Sunday, February 17, 2013
Dr. Lori’s antiques appraisal can sometimes break hearts and make millionaires.
At my events, I cut to the core. No nonsense, no delicate high-brow vocabulary, no malarkey. I tell it like it is. If you have a piece of junk, I tell you. If you spent too much money on something, I tell you. If you are hoping to become of millionaire on a collection of Pez dispensers, I tell you that it’s not happening in this lifetime. I have been known to break a heart or two and I have been known to reveal that the ugly lamp you have can make you a millionaire in the antiques market. And, I reveal my faults too—like my well-documented and obvious (particularly on my thighs and hips) addiction to chocolate bars. My antiques appraisal shows—presented more than 150 times every year-are funny and frank. I have been told by my audience …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
It was 'Art in Motion' when the second-annual Lansdale Fun A Day art show brought in hundreds of people to see the talents of local artists from across Montgomery County.
The Lansdale Fun A Day art show is not your typical black-tie art gallery affair. In fact, it’s held in the upstairs ballroom of a local pub. “It’s better than going to an art museum,” Matt Rosenfeld, a Blue Bell resident, said. “This is less formal, more relaxed, and a different crowd of people.” While this was Rosenfeld’s first visit to the art show, of the hundreds of visitors that attended this year, many have made it a point to return. “I think these shows are great, because you get a lot of different artists from different perspectives,” Mike Omensetter, of Hatfield, said. “It’s not your traditional, mainstream, mass-produced art. It’s much more personal with these artists.” Omensetter said that he became passionate on attending …
40.243244
-75.28317
Third & Walnut Bar
43 W 3rd St, Lansdale, PA
/articles/lansdale-fun-a-day-encourages-local-art-and-artists
855344
/locations/8800036
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Palmer Museum boasts one of the best private collections of American art – on or off any college campus.
I know from personal experience that the exhibition currently on view at Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art demonstrates works of art from one of the best private collections of American art anywhere —certainly on a university campus. This collection was amassed privately by longtime Penn State arts patrons and community philanthropists, James and Barbara Palmer. While parts of the collection have been viewed by the public on many occasions at museums and art institutions both far and wide, this local exhibition showcases a portion of the major gift of art that the Palmers have made to Penn State University. As a Penn Stater, I recall that the Palmers’ door was always open to scholars, art enthusiasts, museum patrons, fellow collectors, …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Youth from Lee-Ming Chinese School, one of the oldest Chinese cultural education schools in Montgomery County, performed traditional Chinese folk dances to celebrate 'Year of the Snake.'
When the music started, 10 little girls, all dressed in red, picked up paper bamboo parasols and playfully spun them as they began to dance. The girls, ages 8 – 10, represented the Lee-Ming Chinese School, based in the Montgomery County Community College’s Blue Bell campus. They gathered at the Lower Providence Community Library (LPCL), on Wednesday night, to demonstrate traditional Chinese Folk dances. The occasion was organized by the library’s Children and Teen Department, in celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year (taking place Feb. 10). “It’s our highest holiday for the year for the Chinese people,” Teh Lin, Lee-Ming Chinese School dance instructor, told the library audience. Lin hosted the dance performance, which included …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The Lansdale Fun A Day will make its second-annual appearance, celebrating accessibility to the arts and the local artists that make them.
The Fun A Day challenges artists to create art every single day throughout the month of January. The challenge was started over a decade ago in Philadelphia by a group of artists who became known as the Artclash Collective. According to artclash.com, the Fun A Day challenge comes to a head in an annual inclusive and participatory public exhibition sometime in February. The event highlights the results from the challenge. The exhibition is meant to be fun and accessible to both appreciators of art and the artists themselves. While the Philadelphia-based Fun A Day event is slated for the weekend of Feb. 15, residents and artists in the Montgomery County suburbs will have their chance to see local art early at the Lansdale-based Fun A Day …
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Hundreds of residents enjoyed food and spirits from more than 40 local restaurants in support of the Ambler organization, which advocates for families with children who have illnesses and disabilities.
The Sixth Annual Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund Wine in Winter event was held on Feb. 1 at Normandy Farms Conference Center in Blue Bell, bringing together hundreds of supporters for the non-profit, which helps families caring for ill and disabled children. Guests enjoyed the fare from more than 40 restaurants from throughout Pennsylvania, and were able to participate in a silent auction and raffles for unique and exclusive items and experiences, including a Walt Disney World package, dinner with a local food critic, and more. Presenting restaurants included Blackfish from Conshohocken, Cantina Feliz from Whitemarsh, Forest & Main Brewing Co., The Farmer’s Daughter, Mina Cucina Rustica, Origlio Beverages, 10 Bella, Joseph Ambler Inn, …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Youth dance members from the Audubon YMCA STRONG program shared center court with Montgomery County Community College Student Dance Ensemble at the college's home-opening men's basketball game.
At the Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) men’s basketball game Jan. 29, there was an energetic half-time dance performance. This performance was a particularly special treat for certain youth in attendance. However, these eight girls and one boy, ages 8 to 13, weren’t in the stands watching the show, rather, they were in it. “It was a chance of a lifetime,” Abreeyah Samuel, 10, said. “It felt good. It was a good opportunity.” Abreeyah is a student at the Eisenhower Science and Technology Leadership Academy in the Norristown Area School District. She is also enrolled in the STRONG (Striving to Reach Our Needs and Goals) program, a before-and-after-school enrichment program. STRONG, which caters exclusively to youth living in …
40.123491
-75.342025
Roosevelt School
1161 Markley St, Norristown, PA
/articles/norristown-youth-share-center-stage-with-mccc-student-dance-ensemble
1266276
/locations/8724598
Sunday, January 27, 2013
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge had her official portrait unveiled at Lond's National Portrait Gallery, and Dr. Lori helps explain the art behind a royal Portrait.
The official portrait of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge was unveiled at London’s National Portrait Gallery on Jan. 11 and is currently on public display there. The portrait was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery through the Art Fund. The painting was painted by the BP award-winning artist Paul Emsley (born in 1947 in Glasgow, Scotland) who has also painted such notable figures as President Nelson Mandela and author V. S. Naipaul. Experts are categorizing the painting within the tradition of Italian Renaissance portrait master, Leonardo da Vinci citing a keen ability to capture likeness and the use of dark and light areas to convey drama to the image. Soon other royal portraits will be compared to this painting of the Duchess of …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Playwright Jen Childs offers up the hilarious story of her life-long relationship with the world of dance.
Jen Childs' one-woman show, Why I'm Scared of Dance, continues at the Act II Playhouse in Ambler this week with performances through Sunday, Jan. 27. The veteran actor and dancer explores her life-long relationship with the world of dance with biting humor and, of course, quite a few moves from Fosse to the Funky Chicken, according to a review of the show's 2010 debut on Phillyist.com According to the program the play is "a one-on-one lesson in jazz, hip-hop and ballet and why working at the barre is not quite as much fun as working at the bar." See a quick excerpt from the show on the Phillyist site and get more info and tickets at the Act II Playhouse's website.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Ambler artist, Liz Coppola, exhibits a hauntingly beautiful eulogy of social institutions with her first solo show in Ambler’s Art in the Storefront gallery.
The latest gallery at the Art in the Storefront in Ambler, features the photographs of local artist Liz Coppola. The subjects of Coppola’s art are not people, but rather places. She focuses her lens on the ins-and-outs of abandoned and dilapidating structures, most notably former asylums, and the social injustice that reportedly took place within many of those walls. Through her artist’s statement, she describes her work, in part, as documenting the “failed tenants of the American Dream,” and the lasting impact these places have on the rest of society. “It’s a eulogy of all the people that used to live there,” Liz Coppola said. “It’s a remembrance.” Liz Kallikak Coppola, 25, who also goes by her artist’s name “Kallikak,” is a 2006 …
Alan Fenstermaker
12:00 am on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Check out the videos that I shot and edited from this event at: www.youtube.com/fenstermakerfilms more ›