Arts

2022 Artist-in-Residence Jackie Milad

June 29, 2022 by Academy Art Museum Leave a Comment

Jackie Milad, Aqui Es, 2021, mixed-media collage and painting on cut canvas, courtesy of the artist.

The Academy Art Museum is pleased to announce its 2022 Artist-in-Residence Jackie Milad and her concurrent exhibition, Vestige, which runs from August 2 – November 13, 2022. On August 6, she will also teach a free Multi-Media Collage Workshop at AAM.

Jackie Milad: Vestige
August 2 – November 13, 2022
Opening reception: Friday, August 5, 5:30 pm

Baltimore-based artist Jackie Milad’s large-scale pieces, often featuring bright colors and bold lines on paper, canvas, and textiles, explore the complex relationship between the individual and the long arc of history and cultural heritage. The artist asks, “How are we shaped by narratives of belonging?” In the center of this exploration is the contrast between the short-lived human life and her physical impermanence and the grander symbolism elevating our existence: eyes, hearts, pyramids, and sarcophagi in Milad’s whimsical hand. In layer after layer of her exuberant work, Milad uses references to her identity as a Honduran-Egyptian-American woman. Each layer then becomes entry points into Milad’s retelling of human history.

Milad is the Museum’s 2022 Artist-in-Residence. As part of her residency this summer, she will spend time in Easton and create new work. “I grew up in Maryland and it’s part of my history. I look forward to learning about Easton and its history. The residency is a unique experience and opportunity to meet new people and for them to see my work. That exchange or engagement can be really beneficial and lead to some new ideas and new perspectives for my work.”

Jackie Milad is a multi-year recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. In 2019, she was named a Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize Finalist and a Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Ruby Grantee. Her work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions at museums including The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD), The Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD), and the Arthur Ross Gallery University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA), among others. Milad received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, and her MFA from Towson University.

Jackie Milad, fuc it, 2021, mixed media canvas collage of older works, courtesy of the artist.

Multi-Media Collage Workshop with 2022 Artist-in-Residence Jackie Milad
Saturday, August 6 from 10 am to 2:30 pm
Tuesday, August 9 evening

In this free workshop, Milad will guide participants through multi-media collage techniques. Sourcing collage materials from new and repurposed paper, objects, textiles, and the participants’ own artwork, artists will embark on an archeology of their own work to create fun, intriguing and layered collage pieces. Milad will guide participants through transferring, layering and mounting techniques and address the conceptual underpinnings of collage work during the first session of the critique on Saturday, August 6 from 10 am to 2:30 pm. Participants will reconvene in the evening on Tuesday, August 9 to revisit the participants’ finished work and celebrate the workshop.

The workshop is free but space is limited and reservations are required. Some materials are provided; however, participants are expected to bring some of their own artwork and/or found materials they would like to include in their collage.

About the Academy Art Museum Artist-in-Residence Program

AAM’s Artist-in-Residence program began in 2017 with New York based artist Emily Lombardo. Each residency consists of a solo exhibition of the artist’s work and an artist-taught workshop. Since then, the Museum has hosted Philadelphia-based artist Amze Emmons in 2019 and Baltimore artist Antonio McAfee in 2020. The Artist-in-Residence Program and exhibitions are generously supported by Mary Ann Schindler.

About the Academy Art Museum

As the premier art museum on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Academy Art Museum presents high-quality exhibitions and a full range of art classes for visitors of all ages. Past exhibitions have featured artists such as James Turrell, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Pat Steir and Richard Diebenkorn. The permanent collection focuses on works on paper by American and European artists from four centuries including recent acquisitions by Graciela Iturbide and Zanele Muholi. Arts educational programs range from life drawing lessons to digital art instruction, and include lunchtime and cocktail hour concerts, lectures and special art events, as well as a Fall Craft Show. AAM also provides arts education to public and private school children from the region and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Location: 106 South Street, Easton, Maryland
Summer Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Thursday 10:00 am to 7:30 pm (free admission), Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Closed Mondays and Federal holidays.
Admission: $3, children under 12 free, AAM members free.

Authors & Oysters: Brent Lewis

June 29, 2022 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

The Bookplate is proud to announce the next chapter in the continuation of their partnership with The Retriever Bar and their “Authors & Oysters” series. The back room of the popular bookshop on Cross Street has been expanded to include a larger selection of titles, making it necessary to look elsewhere for an event space. The Retriever provides an ideal atmosphere for an event series; patrons are able to enjoy the pub’s offerings while listening to the guest speaker in a relaxed atmosphere. David Goodrich was featured in the most recent Authors & Oysters event on June 22nd with his book, A Voyage Across an Ancient Ocean; A Bicycle Journey Through the Northern Dominion of Oil.

On Wednesday, July 6th at 6pm, all are invited to The Retriever to meet local author Brent Lewis. Brent will be discussing his book, Stardust by the Bushel; Hollywood on the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore. Focusing on stars and stories from one-hundred years of moviemaking in Delmarva, from Easton to Ocean City and Wilmington to Chincoteague. This is the first comprehensive history of the stars of stage and screen who called the Eastern Shore home during (or after) their lives … as well as major motion pictures produced on location here.

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake and a History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department. Brent conducted the Kent Island Heritage Society’s oral histories program over a decade, and has published numerous magazine articles about the Chesapeake Bay and its people. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

“Three big cheers to Brent Lewis for his hard work pulling together these remarkable stories of Eastern Shore’s relationship to Hollywood, Broadway, and the unique characters of both worlds who called the Shore home. The Spy can’t wait for volume two.” – Dave Wheelan, The Spy Newspapers

For more event details contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or contact@thebookplate.net. This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. The Retriever is located at 337 ½ High Street, in Chestertown, Maryland.

The Artists’ Gallery Presents “Shore Delights” by Nancy R. Thomas

June 28, 2022 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

Throughout the month of July, The Artists’ Gallery will feature new paintings by Nancy R. Thomas in “Shore Delights.” According to the artist, “it was a joy to paint this past year as things opened up and plein air festivals were available to the public again.” Thomas has participated in as many events as possible along the Eastern Seaboard, stating “she never tires of painting the local scenery, there is just so much beauty to behold, it is a sheer delight.”

Nancy came to the Eastern Shore in 1994 from Alexandria, VA., where she had pursued dual careers of dancing and painting for over two decades. Her painting classes were taken at The Torpedo Factory, The Corcoran School of Art, A Project Study Tour of Italy and Northern Virginia Community College, where she earned an Associates Degree in Fine Art in 1990. Thomas is a signature member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society, a past member of The Washington Watercolor Association and a current member of Oil Painters of America.

“Afternoon Delight” 36X24 Oil by Nancy R. Thomas

Upon moving to the Eastern Shore, she juried into the Working Artists Forum, where she held the position of President for three years. Nancy has co-chaired and juried into the Local Color Show, held each year in conjunction with Plein Air Easton, for 16 years. She became a partner with The Artists’ Gallery in 2010 and juried into Plein Air Easton in 2018. One of her exhibition pieces was purchased by The Avalon Foundation for a permanent collection featuring agricultural scenes on the Eastern Shore. Thomas finds the light of the Eastern Shore to be captivating and enjoys painting the waterways, dramatic skies, the farm fields and farmhouses on canvas en plein air. She paints with The Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay.

The public is invited to visit The Artists’ Gallery for the opening reception of “Shore Delights” on First Friday, July 1st from 5-8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served along with a chance to meet the artist. The Artists’ Gallery is located at 239 High Street in Chestertown and is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the artist, please visit www.nancyrthomas.com or the gallery website at www.theartistsgalleryctown.com.

Studio B Art Gallery to Host a Plethora of Plein Air Easton Artists and Events

June 28, 2022 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

This July, Studio B Art Gallery is honored to host a special Plein Air Workshop and exhibit featuring Master Jove Wang. The workshop and meet-and-greet exhibit opening will offer a rare opportunity to interact with the master painter right in downtown Easton. The activities are part of a variety of upcoming gallery events, sure to please art enthusiasts this summer.

The Plein Air Workshop with Master Jove Wang will be held in Easton and picturesque locations around Talbot County on July 11-15. Jove will instruct the immersive, weeklong workshop during the same week that he will be recognized for his work as juror for Plein Air Easton 2022. The Plein Air Easton committee recently announced that Jove will be the judge of Plein Air Easton 2023.

European Fishing Village – Oil by Master Jove Wang

To celebrate the exclusive plein air workshop, Studio B Art Gallery will host an opening reception for the new exhibit “Masterstrokes: Visions of Jove Wang” on Friday, July 15. The showcase honors Jove’s latest works and guests will enjoy an Art Salon reception with the master painter in attendance from 5-8 p.m.

“Jove lives and works in California, but loves making the special trips to Talbot County to teach in our amazing small towns, rural fields, and beautiful waterfronts,” Studio B Art Gallery owner Betty Huang said. “Jove has played an important role in this year’s Plein Air Easton event and we look forward to our guests getting a chance to pick the brain of next year’s festival judge.”

There will be plenty more opportunities to enjoy art during annual Plein Air Easton Festival, held on July 15-24, and Studio B artists are right in the thick of the festivities.

Studio B Art Gallery is proud to represent award-winning artists that will be competing in Plein Air Easton once again. Stop by the gallery to see work by Hiu Lai Chong (past Plein Air Easton Grand Prize and Artists Choice award winner), Daniel Robbins (who won three awards during Plein Air Easton 2021), and Bernard Dellario (award-winning artists and Academy Art Museum instructor). There will be impromptu opportunities to meet with the gallery’s artists throughout the week of Plein Air Easton.

Betty Huang is the President of the Working Artists Forum (WAF). The group sponsors the juried and judged art exhibit “ Local Color” under the auspices of the annual Plein Air Easton Festival. “Local Color” sells original two dimensional art by artists of the Delmarva Peninsula and WAF members who have been juried into the show. This year, 42 professional artists will be displaying their beautiful work in oil, watercolors, pastels, and graphite from July 20 through July 24 in the Fellowship Hall of Christ Church (111. S. Harrison Street Easton, MD).

Follow Studio B Art Gallery on Facebook and Instagram @StudioBArtGallery to learn about all these upcoming events with live updates and special announcements throughout July. The Master Jove Wang Plein Air Workshop requires advance registration with only a limited number of spaces available. Visit www.studiobartgallery.com to signup and reserve your space. Make your way to www.pleinaireaston.com to discover more about Plein Air Easton and plan your week of amazing art in charming Easton, MD.

Studio B Art Gallery is located at 7 B Goldsborough Street in historic downtown Easton, Maryland. The gallery represents nationally and internationally known painters Hiu Lai Chong, Bernard Dellario, Ken DeWaard, Betty Huang, Qiang Huang, Daniel Robbins, Master Jove Wang, and sculptor Rick Casali. Visit the gallery any time during open hours, browse online at www.studiobartgallery.com, or call 443-988-1818 to arrange a private viewing.

Delmarva Review: Criers by Joe Baumann

June 25, 2022 by Delmarva Review Leave a Comment

Author’s Note: I spend a great deal of my writing wondering about and exploring masculinity; here, I wanted to look at the idea that “men don’t cry” and really twist that around to ask questions about the value of emoting. As a queer writer, I’m also always trying to examine what it’s like to feel islanded outside of the world of heteronormativity, and when those two things came together, this story emerged.

Criers

EVERY DAY AT RECESS, SOMEONE MADE LARRY HELVIG CRY. We kept eyedroppers in our pencil cases, extracting them right before the bell rang if it was our turn to suck tears from the corners of his eyes or draw them up off his cheeks. Larry’s tears were magic. A single drop squeezed onto a worksheet made the answers appear, written in perfect black graphite. Spiking our parents’ wineglasses ceased their fighting. A tiny smear rubbed into the palms transformed a klutz into an expert free throw shooter or pitcher. Daubing Larry’s tears on a scrape dissipated the pain like a powerful analgesic. Larry, we all knew, would one day change the world. His tears would cure cancer, eradicate AIDS, probably create world peace. But while we had him, we would use his tears to pass science and get better at playing the oboe.

Making Larry cry wasn’t difficult. Some people, especially the girls, tickled him, the ribs on his left side were particularly tender. Others smuggled Tabasco sauce in their lunch boxes and dabbed it on his sensitive tongue. Naomi Marcus had a knack for singing sad songs, and these made Larry bawl profusely; some of us subcontracted her to serenade him, for which we promised her a portion of the take. Others, like Willy Ziegfeld, used pain, pressing into the tender spot of Larry’s shoulder or giving him rabbit punches to the sternum.

The great tragedy was that the only person his tears couldn’t help was Larry himself. For him, they were just saline and salt. They could give the rest of us exactly what we wanted but left him only hiccupping and red eyed. Larry was small, pale—rumor was he suffered scoliosis—and we all knew he was madly in love with Peter Frost, a tenth grader with bronze calves who played soccer and swam for a club team. We once sent Peter’s younger sister home with a vial of Larry’s tears, a massive dose that she slipped into one of Peter’s protein shakes. They made him run faster but did nothing to make him notice Larry.

But we noticed Larry. We noticed that he smelled like stargazers and sweet alyssum, which his mother grew in a tiny greenhouse in their backyard. We noticed how hollowed out he looked after weekends with his father, who had left his mom for his secretary. We noticed everything but that which we should have, and when he didn’t show up for school on the last day of eighth grade, it took awhile for us to realize something was deeply wrong. When we learned what Larry had done to his eyes, we cried. But we sobbed not for what the world had lost or for Larry’s hungering pain but for what had slipped away, all our hopes and dreams leaking out of our eyes in tiny, hollow twinkles. We tried using our own tears, but all they did was sting, soaking our mouths in our own bitter taste.

⧫

Joe Baumann’s fiction and essays have appeared in Phantom Drift, Passages North, Emerson Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Iron Horse Literary Review, Electric Literature, Electric Spec, On Spec, Barrelhouse, Zone 3, and many others. He is the author of Ivory Children, published in 2013 by Red Bird Chapbooks. He possesses a PhD in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He was a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Fiction. His debut short story collection, Sing With Me at the Edge of Paradise, was the inaugural winner of the Iron Horse/Texas Tech University Press First Book Award, and his second story collection, The Plagues, will be released by Cornerstone Press in 2023. His debut novel, I Know You’re Out There Somewhere, is forthcoming from Deep Hearts YA. Website: joebaumann.wordpress.com.

Delmarva Review publishes evocative new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry selected annually from thousands of submissions locally and nationally. Designed to encourage outstanding writing, it is an independent, nonprofit literary publication. Financial support comes from tax-deductible contributions, sales, and a grant from the Talbot Arts Council with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: DelmarvaReview.org.

Spy Diary: The Arts at Home and Away by Steve Parks

June 25, 2022 by Steve Parks Leave a Comment

Royalty has come to the Nation’s Capital just in time for Independence Day. King Tut makes his first visit to the United States in 25 years with what is described as a “cinematic immersive” Smithsonian exhibition. But what’s a quarter-century in the short life and 3,300-year afterlife of the legendary child pharaoh? Beyond King Tut: An Immersive Experience celebrates the centennial anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s fabled Valley of the Kings.

Instead of the don’t-touch artifacts in standard museum displays of mummy paraphernalia, this National Geographic show deploys replicas and high-definition projections to take you inside Tut’s tomb. Beyond that, as the title suggests, you’ll catch glimpses of the ancient world outside – from the Great Sphinx to a sunrise ascent over the Pyramids of Giza and a two-millennium time trip to the 1922 unearthing of Tut’s resting place constructed and accessorized with his quest for immortality in mind. Timed admission tickets: nationalgeographic.org/tickets/events

Re-emerge into the here-and-now literally outside on the National Mall, and depending on the time of your visit, you can stroll through the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on your way to the Constitution Avenue side of the Mall to take in the Independence Day Parade featuring floats, marching bands, and giant balloons. Other highlights of the D.C. Fourth include a 3 p.m. Musical Celebration at the National Cathedral and, of course, fireworks starting at 9:09 p.m. bursting across the skies over the Mall. (For the best view, fireworks cruises on the Potomac depart from Washington Harbour at 7:30.) The Capitol Fourth Concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol itself is best seen on PBS since post-Jan. 6, 2021 security makes in-person attendance problematic.

Among July 4th observances on this side of the Bay, Ocean City offers free beach entertainment all through the holiday weekend with family-friendly movies, including Sing 2 on July 1st, and games at the 27th Street beachfront or near the Carousel Hotel and fireworks on the night of July 4th. Just up the coast in Delaware, Rehoboth Beach celebrates one day early with fireworks at 9:30 on Sunday, July 3rd, preceded by a concert on the beachfront bandstand. There’s even a small chance of a President and First Lady holiday sighting.

***

Get ready for the next big art event in Easton by checking out galleries all over the Midshore. Although most painters who enter the Plein Air Festival starting July 15th select vistas in Talbot County, a few go further afield to neighboring counties. Here’s a gallery sampler for the month.

In Cambridge, you might be intrigued by the Hookers, Strippers & Dyers exhibit – but it’s not what you think. Artists Betty Burbage and Elissa Crouch practice the traditional folk art of rug hooking, which also involves dying and stripping fabric into colorful strands woven into whatever patterns the artists imagine. The show runs only through July 3rd at Main Street Gallery www.mainstgallery.net. Despite its name, the gallery’s location is 518 Poplar St.

Nearby on High Street, the Dorchester Center for the Arts dorchesterarts.org brings Outside In with its July exhibit of works by self-trained “outsider” artists. Among them are Mose and Annie Tolliver and Howard Finster – whose imaginative creations have appeared in Baltimore’s Visionary Art Museum and Smithsonian’s American Art Museum in D.C. Ed Krell of Hooper’s Island, who specializes in large-scale chalk artworks, demonstrates his technique in a free Second Saturday reception, 5-7 p.m. July 9th, with music by Marianne and the Misfits, also from Hooper’s Island.

An untitled piece by Ed Krell

In Chestertown, MassoniArt, massoniart.com which has expanded to a street-level gallery on Cross Street near the original second-story High Street space, splits its Summer Gallery Artists Exhibition on July 1st between the two locations. A few doors down on High, the Artists’ Gallery theartistsgalleryctown.com opens Shore Delights by Nancy Thomas with a First Friday reception on July 1st, introducing a month-long tag-sale show.

Get in the plein-air mood at Adkins Arboretum adkinsarboretum.org near Ridgely with botanist Anna Harding’s vibrant color-pencil Wake Up . . . We Need Everybody drawings opening July 5th at the visitor’s center gallery. Then take a forested stroll through the site-specific Re-Vision installation by Howard and Mary McCoy.

Circling back to Easton’s arts district along Harrison Street, Trippe Gallery thetrippegallery.com hosts a First Friday reception for artist David Csont, 5-8 p.m. July 1st. Next, the gallery celebrates the Plein Air Festival’s opening day with a Variations exhibit of paintings by 15 artists inspired by the same photograph taken by gallery co-founder Nanny Trippe. Among them is Nancy Tankersley, a Plein Air Easton founder. Also on Harrison, Troika Gallery troikagallery.com continues its summerlong Raoul Middleman, A Life Well Painted show and sale of works by the late Baltimore painter and one-time Plein Air Festival celebrity artist.

Meanwhile, around the corner on Goldsborough Street, Studio B Art Gallery studiobgallery.com hosts a Plein Air workshop starting July 11th at various Talbot County outdoor sites led by painter Jove Wang. A free reception toasts the opening of Masterstrokes: Visions of Jove Wang exhibit, 5-8 p.m. July 15th at the gallery.

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts writer and editor now living in Easton.

AAM Summer Series Presents: 24-Hour Video Race

June 25, 2022 by Academy Art Museum Leave a Comment

Registration: Now through July 22, 2022
Film Screening: Friday, July 29, 2022, 6pm

The Academy Art Museum is pleased to present the 24-Hour Video Race in partnership with the Chesapeake Film Festival and organized by Francisco Salazar. This event is included in the AAM Summer Series programming and is free and open to the public.

Filmmakers of all ages (either as a team or solo) will have the chance to create a one-to-seven-minute video that will be screened at the Academy Art Museum on Friday, July 29. Films must incorporate a word and theme that will be provided to competitors via email on Friday, July 22 at 5 pm. Budding and experienced filmmakers will have just 24 hours to shoot, edit, and submit a video by the deadline of Saturday, July 23 at 5 pm.

A panel of judges including Cid Collins Walker (Festival Director) and Martin Zell (Board of Trustees President) of the Chesapeake Film Festival will choose the Best in Show for two categories—Student/Family (at least 50% of the filmmaking team are under 18) and Adult—in addition to a People’s Choice Award. Best in Show winners will receive two (2) Festival Passes to see all films in the LIVE Chesapeake Film Festival for 2022 and a Waiver Fee Code to enter their film for consideration in the festival for 2023!

Timeline:
Now through July 22 – Sign-up to participate. REGISTER HERE
Friday, July 22, 5 pm – Film theme and word will be emailed to all teams
Saturday, July 23, 5pm – Film submission deadline
Friday, July 29 – All films will screen at AAM, winners will be announced

About AAM Summer Series

The Academy Art Museum enlisted five local creatives to design and execute summer programs at the museum from June through September. AAM’s Community Programmers include Kerry Folan, Marco Garcia, Tori Paxon, Francisco Salazar and Brea Soul.

Programs and Dates:
June 3: The World Doesn’t Require You Conversation
July 29: 24-Hour Video Race
August 6: Pop-Up Market
August 26: Hip-Hop Cypher
September 2: Variety Show

About the Academy Art Museum

Francisco Salazar

Location: 106 South Street, Easton, Maryland
Summer Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Friday 10:00 am to 7:30 pm (free admission), Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Closed Mondays and Federal holidays.
Admission: $3, children under 12 free, AAM members free.

About Francisco Salazar

Francisco Salazar is an award-winning filmmaker whose first feature Nowhere, which he co-directed with his brother, was selected into more than 20 film festivals, including Outfest Fusion, the OutShine Film Festival, Cinequest Film Festival, and Woods Hole Film Festival, where it was the runner-up Jury Award winner and Second Runner Up for the Audience Award.

About the Chesapeake Film Festival

Founded in 2008, it is the mission of the Chesapeake Film Festival to entertain, empower, educate and inspire diverse audiences of all ages by presenting exceptional independent films and events. They offer outstanding filmmakers, experienced and emerging, a forum to showcase and discuss stories of compelling interest to a local and global community. Because of the location and diverse population of the Chesapeake Bay, the Festival prioritizes films that focus on the environment and social justice issues. The Festival also strives to be an economic engine for the Eastern Shore by enticing visitors to experience exceptional films, world-famous seafood, art, and the beauty of the Bay’s waterways. The 15th anniversary of the Chesapeake Film Festival will include a weekend of provocative, insightful, and innovative films at the Live Festival September 30 – October 2, followed by a week-long Virtual Festival October 3 through Sunday, October 9, 2022.

Church Hill Theatre’s Annual Meeting

June 25, 2022 by Church Hill Theatre Leave a Comment

Retiring Members: Sylvia Maloney and Bonnie Hill

On Tuesday, June 21, 2022 Church Hill Theatre hosted the first Annual Meeting of its membership in two years. Following an opening reception, Board Chairman Tom Rhodes opened the meeting with a welcome speech that introduced the newly renovated interior of the theatre building. Following were reports from all the committee chairs, including the Treasurer and Fundraising.

As part of the Programming report, chair Shelagh Grasso announced the CHT 2023 season. Summertree by Ron Cowan, Harvey by Mary Chase, Mamma Mia will be the June musical, God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza and to end the season Kate Hamill’s adaptation for the stage of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. CHT will also hold a full Green Room Gang camp this summer, and will produce Honk, Jr. under the direction of Kevin Thomas and Becca VanAken. Continuing a tradition started during the Covid darkness, the radio play A Christmas Carol will be produced via Zoom in December. All members are looking forward to a busy, exciting season, live and on the stage!

2023 Board of Directors: Rhory Flood, Colleen Minihan, John Haas, Tom Rhodes, Robert Bryan, Jennifer Moore, Connie Fallon, Sarah Wright, Kathy Jones, Michael Whitehill, Shelagh Grasso, Becca Van Aken, Sheila Austrian, Michelle Christoper, Steve Atkinson

Five new members of the Board of Directors were introduced. Two new members, Rohry Flood and Colleen Minahan began serving in 2021, and three new members, Sheila Austrian, Connie Fallon and Sarah Wright were voted onto the Board by the membership at the meeting. Vice Chair Shelagh Grasso gave a tribute to two long term Board members, Bonnie Hill and Sylvia Maloney, who have contributed greatly to the success of CHT over the years

The anxiously awaited Volunteer of the Year award was given by Volunteer Chair Kathy Jones to the Building and Grounds crew. This team worked tirelessly through the Covid intermission to lead the renovation of the theatre’s interior. Congratulations to Tom Rhodes, Carmelo Grasso, and Jim Johnson.

2022 Vol Award: Jim Johnson, Carmen Grasso and Tom Rhodes

At a meeting following the general meeting the new CHT Board elected Kathy Jones to serve as Chairman of the Board and Michelle Christopher to replace Sylvia Maloney as Treasurer. Continuing to serve are Shelagh Grasso as Vice Chair, Becca Van Aken as Secretary and Jennifer Moore as Board Member at Large.

The CHT 2022 season will continue with Green Room Gang which ends with a live performance of Honk Jr on July 21-22 at 7pm and July 23 at 2 pm. Our season resumes in the fall with Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, directed by Michael Whitehillin September, and The Outgoing Tide by Bruce Graham, directed by Shelagh Grasso in November. The final production of the year will be a live radio performance of A Christmas Carol. Please visit us at www.churchhilltheatre.org for updated information and activities.

David Csont Watercolors at the Trippe

June 24, 2022 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

End of the Break by David Csont

The Trippe Gallery is pleased to announce a special event for the gallery walk on Easton’s Night Out July 1st. Popular watercolorist David Csont will be doing a streetside painting demonstration in front of the gallery beginning at 6:30pm. A perennial favorite at the gallery, David Csont was the first artist invited to exhibit at the Trippe Gallery back in 2014. Since that time, Csont has participated annually in Plein Air Easton and shared his painting expertise for packed audiences attending demos at the gallery.

In addition, there will be a special exhibition of Csont’s watercolors as well as addition of new works. Csont is a nationally recognized illustrator and educator with over 25 years of professional experience in the visualization of architecture. Watercolor has been a passion of David’s and is evident on his painting and illustration style which reflects a colorful painterly approach rooted in the tradition of English watercolorists. For more information, please call 410-310-8727. The Trippe Gallery is located at 23 N Harrison in the heart of historic Easton.

Chestertown Jazz Festival 2022

June 21, 2022 by Garfield Center Leave a Comment

The Chestertown Jazz Festival committee announced today that the 26th Chestertown Jazz Festival will be held September 8 -10, 2022, with the theme, “The Many Moods of New Orleans Music.”

The musical group Zydeco-a-Go-Go from Philadelphia, PA will kick off the three-day event at The Mainstay in Rock Hall on Thursday, September 8. This seasoned band is led by Pete Eshelman, who sings and plays accordion. Other featured band members include saxophonist Troy Corley, a native of Louisiana who has played with Gladys Knight and the Pips, Freda Payne, and Cab Calloway; veteran bass guitarist, Randy Lipincott, who worked for years with the late Johnny Clyde Copeland, and guitarist Jared Snyder; drummer Bob Holden; and the newest band member, percussionist Pamela Eshelman. The new Mainstay director, Matt Melnick, is delighted to showcase this talented group of musicians and tickets for this event can be purchased at www.mainstayrockhall.org or 410.639.9133.

An evening of entertainment and food will be offered Friday, September 9 under the tent at Wilmer Park, featuring Dave Robinson and The Conservatory Jazz Band. A recent transplant to the Chestertown area, Robinson made his debut at the Jazz Festival in 2018, directing the youth jazz group, ‘Capital Focus.’ The following spring, he brought his Conservatory Jazz Band to the Garfield Center for the Arts to perform in the ‘Blues Series.’ Robinson has also developed and hosts a local New Orleans Jazz Radio show, called ‘Gumbo,’ which airs Sunday evenings on WKHS. New Orleans cuisine will be served during the concert. Tickets for Friday night as well as Saturday’s ‘Jazz in the Park,’ can be obtained at www.garfieldcenter.org.

Following the practice of the Newport Jazz Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Saturday will begin with a gospel opening by vocalist Quiana Lynell, who performs with our headliner group, Don Vappie and the Creole Serenaders. Then, in the style of another exciting New Orleans tradition, a brass band will lead in a ‘Second Line’ to get audience members out of their seats.

Coming back to keep the feet tapping will be Dave Robinson and his youth group, Capital Focus.

Next up will be Philip Dutton and The Alligators, one of the most significant practitioners of New Orleans music and culture in the Chestertown area. A New Orleans native, Dutton has been inspired by famous artists such as The Meters, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Buckwheat Zydeco, and the Neville Brothers, while the Alligators have been influenced by such greats as Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong and Clifton Chenier, the famous zydeco accordion player. Dutton has spread the sounds of New Orleans throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore and beyond. About a decade ago, he started ‘The Chester-gras,’ which has become a local February tradition that runs simultaneously with the Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans.

Our world-renowned headliner group, Don Vappie and the Creole Serenaders, will close the show in style, taking the audience through a musical combination of traditional jazz, soul-funk, blues, rhythm and blues, zydeco, and Dixieland. No strangers to Chestertown, they performed here during the National Music Festival in 2018. Vappie, who sings and plays guitar and banjo, received the “Steve Martin Banjo Prize” in 2021. In addition to Vappie and singer Lynell, the very talented group includes trumpeter Kevin Louis; clarinetist and saxophonist Tom Fischer; bassist Richard Moten; piano and keyboard player Mike Esnault; and drummer Brian Richburg.

The festival will again offer a wide variety of food and drink from local vendors. Patrons can find ticket and pricing information, as well as up to date COVID and health protocols, at www.garfieldcenter.org or 410.810.2060.

LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULEZ!

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