It only takes a few minutes in the Academy Art Museum’s main galleries to remind oneself of the extraordinary wealth of artistic talent that occupies the Mid-Shore. On the walls and in cases, some of the AAM’s best artists and photographers are taking center stage as the museum continues its annual Members Exhibition.

We sent a special agent to capture just a sample of what can be seen until November 26th.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum please go here. 

Even with the stiff competition of major events on the Mid-Shore, including Chestertown’s Downrigging, Easton’s AAM Craft Show, and CBMM’s Oysterfest in St. Michaels, if you polled anyone under five years old, the popular choice by a wide-margin would be Centreville Day.

While adults and teens have good reason to flow to the Big Three, toddlers, and their parents are increasingly finding Centreville Day to be their cup of tea. Scaled for young children, with not-too-scary Halloween figures, good storytelling and many options for painting, the pre-school crowd was out in force on Saturday where we had a spy on assignment.

Here is their report.

This video is approximately one minute in length.

Fall’s here and that means the Academy Art Musuem’s annual craft show is here as well. Over Saturday and Sunday, the AAM is opening its doors to 70 of the finest crafts artists working today.  We sent a Spy over last night for a quick report.

This video is approximately one minute in length. For more information about the Academy’s 26th Annual Craft Show please go here.

The Spy is always eager to share news of a Mid-Shore native making it in the art world, and this time around, it is Easton’s own Maggie Rogers who was profiled in The New York Times today.

In a fascinating article, Maggie shares her interest in the spiritual influence of music and the remarkable journey she has taken, including time at the Harvard Divinity School, to help keep art sacred.

Read the story here. (Paywall might prevent free viewing).

Editor’s note: Esteemed Photographer Dave Harp sent along this stunning photograph to the Spy a few days ago. He writes “below is a photo I made of him in a tree behind my house, shortly before he departed in March.

He attracted hundreds, if not thousands, of avid birders and regular folks interested in a glimpse of his highness. It was such a pleasure having him (most likely a young male) around on gray winter days!

It was a snowy winter in Cambridge.  What started out as a Christmas present in December turned out to be a winter-long gift, when a snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca) graced Cambridge with its presence until the end of March. The owl, most likely a young male, was far out of its normal range, which goes into the high arctic.

Nearly two feet tall, he made quite a presence and attracted birders with powerful scopes, photographers with their giant lenses and people with cell phone cameras looking for a glimpse of the beautiful owl.  He would spend days on chimney’s, roofs, docks and trees in the historic west end of Cambridge, probably living off rodents, ducks and small birds. He was the talk of the West End all winter and provided a respite from thoughts of covid and other worldly matters. “Where’s Snowy today?” was usually answered by looking for pods of people, some with tripods and cameras, gazing heavenward.

We hope he returns next year.

One of the Spy’s favorite Baltimore Magazine authors, Lydia Woolever, has once again made the Eastern Shore the focus of her latest article as she tackles the complex crab industry attempting to keep up with consumer demand.

“In Maryland, the commercial blue crab harvest is now worth more than three times that of oysters and rockfish combined, with some 34 million pounds harvested in 2019, at a dockside value of more than $56 million. As of press time, a bushel of males exceeded $300, while a pound of meat peaked at $50—driven in part by the coronavirus pandemic, during which local consumers flocked for carry-out crabs as a source of comfort.”

Read the full article here.