The Chadds Ford Historical Society is introducing a new event for the holiday season. It’s Twilight Tidings at the Tavern, on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Barns-Brinton House in Chadds Ford.
Twilight Tidings at the Tavern, on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Barns-Brinton House.
Celebrate the season with a historic look at the four major holidays of the 18th century winter season: Christmas, New Year’s, Twelfth Night and Candlemas. Similar to the Society’s popular Tavern Talks format, Twilight Tidings at the Tavern will be a 90-minute open house where you can explore the 1714 tavern at your own pace, meeting guides in authentic colonial clothing, learning about holiday celebrations of the 18th century, and enjoying samples of historic holiday foods and complimentary beverages like wassail, mulled wine and punch.
Winter in colonial America gave people a chance to relax and unwind following the harvest and butchering seasons. People often took time to travel and visit friends and relations during the winter months. Unlike the 21st century, the winter calendar of the 18th century was not dominated by the celebration of Christmas. New Year’s and Twelfth Night were often more festive, and raucous, holiday celebrations that may last for days. Twilight Tidings at the Taverns is a unique historic experience in which you’ll participate in the recreation of four distinct 18th century holiday celebrations.
Twilight Tidings at the Tavern is a 21-and-over event at the Barns-Brinton House, on Route 1 in Pennsbury Township. There are two tour times available: 4 and 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 ($15 for CFHS members), and must be purchased in advance at the society’s website, www.chaddsfordhistory.org, by phone at 610-388-7376 or in person at the society’s office. Space is limited, and these tours will sell out. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and is located on N. Creek Road in Chadds Ford.
Visit www.chaddsfordhistory.org for additional information and tickets.
Happy Holidays! In step with of the rest of the country, I too, am entirely skipping over the Thanksgiving holiday and plunging right into December holiday madness and evidently, so is the local art and/or crafts bubble. So let’s jump right into some of the seasonal offerings that will get you in the spirit.
I’d like to say that I’m a great gift giver, although, like most people who make sloppy self proclamations, I probably am not. If you fall into the same boat, you should check out the myriad trunk shows/craft markets/art sales sprinkled along the art scene landscape in the upcoming weeks. You’ll be sure to pick up something unique and handmade.
Heron Crest Studios – 3100 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014
Located on the bank of the Chester Creek in Aston, PA, I would never have found Heron Crest had I not been on a specific mission to seek it out. And that’s what I love about it. In 2007, owners Claire Brill and Heidi Hammel created this space on the second floor of an old mill. It includes 19 studios, a gallery space, and hosts workshops at their artists request. Looking out of expansive windows onto the creek and adjoining woods creates a calming environment that envelops you as you peruse the studios.
Although primarily open by appointment, Heron Crest is hosting the second of their two week Show and Sale this weekend 11/18 – 11/19 from 11am – 5pm. I highly suggest you check out this spot, as there’s something for everyone. The featured artists come from a variety of disciplines including jewelry, painting, digital video, photography, print making, quilts and vintage patterns, mixed media and pottery. When I visited, I almost walked out with a felt hat or two. Just plug the address into Waze and check it out!
The Palette and The – 120 East Main St Elkton, MD 21921
The Palette and The Page is a woman owned gallery in Elkton, Maryland. If you’re up for the short hike, you’ll find an eclectic mix of paintings, sculpture and crafts. They feature artists from varying backgrounds. Currently Palette and Page is hosting guest artists, Rob Sigafoos and Katie Joy Nellis. Kennett’s own Rob Sigafoos of Vinewood Forge has been featured on Lele Galer’s Art Watch radio show and has work sprinkled throughout Kennett Square. At this point, his style has becoming a recognizable trademark of the Kennett aesthetic. He created the K2 Sculpture along State Street, as well as the outdoor sign of my favorite local haunt, Philter Coffee.
Katie Joy Nellis creates oil portraits on wood. She studied at Gordon College in Massachusetts and then in Orvieto, Italy. Her work blends traditional, and at times purposefully vintage, portraiture with rich, flowing streams of color to create an abstract and complex composition. Joy Nellis and Sigafoos create a harmonious team in their exhibition Flow of Oil, Curve of Steel-on view through November 25th.
The Palette and The Page is also hosting a Trunk Show on Saturday, December 9th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Their featured artist is buddying jewelry maker, Katherine Weber. At just 11 years old, she is certainly emerging and at an impressively young age.
Wayne Arts Center – 413 Maplewood Ave, Wayne, PA 19087
This weekend, Wayne Arts Center will be hosting a Craft Holiday Shopping Weekend on Saturday 11/18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11/19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you feel like going on a pretty drive through the Main Line this weekend, I suggest making Wayne Arts Center a spot on your tour. A beautifully renovated building, there’s always a few featured shows in rotation as well as several workshops ranging in genre from cooking classes to pottery. This weekend, however, they’ll be featuring wares for sale including apparel, jewelry, ceramics, home decor, gifts and cards and cuisine.
If you’re just window shopping, and want to peek into the current exhibits, you can catch the last day of the following shows (all of which end on 11/18):
Imprint and Mark: The Language of Perception
Fall Members Exhibition 2017
Reflections of Betty Newitt
Imprint and Mark: The Language of Perception is an interesting collaborative show featuring the work of three PAFA alumni, Roger Chavez, Mashiul Chowdhury, and Georganna Lenssen. If Chowdhury and Lenssen’s work looks familiar, they both exhibited at Church Street Gallery in West Chester. Lenssen is currently represented in West Chester by Church Street Gallery. I’m particularly drawn to this show as the work from each artist does draw from the tradition of landscape, or at least honors that style, while turning it on its’ head with thick color blotches, scratched surfaces, or minimalist composition. The correlation between these artists and the Brandywine tradition may seem tangential at best, but the colors (whether the muted wintry tones of Chavez which evoke Andrew Wyeth’s bleak, snowy landscapes, or Lanssen’s more autumnal palette which mirrors the bucolic fields of Chester County) grab at a nostalgic and less tangible nod to the art of the region. Go this weekend, before they start dismantling!
The Creamery – 401 Birch St. Kennett Square, PA 19348
The second annual Kennett Holiday Village Market will land at The Creamery for two weekends this year, 12/2 and 12/3, as well as 12/9 and 12/10 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. After receiving overwhelming community acclaim last year, this outdoor market has expanded to a second weekend. Featuring over 40 artisans, 12 bands, food trucks, hot and cold beverages of varying types (wink), the Holiday Village Market provides a magical winter wonderland backdrop to the otherwise thankless task of buying presents for other people. Last year, I pretty much started and completed my holiday shopping here. Meredith Langer of Historic Kennett Square lovingly selects vendors from the tri state area to share their unique wares. If you worry about finding something unique for your loved ones, look no further. Not even Etsy gets this good.
In addition to excellent handmade wares, fantastic food trucks, and fun music, The Holiday Village Market also features workshops, an ice sculptor, tree sale, and maybe Santa and his reindeer? Find out more at www.kennettholidayvillage.com
Painting by Maryanne Weselyk for Unionville Art Gala
You know the holidays are around the corner when the art and artisan shows start popping up on the weekends. Art is always the best gift, and there are so many places to buy that special hand-made work of art every weekend during the month of November!
The Annual Unionville Art Gala at Unionville High School in Kennett Square is Friday November 17th 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday November 18th from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. A percentage of the proceeds from the art sales goes to support the academic programs and projects for student at the high school, and this year’s featured artist is the delightful painter MaryAnn Weselyk. MaryAnn is also the featured solo artist at Church Street Gallery in West Chester where she has had an extremely successful show all month!
What is most unusual about the Unionville Art Gala is that 1/2 of the show is devoted to student art – many student artists are showing for the very first time, alongside established career artists – how cool! I ran this show for many years and was always amazed at the artwork that came from both the young students and the local artists of our area. Unlike many established shows, this is a place where many artists have their very first show – a fantastic encouragement to creativity and the local arts!
There are almost 100 artists displaying their art, students artists, a silent auction and also a big shindig of an event with free catered food, live music and a great party atmosphere on Friday. Saturday is a great time to bring the whole family and figure out what artwork you would like to purchase. A great annual event, The Unionville Art Gala is a must-go-to for November!! Go to www.unionvilleartgala.com or www.facebook/UnionvilleArtGala for a listing of the artists and a description of the big art event.
Sunflower Vase by Marsha Dowshen, Haverford Guild
Another terrific multi-artist event is The Haverford Guild of Craftsmen Fine Arts and Crafts Show at the Agnes Irwin School is November 18th 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and November 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are too many artists to list, but here is a sampling: paintings by Madeleine Kelly, Sue Stefanski, and Deena Ball, fiber arts by Kathryn Pokalo and Patrick Carrow, jewelry by Caryn Hetherston, Carol McGarvey, Sharon Morse, Maxine Burkholder, and Elizabeth Coats, ceramics by Phyllis Aaron, Peter Cunicelli, Annette Debevec, and Marsha Dowshon. Go to the website www.haverfordguild.org to see a complete listing of the artists and examples of their beautiful work.
Galer Estate Winery by John Hannafin
This weekend Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery happily celebrates their 6th Anniversary with an all weekend long pop up show by local celebrated painter John Hannafin, who will include newly painted images of the winery and vineyard. The painting show starts Friday November 17th and continues through Sunday November 19th, with live music every day, plus food offerings, winery tours and raffles. The following Thanksgiving weekend, November 24 to 26, 23 artists show at Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery for “Lele Galer and Friends”; with sculpture, paintings, drawings, ceramics and jewelry made by wonderful people and terrific artists. The closing artist reception will be Sunday November 26th starting at 3 p.m. Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery is located just behind Longwood Gardens, at 700 Folly Hill Road in Kennett Square.
Stay tuned on Wednesday November 15th from 1 to 1:30 p.m. when I will be interviewing artists Robert Jackson and Mark Dance and Mala Galleria owner Stella Scott on Art Watch Radio, WCHE 1520, to chat with them about their new shows. November 22, wine expert Denise Gardner and Galer Estate winemaker Virginia Mitchell interview guests about the art of wine.
November 29, I will be talking with Vickie Manning of Somerville Manning Gallery in Greenville and her artists for the month of December: Greg and Jon Mort. Check out Art Watch radio every Wednesday when various guest hosts interview and chat with the movers and shakers in our local art world, WCHE am radio 1520 form 1-1:30. For past broadcasts go to www.lelegaler.com.
Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Associated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square.
Nell J. Harper (Hodge), 80, of Toughkenamon, died suddenly on Sunday, Nov. 12. She was the wife of Junior Ray Harper, who died in 1991, and with whom she shared 33 years of marriage.
Nell J. Harper
Born in Butler, Tenn., on March 10, 1937, to the late John L. Hodge and the late Bessie Elkins Hodge.
Nell was a certified nursing assistant at Pocopson Home for more than 20 years; she had a passion and love for taking care of others.
All the neighborhood kids thought of her home as their second home, she always loved having a lot of people around, and all who met her were welcomed in her home. She was always ready to cook you a good southern meal; she would have fed the world if she had the means to, no one ever left her house hungry. She always went above and beyond to make sure her kids and grandkids were well taken care of, even when times were hard, she seemed to have a knack for stretching a dollar as far as it would go.
Nell enjoyed spending time with her family and the trips to Tennessee and the Outer Banks. She enjoyed listening to country music, especially Alan Jackson, whom she got to see in concert in Atlantic City, which she talked about for many years afterward. She loved kids and animals especially her dog Spookers. Nell was loved by all who had the pleasure to know her and she will be dearly missed.
She is survived by her Son Tom Harper, West Grove, daughters Brenda Rominger (Spencer) of Avondale, Sandra Harper-Winnington and Dianna Harper both of Toughkenamon; one brother Kenneth Roark, Brookhaven, three sisters, Rose Dickens of West Grove, Peggy Knolles of Oxford, and Helen Roark of West Chester; four grandchildren, Rodney Rominger, Crystal Rominger , Desiree Harper and Matthew Harper, and one great-granddaughter, Jacqueline Fahey.
She was predeceased by her oldest son Bobby Harper; two brothers, James B. and Gene Hodge and one sister Sarah Francis.
You are invited to visit with her family and friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, and again from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home, 250 West State Street, Kennett Square, PA. Her Funeral service will follow at 11. Burial will be in Union Hill Cemetery, Route 82, Kennett Square.
Rosendo Lopez Rodriguez, 86, of Kennett Square, died Thursday, Nov. 9, at his residence. He was the husband of Maria Vazquez de Lopez, with whom he shared 65 years of marriage.
Rosendo Lopez Rodriguez
Born in Rancho La Ordena, Moroleon, GTO, Mexico, he was the son of the late Jose Lopez Zavala and the Leonila Rodriguez Zavala.
He was a mushroom worker at Kaolin Mushroom Co., retiring in 1995.
Rosendo was a member of St., Rocco Catholic Church. He enjoyed growing corn, working in the fields, farming, music and being with his family and friends.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by four sons, Jesus Lopez Vazquez of Kennett Square, Rafael Lopez Vazquez of Toughkenamon, Miguel Lopez Vazquez of Wilmington, and Juan Lopez Vazquez of Loudon, Tenn.; four daughters, Fidelia Lopez de Guerrero and Maria Isabel Lopez de Guerrero, both of Kennett Square, Guadalupe Lopez Vazquez of Mexico and Josefina Lopez de Sanchez of Toughkenamon; 53 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren; four brothers and three sisters.
He was predeceased by twin sons, Jose and Jesus Lopez Vazquez, a son Jose Lopez Vazquez and one daughter, Teresa Lopez Vazquez.
You are invited to visit with his family and friends from 10 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, at St. Rocco Catholic Church, 313 Sunny Dell Road, Avondale, PA. His funeral mass will follow at 11. Burial will be in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Route 82, Kennett Square.
To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, please visit www.griecocares.com
Arrangements by the Cleveland & Grieco Funeral Home, Avondale.
Theresa A. Skelton, 80, of West Grove, died Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Jennersville Regional Hospital.
Born in Avondale, she was the daughter of the late Nicholas LePore, Sr and the late Anna Bove LePore.
Theresa enjoyed watching her daughter bowl, playing cards and being with her family.
She is survived by one daughter, Terri Bollinger and her husband Joe of West Grove; one brother, Pat Lepore of Landenberg; two sisters, Rosemarie Cook of Elkton, Md. and Jean Mancino of Wilmington; three grandchildren, Mindy Whitmer, Joey Bollinger and Andrew Bollinger; and three great-grandchildren, Lydia Whitmer, Ariel Whitmer and Asa Whitmer.
Theresa was predeceased by two brothers, Nicholas Lepore, Jr. and Vince LePore; and two sisters, Mary Woytko and Louise Miller.
Her service and burial will be held privately
In memory of Theresa, a donation may be made to the charity of your choice.
Arrangements by the Foulk & Grieco Funeral Home, West Grove.
