50 paintings in the exhibition, 35 will be abstracts, several of which are based on the theme, 'Peace on Earth.' Suitable for home and office, all will be priced with Christmas shoppers in mind who are looking for affordable art.

'Tinsel Time' runs from December 8 to 13, with an opening reception for invited guests this Friday from 5.30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Bermuda National Gallery will mark its tenth anniversary with two exhibitions opening in February, 2002.

The first will be a special show of artworks from the travelling Masterworks Bermudiana Collection. Co-sponsored by XL Capital Ltd. and the ACE Group of Companies, 'In a New York Frame of Mind' will open on February 8 and continue through April 13. Up to 40 works are to be featured, and they will celebrate New York-area artists who travelled to Bermuda during the last century and captured the Island in their distinctive styles. They include such famous names as Georgia O'Keefe, Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth, Albert Gleizes and Jennifer Bartlett, and many were active in New York at the beginning of the last century. Alfred Stieglitz, a trail-blazing force in modern American art and photography, featured their works in his Gallery 291, while Demuth, Gleizes, Hartley and E. Ambrose Webster also took part in New York City's 1913 Armory Show, which heralded the emergence of what is now known as the Modernist Era to amazed American audiences.

The second exhibition, 'Art: New Genres, New Directions,' will explore "cutting edge" artworks as a tribute to a Bermuda Festival production of the play, 'Art,' which will be staged at City Hall ?? between February 29 and March 2.

Fame if not fortune could be in the offing for local author David Raine following the visit to Bermuda of 'Heritage TV' producer Scott Young, who recently made a 30-minute programme in which Mr. Raine discussed the period in local history when blockade runners regularly operated from the Island, and particularly St. George's.

Mr. Raine spoke about John Bourne and Majors Walker and Stansbury, who served as authorised Confederate commercial agents based in the old town. Between the trio, they arranged for the trans-shipment of Enfield rifles, munitions, food and clothing for the Southern government. They also further developed Bermuda as a coaling station to supply the steamers involved in this trade.

Mr. Raine, the author of 16 non-fiction books and a member of the Corporation of St. George's, is no stranger to television screens either here or abroad. He has appeared on local programmes relating to Bermuda's history and culture and on North American talk shows. He saw participation in the 'Heritage TV' programme as an opportunity to promote Bermuda and the importance of St. George's as a world heritage site.

The programme, which is due to air in Atlanta, Georgia during the early part of 2002, concludes with a brief speech by Tourism Minister David Allen.

A new exhibition of sculptures by Desmond Fountain opens at his Emporium Building gallery on Front Street on Saturday. The collection will include some previously-seen works and nine new pieces, mostly of children. A private opening by invitation takes place on Friday from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibition will continue through December 24. For further information ( 296-3518 or 292-3955.