•The next Chadds Ford Business Association meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 14. The breakfast meeting will be in Turner’s Mill, the Chadds Ford Township municipal building. Breakfast will be provided by Oso Sweet Bakery. Speakers include Supervisors Samantha Reiner and Noelle Barbone, and Anthony Young, owner of Hank’s place will update the group on what’s happening at the restaurant. The cost for the breakfast is $20, for members and nonmembers.
•Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS recently honored the Nanni-DeFrank Team of Chadds Ford. Team members, led by Anthony Nanni and Jim DeFrank, include Beth Alois, Darion Founds, Jarrad Horne, Mamatha Madabhusji, and Roy Shoppell. The team was also recognized with an esteemed 15-Year Legend Award, recognizing them for reaching the 15-year milestone of consecutively winning the Chairman’s Circle Award. As Legend Award recipients, they join an elite group of sales professionals who have consistently ranked in the top two percent of the network of sales professionals.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many to find creative new approaches to their daily lives from suddenly turning dining tables into schoolrooms, to Zoom meetings in a button-down shirt and pajama pants, to family gatherings socially distanced across parking lots (BYO chair and beverages!). For Pia De Girolamo, a local artist, that reflection is visible in her new show Garden, which opens April 6th. De Girolamo’s art comes with a unique perspective that, while it would have been unimaginable a few years ago, may bring a sense of familiarity and comfort now.
“Orchids” by De Girolamo
Early on in lockdown, De Girolamo’s studio became a refuge from the intensity outside. She was finishing a series of paintings inspired by a 2019 trip to the Arctic when she noticed an intriguing new series of photographs on her Instagram feed (@artdoc07). “I began seeing Laurel’s photos on Instagram and asked if I could use them as inspiration,” De Girolamo says. Laurel Adrian Termini had been De Girolamo’s roommate at Barnard College in New York decades earlier, but they lost touch, and Termini moved to the West Coast. They reconnected, as many do, via social media, eventually following each other on Instagram. Beyond the usual pictures that are easily liked and scrolled past, the images from Huntington Gardens, a botanical garden near Termini where she often walked, caught De Girolamo’s attention.
Orchid Photograph by Laurel Termini
“I could see that she was not merely capturing pretty pictures but focusing on forms, line, shadow, and mystery and producing some compelling work,” De Girolamo remembers. Termini began taking the pictures as a way to distract from the stress of working in a structured health care setting through the pandemic. Termini notes, “The extra level of anxiety demands an outlet to regain composure and (literally) breathing space. Weekly Sunday access to the Huntington Gardens has been a necessary distraction.”
While it started as an idle hobby, the images of cacti, flowers, and vines quickly became more. “Social media has become a welcome avenue to maintain contact with friends and family, and Pia’s interest in my flower gallery really sparked a new energy and incentive to take and display the photos,” Termini says. She began to edit, refine, and enhance the images in her spare moments, and posted them to her Instagram @laurelnevarte.
De Girolamo started sharing her paintings based on the images back with Termini, and a partnership arose across the continent. Termini began seeking out “painterly” subjects on her walks, “taking care to frame the images with Pia’s collaboration in mind, focusing on vivid forms and colors. Pia’s unique abstract rendering of the floral imagery was exciting to witness as she would post and message me to reveal works in progress.”
The interpretations of the images are as interesting as the artwork itself. De Girolamo notes specifically “a wonderful photo of cycads called Encephalartos, with spiky blue-green leaves punctuated by flaming orange aloe flowers. The painting it inspired—In the Jungle—is the biggest piece in the show. I was moved to put a hiding leopard in it because I kept thinking of Henri Rousseau’s work!” Termini, in turn, loves a painting of orchids in which De Girolamo used a completely different color palette while keeping the vivid beauty of the original photograph.
It is interesting that this series was a form of meditation via art by both the photographer and the painter. “Making art has always been a source of wellbeing for me,” De Girolamo says. “I hope that the viewer will experience the same quiet joy or peace or excitement depending on which painting they are viewing that I did when I created them.” Termini has a similarly uplifting view of their artistic partnership: “Pia’s exhibit is a testament to the life-affirming power of nature and to the positive energy generated with a creative collaboration shared on social media and borne from the trauma of Covid isolation.”
Garden is part of the Cerulean Arts Collective Members’ Exhibitions, open from April 6th through May 1st at the Cerulean Arts Gallery. An in-person opening reception will be held Saturday, April 9th from 2 to 5 pm (masks required). A Virtual Artist Tour and Talk will be held on Wednesday, April 20th, at 6 pm via Zoom, prior registration required. The exhibit can be seen at the Cerulean Arts Gallery, 1355 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA. For more information, check https://ceruleanarts.com/ and on Instagram @cerulean.arts.
Victoria Rose (she/her) is an editor, writer, avid reader, self-described geek, and fan of all things creative. Her passion for words has led to her current career as a freelance editor, and she is the owner of Flickering Words, an editing service. When not wielding a red pen (or cursor), she loves reading books of all genres, playing video, board, and word games, baking ridiculous creations to show off on the internet, or enjoying the gorgeous outdoors. She is a board member of the West Chester Film Festival and part of the Thirsty Monsters, a team of streamers from around the world who fundraise for various charities supporting LGBTQIA+ and accessibility rights. She can be found online @WordsFlickering or the Brandywine Art Guide @BrandywineArtGuide.
June Matthews Freeman, 97, of Glen Mills, died Saturday, March 26, just one day short of her 98th birthday. Born to Frank and Lillian (Murray) DeConcini, in Kulpmont, Pa., she was a resident of Glen Mills, having previously lived in Lansdowne and Springfield.
June Matthews Freeman
She had worked as a teller at the Fidelity Bank in Lansdowne for several years. Since 2006 she resided at Maris Grove where she enjoyed crocheting, Mah Jongg, and various social activities. She was known to have a gift for friendship.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Francis Matthews, by her beloved second husband, Harry L. Freeman, and by a grandson, Michael A. Coll. She is survived by her children: Sally Anne Coll (Michael) of Garnet Valley, Teresa Matthews (John Teague) of Hermosa Beach, Calif., Joan Stankiewicz (the late Paul) of Ocean View, N.J., and Francis Matthews (Eileen) of Pocono Pines, Pa., nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. She was beloved as well by many nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held on Friday, April 1 at St. Cornelius Catholic Church, 160 Ridge Road, Chadds Ford, PA, from 10-11 a.m. followed by a memorial mass at 11. Interment will remain private.
Donations in June’s name may be made to the Maris Grove Resident Care Fund, 100 Maris Grove Way, Glen Mills PA, 19342. Online condolences may be made to www.paganofuneralhome.com
Joan Walsh (nee Kinsella), 92, of West Grove, died peacefully on Wednesday, March 23, at Jenner’s Pond Retirement Community. She was the beloved wife of Thomas A. Walsh, with whom she shared 64 years of marriage. Born in Philadelphia, she was the daughter of the late Michael and Winifred Kinsella and the sister of the late Michael D. Kinsella.
Joan Walsh
Joan and Tom lived in Glenolden for over 56 years before moving to Chester County to be near their family. Joan was an active member of St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Norwood, and more recently, at Assumption BVM Catholic Church in West Grove.
In addition to her husband, Joan is survived by three daughters, Deborah (Carmen) Giannantonio of Kennett Square, Donna (Barry) Francisco of Sea Isle City, N.J., and Susan (John) Winiarski of West Grove. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Greg, Julianna, Andrew, Chrissy, Jimmy, and Megan.
Joan will be remembered by all who knew her as a loving and caring wife, mother, and grandmother who always enjoyed spending time with her family. She will also be remembered as a devoted friend and for her kindness, sense of humor and positive outlook on life. Joan loved to travel, play bridge, spend time at the shore, volunteer within the community, and enjoy a good happy hour at sunset with family and friends.
At the family’s request, services and interment will be held privately. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions in her memory to Jenner’s Pond Endowment Fund, 2000 Greenbrier Road, West Grove, PA 19390.
Funeral arrangements are by Matthew J. Grieco of Grieco Funeral Home & Crematory of Kennett Square. Condolences may be shared at www.griecofunerals.com.
PennDOT has announced the following road projects, which are weather-dependent and could affect drivers in the greater Chadds Ford area during the week of April 2 through April 8. Motorists are urged to allow extra time if traveling through one of the construction zones. Work schedules are subject to change.
•Motorists should expect lane closures along Route 1 from the Brandywine Creek to Route 52 because of resurfacing. Work is expected to take into mid-April.
•Drivers should also be prepared for lane closures along Route 1 from the Brandywine Creek to Route 202 in Chadds Ford for milling and repaving beginning sometime in late April or early May.
•Vegetation management will continue to cause daytime lane closures on several streets in East Marlborough Township through April 9. Those roads include Wawaset Road, Upland, and Unionville Road in East Marlborough, Township, Embreeville Road in East Marlborough, and Newlin township. Also included are Red Lion and Lenape roads in Pocopson Township.
•The Embreeville Road Bridge over the West Branch over the Brandywine Creek in Newlin Township remains closed because of the Sept. 1 flooding. The closure remains listed as indefinite.
• The next Chadds Ford Business Association meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 14. The breakfast meeting will be in Turner’s Mill, the Chadds Ford Township municipal building. Breakfast will be provided by Oso Sweet Bakery. Speakers include Supervisors Samantha Reiner and Noelle Barbone, and Anthony Young, owner of Hank’s place will update the group on what’s happening at the restaurant. The cost for the breakfast is $20, for members and nonmembers.
