The Spy

The Academy Art Museum Year in Review with Ben Simons

December 4, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

While it may seem like just the other day the Spy noted that Ben Simons was to become the director of the Academy Art Museum, it turns out that he will be entering into his fourth year in leading the arts education and exhibition center in Easton.

And in recounting what has taken place over the last twelve months at the AAM, it’s no surprise that Ben, his trustees, and the staff all have reason to cheer. With masterful art shows such as the record-breaking Richard Diebenkorn show, artist Amze Emmons’ mid-career exhibition, and the brilliant Aaron Taylor Kuffner’s Gamelatron project now on its front lawn, matched with nearly 4,000 children and adults taking art classes of some kind during the same period, it can only be concluded that it was one of the museum’s best years yet.

Adding to this year of achievement was the beginning of a major architectural transformation with its building as well. With a new entrance under construction, as well as the total overhaul of its public galleries, the AAM has been able to navigate this logistical change and still stay open for business nonetheless.

The Spy sat down with Ben to review 2019 and get a quick preview of the renovations taking place last week at the Academy.

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

Happy Thanksgiving

November 27, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

The Spy will be open for business next Monday. Enjoy the holidays.

The Spy

Shore Arts: Artist Angela Herbert-Hodges on Saving African Wildlife

November 20, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

For patrons of visual art on the Eastern Shore, it comes as no surprise that someone who grew up in a small town in North West England, and would spend the first half of their adulthood in Zimbabwe, London, Paris, and Spain, could find themselves completely at home near Salisbury. The Shore’s growing number of artists come from all backgrounds is just one ingredient that makes it such an attractive and vibrant scene from the Lower Shore to the northern tip of Kent County.

But what makes Angela Herbert-Hodges’ work so unique is her remarkable art depicting the magic and heartache of the endangered animals from her time in what was British Rhodesia. From rhinos to elephants, Herbert-Hodges captures these majestic beasts with the help of paper, gouache, and pastel to tell in color what the world may not see ever again if conservation steps are not taken to save these extraordinary species.

The Spy spent a few minutes with Angela last week at the Trippe Gallery to understand her motivation in doing her part in protecting Africa’s rich and threatened wildlife.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Trippe Gallery please go here.

At the Academy: Reconnaissance Report on Annual Members’ Exhibition

November 16, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

While there is little need to document the abundance of remarkable artists living on the Mid-Shore, the annual Academy Art Museum’s Members’ Show only reinforces how lucky the region is this wealth of talent.

Every year, the AAM sets aside a few weeks in the fall to display the work of the Academy’s members and their art instructors in the galleries (or the Armory this year since the main galleries are going through a renovation) to share with the Eastern Shore art community the bounty of

The Spy filed this reconnaissance report last night to highlight some of the special offerings now on display until December 4th.

This video is approximately one minute in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum Members’ Exhibition please go here.

At the Academy: Art Education Continues During Construction

October 30, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

One immediate impact of the Academy Art Museum’s significant building renovation project, which started only a month or so ago, is that the AAM’s ability to host their extremely popular art exhibitions will be curtailed during construction. And while that might be a temporary disappointment for Mid-Shore art lovers, it does give the Academy a unique opportunity to put a much-needed spotlight on the art center’s other critical mission, which is art education.

With some 5,000 young students and hundreds of adults entering the building every year for classes, lectures, workshops, studio time, the museum has maintained an extraordinary commitment to its’ educational roots. And even with ongoing construction, Constance Del Nero, the head of the Academy Art Museum’s Children’s Education & Community Programs, makes clear in her interview with the Spy a few weeks ago, the AAM is not missing a beat in continuing these courses during its FY 19-20 year.

Constance also talks about the importance of art in people’s lives and how reaching out to children, their families, and even senior adults can not only unleash creativity but substantially improve the quality of life for all its participants.

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

About the Plant: Shore Seniors Finding Relief from Cannabis

October 29, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

Perhaps one of the most startling results of Maryland’s legalizing medical cannabis on the Eastern Shore is that most of the users are considered senior citizens. Seeking relief from pain, both physical and psychological, these older patients, some of them in their 80s, make their way to Ash +Embar of Centreville, as well as other dependencies on the Shore, seeking relief.

And, as Ashley Herr, the co-founder of Ash+Embar, notes in our most recent “About the Plant” series, they are finding that relief.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Ash+Embar services, please go here. Disclosure: Chestertown Spy publisher and editor Steve Meehan is a principal in Hippocratic Growth, LLC. Ash+Embar is a sponsor of the Chestertown Spy and Talbot Spy and its coverage of Mid-Shore health topics.

Ask Irma: The Role of Adult Children with Aging Parents

October 14, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

Senior Nation is committed to offering resources to help us deal with the challenges and opportunities of aging. To that end, we are launching a new monthly video blog called “Ask Irma” hosted by Irma Toce, C.E.O. of the Londonderry on the Tred Avon in Easton, where we will be exploring on all topics related to aging.

After a professional career working with adult children and the care and of their aging parents, as well as going through that experience herself with her own in the Netherlands, Irma Toce seems particularly well qualified to talk about this unique change of roles and responsibilities for the “kids” in the family.

With many parents living well into their 90s, their adult children increasingly play a critical part in caregiving or providing much-needed relief to aging couples from the sometimes overwhelming challenges facing those in their later years.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For information about Londonderry on the Tred Avon please go here.

Academy Art Museum’s Craft Show’s People’s Choice Award Goes to Hegland Glass

October 13, 2019 by The Spy 1 Comment

This year, all Academy Art Museum Craft Show patrons were invited to take a ballot and vote for the “Best in Show” during their visit with the 70 artists spread throughout the Museum and the Waterfowl Building.

Patti and Dave Hegland

Academy Art Museum director Ben Simons explained, “During the three full days of this year’s Craft Show, we share with our community the 70 ‘winners’ who are the artist/makers selected in our juried craft show process; and so, we wanted the Best of Show to be selected by those who came to the Craft Show from the Preview Event on Thursday through Saturday evening.”

On the final day of this year’s Craft Show, Ben Simons announced on Sunday morning that the 2019 Winner of the People’s Choice Award is Hegland Glass of Chestertown, Maryland.

Patti and Dave Hegland learned early in their careers in engineering and finance how important an acute attention to detail is which they apply to all phases of their craft from the complexity of the designs to the precision applied to the finishing processes used to polish and shape each piece.

They are a husband and wife team known for innovative designs, complex construction, and precise finishing of their art glass. Acute attention to detail during each phase of the process is critical to a finished piece of work. Intricate designs incorporate hundreds of multi-layered hand-pulled murrine individually placed within thin strips of clear, transparent or opaque glass placed on edge. Once formed, each piece is extensively coldworked — shaped, ground, sandblasted and polished to enhance the visual impact and feel of the finished vessels and sculpture.

Their studio is located in historic Chestertown, Maryland on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. For more information, email: hegland@heglandglass.com or call: 410-778-1713

TAP Moments: Director Ed Langrell on a “Prisoner of Second Avenue”

October 12, 2019 by The Spy Leave a Comment

While there is no official clause in the Tred Avon Players bylaws that every Neil Simon play they produce will have Ed Langrell as its director, that is the way is has worked out for several years. From The Odd Couple to Barefoot in the Park, Ed has been the goto fellow for Simon’s most hilarious stage productions, and this continues starting October 24th when “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” opens at the Oxford Community Center for a limited run.

Ed came by the Spy studio last week to give a short take of Simon, the themes of Second Avenue, and his admiration for the legendary playwright, as he and his cast make final preparations for opening night.

Tred Avon Players are presenting the Broadway comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon on October 24, 25, 26, 27, 31 and November 1, 2 and 3 at the Oxford Community Center. Ed Langrell is the director and John Perkinson is the assistant director.

Edna and Mel are a struggling, middle-aged couple living in New York City. Mel has just lost his job, the walls of their apartment are much too thin, and the city is in the middle of a heat wave. Their troubles escalate when Mel suffers a nervous breakdown. Mel becomes slightly paranoid, the apartment is robbed, and their neighbors, well, they don’t help matters much. Throughout it all, Edna does her best to support her husband, even getting a job of her own after Mel is fired. Mel’s siblings are called in as backup. Quickly, in a crowded apartment in the most crowded city in the world, all hell breaks loose.

Leigh Marquess and Steve Ford portray Edna and Mel, and the siblings are portrayed by Barbara Mann as Pearl, Maire McArdle as Jessie, Susan Patterson as Pauline, and John Norton as Harry.

Performances dates are October 24, 25, 26, 27, 31; November 1, 2, and 3. Performance times are Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm with Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $22 for adults, and $11 for students (fees included). October 24 is Half Price Preview Thursday. For tickets go to TredAvonPlayers.com or call 410-226-0061. The Oxford Community Center is located at 200 Oxford Rd. Oxford, MD 21654. Tred Avon Players is sponsored in part by revenues from the Talbot County Arts Council, which is funded by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

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