Category Archives: art

love is a flower and you have sown the seed

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This is art history for me. The art history of my kid years. My friend Carolyn is selling her parents’ house in Philadelphia as her life is elsewhere. Both her late parents were heavily involved in the arts in Philadelphia. Her mother was “the quilt lady” of my childhood and I loved to watch her at the Head House Craft Fair. Recently, the lovely lady who was handling the disposition of things arrived with a box of treasures.

The first photo in this post is a wood block carving by Margery Niblock. I am thrilled this now lives with me. I think it’s so cool. Next is a poster from the Head House Crafts Fair.

The Head House Crafts Fair. It was such a wonderful event. Even though I was just a kid, i’ve never forgotten it. It’s kind of the thing I used to gauge I think subconsciously craft and community fairs. The artisans were amazing at this fair. And a lot of them were friends of my parents, and my mother is one of the key people who put it together after Margery Niblock said it would be a great idea. And my friend Carolyn’s mom was “the quilt lady.”

So these are amazing gifts and mean a lot. It’s funny how decades have gone by, and I can still see, feel, and hear the sounds of this craft fair in the Head House Shambles in my head. I remember that Margery Niblock, and some of the other artists had their work hung on clotheslines quite literally. And you were just see them a little bit in the breeze. It was very cool. And there weren’t just crafts people and artists there. There were antique dealers with treasures for all pocketbooks, and there were workshops for kids that were really cool and not dumb downed stuff with Play-Doh. And there was all sorts of food, representing many different cultures.

People undoubtedly think that all of us Society Hill kids of this mid-60s to mid-70s era are a little nutty because it was kind of cool to be a kid there then. It was a more innocent an era for kids, for sure. It’s not like life was perfect and that there weren’t kids dealing with crazy family stuff because that’s any era at any time, but there were truly good and fun things like this crafts fair. Or going to Old Swedes (Gloria Dei) for Santa Lucia…and back then they used real candles.

Also in the gift box of memories were a whole slew of unframed Margery Niblock prints, and a couple of the prints were framed. And there was a poster of the craft fair and the marvelous poster of a slightly later vintage designed for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 1989. This was the year Margery also won a garden contest of theirs. A couple of years ago, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society discontinued their home gardeners gardening contests, which I think it’s a pretty poor decision, and it kind of has made me lose interest in them along with some other factors.

https://margeniblog.typepad.com/margery_niblock_/2006/08/frogs_in_my_gar.html

Related: https://societyhillcivic.org/foundation/wp-content/themes/BoilerSplatV2/newsletter/1976/1976-12.pdf

https://margeniblog.typepad.com/margery_niblock_/2007/02/city_hallphilad.html

https://octobergallery.com/2017/10/27/112929/

This was a beloved time capsule entrusted to me as the next steward of it. I accept that responsibility with a glad heart. It’s art and memories I love and the work of an artist that means something to me.

Another amazing thing included with what was gifted to me was a small quilt made by Carolyn‘s mother. It’s a pattern similar to what I was photographed watching her make that day all those decades ago.

Also included? An amazing piece of an old quilt framed. I am sure this was a quilt that Carolyn‘s mother discovered somewhere that was too old to repair so she took the corner of the quilt that had the signature on it and framed it….from 1843.

In a time when people just throw good art away, I am both lucky and grateful that one of the former league of original Society Hill- St. Peter’s kids. And the thing about art is it doesn’t have to be priceless, it just has to resonate with you. If you go to charity sales, or flea markets, there is a lot of art that needs adopting. Adopt a piece today!

Thanks for stopping by.

oh st.david’s fair!!! (50% off tomorrow 10 am – 2 pm!)

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If you missed the Saint Davids Fair today, you have a second chance tomorrow!

50% off tomorrow! Open to the public.

10 AM -2 PM. 763 S. Valley Forge Road Wayne, PA 19087 🐿️

This fair is a little slice of heaven. It is a throwback to simpler and nicer times, and a reminder of what can be. There are books, fabulous second hand Rose clothes for men and women, housewares, flea market, you name it.

There is also a big furniture tent and tomorrow everything is 50% off and it’s cash or card. I suggest bringing cash because the Internet is spotty over there and some parts of the property there’s no reception.

This fair benefits the church and their various mission and other charitable projects.

immaculata hit with federal law suit…my my my…

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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.

Academic drama popcorn, anyone?

Grimes v. Immaculata 82823Download

fun at frazer antiques

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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.

oh it’s a life’s patina weekend this weekend!

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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!

shipped fedex from beverly hills, ca to exton, pa then painting goes poof?

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NBC 10 Philadelphia’s Deanna Durante has done the most comprehensive reporting to date on what looks like an 18th century painting of an unknown man which quite literally walked OUT of a FedEx location in Exton. I am guessing the one on Creamery Way since they said not normally open to street traffic? Anyway the news says “FedEx Ground location” and it’s West Whiteland Police asking for the public’s help, so I am guessing this is the location still?

CBS 3 Philadelphia also covered this, MyChesco, Patch, and well me.

art theft in chester county from fedex ground location!

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?

making stained glass….in class!

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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.

Thanks for stopping by!

art theft in chester county from fedex ground location!

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OMG it’s an art heist right here in Chester County!

Another CrimeWatch PA announcement for West Whiteland Police Department caught my eye today:

West Whiteland Police Department:

THEFT OF PAINTING

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

Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://chester.crimewatchpa.com/westwhitelandpd/14787/cases/theft-painting

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?

Stay tuned.

go to the malvern retreat house art show on thru sunday afternoon

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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.

For more information please visit: www.malvernretreat.com

The grounds of Malvern Retreat House are also gorgeous and have an increasingly rare naturalistic beauty about them.

when scrooge pens an op-ed in the land of fake news…or much ado about theatre

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📌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.

Beth Ann Rosica: Alice in drag — curiouser and curiouser when it becomes a school field trip

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.

A LAND WHERE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE
People’s Light presents Jennifer Childs and Alex Bechtel’s Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Panto
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer Nov 22, 2022

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.

https://www.peopleslight.org/support/donate/

Follow the links posted to support our beloved regional and in some cases, local theatre company.

https://tickets.peopleslight.org/donate/contribute1

I sign off saying, here’s hoping everyone can find the magic of the season in their lives.

Pax.