May 2, 2018 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Mixed Media: May First Friday

Welp. So much for spring. I went from using the heater to swiftly turning on the air conditioner today in my apartment. What happened to the chunk of time when you can let the breeze in and it’s perfect? Oh, that was called Tuesday.

Not that I’m complaining! It’s perfect weather for an art stroll and it just so happens that this Friday is the May First Friday. We’ve got a few things lined up for you. First, let’s take a look at Wilmington. On Thursday night, Carspecken and Scott gallery will be featuring painter, Frances Roosevelt. I will get this out in the open now. Frances is my mother, and yes while I may be somewhat biased, although her work really speaks for itself. You may have seen her paintings at the Scarlett Thicket farm show which takes place every June out in Unionville. Her pieces, usually abstractions of Chester County landscapes or her hometown Charleston, SC landscapes are bright, vibrant and full of movement. You may view her work at Somerville Manning as well, but this reception is an opportunity to see the artists’ new work, as well mingle and enjoy a glass of wine at the reception. Stop by between 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to meet the artist! I’ll see you there.

Coming up on Thursday, will be the reception for “Nurture to Nature” at Gallery 222. This exhibition features work by painters Kristi Spillman Gilfillan and Joan Spillman. Kristi’s paintings reflect the landscapes of Chester County, as well as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. She exhibits locally and in plein air events as well. Joan Spillman, her mother, paints oil landscapes as well, and exhibits in the mid Atlantic region. This exhibition will be on display through May 26. Join Gallery 222 to ring in the opening reception from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3rd.

Friday, we have a lot going on. Station Gallery, in conjunction with the Wilmington Art Loop, will be hosting a reception for their upcoming show “Variations” New Pastels by Mary Pritchard. Pritchard is a landscape artist who has mastered the medium of oil pastels. Full disclosure, oil pastels have always proved wildly difficult for me, so I applaud this. Station Gallery describes this show: “Variations explores favorite themes and landscapes from different angles, seasons, and times of day. Scenes from coastal Maine; barns of Chestertown, Maryland; and river grasses and reflections are included in this solo exhibit.” Pop by this reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

Delaware Contemporary will be unveiling four new shows during the Wilmington Art Loop, so be sure to take in their offerings this Friday. First, the exhibition “Don’t Look For Me,” featuring Kenny Rivero will be on display. This exhibition has an interactive quality leading up to it as the artist will be painting live in the Avery Draper Gallery where attendees will have the opportunity to meet him. His work, dark and cryptic, reminds me a bit of Basquiat’s paintings mixed with a little Miro. His large oil and acrylic paints read like a ransom note, or hieroglyphics. The playful, bright colors mixed with the sinister vibes either from the jet black canvas or the nefarious looking creatures he creates, really appeal to me personally. I enjoy a good contradiction, and Rivero’s work appears to be just that. He will finish up his live drawing at 5 p.m. May 4th just in time for the reception.

Installation artist Jennifer Borders will introduce her new installation, “I Hear America Singing.” The piece incorporates video art, as well as audio transcriptions of protest poetry. Famous protesters and poets both historical and modern will be featured including: Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, the student Emma Gonzalez and more.

Check out the University of Delaware Master of Fine Arts Exhibition entitled “Cadence” as well. This group exhibition features Dona Altemus, Lisa Bennett, Rayna DeReus, Daniel Dias, Phat Le, Townley Mateson, Celeste Morton, Kate Testa, and Simone Welsh. While you’re there check out the 2018 Friends Juried Exhibition. The show is put on by The Creative Vision Factory’s Michael Kalmbach featuring Friends of The Delaware Contemporary. Artists Paula Cahill, Brian Conaty, Phyllis Gorsen, Suzy Kopf, and Gregg Morris. The linear, and geometric themes of this exhibition unite all of the contributing artists.

Really quickly, let’s pop on over to West Chester. Art Trust will be hosting a preview of the Chester County Studio Arts Tour Friday May 4th from 5 to 9 p.m. The Tour a great event that I will cover more extensively next week. Check out this reception which features work by participating Chester County Studio Arts Tour artists! The Tour will be happening May 19 and 20th.

As always, tune in to WCHE 1520 AM for Art Watch. This Wednesday join Margaret Winslow, Curator of Contemporary Art at The Delaware Art Museum as she hosts Delaware Contemporary’s Joseph Gonzalez & Morgan Hamilton. Until next time!

About Caroline Roosevelt

Caroline Roosevelt is a writer and artist based in Kennett Square, PA. She received her B.A. in Art History from Connecticut College and a Post Baccalaureate certificate from Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has previously written art coverage in Seattle, WA and Philadelphia, PA. She currently co-hosts Art Watch radio on 1520 WCHE.

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Rotary honors trooper, learns texting dangers

Along the Ford

_1JF5456-Luke-snd-Will — Pastor Will Stern, of Hope Presbyterian Church, presents the Trooper of the Year Award to Tpr. Luke McIlvaine.

The Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary honored a state trooper and learned the dangers of distracted driving during the group’s May 2 lunch meeting at Pescatores Restaurant.

Tpr. Luke McIlvaine was named Trooper of the Year and was thanked by the Rotary after a brief introduction from his supervisor, Cpl. Matthew Sheeren. Sheeren said McIlvaine is willing to take any assignment given to him, is always the first to help, will volunteer for assignments without hesitation “and always treats the public with respect.”

Sheeren referenced McIlvaine’s statistics, citing more than 50 narcotics arrests, five gun-arrests along with more than 100 other felony and misdemeanor arrests in 2017. Even on the way to the Rotary lunch, McIlvaine made a traffic stop and apprehended an individual wanted for theft.

Pastor Will Stern, of Hope Presbyterian Church in Concord Township, made the actual presentation.

Following the Trooper of the Year ceremony, Westtown-Goshen Rotary Vice President Mark Rudiger gave a presentation on Rotarians Against Distracted Driving, focusing on the dangers of texting while driving.

He said 7,000 people die and up to 150,000 people are seriously injured every year due to distracted driving, primarily from texting.

“It’s getting worse,” he said. “Five to six years ago deaths on the highway, which had peaked at 55,000 got down to 30,000 but right now, it’s going the other way. In the last two or three years, deaths on the highway are going up 15 percent per year and pedestrian deaths are going up 23 percent.”

He said those increases are all due to distracted driving and distracted walking because “people are texting in the car and people are walking while doing the same thing.”

To make the point stronger, Rudiger cited the 17 shooting deaths at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 of this year. “Seventeen people die every day because of texting while driving…The epidemic we have today is caused by behavior.”

In an attempt to stem that epidemic, Rudiger gave everyone a handout with statistics and a pledge card with a promise not to text. He said he wanted the Concordville-Chadds Ford group to buy more of those handouts and take them to local schools to get kids to sign them, and to get their parents to initial that they, too, are aware of the dangers of distracted driving.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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Pocopson board hear more on Barnard House

Local News, Local News Pocopson

A descendant of the Barnard family asked the Pocopson Township supervisors to consider turning the historic Barnard House into a Quaker Heritage Center.

Loraine Lucas read a letter at Monday’s meeting on behalf of the Barnard family’s relatives and friends, asking that it be considered one of the options in the feasibility study currently underway by GKO Architects.

“We feel it was important to identify the interest of the family for the record here tonight,” Lucas read. “Relatives and friends of the Barnard family would like to propose an option and enter into negotiations for their pledge of the restoration, maintenance and usage of the house as a Quaker Heritage Center of the Pocopson Township. We admire the hard work and efforts the Pocopson Historic Committee has completed on the Locust Grove Schoolhouse over the years by maintaining and improving a historic structure with little financial impact to the township taxpayers. Our intent is to follow a similar approach.”

Chester County transferred 68 acres and the historic Eusebius Barnard House to the township in 2008. A steering committee to discuss options for the property met from 2009 to 2015. Because of mounting costs to repair the historic house, a decision on what to do with the property was delayed while the supervisors met with county and township officials and mulled a feasibility study. One of the ideas for the building was as a future home for the township.

In July 2017, Pocopson supervisors awarded GKO the bid for a feasibility study. In October, the supervisors announced that the Barnard House property was “not feasible as a township building,” according to minutes from the Oct. 30 supervisors’ meeting.

The current feasibility study is looking at uses for both the Barnard House and the township administration building on Denton Hollow Road. A public meeting/open house on the feasibility study designs has not yet been scheduled.

Locust Grove Schoolhouse

There will be a volunteer day at the Locust Grove Schoolhouse on June 8, according to Don McKay, chairman of the township’s Historical Committee.

Approximately 15 volunteers will be there to help with exterior work.

Volunteers have been restoring the historic one-room schoolhouse over the past several years. Recently volunteers installed oak flooring.

To read more about the work that’s been done, check out the Historical Committee’s Website at locustgroveschoolhouse.org.

McKay also said the committee is working on restarting the historic talks in the township. In the fall they are hoping to partner with East Bradford and East Marlborough townships to talk about the trolley that ran through the area, he said.

About Monica Fragale

Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.

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John F. Cavanaugh of Kennett Square

Obituaries

John F. Cavanaugh, 89, of Kennett Square, died Monday, April 30, at his home at Freedom Village in Coatesville. He was the husband of Esther Sommers Cavanaugh with whom he shared 56 years of marriage. Born in Philadelphia, he was a son of the late John F. and the late Helen E. Poole Cavanaugh.

John served our country in the Army Engineers during the Korean War. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture in 1958. He was the owner of the family business: Davis, Poole & Sloan Associates, an architectural firm which was founded in 1938. Projects included but were not limited to the Philadelphia Civic Center, regional hospitals and prisons, public schools, the Church of the Holy Apostles in Penn Wayne, several Mormon churches, Bell Telephone buildings, and numerous projects for the city of Philadelphia. He was a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, the American Institute of Architects, Tacony Lodge No. 600 of Free & Accepted Masons, and the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Kennett Square where he participated on many committees.

Survivors include, in addition to his wife, one son, John F. Cavanaugh III and his wife Karen of Coatesville; two daughters, Esther Brink and her husband Gregory of Downingtown, and Helen Bilinski and her husband Raymond of Kennett Square; one brother, Walter J. Cavanaugh of Glen Mills and four grandchildren, Catherine, Raymond, Esther, and David.

A memorial service in celebration of John’s life will be held 11 a.m. Monday, May 7, at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, 401 N Union St. Kennett Square. Interment will be in the adjoining memorial garden. Contributions in his memory may be made to Church of the Advent 201 Crestline Drive, Kennett Square, PA 19348. Arrangements are being handled by the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home Inc. (610-444-4116) of Kennett Square. To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, please visit www.griecocares.com

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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Police Log May 2: Accidents, thefts, scam

Police

• A 22-year-old man was cited following a one-car accident in Pocopson Township on April 24. A report from the Avondale barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police said Cristian Gasca, of Kennett Square, was also injured after the Toyota Highlander he was driving ran off the Lenape Road near Red Bridge Lane at 8:49 a.m. Police said the vehicle struck a ditch.

• A West Chester man told police $1,000 was stolen after he left his wallet and cellphone at a store in East Marlborough Township. According to police, the man returned to the store and an employee returned the items saying another customer had found them. However, the 60-year-old victim said the money was missing from his wallet. The incident happened March 29, between 3 and 3:30 p.m.

• . Police are investigating a reported burglary in Pocopson Township. A state police report said several pieces of jewelry were missing as were bank checks totaling more than $2,000. The incident happened sometime between April 8 and 22 on Deblyn V Lane.

• A passenger in a Dodge Journey was injured and taken to Christiana Hospital after a deer ran into the side of the vehicle on Route 926 on March 24 at 2 p.m. Police said the deer “fled” into a wooded area near the scene.

• According to Southern Chester County Regional Police, Lenard E. Ruebeck, 26, of New Castle, was charged with several theft offenses, following the investigation into a report that he scammed students at the Kennett Middle School into making donations for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, only to deposit the donated money, totaling $123, into his own personal checking account. The Kennett Middle School administration reported that between August and November of 2017, Ruebeck ran a fundraiser for the LLS by informing students about diseases, through seminars held during class and gym.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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