My goodness. It seems Immaculata is on the receiving end of a Civil Rights/Employment Discrimination suit from someone who appears to have (or have had) tenure and is (or was) a department head?
Oh yes, indeedy. Meet Grimes vs. Immaculata University (2:23-cv-03357 filed August, 2023)
Civil Rights. Employment. Federal.
I have been hearing rumblings about Immaculata for a couple of years. To be honest, it totally bums me out. I mean you don’t want them to become the next Cabrini, right?
Anywhooo I have a soft spot for artists and the woman who filed is an artist and professor. Diane Grimes. On LinkedIn is says she is (was?) chair of department unless I am misreading? But not on Immaculata’s website?
I also heard recently that Immaculata’s former head of nursing left for Gwynedd Mercy, so is there something going on? As the years have progressed, is it fair to say fewer Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are around and it’s more lay people in leadership? The nuns always ran a tight, happy ship, so perhaps the new world order at Immaculata is having growing pains? Considering the amount of acreage they own that could be sold off, sure hope not, right?
Diane Grimes is quite accomplished. I do not know her, but I know she exhibits her art, which is beautiful, and she is a published author.
Soooo I don’t know but it’s a thing waiting to happen I am sure. These suits aren’t easy and here is what is on PACER is below. Here’s wondering if the media will find this interesting and how long it will take for someone to say I am “bashing” Immaculata for posting this.
Frazer Antiques is one of my favorite places and a happy place. Located at 351 Lancaster Ave, Frazer PA 19355 ( (610) 651-8299 ) and they are open for the most part open from 10 till 5 every day except major holidays.
It’s an old school shop of many vendors. It’s eclectic and fun. You have to go through and then double back because it takes a while to take everything in. I hadn’t been in to visit the ladies at Frazer antiques and months until today. And it was so fun because there was so much that was different and new old stuff.
I found a few quite reasonably priced treasures. One was a new old stock vintage lampshade that was finally the perfect shade for a vintage lamp I bought at an estate sale over 15 years ago and had rewired. It had a perfectly nice lampshade on it, but it just was never the right lampshade.
I also found a lovely little tole tray, wonderful vintage glass candlesticks, and the cutest little pierced tin lantern Christmas ornament !
It was so much fun and they had lots of foot traffic which is great. If you have not been, go! Plenty of parking in front and behind the store.
What are you doing this weekend? How about Life’s Patina spring open weekend? You will be so glad you did – good for your soul 🥰 Click here for information!
So Downingtown Auction House? I know it’s got to be whom I am thinking of and they are wonderful and this is not them. They have been around, and do lots of American and portraits. This painting was shipped from Beverly Hills, CA I am told by a woman who used auctioneers in the past. That makes me wonder if she is an ex-Chester County native? An ex-pat so to speak? That is what I hypothesize, right or wrong.
Things that strike me as odd include: do we know the subject of the portrait or the painter? NBC 10 Reporter Deanna Durante’s report indicated other authorities perhaps getting involved who deal in art theft? And possibly being listed on a website called Art Loss Registry.
I do not pretend to know much about 18th century portrait painters, but as far as auctioning something, often people will send stuff to auction where they think they have a market. So I wonder if that is in part why a Downingtown, PA auction house was chosen? Could this painting have regional historical interest? This is of course why my inner Nancy Drew wishes authorities would release more information on the painting. Perhaps if we knew more about the painting, we could know more about why it was stolen, unless it was just a crime of opportunity perhaps originating in California and now whomever is stuck with a hot potato? What are authorities in California saying, for example?
So West Whiteland PD says it shipped from Beverly Hills, CA? If you Google there are 3 active Beverly Hills FedEx locations, or so I discovered. Maybe I am wrong, I don’t know. I am not exactly an expert on Beverly Hills.
So, it was prepared by a business in California and shipped FedEx ground? You would need someone to expertly crate it and ship it, right? I know FedEx can do that, I have done that through the FedEx in Malvern. But one thing about the FedEx in Malvern. A couple of times I have missed a delivery and had to go there to pick it up. I have had to show ID and so forth, so I am still confused as to WHY the person at FedEx in Exton released the painting?
I will note, that I do NOT believe UPS will let you change where something is delivered to once it is shipped, but someone will have to verify that. No clue about USPS because I do not see them as an avenue of shipping for art, do you? Again, maybe I am wrong.
Deanna Durante’s report mentions the painting may have been re-frames and may have “L Parks” on the back of it. It was packed and shipped at a FedEx in Beverly Hills. Christie’s Auctions actually has an article about how the BACK of a painting can tell as much of a story as the subject and painter of a painting.
I am kind of fascinated that I can’t find any media in the Los Angeles area talking about this yet. Maybe it will end up just stealing for stealing, but maybe it is because of whomever painted the painting or whom the subject was?
Doesn’t it seem this is a total FedEx thing? After all, has FedEx piped up about this at all? So FedEx is this an “inside job” that started in Los Angeles or Beverly Hills?
Police say this painting was taken Friday, January 27, 2023 at 7:15 A.M. Since the public has only recently heard of this can we say the poor lady who owned it exhausted all avenues with FedEx? Yes, I know, I am becoming repetitive. I am just fascinated by this, as are lots of people.
If you see the painting, please call police. Or wouldn’t it be nice if the thief just RETURNED the painting?
Recently I unplugged and took time for myself. I wanted to try something artistic I had not done before, so I took a stained glass class. It was so much fun!
I had learned about the class from a stained glass artist who has studio space in Gallery 222 in Malvern. Her name is Jill Huentelman and her business is Huentelglas. I actually know her a bit and one of her stained glass Christmas ornaments has hung on my Christmas tree a few years.
I love stained glass. I have since I was in elementary school and we took a field trip to a glass blowing and stained glass place. I wish I could remember where it was. I bought a pear stained glass light catcher that I still have today. I have light catchers all over. A bunch from my childhood that my mother gave me, some I found, and a bluebird that belonged to a mother of a friend once upon a time.
Before we started to work on what I was going to create, I learned about a bit of the history of stained glass. Then in with the history came to safety aspects of how to behave in the studio, and how to act around the glass for lack of a better description. Jill is a wonderful instructor and I loved every minute of my time in her studio.
So in the end, I decided I wanted to make a bird instead of a pear. Jill will choose a pear with people to make because that way it is a simple design and not extraordinarily complicated for the first time working with glass like this.
I drew my pattern. Next came choosing the glass.
Jill has so much glass and it’s so cool. There’s plain glass and glass that has pattern and almost texture to the top of it. The glass I chose was reminiscent to me of slag glass I have seen in church windows in Chester County.
Wow, I was learning to cut glass for stained glass! First, I learned how to cut straight lines. Then I learned how to cut curves, and then I was ready to cut out my pattern. It was fun! (And nerve wracking because I didn’t want to make a mistake!)
After I cut out my glass, we did the grinding to smooth any sharp edges and make the design look more like what I wanted. After it was cut out and ground, it got a quick wash off.
Next comes this copper foil. Wound and worked around the edges and rubbed smooth with a special stick which has a name- I think it’s a burnisher, but I think it also has other names.
Next comes the soldering. And soldering involves this stuff that looks like dark Vaseline called “flux.” It makes the soldering stick.
After the soldering and the gluing of the bird’s little eye came another bath and rubbing it down and shining it up with a finishing compound. It keeps the soldering silver and made the glass shine more. It’s a shine and buff.
My class was actually a few hours long and it flew by so quickly it seemed like it was half an hour.
The classes are reasonably priced. You can find everything on her website. The price of the class includes all your materials and there is also a waiver to sign before you enter the studio. Another thing that I should’ve mentioned before is that at various times during this creative process, you rinse your hands off with a special soap that pulls metal and things out of your skin because we’re touching things that contain metals like lead.
It was SO much fun and I think my bird turned out great! So far the classes are just a one off, but if Jill did a series, I would totally sign up! If I took another class, I would like to learn how to make those cool stakes that you can put in your flower pots.
Also, while I was there, I got to see what was hanging on the walls of Gallery 222 in Malvern, which is such an awesome place.
Having art in your life, and the ability for creative outlet is something I’ve always found to be important. Much like gardening, it’s just good for your head and soul.
The West Whiteland Township Police Department is investigating the theft of a painting. The painting was shipped by a woman from Beverly Hills to a auction business in Downingtown. An unknown person picked the item up at the FedEx Ground facility in Exton.
The painting has not been recovered.
A photo of the painting is attached.
Call Sgt. McCloskey or Det. Pezick if you have any information. Date:
Friday, January 27, 2023 – 7:15am
Incident Type: Theft Reference ID: WW-23-01853 Case
Type: Criminal Source: West Whiteland Police Department
OK so the date up there is January 27, 2023? why has it been so long before we would find out about this if it was a theft and I’m presuming it’s a pretty tasty, art theft, right?
So how many auction houses are considered to be in Downingtown, Pennsylvania? Two?
I went and looked up this FedEx Ground location. It’s on Creamery Way in Exton. It has a shockingly bad rating on Google of 2.3! And there are reviewers who accuse this location of theft. All you have to do is go read the reviews if you don’t believe me.
So I wonder did they really just give it to a random person or is this an inside job?
And if this occurred in January why is it only being reported now is it because the sender of the painting and whichever auction house it is have exhausted all avenues with FedEx and they went to the police?
I just also wonder how the FedEx could just kind of let a big piece of art walk out of the door? Don’t they have security cameras? Don’t they ask people for ID? Don’t they sign for a package?
I am totally fascinated by this and I hope the media picks up on it and runs with it. And I hope somebody goes to FedEx and FedEx corporate and ask them how paintings just kind of go missing? I would also like to know which auction house it was because I feel sorry for them.
I have posted the painting a few different times throughout this post because I tried lighting it differently so you could see the image better.
This is literally a Nancy Drew Mystery. I would love to know who the portrait is supposed to be and what it’s perceived value is? And is this one of those things were they get the FBI art theft unit involved?
They don’t publicize this the way they should and this is a great show this year!
This show benefits their outreach at Malvern Retreat House.
10 AM – 7 PM Saturday, February 4, 2023 10 AM – 4 PM Sunday, February 5, 2023
315 S. Warren Ave Malvern, PA and there is ample free parking onsite. #art #freeevent
Seriously, this show is so terrific! And the price points are better than Yellow Springs Art Show which I love as well. And some of the same and comparable artists. Some of my favorites include New Hope Stained Glass and the fused stained glass artist whose name escapes me.
The Malvern Retreat House Annual Art Show has more than 2,000 fine art pieces including paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry, and so much more.
📌Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She enjoys drag queen shows and chooses to leave her children at home for those performances.📌
Do you just feel my eyes rolling to the back of my head? Yes, we all know her name. She is a frequent flyer at West Chester Area School District School Board Meetings and West Chester Borough Meetings and ran unsuccessfully as a Libertarian for Mayor of West Chester Borough. (Kindly allow me to digress a moment and mention that Dan Truitt is now head of Chester County Libertarians. ANYWAY, also wonder aloud if his East Goshen Supervisor wife Michelle Truitt’s gal pal failed politician Heidi Vander Waal has conceded yet? She lost a month ago, so what is taking so long? I really genuinely like both Truitts, but I marvel at whom they think is hunky dory, don’t you?)
Enough digressing, back to this weird thing about now they all hate theatre.
If Lewis Carroll were alive today, “curious” might be the word he would use to describe the People’s Light Theater performance of his world-renowned novel, Alice in Wonderland.
The theater, located in Chester County is currently running a holiday, pantomime rendition of the classic. The website says the show is appropriate for ages five to 105 and includes a drag queen performer in the cast. Eric Jaffe, according to the theater’s casting page, “is a genderfull [sic] glamour monster and the recipient of the 2018 Philly Drag Awards, Best Host, Best Alternative Drag Queen, And Drag Queen of the Year as well as 2020’s Performer of the Year.”
Just as curious is the fact that multiple school districts in Chester County are sponsoring field trips for students to attend the performance, including West Chester Area, Tredyffrin/Easttown, and Downingtown. Students as young as second grade and up to sixth grade attended the performance.
~ beth ann rosica, theatre critic
So Beth Ann had to have an opinion. Hey that’s her right. But it’s also my right to say, West Chester Borough residents should count their blessings she is NOT mayor. We already know she doesn’t like drag queens, so this shouldn’t be a surprise. Above is a screen shot of her op-ed in Broad and Liberty.
Now as an educator one would have thought that Beth Ann Rosica would have at least been familiar of how theatre evolved from it’s early days when you know men routinely played the part of women because it was considered unseemly etc for women to be actors. Has she heard of William Shakespere, etc?
A panto is a traditional fairy tale complete with songs, dances, jokes, exaggerated characters and lots of audience participation. The British started this centuries ago and love a good panto. In fact, panto began thanks to actor manager John Rich, who introduced it in 1717. Panto or pantomime has an again centuries long theatrical history in western culture dating back to the dawn of classical theatre. Commedia dell’arte.
See above? Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell in Babes in the Wood, 1897, at the Drury Lane Theatre in London’s West End. And below? Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of England in a Windsor Castle wartime performance of Aladdin…as in the recently deceased Queen Elizabeth II of England.
But then I saw Beth Ann’s little thing about leaving her “children” at home while she enjoyed drag shows. Very funny statement. Made me wonder if she had LITTLE kids. Umm nope. They are like in 8th and 10th grade now, right? Don’t you think they have seen/heard worse? Found an online interview. Note the screen shot excerpt:
This all started recently over a People’s Light current production. The production has rave reviews, truthfully.
So when this started a few days ago as the latest issue of the collective idiocy, I sat back and though, well they can just not let their kids go, right? Nope, we all have to hear about it.
These people just never stop. Look you guys, it’s kind of simple: if you’re so upset about public education you can homeschool your children or you can put them in charter schools or religious schools.
The second thing is, this is a theatrical production. It’s not doing anything dirty to your children.
The third thing goes back to choice again. Just like you have the choice to pull your kids out of public school because you hate public school so much, you also have the choice not to send your child on a field trip. They will, of course remember that you did this and they won’t remember you and say mommy and daddy protected me. They will remember you and say mommy and daddy punished us, and made us freaks with the rest of the class.
If you don’t want to go, if you don’t want your children to go, that’s fine, but why does the rest of the world have to hear about it?
However, what you don’t get to do is to tell everyone else how to live their lives.
So I think people should go out of their way to make a donation to People’s Light. They are a wonderful theatre company and part of our extended Chester County Community. Tell the no fun collective I refer to as Stepford Wives for Totalitarianism that they can do as they choose with their own children and lives, but their choices should be everyone’s choices. This is about their comfort levels, not care for the community. This has all gone too far and now that they lost in yet another election, it’s like they have to manufacture issues to desperately try to stay relevant. But it does once again highlight all of their phobias and prejudices quite nicely.
Today is just one of those days that makes you think. I had to be home today, so I used Instacart. I will be honest I like this as a service. And for the most part I also really like the people that work for them. Today my person was a woman new to the area. Why and how she’s new to the area gave me pause.
This woman is here because of Hurricane Ian. Her husband has a job that requires a lot of travel. He spends a lot of time in this part of the Northeast. But they were living in Florida. Until hurricane Ian took everything. So she and her husband have relocated for at least the near term. His job is based out of the suburban Philadelphia area at this point, and well they just lost everything in a hurricane.
So as we’re sitting in our houses, apartments, townhouses, condos, wherever we need to pause a moment. Forget about all the hate and vitriol, think about people that go through things like this. And they go through it with a smile on their face and a positive attitude.
Also today I got to spend a little time with a friend of mine I don’t get to see very often. Life kind of intervenes and there are people that you just don’t see it as often as you would like. But again this is a person who has had quite the year, and is still positive and smiling and happy.
Today I also got to meet a Brazilian artist. She also has relocated to this area. And another person who just radiates niceness and positivity. The artist is Fer Caggiano, and I was introduced to her through a mutual friend. For this post I borrowed a photo of one of her paintings because it’s kind of how I’m feeling today, right or wrong. The link to Fer‘s website is embedded in the caption of her painting above.
The painting you see above made me check out a video of one of her shows, a show called “Like a Girl.”
Fer Caggiano is now calling Chester County home. It is kind of amazing that she is here. Her work is interesting, thought provoking, imaginative. I am not an art critic, I am just someone who likes things which strike me in some way The portraits in her Dare to Dream are cool. They aren’t traditional, they aren’t abstract, they are an interpretation of life and the essence of her subjects. Fer is also part of the NFT artwork movement.
What is an NFT artwork? NFT art is a digitalized piece of artwork that a person has tokenized onto a blockchain. Admittedly, that is not my jam as I like to look at art more traditionally. But Fer is multi talented, so she is an artist you can buy actual physical pieces from.
Fer is based out of Malvern now and Hands In on King St. They are located at 346 E. King St, Malvern. Now this business is owned by my friend Susie De Rafelo. Susie and I became friends because of a common love of gardening. Susie is amazing, (truly) and so multi talented and artistic. We are very lucky that this Chester County born woman returned to her roots and brought her business and imagination with her.
Hands In is a fair trade business. I am a fan of fair trade, as my long time friend Sherry Tillman has always practiced this through her business, Past*Present*Future , which is in Ardmore, PA.
Today started out like more of an average day. I also had hate mail in time for election day from some woman (a Stepford Wife for Totalitarianism) who should be ashamed of herself and her lack of intellectual ability, but she won’t be. She is a bless your heart and move on. You can read what she sent to me in my post this morning.
As humans, we are not designed to be mirror images of one and other. But in today’s hate and vitriol filled world, if you aren’t exactly like someone, you are bad. Ok, so to people like this morning’s fan, I am bad. If I don’t agree with someone on social media, I am bad. But I am tired of these people, and increasingly intolerant. I wasn’t born to live in a beige, beige world. I like color. I accept life can be messy, yet glorious. If you can’t, I am sorry, but that’s on you. These people are far too plentiful these days. And that is sad. But today, ugliness was once more balanced out with good. I appreciate that divine intervention, so to speak.
Thank you to the unintentionally inspirational women with whom I interacted today. You guys make life and the world a better place.
Yesterday was the celebration of Humphry Marshall’s 300th birthday and Marshallton was alive with happiness and history. It was so much fun!
These are the events I love. A pretty day spent with friends and family walking around a wonderfully pretty and historic village. I went around lunchtime and we started with lunch at the Four Dogs Tavern (fabulous), and then we explored. This way, I escaped the politicians who like to appear at fall events during election season.
I was a little disappointed the blacksmith shop was closed but thrilled that the Merchant of Menace was open!
I had a lovely afternoon. Enjoy the photos. I will also note that we are supporters of the Marshallton Conservation Trust.
