Art & Books
beach reads > May 24, 2013
Written by Staff Reports Saturday, May 25, 2013 07:29 am
I, Rhoda by Valerie Harper, Gallery Books. This sprightly show-biz memoir might have come and gone without much fanfare but for Harper’s announcement in March that she has terminal brain cancer. Though this book was published before that diagnosis, the actress does chronicle a bout with cancer – lung cancer, the deadliest form – a battle she thought she had won in 2009. Now that the disease has recurred, she has won the admiration of the world for her tenacity and determined cheerfulness. “I, Rhoda” gives a hint why. Harper, who started out as a dancer on Broadway, endured trials and tribulations, occasional successes and many rejections before hitting it big as Rhoda Morgenstern, the Bronx-bred comic foil to Mary Richards in TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Without dishing, Harper shares great backstage stories about Lucille Ball (with whom she worked in the musical “Wildcat”), as well as the legendary cast of the MTM Show, including Betty White, Cloris Leachman and Edward Asner. The ever-optimistic Harper also shows her philanthropic side and details her fight for equality on many fronts with verve and without preachiness.
Sculpture installed at St. Mary’s Church in Stone Harbor
Written by Joan Kostiuk Friday, May 24, 2013 01:06 pm
In a collaboration with the William Ris Gallery, St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Stone Harbor has installed the sculpture “Offering,” which will be on display through the summer in the front yard of the church, 9425 Third Ave.
The concrete sculpture by Katherine Stanek is a thoughtful composition that epitomizes the message of peace.
Read more: Sculpture installed at St. Mary’s Church in Stone Harbor
Renoir exhibit to open season at Ocean Galleries
Written by Staff Reports Monday, May 13, 2013 12:00 am
Ocean Galleries will host exhibits by four artists this summer – Alexandre Renoir, Autumn de Forest, Graham Nash and Peter Max – all of whom are making a return to the gallery.
“Renoir : A Legacy” will feature the work of Alexandre Renoir, the great-grandson of the French master impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and another great-grandson, Alexandre’s brother Emmanuel Renoir. The collection includes oil paintings, lithographs, etchings and drypoints, some by the 19th century master.
Art meets fashion with the help of nature
Written by Christie Rotondo Friday, August 17, 2012 09:46 am
Sea glass jewelry maker was a collector first
When Jenna Perfetti hits the beach, she doesn’t go just to work on her tan. She combs the sand for a hint of sparkle, a touch of cobalt blue, or a spark of deep red.
Perfetti started collecting sea glass with her husband, Adam, who had scavenged local beaches for glass throughout his life as a surfer growing up in Margate. Now, searching for sea glass has become a family affair, as they do it with their two sons.
Around their home, Perfetti has displayed the best of their collection. Glass vases filled to the brim with seafoam, turquoise and lavender glass sit on windowsills and bookshelves, and serve as centerpieces on her dining room table.
In a few white boxes and clear storage containers, she has put aside pieces that evoke special memories.
Beach Reads > Aug. 10, 2012
Last Updated on Tuesday, August 07, 2012 03:02 pm Written by Staff Reports Tuesday, August 07, 2012 11:38 am
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston, HarperCollins. The past few years have seen the rise of the graphic novel. Now Caroline Preston introduces what may be the first scrapbook novel, and the unusual format absolutely works.
This is the story of Frankie Pratt, an aspiring young writer living in 1920 in small-town Cornish, New Hampshire. Frankie’s father has died, and she despairs of finding a way to go to college. Thanks to an unexpected windfall – a wealthy would-be seducer turns out to be married, and his family offers a financial settlement to hush it up – Frankie heads to Vassar, then to New York City, then to Paris, along the way working at a lurid True Confessions-style magazine, encountering Edna St. Vincent Millay, and living in the Paris of Hemingway and Josephine Baker.
Small Wonder
Written by Christie Rotondo Thursday, August 02, 2012 04:47 pm
Artist Autumn de Forest, 10, is being called a child prodigy. She opens her first solo exhibition this weekend at Ocean Galleries
When Doug de Forest first noticed his daughter’s artistic talent, he wanted to capture it, like “lightning in a bottle.”
At the time, Autumn was 5 years old. He was working in the garage when she came up to him and asked if she could try painting something “for fun.”
He handed her a brush, some stain and a piece of plywood.
When he looked back a little while later, she had created a masterpiece, he said.
Autumn remembers the day, too.
Beach Reads > July 28, 2012
Written by Staff Reports Friday, July 27, 2012 01:00 am
Niceville by Carsten Stroud (Knopf). Almost 180 people have disappeared in the Southern town of Niceville since the late 1920s. Given that grim statistic, most residents would up and vamoose, but noooo. The latest to go missing is a young boy named Rainey Teague, who vanishes near a book store in the fraction of a second between two frames of surveillance video. That incident introduces investigator Nick Kavanagh and his wife, Kate, and sets up the complex structure of this Gothic thriller, which is part crime novel, part supernatural thriller. Don’t expect the book to follow any kind of orderly trajectory. It becomes a frankly confusing web of bizarre and occasionally violent episodes – there’s a bank robbery and a massacre of cops and reporters, along with some nonsense about a haunted mirror, along with so many plots and subplots that one can admire the marvelous writing while never becoming fully engaged with the characters. They appear onstage for a chapter or two, then bow out to give way to even more supporting players. Stick with Stroud and you’ll be rewarded with a satisfying end – but you have to be patient to get there. “Niceville” is the first novel in a trilogy, which may explain the excessive exposition. No novel should require a spread sheet to keep track of the story.
Bandit on the run
Last Updated on Monday, July 16, 2012 09:30 am Written by Marjorie Preston Friday, July 13, 2012 04:23 pm
In June 2001, an international manhunt came to an end when teen outlaw Colton Harris-Moore was captured in the Bahamas.
The baby-faced felon, known as the Barefoot Bandit for leaving his shoeless footprints at crime scenes, was taken into custody following a boat chase and gunfire by Bahamian police. When Harris-Moore was paraded before the press for the traditional “perp walk,” the 19-year-old was shackled and of course, shoeless.
A native of Washington state, he started out stealing food from neighbors’ homes and swiftly graduated to cars, trucks, yachts and small planes. He was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for his crimes and ordered to pay some $1.3 million in restitution.
Cold Spring Village introduces children’s activity book
Written by Staff Reports Tuesday, July 10, 2012 03:45 pm
Historic Cold Spring Village has put together a new 40-page children's activity book featuring pictures of its 26 restored historic buildings, scenes of life in Early America, and patchwork quilt patterns for kids to color, along with puzzles with Early American trade themes.
The activity book is $5.95 and can be purchased at the Village Country Store or on the Historic Cold Spring website,
www.hcsv.org.The fun and educational tool is a project of the Friends of Historic Cold Spring Village, a nonprofit organization formed to support the village. The group plans to donate 125 of the activity books to school districts in Cape May County to supplement the curriculum while advancing the education-focused mission and programming of Historic Cold Spring Village.
Historic Cold Spring Village is a nonprofit, open-air living history museum that portrays the daily life of a rural South Jersey community of the Early American period. It features 26 restored historic structures on a wooded 30-acre site. From late June to early September, interpreters and artisans in period clothing preserve the trades, crafts and heritage of "The Age of Homespun."
Read more: Cold Spring Village introduces children’s activity book
Book takes readers on a treasure hunt through Cape May County
Last Updated on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 01:33 pm Written by Staff Reports Saturday, June 30, 2012 01:00 am
A new children’s book written about Cape May County could be just the thing to pique kids’ interest in reading and treasure hunting this summer.
Written by Denise Blum, “The Oceanfront Treasure Hunt” is about a young pirate who receives a treasure map as a birthday gift. She sets out on an exciting journey, following the map to claim her treasure. Her quest takes her to many of the seaside’s popular destinations, such as Morey’s Piers, Johnson’s Popcorn, the Deauville Inn, the Victorian homes of Cape May, the beach and other locations.
Published by Mainstay Publishing, the book is full of colorful illustrations by Brandon Hildreth. For information contact Mainstay at 302-223-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The book can be purchased at various locations, many of which are stops along the treasure hunt.
Read more: Book takes readers on a treasure hunt through Cape May County
More Articles...
- Beach Reads > June 29, 2012
- Ris Gallery features work of Jane Hartley, Julia Sutliff
- Graham Nash adds one more medium to his message
- To bead or not to bead isn’t the question – it’s what to bead next
- Beach Reads > June 15, 2012
- SOMA Gallery to exhibit work of 3 artists
- Museum talk features pastel artist
- Co-op announces featured artists for June
- Beach Reads > June 8, 2012
- "I Remember Wanamaker's" exhibit at OC Arts Center
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