Gail Chase, 59, of West Grove, died at her home as she wished, on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Gail Chase
Born in Jennersville, Gail was the daughter of late Lovell T. Chase and Edna Kirk Chase.
She was the beloved mother of Brian Shepard; sister of Linda C. Brown, Thomas K. Chase, Michael K. Chase. and (Elizabeth) Faye White. Gail is also survived by her mother Edna Kirk Chase.
A celebration of Gail’s life is being planned for this spring. Additional information will be announced.
Gail was adamant that no flowers be sent. Please consider a memorial donation to help others. Brandywine Valley SPCA, https://bvspca.org/, Lions Club of Kennett Square, P.O. BOX 413, Kennett Square, PA 19348 or Kennett Food Cupboard, https://www.kacsonline.net/food-cupboard.html
In a meeting interrupted by a wind-blown loss of Internet connection at the municipal building, Birmingham Township supervisors approved one request and tabled several other items.
During the March 1 session conducted via Zoom, the board did hear and approve a request for a new sign at Birmingham Friends Meeting. The HARB had recommended granting the certificate during its February meeting, according to township secretary Quina Nelling. The new sign will be larger — four by three feet — double-sided and will hang from a black metal support attached to a stone pillar that will match the building.
Chris Lang, representing the meeting, said the old sign is at least 40 years old and is “decrepit and small. It looks like it might be for a museum. Our goal is to make a sign that’s larger so we can be identified by people driving by. We want people to know we’re alive and well and that we’re not a museum.”
That passed 3-0. But then nature interfered with technology when the Internet connection was lost at the township building where Supervisors’ Chairman Scott Boorse was presiding over the session. That connection was down for several minutes before Boorse got back online using his cell phone. However, his video would freeze, and the audio would squeak and reverberate intermittently.
At the time, the board was hearing a request to support lifting a restriction in the Legacy Lane Homeowners Association preventing the installation of in-ground swimming pools in the backyards of homes on the north side of the street. That restriction was also noted in the subdivision plans, according to attorney Vince Pompo.
Pompo said the pools would not be visible from Wylie Road because of the hilly terrain and because of the plantings that act as a buffer. After a long discussion centering on why the restriction existed at all, Boorse — who was finally able to rejoin the session — suggested that any decision should wait until the board could determine the original reason for the restriction and to determine whether a decision would have any other unintended effect.
A decision was also deferred to a later date for a request from Linda Kaat for signage about the Marquis de Lafayette, who was wounded during the Battle of Brandywine in 1777. Kaat was representing the Pennsylvania Sons of the Revolution and the American Friends of Lafayette,
Kaat said those two organizations are dedicated to providing historical information to Birmingham Township residents about the battle and, specifically, about Lafayette, who came to the Americas to fight for independence from Great Britain and became Gen. George Washington’s youngest general officer.
The two groups met with the Brandywine Conservancy and the township Recreation, Parks, and Open Space Committee, Kaat said to discuss plans for signage at observation points “describing Lafayette’s heroism and dedication to winning the revolution.”
Kaat said the groups want to work with the conservancy and township on the style of signage and would fund the project fully.
The exact location of where Lafayette was wounded is unclear. Some say he was shot at Birmingham Hill, while others say it was at Sandy Hollow. Kaat acknowledged that, when asked later in life where he was shot, Lafayette couldn’t say for certain. And that’s what led Boorse to want to know exactly where the sign or signs would be placed.
RPOS is also working on some signage for Birmingham Hill, and the Brandywine Battlefield Taskforce is also working on erecting signs in the area.
Because of the potential proliferation of signage and without knowing exactly how the signs would look, the board tabled further discussion until more specific information was available.
Boorse said the discussion might be “premature.”
“There might be a fair bit of collaboration that should probably take place between RPOS, the Historic Commission about the sign and to determine what it is and how to represent Gen. Lafayette and his contributions to the American Revolution,” Boorse said.
Kaat agreed, as did members of the RPOS and Historic Commission.
The board also continued a hearing on the Verizon Cable Franchise ordinance hearing and a discussion on East Bradford Township’s official map.
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.
More than 800 people responded to a survey about the future of the Kennett Greenway, the results of which will be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the Kennett Township supervisors.
“There’s a groundswell of enthusiasm from the community,” Kennett Township Manager Eden Ratliff said in a recent interview. “We’re excited by the significant response by the community.”
The survey results are the fourth item on the supervisors’ agenda. The online meeting begins at 7 p.m.
The supervisors’ meeting is just one of the ways that Greenway organizers and township officials are reaching out to the public. Other meetings include a special meeting of the Kennett Township Trails and Sidewalks Committee on March 12, a design review with residents of Chandler Mill, Round Hill, and Falcon’s Lair on March 16, a public design review on March 18, and a public discussion of the Greenway plans at a special supervisors’ meeting on March 25.
“This is a project that is designed to connect and bring the community together,” said Christina Norland, the executive director of the Kennett Trails Alliance. “These initial sessions are part of this process.
“We have throughout this process been listening to (residents’) concerns and desires and look forward to engaging them in this process going forward.”
What residents and the public will see is preliminary engineering of potential options, Norland explained, “not final engineering.”
The Kennett Greenway, when finished, will “connect five municipalities, 10 parks and preserves, 1,500 acres of open space, and over 12,000 residents in Kennett Township and Kennett Borough.”
For more information on the Greenway, go to kennettgreenway.com. For more information about the upcoming meetings, go to Kennett Township’s website at kennett.pa.us.
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.
Jenkintown artist, Teresa Shields has always pushed boundaries with her fiber works, but the pandemic helped nudge her into an exciting new direction. Fans of her fine, detailed embroidered fruits and vegetables, as seen recently at The Art Trust, may see her new work as a departure but it really fits nicely into Shields oeuvre.
Pod necklace in Shades of Green and Blue by Teresa Shields
Her solo exhibition “Appendages” at Gravers Lane Gallery is aptly titled. It features dangly felt pieces sculpted into organic shapes that jut out from their bases. The time to produce this work came during quarantine when Shields was able to harness skills she picked up in 2016 at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. When asked how much of a departure the felting was from her embroidery work, Shields said, “It started out with looking at cell structures and structures in nature. Instead of just looking at the inside of a tomato, I’m now looking at seed pods, so that was the bridge to this work.” Shields added “I look at plant forms, geometry, colors, cell structures, bones and more to see the underlying connections what these things have in common. By using math to calculate shrinkage of wool fibers and partially-felted shapes, I reverse-engineer geometric or biomorphic three dimensional sculptures.”
Embroidery Works by Teresa Shields
Shields credits her Penland instructor Lisa Klakulak, saying, “She was the right teacher for me. I wanted to understand it and she’s the kind of teacher who wants you to know what she knows. She keeps no secrets and gives it all to you.” After nailing the sculpting down, Shields used a mounting idea she had cooked up years ago with contractors hired for a home renovation. “The guys all had art degrees. I learned a lot about wood from them. One day I showed the project manager a little wood square I was toying with and he said, you should put a magnet behind it.” The idea of inserting magnets to the back of custom cut wood disks as well as inside the felt sculptures gave rise to an array of mysterious extremities which can be configured into endless arrangements.
Shields mentioned a scene from the series “The Queen’s Gambit”, “The character lays in bed at night using the ceiling to envision her moves on the chess board. I lay in bed at night and use the ceiling to lay out my felt designs. I’m always thinking about it.” Regarding color, Shields likes to use those that are next to each other in the rainbow, gradations of one color and she’ll pair opposite colors too. A good example of gradations is Shields’ stunning necklace on display in the gallery. She makes little felt earrings too.
Among the Trees by Madeleine Kelly at Square Pear
Gravers Lane is the perfect location for her work. The gallery has been featuring fine craft since it opened in 2010. Bruce Hoffman became the director in 2012. He’s been active with the Philly art scene as an artist, writer and curator since his early days at The Works Gallery in Old City. Hoffman met Shields several years ago when she and her husband purchased an engagement ring from him. “Then about four years ago, I was asked to jury a Cheltenham Art Center show. She came in and thanked me for choosing her work for it and I said, what are you talking about? I didn’t know you were an artist. She didn’t want to show me her work. From then on, I told her I wanted to show it.”
“Appendages” is on view through March 22nd at Gravers Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill. Contact Bruce@graverslanegallery.com to make an appointment for a one-on-one conversation with Shields. Visit here for gallery hours. This show will also be featured during Craft NOW”s virtual First Friday Preview on Thursday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Nastassja E. Swift, an artist in the show highlighted last week, “Making Marks: Figural Identity, Transfiguration and Receptive Tactility” at Pentimenti Gallery, will be on board too, presenting her fiber sculptures. Click here to join the Zoom.
Peonies by Candace Zacher at Square Pear
Closer to home: Square Pear Gallery is hosting the Philadelphia Water Color Society (PWCS) Board Member Show this month. PWCS is one of the few water color societies that accepts “works on paper” to include watercolor, pastel, charcoal, graphite, acrylic, gouache, colored pencil, pen/ink and hand pulled prints. Artists include Radhika Srinivas, Madeleine Kelly, Carrie Cheunge, Jeanne Gunther, Denise Vittolo, Judith Hummer, Jane McGovern, Candace Zacher, George Gallatig, Joe Milligan, Frank Wengen and Diane Keesee. PWCS was founded in 1900. Past members included George Bellows, Violet Oakely, Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, John Singer Sargent, Jessie Wilcox Smith, N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth to name just a few of America’s leading watercolorists. Visit here for details.
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.
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.
