Arts Notes

Academy Art Museum Announces February Events

January 17, 2021 by Academy Art Museum Leave a Comment

Judy Chicago, In Praise of Prairie Dogs, Lithograph, 2020.

EXHIBITIONS

The following Academy Art Museum exhibitions are sponsored by the Talbot County Arts Council, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Star Democrat. Open daily, Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12 noon to 4 p.m.

From Cassatt to Chicago: A Celebration of Women Artists in the Permanent Collection
January 29–March 20, 2021
Following the centennial of the 19th Amendment, celebrated in 2020, this exhibition presents selected highlights of works of the nearly 100 female artists in the Museum’s Permanent Collection, including Mary Cassatt, Judy Chicago, Terry Haass, Terry Parmelee, Grace Hartigan, Kiki Smith, Anne Truitt, Renee Stout, and others. The Museum is proud that works by female artists make up nearly a quarter of its Permanent Collection, which is twice the national average for U.S. museums. The works in the exhibition cover a wide range of movements and interests from the mid-20th century to our present moment, including minimalism, abstraction, and contemporary art. The exhibition demonstrates the diverse accomplishments of female artists in the Museum’s Permanent Collection and raises important questions about gender equality and representation in the art world.

Academy Art Museum’s Instructors’ Exhibition
January 29–March 20, 2021
The Academy Art Museum presents recent works by its exceptional team of instructors. As practicing local artists working in multiple mediums, the instructors of our adult and children’s classes engage with what is in and around our community and beyond in intriguing ways. Their experience guiding budding and experienced student artists informs their work, as their technical proficiency and artistic curiosity intertwine, delivering a colorful and dynamic exhibition. Exhibiting artists include Paul Aspell, Steve Bleinberger, Katie Cassidy, Rosemary Cooley, Bernie Dellario, Constance Del Nero, Georgia June Goldberg, Matthew Hillier, Susan Horsey, Maire McArdle, Diane DuBois Mullaly, Julia Rogers, Brad Ross, Maggii Sarfaty, Theresa Schram, Sahm Doherty Sefton, Sheryl Southwick, Cid Collins Walker, Steve Walker, and Meg Walsh.

Waterwall
Site-specific installation by artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann
South Street Lawn at Museum
Through Spring 2021
Waterwall is a mixed-media installation created by combining acrylic, sumi ink, silkscreen, and cyanotype on collaged translucent vinyl over glass. Mann is an American painter whose work explores mythology, identity, and landscape, particularly through the unique dialogues she crafts between the slow and permeating movement of ink and paint and the dynamic layers of collaged and printed elements. Waterwall harkens back to centuries of cave murals found in Dunhuang, China, where paintings do not just describe landscapes, but become environments and magical symbols themselves. As sunlight passes through the walls and ceiling of the cube on the Academy Art Museum’s grounds, Waterwall bathes the viewer in light and detail, creating a verdant, melting, glowing, fragmented, personal, and mythological realm. The bespoke plexiglass structure for the Museum lawn was designed by Mitch Hager of HAGER + HUCK Architecture. Sponsors of Waterwall are the Maryland State Arts Council, Talbot County Arts Council, and Catherine McCoy.

Meg Walsh

ADULT CLASSES
Adult Class Scholarships – Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Pastels, Watercolor, and much more.
All Materials are Included. Contact Katie Cassidy for details at 410-820-5222 or email
wkmcgarry@verizon.net for further information. Visit academyartmuseum.org for a full listing of classes. Scholarships are made possible through a generous grant from the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.

Back to Painting Basics
Instructor: Bernard Dellario
bernie.dellario@gmail.com
5 weeks: February 25–March 25 on Zoom, Thursdays, Time: 11 a.m.– 12 p.m.
Cost: $145 Members, $180 Non-members
ON ZOOM
This adult class provides a solid foundation for the beginning painter or a refresher in basics for the intermediate painter.

Portraits in Three Colors
Instructor: Bradford Ross
brad@bradfordross.com
6 weeks: February 25 –April 1 in studio
Thursdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost: $195 Members, $225 Non-members
IN PAINTING STUDIO
Many masters perfected portrait drawing using just three colors on toned paper, a technique called “aux trois crayons” or “with three chalks.” The results approach the effects of full color. In this class, Brad introduces the classic “next step” beyond charcoal portraits.

Waterwall, a site-specific mixed-media installation by artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, is now on display on the Museum’s South Street Lawn.

Watercolor: Fine-tuning Composition
for More Engaging Paintings
Instructor: Steve Bleinberger
stevebleinberger@gmail.com
3 weeks: February 23–March 9 in studio
Tuesdays: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost: $190 Members, $228 Non-members
IN PAINTING STUDIO
Composition in painting is often overlooked but is a key component of any work. Join award-winning painter and popular watercolor instructor Steve Bleinberger in learning tips on “the art of composition.” The student will review the foundations of painting principles – good drawing, value, and color to compose dynamic and engaging compositions.

Pastel Painting: Composition and Design
Instructor: Katie Cassidy
wkmcgarry@verizon.net
4 weeks: February 24–March 17 in studio
Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost: $185 Members, $215 Non-members
IN PAINTING STUDIO
Katie’s focus will be on exploring new ideas for composition and design in pastel paintings during this four-week session. In addition, qualities of good drawing, value ranges, and color control will be addressed.

CHILDRENS CLASSES
Be My Valentine!
Let’s brighten the winter and let folks we care about know we are thinking of them. Grab-n-Go Valentine Art Kits will be available from Tuesday, February 2nd–Saturday, February 14th. There is no cost to participate.
Homeschool Classes
Late Winter Session: 6 to 9 years
Fridays, February 26–April 9, 2021 (No class on April 2)
Instructor: Constance Del Nero
1–2:30 p.m.
VISUAL ARTS STUDIO
Late Winter Session: 6 to 9 years
Wednesdays, February 24–March 31, 2021
Instructor: Theresa Schram
10–11:30 a.m.

VISUAL ARTS STUDIO
Late Winter Session: 10+
Fridays, February 26–April 9, 2021 (No class on April 2)
Instructor: Theresa Schram
1–2:30 p.m.
PAINTING STUDIO
Cost (per session): $90 Members, $100 Non-members
After the first full-priced tuition, siblings attend for
$60 (members) and $67 (Non-members)
The Museum offers art classes for the area’s home-schooled children, ages 6 and up. Classes focus on fine art techniques and materials. A variety of media is explored. Students visit the Museum’s exhibitions when appropriate. The winter homeschool semester is broken up into two six-week sessions. Due to popular demand, the Museum will be offering separate Wednesday and Friday homeschool sessions for children ages 6 to 9. Siblings attend for 1/3 off!

PERFORMING ARTS CLASSES
Piano & Guitar Lessons
Instructor: Raymond Remesch
Contact Instructor for further information at (410) 829-0335 or rayremesch@gmail.com

Voice Lessons
Instructor: Georgiann Gibson
Contact instructor for Information at (410) 829-2525 or georgiann@atlanticbb.net.

MUSEUM COVID-19 GUIDELINES
Per City, State, and CDC guidelines, new safety measures have been implemented to ensure limited attendance and adequate space for social distancing. Masks must be worn at all times by participants and instructors. Prior to visiting the Academy Art Museum, visitors are encouraged to visit AAM’s website to read more about the Museum’s reopening protocols. Responses to frequently asked questions can be found on the Visit Page.

If you aren’t able to visit the Museum at this time, please enjoy our available virtual tours, art activities, artist talks, and virtual platform, Art at Home. We look forward to seeing you soon at AAM.

For additional information, visit academyartmuseum.org or call the Museum at 410-822-2787.

Meredith Foundation Awards Poetry Honor to Chestertown’s Robert Earl Price

January 14, 2021 by Spy Desk 2 Comments

The William Meredith Foundation has announced that their 2021 Award in Poetry will be given to Chestertown’s Robert Earl Price for his latest book entitled “BLOOD FLOW.”

In his poem remembering Robert Lowell, William Meredith writes,

“Your language moved slowly toward our language
until we saw that we were all immigrants –
had perhaps been shipped as convicts –
from the land of your reluctant indictment,
a land of our consent, if not our doing.”

– William Meredith

The language Meredith is describing here is the language of the tribe, and it is the same tribe Robert Earl Price describes in his introduction to “BLOOD FLOW”:

“Let our blood flow radiate warmth
From me to you
From you to yours
Until there arrises a single tribe of humans
Proud and pure as the blood flowing in their veins.”

– Robert Earl Price

Poem after poem in “BLOOD FLOW” trace the damage, the cruelty of this human tribe to each other from the murder of four little girls at the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, to a disheartened Dr. King the week before his assassination: “I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.” The poems are often more than dark. They take despair as a given: “The house is ablaze and we are trapped inside/ Hostages of suicidal arsonists.” We are asked to roll the dice again, but the election will not be fair, There is no need to vote. Still, the little martyrs lead us to the Civil Rights Act, we finally have achieved a black President. History provides us with hope.

Price opens “BLOOD FLOW” with a quote by Amiri Baraka: “The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world and themselves more completely.” And while it is often said that a poem fails exactly to the extent it tries to preach to a reader, the redeeming quality of these poems is the extraordinary force of the images, the spot on dramatic monologue of 12 women artists, lines that show what it is like to be “the other” in society and approach philosophy: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“If we can not share his blood, we have at least the poems. They help us understand how black lives matter, how to look into the eyes of a fellow human being and find our own humanity. This is the great gift Price has given us. The racist world we were all born into, the land of our consent, if not our doing, is ameliorated somewhat in these poems. We are able to transcend our ontology, escape the loneliness of being who we are a bit in Robert Earl Price’s ‘BLOOD FLOW.’ William Meredith would have been so glad the 2021 award in his name has gone to Robert Earl Price, brother in the art.”

World Premiere at Church Hill Theatre on February 12, 13 & 14

January 13, 2021 by Church Hill Theatre Leave a Comment

Logo Art by Sara Ann Dadds-Smith

Church Hill Theatre will be live streaming The Worst Choice, a searing—and timely—new play by John Carl Haas this February. Haas, a history professor at Chesapeake College, poses a disturbing moral question: what if General William Tecumseh Sherman had been challenged, even faced court martial, for his hard tactics during the final year of the American Civil War. By the end of the play, Haas has also challenged us to consider what we might have done in similar circumstances.

The Worst Choice is a testy conversation between General Sherman and retired General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, an officer widely respected for his ethical values. Preparing for a hostile Congressional inquiry, Sherman hopes Hitchcock will help defend decisions that hastened the end of the war. Far from supporting Sherman, Hitchcock believes there was no ethical justification for the resulting loss of civilian lives and property. While the drama unfolds in a drab Washington City hotel room in 1865, the audience is invited to imagine the destruction of Atlanta, Sherman’s army “foraging” its way to the sea, the burning of South Carolina’s capitol, and the behavior of both war-weary troops and Southern civilians. Although the discussion between Sherman and Hitchcock is fictional, the characters and historical events are real.

Professor Haas, known to many from his acting roles on the CHT stage, has written this play which works well for a Zoom presentation. Robert Thompson, Theater Department professor at Chesapeake College, plays General Sherman and CHT veteran actor Will Robinson portrays General Hitchcock. Shelagh Grasso is the Producer/Director and Michelle Christopher is the Stage Manager.

CHT is proud to live stream this world premiere production via Zoom at 8 pm on Friday, February 12 and Saturday, February 13, and at 2 pm on Sunday, February 14. Tickets for the Zoom connection are $20 (with discounts for students and members) and may be purchased through the CHT website: www.churchhilltheatre.org

Cabin Fever Film Festival Presents This Beautiful Fantastic

January 9, 2021 by Chesapeake Film Festival Leave a Comment

The Chesapeake Film Festival and the Talbot County Free Library are cosponsoring the Cabin Fever Film Festival again this Wednesday, January 13 with This Beautiful Fantastic. When you’re stuck at home due to the pandemic and you have the winter doldrums, take a break and enjoy a rare cinematic gem and Zoom after the show.

Zoom discussion on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 7 pm: This Beautiful Fantastic

Set against the backdrop of a beautiful London garden, this contemporary fairy tale centers on the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman who dreams of writing children’s books and a cranky widower. Facing eviction over her neglected garden, Bella (Jessica Brown Findlay) meets her grumpy, loveless, next-door neighbor (Tom Wilkinson), who happens to be an amazing horticulturalist.

THE FILM CAN BE ACCESSED FOR FREE ON YOUTUBE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yhL0lcQ5g&t=479s

THE FILM CAN ALSO BE ACCESSED FOR FREE ON HOOPLA FOR ANYONE WHO HAS A LIBRARY CARD FROM ANY OF THE EASTERN SHORE LIBRARIES.

THIS IS THE WEBSITE GUIDE TO USING HOOPLA: http://www.tcfl.org/eresources/Hoopla_QuickStart.pdf

CARDHOLDERS ARE LIMITED TO 8 CHECKOUTS A MONTH. THE FILMS NEED TO BE WATCHED WITHIN 3 DAYS (72 HOURS) OF CHECKOUT.

NOTE: Use this Zoom Link to join the discussion on Wednesday, January 13 at 7 pm:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83913806633

The Zoom discussions will be led by the Chesapeake Film Festival Director, Cid Collins Walker and Executive Director, Nancy Tabor. Come prepared to have a fun and insightful time!

The Chesapeake Film Festival is generously supported by the Shared Earth Foundation, Maryland Film Office, Maryland State Arts Council, Talbot County Arts Council, Talbot County Department of Tourism, Artistic Insights Fund, Richard and Beverly Tilghman, Karen and Langley Shook, U.S. Small Business Administration, Talbot CARES Small Business Grant and The Ravenal Foundation. Funding has also been provided to the Chesapeake Film Festival from Maryland Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.

Adkins Arboretum and the Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore Present Yarnstorming!

January 8, 2021 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Adkins Arboretum and the Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore are partnering to offer a Yarnstorming exhibit from March 6th through April 3rd, 2021. Knitters and crocheters are invited to decorate an Arboretum tree with their creations.

Trees to be decorated are located behind the Visitor’s Center and marked with yarn. If you are unable to visit the Arboretum, you may email Jenny Houghton at jhoughton@adkinsarboretum for photos of available trees.

Photo courtesy of Adkins Arboretum

Yarn art will be installed by appointment only during the first week of March. You can schedule your appointment when you contact Jenny. Your email should include the following information:
Submitter’s Name
Phone #
Email
Address
Brief description of your yarn creation.

FACES hours: Thursday, 12-4:00pm, Friday, 12-4:00pm, Saturday, 12-4:00pm
Contact: Kathleen McCulloch Phone: 443-448-4611 Email: info@fiberartscenter.com

Partners Sale at The Artists’ Gallery – January 2021

January 1, 2021 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

“View From Dooey Beach, Donegal, Ireland,” 16×20, pastel by E. Baskin

The Artists’ Gallery will feature the work of their five partners throughout the month of January. To help everyone continue the celebrations of the New Year and in preparation of Valentine’s Day, the partners of The Artists’ Gallery are offering a discount of 15% off their works of art this month. Their creations include all original framed pieces of the five partners, along with prints of their work and original unframed pieces on display in the gallery.

The partners in The Artists’ Gallery are: Bonnie Foster Howell, Nancy R. Thomas, Barbara Zuehlke, Evie Baskin and Mary Ellen Mabe. Working in oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel or silverpoint, each artist employs their own unique style and technique. In addition, their subjects vary from land and waterscapes to portraits and still life. Included are scenes along the Eastern Shore, New Zealand, the Bahamas and Ireland.

The public is invited to visit The Artists’ Gallery throughout the month of January. Located at 239 High Street in Chestertown, The Artists’ Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10-5 and Sundays from 12:30-4:30 p.m. Please note that due to Covid, masks are required to be worn upon entry to the gallery. For more information about the partners and the art they create, please see www.theartistsgalleryctown.com, or on www.facebook.com/6goodpainters or call 410-778-2425.

Quartet: New Poetry Journal for Woman 50+

December 26, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

Quartet, new online journal for women poets over 50, will launch January 5, 2021.

The journal, founded by four Delaware women including Chestertown native Wendy Ingersoll Perry, is the culmination of a decade of weekend workshops held at Perry’s family farm on Quaker Neck Landing Road.

The other founding poets, Gail Comorat, Linda Blaskey, and Jane Miller collaborated with Perry in 2019 for the publication of their own poetry, Walking the Sunken Boardwalks (Pond Road Press). The four also gave a reading at the Bookplate in July 2019.

Collectively, the group has published seven books, received five Delaware for the Arts grants, five Pushcarts nominations, two “Best of the Net” nominations, and one best poet award.

“We want a journal specifically for women over 50 to highlight the creativity and accomplishments of women who’ve reached an age where they’ve come into their own, have attained experience and courage, and who are flourishing even in the midst of chaos, Perry says.”

The inaugural issue will showcase 16 poets including current and former state poet laureates as well as writers from all over the country from Seattle to New York City. Chestertown’s own Meredith Davies Hadaway will appear in the issue.

Perry, who writes under the name Wendy Ingersoll, sees Quartet as place for both experienced and new women poets over 50 to share poems in traditional and contemporary forms that take on difficult themes or describe everyday life with wonder and surprise.

“The Eastern Shore is so rich with writers and poets we wanted to reach out and make sure people are aware of our new presence,” Perry says.

The plan is to publish four times a year and the submission period of Issue 1 will be January 8 to February 8 of 2021.

All women writers over 50 are encouraged to read their Submissions Guideline in Issue 1.

On January 5, Quartet will be online at quartetjournal.com A previous Spy interview with Perry may be found here.

Appearing in this photograph: from left to right are Gail Comorat and LInda Blaskey, standing, and Wendy Ingersoll Perry and Jane Miller, sitting.

Library Guy Interviews Donald Hall Prize for Poetry Winner Joy Priest

December 24, 2020 by Talbot County Free Library Leave a Comment

The Library Guy, Bill Peak, has just recorded an interview for The Talbot Spy with Joy Priest, a young poet with a complicated past. Priest won the prestigious Donald Hall Prize for Poetry in 2019 with her very first book of poems, Horsepower. This year she won the equally prestigious Stanley Kunitz Poetry Prize for her poem A Personal History of Breathing.

Joy Priest

Priest’s poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry Northwest, Poets & Writers, ESPN, The Louisville Anthology, Best New Poets 2014, 2016, & 2019, and A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South, among other publications. She has received support from the Fine Arts Work Center, The Frost Place, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Priest is currently a doctoral student in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Houston.

Peak’s interview with the poet can be watched at: https://talbotspy.org/the-library-guy-donald-hall-award-winning-poet-joy-priest/

GCA’s “(Stay) Home for the Holidays” Extends Its Online Run to January 3rd

December 15, 2020 by Garfield Center Leave a Comment

Sponsored by Chesapeake Bank and Trust, The Garfield Center’s “(Stay) Home for the Holidays!” is a family-friendly, holiday-themed online video program. Produced by GCA Executive Director Steven Arnold, the program was scheduled to finish its online availability on December 20th. Due to popular demand, however, the online run has been extended until January 3rd.

The program features five new video-captured short plays by area playwrights, a reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by area kids, and the hilarious return of memorable Garfield Center characters from past productions as they audition for the role of Santa.

Participating Playwrights include Worton’s Mark Sullivan, Elkton’s Michael Collins, Chestertown’s Steven Arnold and Rich Pauli of Annapolis. Segment Directors and Producers include Jennifer Kafka Smith, Nic Carter, Mark Sullivan, Paul Cambardella, Francoise Sullivan, and Steven Arnold, who also serves as the overall video Editor for the project.

Creating “(STAY) Home for the Holidays!” involved a large number of talented area volunteers. The cast and crew includes Ben Anthony, Steven Arnold, M.G. Brosius, Paul Cambardella, Nic Carter, Michael Collins, Katie Cox, Nevin Dawson, Ryan Ewing, Finley Ewing, Liam Ewing, Jen Friedman, Sharon Herz, Tom Herz, Averie Hitzges, Jane Jewell, Jim Landskroener, Harrison Lavery, Melissa McGlynn, Peri Overton, Tilghman Overton, Rich Pauli, Sophie Pierce, Kirby Powell, Kaya Ricketts, Jennifer Kafka Smith, Izzie Squire Southworth, Mark Sullivan, Francoise Sullivan, Lydia Sullivan, Stella Sullivan, Ella von Voss, Toph Wallace, Abbey Wark, Mark Wiening, Kendall Willis, Phebe Wood, Robin Wood, Kelly Young, and Auggie!

Tickets are only $10.00 and can be purchased on the Garfield Center website at https://garfieldcenter.org/stayhomefortheholidays. Ticket buyers will receive an emailed receipt that will also contain viewing instructions.

New Items and a Video Tour of RiverArts Holiday Show & Sale

December 12, 2020 by Chestertown RiverArts Leave a Comment

The RiverArts Holiday Show and Sale, on through December 22, is a treat for the eyes. It is updated regularly as items are sold and new ones come in. We welcome you to enjoy this festive show with holiday lights above in the breezeway and displays in the windows of the RiverArts Galleries.

Visit the RiverArts website at https://community.chestertownriverarts.org/program/holiday-shop to take a video tour. Peruse the posted offerings, which are regularly updated with the removal of items as they are sold, and new items added as stock is replenished. All are welcome to come into the galleries by setting up a 20-minute appointment online.

One reason that the Holiday Show is such a favorite tradition is the fun of sharing it with family and friends. This year, we’ve been delighted to host festive cocktail hours on Thursday evenings. Join us for the final social hour on December 17 at 5pm to chat with RiverArts Board members, artists, and friends. Feel free to ask questions, show off your purchases, and get great gift ideas for your loved ones and yourself. Just RSVP for this virtual get-together on the Holiday Show page of the website.

Photo credit: Steve Kane

More goings-on in December!!!

RiverArts Salon (free) – Tuesday, December 15, 5:00-5:45. Poetry as/and Justice with O’Neill Literary House Director James Allen Hall, who will talk about Katie Daniel’s poem, “War Photograph,” inspired by Nick Ut’s famous Pulitzer-winning photograph of a napalm attack on a village during the Vietnam War, published in 1972 in the New York Times. Register to join the discussion at www.community.chestertownriverarts.org/program/james-allen-hall, no later than noon on December 15.

Vision Boards for 2021 with Deanna Pratt – December 17, 1:00-2:00

Create a fun vision board to help you focus on your hopes and dreams for 2021. Use visualization techniques to bring clarity to your new year’s goals and create an action plan to realize them. Register at www.community.chestertownriverarts.org/program/vision-board. Offered on a ‘pay what you can’ basis: Those with limited funds are welcome to enjoy full access to the class for whatever they can afford. Those who are able are invited to pay more, to support access to art experiences for all.

Stay informed about what’s happening at RiverArts by subscribing to the Daily Dose, a newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date on exhibits, discussions, classes, club meetings, activities and more for all ages.

Chestertown RiverArts is a community arts center serving Kent County, Maryland and beyond with exhibits, classes, children’s arts activities, and a Clay Studio. RiverArts’ mission is “growing community, creativity, and connection through the Arts.” Visit RiverArts online at www.ChestertownRiverArts.org, or connect by phone at 410.778.6300 or email at info@ChestertownRiverArts.org.

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