Artist Spotlight Series – Heidi Caswell Zander

Posted on by God's Morning

spotlight_heidi caswell zander

Spotlight on Heidi Caswell Zander

Picture a nine year old striding to catch up to a pack of adults through, for her, shoulder high meadow grass; going through the summer light to someplace unknown to paint, with adults. That was the first group workshop, in 1967, one of many to follow over the next few decades.  Cobalt and cerulean, the smell of horse glue as water hit paper. Marathon sessions of being by the shore and watching dozens of versions of the same place manifest on easels as the sun arced across the horizon.

After learning from Teralak and Schlemm and at Rhode Island School of Design, months of exploring Italy and years of exploring Europe followed. A buffet of Museum collections developed Zander’s personal style: a pinch of Sargent, a cup of German Expressionism, a gallon of energy and brushstrokes.

Blue is the best color, rich, close and distant, peaceful and exciting at the same time. Almost every painting is majoritively blue, and pulsates with the rhythm of stroke.  Jewelry employs the same palette and rhythm. Same combinations and signature, different mediums and functionality.

Zander recently discovered that her Cape Ann connection began decades before her birth with Aunt Gertrude. Gertrude Stuven Stanwood painted and etched from her home base in Lanesville with her contemporaries Teresa Bernstein and Myerwitz. The ladies sipped elderberry wine at her house with Woodrow Wilson’s relative, carrying on her fathers trade as a Rockport shopkeeper. Ironically, one of Gertrude’s paintings was painted from the base of Zander’s Wharf Road driveway decades earlier, with a second painting on the back of the same painting board of the church in which Zander was married. Stomping the same foot steps!

In 2005 Zander opened Tidal Edge Gallery carrying on her father’s occupation as a Rockport business owner. For all the world, Cape Ann is home.

You can see more of Heidi’s work at The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street, East Gloucester during the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Crafts Festival

Saturdays and Sundays, Noon-4 PM

November 30 – December 29

http://www.rockyneckartcolony.org/winter.php

E.J. Lefavour

Around Manchester

Posted on by Lowell Peabody

A couple of random pictures on a gloomy day! Click for larger images and captions.

It’s a kayak, no it’s a stroller, no it’s a shopping basket!!
All time classic gate on Forest Street
Mom! Tell them not to lean their bikes on mine!!

Holiday Fair Schedule for this Weekend!

Posted on by Vickie & Peter

Here is the lineup for this weekend for all the fairs happening:

Saturday, Nov. 23

Holiday Church Fair Day, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., downtown Essex churches. The three churches — St. John the Baptist at 52 Main St., First Universalist Church at 57 Main St., and First Congregational Church at 39 Main St. — are offering gift bargains, white elephant items, children’s activities, homemade food and hot beverages. Parking is on the street or in the municipal lot behind the Martin Street police station.

St. Ann Holiday Fair, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sullivan Hall at St. Ann Church, 70 Pleasant St., Gloucester. Besides the knitted items, featured will be homemade Thanksgiving pies, Italian cookies, a Chinese raffle, Wheel of Fortune, prizes, jewelry, Christmas goods, white elephant items, a Cookie Walk, lobster rolls and chowder, and pictures with Santa.

Thanksgiving Harvest Market, 9 a.m. to noon, Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church, corner of Middle and Church streets. Held by the Cape Ann Farmers Market in conjunction with the Middle Street Harvest Festival, 20-plus vendors include Alprilla Farm, Trupiano Sausage, Herrick Farm, Seaview Farm Meats, & Craquelins Crackers, varieties of produce, soups, baked goods, crafts, meats, cheese, herbs, smoked fish, pasta, and guacamole. All-natural turkey, donated by Common Crow, and raffled off to benefit the Farmers Market. UU meetinghouse serves up quiche, coffee, chocolates, plus chance to win a basket full of fine wines. Visit http://www.CapeAnnFarmersMarket.org or call Nicole Bogin at 978-290-2717.

Holiday fair, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Veterans Memorial School, 11 Webster St. Craft vendors, gift basket raffles, scratch ticket tree, cookie walk, Santa photo Ops, kids’ crafts.

Holiday bazaar, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Seacoast Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, 292 Washington St. Pastries and cookies, raffles, craft vendors and white elephant table. All welcome. Snow or shine.

Country Cupboard Fair, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., St. John’s Church, 48 Middle St., in conjunction with Middle Street Harvest Festival. Handmade crafts, baked goods, jewelry, cookie walk, artisan cheese, seasonal decorations, silent auction, 50/50 raffle, fish chowder luncheon. Thrift Shop open. Parishioners in Victorian dress celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church and the Gettysburg Address.

A Fun Day Sharing “Gifts Of Gold”

Posted on by Sista Felicia

PrintYesterday began with a visit from Radio Talk show hosts, Aurelia Nelson from Nothshore 104.9 Sunday Morning “CurtainUp” and National Radio Talk show host Tonia King from “Creative Voice & Media, Tonia’s Kitchen”. Both joined me in my kitchen for a late afternoon luncheon to discuses my newly released cookbook  “Gifts Of Gold In A Sicilian Kitchen With Sista Felicia, Harvest”. Tonia, Aurelia and I enjoyed Lentil Soup and Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Flatbread Pizza, (both recipes featured in “Gifts Of Gold”), while chatting about our passions for cooking, connection to food, and our love for family and traditions. After lunch, we rolled up our sleeves and whipped up a batch of Pinulata, also know to many as Struffoli. It was a great afternoon, and I am already looking forward to their next visit. Thank you ladies for spending your afternoon with me in my kitchen!

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To learn more about Tonia King and Aurelia Nelson Click on their links below

http://www.toniaskitchen.com/about.html

http://www.wboqfm.com/pages/17290005.php?

After an afternoon of food, fun and friendship, my mother and I rushed over to Rockport Ma, to join The Pigeon Cove Circle, as their Guest Speaker for the evening. After sharing a delicious potluck dinner, I share my personal story and the  journey about creating my new cookbook “Gifts Of Gold.” The Pigeon Cove Circle is a lovely group of women who meet once a month for dinner to creatively organization ways they can serve the community. Their membership is open to all, and I am so honored to have been invited to be apart of their Circle last night. I encourage you to stop by their annual Holiday Fair, that will begin with quiche brunch this year… look for their public announcement for dates and more details.

pig

Tonight I will be at “Taste of Magnolia at the Magnolia Library from 7-9pm signing copies of “Gifts of Gold” Hope to meet many of you there tonight ..It looks like a delicious and fun way to kick off the weekend!

To order copies on line click link below

http://www.storenvy.com/products/2742897-gifts-of-gold-in-a-sicilian-kitchen-with-sista-felicia-harvest

Has anyone here seen my old friend John?

Posted on by Fredrik Bodin
Remembrance of our 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. On November 22nd, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This is the 50th anniversary of that event, a day which I'll never forget. I was sitting in my 7th grade classroom when the public address system announced that the President had been killed by an assassin. We were sent home in shock immediately. It was a sunny but chilly day as I walked home with a group of my classmates. As we walked along the chain link fence surrounding the school grounds, someone was weeping uncontrollably. It was Peggy Noonan. I didn't know what to do, but tried to console her. Years later I realized she was Catholic, and it affected her, as a 13 year old, on many levels. So we all went to our respective homes, and then the TVs took over. There were no ads for three days, and continuous live coverage, including Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby amidst law enforcement. I saw that. TV, the media, and all of us will never be the same. If you have a story, share it here my friends. I took this photo at the dedication of the Kennedy School of Government Park on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. L-R in foreground as well as I can tell: Governor Michael Dukakis (partially obscured), Jackie Kennedy, Kitty Dukakis with Ted Kennedy behind her, State Treasurer Martha Coakley (?), Caroline Kennedy, brother John Kennedy, Boston Mayor Kevin White (partially obscured), William Bolger, President of the Massachusetts Senate (partially obscured), and above him is Joe Kennedy.
Remembrance of our 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. On November 22nd, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This is the 50th anniversary of that event, a day which I’ll never forget. I was sitting in my 7th grade classroom when the public address system announced that the President had been killed by an assassin. We were sent home, in shock, immediately. It was a sunny but chilly day as I walked home with a group of my classmates. As we walked along the chain link fence surrounding the school grounds, someone was weeping uncontrollably. It was Peggy Noonan. I didn’t know what to do, but tried to console her. Years later I realized she was Catholic, and it affected her, as a 13 year old, on many levels. So we all went to our respective homes, and then the TVs took over. There were no ads for three days, and continuous live coverage, including Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby amidst law enforcement. I saw that as it happened. TV, the media, and all of us will never be the same. If you have a story to tell, share it here my friends. I took this photo at the dedication of the Kennedy School of Government’s JFK Park on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. L-R in foreground as well as I can tell: Governor Michael Dukakis (partially obscured), Jackie Kennedy, Kitty Dukakis with Ted Kennedy behind her, State Treasurer Martha Coakley (?), Caroline Kennedy, her brother John, Boston Mayor Kevin White (partially obscured), William Bolger, President of the Massachusetts Senate (partially obscured), and above him is Joe Kennedy. Yes, the good, they die young. Abraham, Martin, John, and Bobby.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Kennedy at the United Nations. She was the US Representative to the UN from 1946 - 1953.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Kennedy at the United Nations. She was the US Representative to the UN from 1946 – 1953. She passed away almost a year before JFK.