August 18, 2020 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Art Live: County Studio Tour is on

Flower (white) - Watercolor Painting by Pam McKee — Flower White watercolor by Pam McKee

The County Studio Tour is on! Well, at least for Chester County. While the pandemic put the kibosh on both the Delco and Montco tours this year, founder Jeff Schaller was able to keep the Chesco tour alive. This year 136 artists are participating at 55 studios. It’s the 10^th Anniversary of this tour and that’s something to celebrate during this otherwise somber year. Many artists are opening their doors in and around our area and all the studios will be considering health and safety precautions due to Covid-19. I’ll be sharing profiles of participating artists leading up to the tour dates of September 19^th and 20th.

Small Butterflies – ceramic vessel by Karen O’Lone-Hahn

Landenberg artist Karen O’Lone-Hahn will be showing her colorful ceramics at Pam McKee’s Studio in Downingtown (#11 in the catalog). O’Lone-Hahn’s pottery is cheerful. Her functional pieces are made from white stoneware or porcelain and she achieves her bright colors by firing her kiln multiple times. In addition to her smaller pieces, this year she will also feature larger porcelain paper clay pieces and accent lamps. She is looking forward to the event. “I am a real people person and I am missing the camaraderie of being with my fellow artists and patrons.” Along with McKee and two other artists at Studio #11, they are considering safety measures for visitors now. “We are planning ways in which our visitors and each other can feel safe in the space and feel the joy of interacting with artists and viewing the art in a real and personal way.”

When asked how she handled working in the studio and trying to plan during quarantine, Hahn said, “I felt a bit less stressed and free to explore making new forms without the deadlines of a lot of upcoming shows. That’s a double edged sword. Also, I was able to take the time to develop an inventory system.” Hahn took further advantage of the downtime to pursue other avenues for her work. “I submitted my work for sale to Uncommon Goods and happily, I just got a deal with them for two lines of my mugs on their website. I have work on exhibit in the member’s gallery of the Rehoboth Art League in Delaware and am now being represented at The Artists Emporium Gallery in Havre de Grace, Maryland.” Hahn will continue to pursue online avenues to share her work but said, “Serious art lovers will return to the galleries and art events – when they feel comfortable to do so.” Hahn can’t wait to get back to real life. In addition to the studio tour, she is participating in the annual Hagley Craft Fair in Wilmington, scheduled to take place October 17th and 18th. For more information about O’Lone-Hahn, visit her website here.

Detail of Petals – Watercolor Painting by Pam McKee

Pam McKee creates realistic works in watercolor and specializes in the details and symmetry found in nature. She can capture the tiniest lines in a petal all the while keeping a light touch resulting in paintings of flowers that look light and airy, and real. Early on, McKee took classes in botanical illustration and gained a lot of experience. She has spent many years painting and teaching art, and her work is widely exhibited in the Delaware Valley. Her pleasure lies in creating her work, not promoting it so leading up to the studio tour, she has continued to focus on painting. During quarantine she increased her presence online but mostly used the time to create and experiment with art ideas. “My time in the studio is a refuge from the news and it’s resulted in being a little more introspective so I think my work reflects that. I gather vines and berries and flowers from the woods and dye them in a water bath before painting on top. This process forces my creativity to really see what I can paint.”

Abstract Watercolor Painting by Pam McKee

Studio #11 is located at McKee’s old farmhouse (circa 1750) in Downingtown. Patrons will be welcomed to the studio, the garage space display and the front porch as well as other space on the property. McKee said, “Masks will be required and this year we will forego the mimosas! We are also reducing the numbers of patrons allowed inside at any given time.” Lin Webber and Joanne Orth are also showing at Studio #11. Stay tuned for more information about these artists and others in the coming weeks. For all the details on Chester County Studio Tour, being held on Saturday, September 19^th and Sunday September 20^th, visit the website here.

In other art news, Chester County Art Association (CCAA) is happy to announce that there will be exhibitions this fall. They are moving to a virtual platform starting in September. Check the website here for more details.

Whatever you do this week, support the arts!!

About Constance McBride

A native of Philadelphia, Constance McBride lived in Arizona for 16 years, where desert observations made a transformative impact on her work as a research based visual artist. Passionate about contemporary art, she was actively engaged in the local arts community. She served as a board member for several art organizations, managed an artist collective/gallery space, curated and juried several exhibitions and wrote for two arts publications in Phoenix. She taught ceramics at Shemer Art Center and Museum and exhibited her work both locally and nationally. McBride returned to Pennsylvania in 2018 and resides in Chester Springs with her husband and two dogs. In West Chester, she serves as a board member at The Art Trust Gallery at Meridian Bank and teaches ceramics at Chester County Art Association. She also teaches at Clay on Main in Oley, PA. She is a member of American Craft Council, Philadelphia Sculptors, and Women’s Caucus for Art, Philadelphia Chapter.

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Board revises UCF reopening

School & Education

School Board Wiork session — Board revises UCF reopening

Unionville -Chadds Ford School Board directors Monday night revised the district’s reopening plan. Instead of opening with a hybrid model, as the board approved on Aug. 3, the new school year will only open with online instruction on Sept. 8. The vote was a unanimous 9-0.

The move came as a result of a recommendation from the Chester County Health Department. Superintendent of Schools John Sanville alerted the community to the possibility of the change last Friday when he sent a message saying he had received the new recommendation the night before.

He said during the Aug. 17 work session that, based on conversations with the district’s attorneys and insurance company, the Health Department’s recommendation was more than just a guideline because the district’s potential liability “is considerable, should we ignore the recommendation from the Chester County Health Department.”

“In reality, it’s a mandate,” he said. “Now we’re left with the task of starting over again as to how we’re going to open schools in person. I’m hopeful we’re going to be able to do that by Oct. 9.”

The distant learning will continue through Oct. 9 when it will be reevaluated. The administration is working on a new health and safety plan that will be presented for discussion in September and would be ready in October, Sanville added.

Monday night’s vote came after a long discussion among board members and comments from parents who phoned into the meeting. The comments from residents were not unanimous. Some said they wanted schools to reopen in person while others said the online approach was safer.

One resident, Carmen DiMario, of Birmingham Township, said the Health Department’s guidelines were just that, guidelines, not law, and that the school board should make its own decisions based on what most of the parents have said they want, a return to five-day in-person school.

Brian Lamb, from Pennsbury Township, said the Health department’s recommendations are “self-contradicting, baseless and unjustified” because the incident rates and positive tests of the virus are less than the department’s stated thresholds.

“The threshold given by the Health Department to go 100 percent virtual is an incident rate of 80, and we’re at 36, and PCR Test positivity is 10 percent, and we’re currently at 3 [percent]. So, starting in a virtual-only mode is in direct contradiction to the department’s own criteria.”

Still another person, Brian Dougherty, of West Marlborough, said those who want schools to open in person “don’t take this seriously, understand the real risks, and entertain the belief that the global pandemic is a hoax. This is not a hoax. And if you haven’t met someone who’s been infected, hospitalized or died, you’re simply lucky.”

Several school board directors, such as Board President Jeff Hellrung, and member Joh Murphy, said they were dismayed by the Health Department’s recommendation and that the department had pulled the rug out from under the board. Sanville made the same comment earlier in the meeting.

Hellrung also said that despite the change, people should do whatever it takes to get the schools to properly reopen in-person by continuing to maintain social distancing, wash their hands, and wear masks.

If the Oct. 9 reevaluation shows schools can reopen fully, that would likely happen on Oct. 13.

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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