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December 26, 2024

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

6 Arts Notes

Waterfowl Festival Creates New Virtual Art Gallery for 2020

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To connect fine art buyers to the artists they love, Waterfowl Festival has gone online for 2020, creating its first ever Waterfowl Festival Virtual Art Gallery. The web-based showcase launches November 1 and will bring the Festival “home” to art lovers, giving them the opportunity to explore and purchase exclusive carvings, sculpture, paintings and photography. While the new online gallery can’t replace the in-person thrill of the traditional Festival, it will support artists by encouraging interest in their work in their home studios and helps provide them with a much-needed way to continue to earn their living during this challenging year.

“Obviously we would prefer to be holding the Festival in person, “ said WF Board President Kevin Greaney. “However, these difficult times have offered us the time to create this new opportunity to use our website to support our artists while providing a small revenue stream for us. We want folks to be excited about what we are planning for 2021 and at the same time remember the impact that the lack of a Festival in 2020 is having on the local economy”.

Marsh by Mary Veiga

The Virtual Art Gallery will be online at www.WaterfowlFestival.org and will include artists who were juried into the 2020 show. Each artist is submitting 3-5 pieces that can only be found in the Gallery. Visitors can shop from the comfort of home and when they make a purchase, the artwork will be shipped directly to them from the artist themselves. Online sales will benefit both the artist and Waterfowl Festival’s mission and future. The Gallery will change often, as pieces are sold, so buyers should check in often! Pieces will be updated as sold and updated throughout the year as we get closer to the 50th Festival in 2021. Buyers will find works of art at all price points and can make online purchases through the Festival’s new secure, safe e-commerce system.

As of October 12, over 35 artists have signed up to participate in the Virtual Art Gallery, including: Photographers Heather Orkis, Cal Jackson and Tony Masso; Sculptors Ken Newman, Fred Boyer and Ronnie Wells; Carvers Al Jordan and Tom Horn; Painters Linda Besse, Keith Whitelock, Sara Linda Poly and Sandy Alanko to name a few. Painter Richard Clifton, who recently won the Federal Duck Stamp Contest for 2020-2021 will also be participating and offering up some of his colorful waterfowl paintings for sale.

Says Greaney, “By engaging our art buyers online and providing an exciting virtual experience for art collectors, we will keep the Festival moving forward toward a terrific 50th Festival next fall!”

Visit https://www.WaterfowlFestival.org/waterfowl-festival-announces-virtual-art-gallery for more information or email [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

50th Waterfowl Festival Postponed Until 2021

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For the first time in its history, the iconic Waterfowl Festival® that draws 15,000+ people to Easton, Maryland each year will not be held this November – at least not in its usual form. Instead, the Festival, along with conservation partner Waterfowl Chesapeake, will devote their energies to developing some new plans for this fall, including virtual programming that brings people together to celebrate the Eastern Shore heritage, culture and bird life. The 50th Festival will be held in its traditional style in November 2021.

“All of us want the Festival to take place as usual,” said Festival Board President, Kevin Greaney, “but uncertainty about the future means we must rethink how we are going to safely host an event, especially one of this size”. He explains, “Our strength is in the relationships we have and the face-to-face experiences we offer for artists, vendors and visitors. All our people – and especially our volunteer leaders and supporters who make Festival possible – need to feel confident and safe. So instead of a big event, we are planning for other programs that can still create connections and celebrate our community.”

Planning for the town-wide Festival begins annually each February with many commitments already made by June. By this time each year, the fine artists have been selected and the Featured Artist has been announced. The annual featured art piece, whether a painting or sculpture, has been completed and art buyers are beginning to take interest. Most of the three hundred vendors, exhibitors and artists have been invited and have made travel plans and commitments. Until now, the Festival’s forty volunteer Committee Chairs have kept all of these processes moving forward for this year, however, much has also been on hold and still remains to be done due to COVID-19.

“We’ve surveyed many of our stakeholders and what we heard overall is that they share our desire to have the Festival,” explained Greaney. “And simultaneously, they – especially our huge corps of leadership and weekend volunteers who make the Festival work — are still very concerned about the fall and a resurgence of COVID19. So, next year, we will host the 50th Festival with the vitality, hospitality and excitement that people have come to expect, along with a few surprises.”

Since 1971, Waterfowl Festival has seen incredible change and overcome challenges – from the internet to the Great Recession – and weathered it all because its strength comes from the dedication, support and love of the Eastern Shore community. It continues to be a cherished annual tradition and the Eastern Shore’s “Homecoming” which now hosts its fourth generation of dedicated families and guests.

“I applaud the Waterfowl organization for its forward thinking and flexible leadership,” says 2019 Featured Artist Nancy Tankersley. “As an artist, it is very disappointing to see yet another event cancelled, but this 50th anniversary is so important that it deserves 100% attention and shouldn’t be overshadowed by the risks of going forward with a physical event. I think the possibilities in virtual offerings are great, and a way for the artist to keep working and creating new work. If a collector is familiar with an artist’s work, they will feel comfortable purchasing online and will continue to support the Waterfowl Festival in this way.”

The Festival has made significant contributions to waterfowl conservation projects over the years and generates millions of dollars for the local economy annually. In 2019, the Festival visitors who travelled to Easton for the Waterfowl weekend generated almost $2.6 million in annual economic impact to Talbot County through shopping, lodging and travel.

“This has been a tough time for everyone, full of difficult choices,” said Margaret Enloe, Executive Director for Waterfowl Chesapeake. “This decision can feel like a step backward, however we see it as an opportunity to try new things, to grow and change. I have every confidence that we will emerge stronger and better. I expect that the 50th Festival in 2021 will be an even more incredible community celebration of the arts and our Eastern Shore heritage, one more vibrant than we could’ve ever imagined.”

To keep abreast of Waterfowl Festival related activities for the fall as they unfold, visit www.waterfowlfestival.org.

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The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Waterfowl-Related Education Programs Receive 2018 Funding

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This year Waterfowl Chesapeake has chosen two conservation education programs on Delmarva as the focus of its 2018 Community in Conservation Match Campaign. “We are excited to offer a dollar for dollar match, up to $5,000, for two great ways to connect students with waterfowl issues,” says Executive Director Margaret Enloe. “We raised just over $1200 during Festival weekend through the generous support of artists and Festival guests. If we reach our goal by December 31, our community will help fully fund University of Delaware’s (UD) experiences for grad students and the Ward Museum’s program for Talbot County kindergarteners.”

UD’s field program “Promoting Waterfowl Hunter Education for New Adult Students” is aimed at better connecting today’s graduate students with tomorrow’s careers in Waterfowl Ecology. Many graduate students studying in this field have never had the experience of hunting. Yet these young adults are likely to become the future leaders in environmental resource management, with positions in academia, state agencies or federal service – all of whom must work with landowners and the hunting community. How can they communicate with the hunters and landowners if they have never had the experienced the sport? The program includes certification, education on waterfowl identification, policy, habitat management, value structures associated with hunting, hunting dog training, and cooking wild game. The program ends with a voluntary opportunity to engage in a one-on-one mentored waterfowl hunting experience. Overall, the experience is designed to help them be the best leaders in conservation they can be.

The Ward Museum’s program will offer classroom visits and field trips for Talbot County kindergarten students to experience the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art. While this opportunity is already successful in several other Shore counties, it will be a new program for students here. The curriculum supports MD State Department of Education’s Environmental Literacy Standards. It also meets the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) requirement for kindergarteners, which ensures that school children have hands-on, action-based learning experience that engage core concepts of watershed health and environmental impacts. And what better way for local children to understand the natural world than through lessons about our waterfowl!?

Waterfowl Chesapeake’s Community in Conservation Program includes using restricted proceeds from the Waterfowl Festival to offer non-profits and community entities the chance to receive monies for projects and initiatives at the intersection of conservation and community. “While we also support large restoration projects,” explains Enloe, “these small grants are a simple way for us to bring people and local conservation work together.”

Waterfowl Chesapeake hopes that the broad emphasis on “community” will encourage organizations to think creatively about who they can serve and will help generate new ideas to bring people and regional conservation work, research and education together on waterfowl-related issues. The matching campaign each year gives people a way to make a difference locally. “In the event that we exceed our match campaign goal, any additional funds are earmarked for next year’s worthy waterfowl projects.”

Find out more about the program or making a contribution at www.waterfowlchesapeake.org or by calling 410.822.4567.

About us: With a focus on communities, stewardship and the waterfowl-related resources and heritage on Delmarva, Waterfowl Chesapeake: Connects financial resources from the Festival and environmental needs in communities, Serves as a neutral convener for events, forums and discussions leading to solutions, and Engages and educates communities about the benefits of healthy waterfowl populations and habitats.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Kent’s Carvers and Clubs Exhibition at Waterfowl Festival

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The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s newest waterfowling exhibition will travel to the 48th annual Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Md. on November 9-11, 2018, before returning to CBMM’s Waterfowling Building through March 2019. Festival ticket holders can see the exhibition at Easton High School.

Kent’s Carvers and Clubs: Guides, Gunners and Co-Ops shares the stories of Maryland’s Kent County carvers and hunting clubs through a collection of decoys, oral histories, historic photographs, and other artifacts.

In the Rock Hall area of Kent County, virtually every young man grew up learning to hunt waterfowl in the early 1900s. That intimate knowledge of birds, their habits and their habitat translated into a marketable skill as gunning became the pastime of the wealthy. Rich photo documentation from the 1930s and 40s illustrate the camaraderie of the well-to-do business and professional men who flocked to Kent’s gunning shores to spend icy mornings in booby blinds, awaiting the arrival of ducks and geese and warm evenings by the club woodstove, where they feasted on local delicacies.

Two duck hunters take aim from a “booby” blind on the lower Chester River, c. 1950. Photo by A. Aubrey Bodine © Jennifer B. Bodine, courtesy of aaubreybodine.com.

Oral history excerpts reveal the stories of hardworking guides, who found vital supplemental seasonal income. Captain John Glenn fashioned hand-chopped decoys from his Piney Neck home, “Decoy Farm,” and began to work with other local carvers to supply a wide variety of stool. While the “Rock Hall School of Carvers” was likely influenced by the work of Susquehanna Flats decoy makers, Kent carver Charlie Joiner learned directly from legendary Havre de Grace carver R. Madison Mitchell, and befriended the Ward brothers of Crisfield, developing his own distinct and notable style.

“Kent County’s bountiful waterfowl population and picturesque shorelines drew gentlemen hunters from the cities to organized gunning clubs, especially along the shores near Rock Hall and Eastern Neck,” said CBMM Collections Manager Jenifer Dolde, curator of the exhibition. “Knowledgeable local men served as guides, savvy property owners leased their land for clubs, and skillful Kent carvers created co-ops to craft decoys for the rigs of neighbors and club members.”

“Kent County has an enduring waterfowling culture—one that continues to flourish in the fields, necks and islands of the deeply-rural region,” said CBMM Chief Curator Pete Lesher. “We’re grateful for the support of this exhibition to be able to explore this important part of Chesapeake history with our guests.”

Kent’s Carvers and Clubs: Guides, Gunners and Co-Ops is generously sponsored by Judy and Henry Stansbury, and the world’s leading decoy auction firm, Guyette & Deeter. Entry to the exhibition is free for CBMM members or with general admission. Kent’s Carvers and Clubs will travel to the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Md.November 9-11, 2018, and return to CBMM’s Waterfowling Building through March 31, 2019.

To learn more about the Waterfowl Festival, visit waterfowlfestival.org. For more on CBMM, visit cbmm.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.