News Archieves 09/01/97 to 08/29/98

08/29/98 - Contemporary Arts Corridor- Works in Wood Exhibition
To Be Held At David Rago Antique Center

The Contemporary Arts Corridor's Works in Wood exhibition will open Saturday, August 29, 1998 at David Rago Auction Center, 333 Main Street in Lambertville, NJ with a reception from 7-9pm. The reception is open to the public and the artists will attend. The exhibition includes approximately 55 works by 27 artists who live or work within the region. All pieces use
wood as their primary medium and works include sculpture, contemporary craft and fine furniture. The exhibition continues through September 6, 1998. For information call 215/862-3396.
The exhibition will feature works by a number of nationally and internationally recognized woodworkers including Robert Whitley, Phillip Powell, Jeffrey Greene, Mark Sffiri, and three generations of the Nakashima studio, among others. Also included are a number of works by artists who use wood as a purely sculptural medium including Harry Gordon's massive
carved wooden pieces as well as the more conceptual work of Nura Petrov. “We are very excited about this exhibition. Bucks County has such a rich history of nationally and internationally recognized woodworkers, craftsmen and sculptors.” comments exhibition coordinator Robin Larsen. However she is quick to point out the exhibition was open to artists from Bristol to Jim Thorpe and encompasses a much larger region than Bucks County.
The Contemporary Arts Corridor is a regional organization that establishes and maintains communication among artists and organizations committed to contemporary styles of expression. It promotes creative and professional objectives of established and emerging artists living and working in the geographic area of the Delaware River/Lehigh River basins as defined by the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. The CAC provides services to artists and arts organizations such as professional meetings, workshops, and consortia, touring and concurrent exhibitions, and a variety of initiatives that enhance the artists of the region and the communities they live in. The August exhibition is the the third in a series of shows partially funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, University of
Scranton, and Lafayette College. A Works in Clay Exhibition was held in April at the Afa Gallery at the University of Scranton in Scranton, PA and a Works in Paper show was held in July at the Banana Factory in Easton, PA. For more information please call 215/862-3396.
All works for the exhibition were juried or by invitation. Invited artists include Mira Nakashima, Nakashima Studios, Robert Whitley, Phillip Powell, Jeffrey Greene, and Mark Sfirri. The Jurors:
Susan Roseman is co-owner of Riverbank Arts gallery in Stockton, NJ and has juried and curated a number of shows in the region. Her paintings and prints have been exhibited in more than twelve international exhibitions and twenty one-woman shows in fine galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad . Her works are included in a number of corporate and private collections and she is the recipient of more than twenty-four awards including purchase awards for the Biennial National Print Show at Morovian College, International Miniature Print Competition at Connecticut Graphic Arts Center, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition.
Mira Nakashima-Yarnall, vice-president and shop supervisor of the internationally renowned Nakashima Studios, has exhibited her work in fine galleries and museums around the world. She has designed and supervised construction of a Japanese home of Governor Rockefeller, and Vermont home of Steve Rockefeller; designed and supervised installations at James
Michener Art Museum, Nakashima Reading Room; sanctuary furnishing for St. George's Church in New Jersey, researched and coordinated Soul of a Tree Retrospective show and catalog in Japan, Full Circle traveling show at the American Craft Museum, as well as creating works for a dozen shows at Full Circle Gallery in Virginia and operating the Nakashima Studios in New Hope. Robin Larsen, former Executive Director of the New Hope Arts Commission, is an artist and arts advocate who owned a contemporary art gallery in New Hope for fourteen years. She has juried and curated a number of fine art and contemporary crafts exhibitions for galleries, art centers and museums in the Philadelphia region as well as New Orleans. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Contemporary Arts Corridor and on panels for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and The New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

David Rago, owner of David Rago Auctions in Lambertville, NJ who has generously donated his facility for the Contemporary Arts Corridor Works in Wood exhibition is pictured with New Hope Mayor Larry Keller who is sponsoring an award for the regional exhibition. Other award sponsors include Susan Roseman and Peter Errico of Riverbank Arts in Stockton,
Robin Larsen of Larsen Designs, Toby Quitel of Zephyr Gallery in New Hope and Peddler's Village, and area restaurants including The Cafe at Rosemont, Meil's, Max & Me, Ambrosia, Lumberville Store, Dilly's Corner, among others. The exhibition opens Saturday, August 29. For information call 215/862-3396.
Mira Nakashima Yarnall and Jeffrey Greene are among 27 artists exhibiting works at the Contemporary Arts Corridor's Works in Wood Exhibition to open at David Rago Auction Center in Lamberville, NJ. The exhibition will feature 55 works by artists from the Lehigh, Lakawanna, and Delaware Valley regions and is part of a three part series funded by the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The artists: (partial list)
Harry Howard Gordon's works have been featured in exhibitions at fine galleries and museums throughout the country including the Andre Emerrich Gallery, Top Gallant Farm; 112 Greene Street, One Man Sculpture Space in New York; Carnegie Center, Rutgers University, New Jersey State Museum, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum, Extension Gallery, Burlington County Community College in New Jersey; Quietude Garden Gallery, Larsen Dulman Gallery, and Lycoming College Art Gallery in Pennsylvania.
His works are included in numerous permanent collections including those of the Mitchell Museum in Illinois, Runnymede Sculpture Farm in California, Grounds for Sculpture, Nexus Properties in New Jersey; Public Art Trust in Florida; and Allentown Hospital, Cheyney University, James A. Michener Art Museum, West Chester University, City of Allentown, Ursinus College, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh University and Beaver College all in Pennsylvania. Gordon will exhibit an outdoor sculpture as well as two smaller pieces. “Some of the most powerful and evocative art being produced by the rising
generations of younger sculptors is that of Harry Gordon.” Andre Emmerich, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York “Harry has a technique that is unusual in many artists; that is to choose the wood or stone carefully and try to let the materials speak and only do as much sculpting as necessary to bring out the beauty and legend that makes a sculpture.” Philip Berman, Chairman of the Board, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jeffrey Greene, recognized for his use of rare and exotic woods, has been creating fine furniture for twenty five years. A typical Greene piece might incorporate Bolivian Rosewood, Black African Wenge, and Brazilian Purpleheart and feature his signature peg construction and incised detailing. His works have been exhibited in fine galleries throughout the east coast and at Greene & Greene Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. His studio which has been praised by Gourmet Magazine is included in the fine furniture tour schedule of the Smithsonian Magazine. Greene will be exhibiting his “Flame Chair.”
Nakashima Studio - The exhibition will also include a very special selection of Nakashima work - including furniture created by three generations affiliated with the internationally renowned studio. Included in the exhibition will be : A coffee table in black walnut burl and walnut created by Mira Nakashima-Yarnall's son and grandson to George Nakashima,
Satoru Amagasa; “Kevin Table”, a piece in English walnut and East Indian rosewood created by George Nakashima for his son Kevin; and”Dining Table” in Buckeye burl, rosewood and walnut by Mira Nakashima-Yarnall who now oversees the the Nakashima Studio. Nakashima
George Nakashima, a graduate of MIT in architecture, worked briefly in New York before traveling to Paris, Tokuyo, and India before settling in New Hope and establishing the now renowned Nakashima Studios. His major commissions included furnishings for the late Governor Nelson Rockafellar, interiors for Columbia University, Mt. Hollyhoke College, International Paper Corporation and the Monastery of Christ in the Desert as well as the
Altar of Peace at the Cathedral Church at St. John the Divine in New York city. During his life he was featured in Smithsonian, Town & Country, House Beautiful, Life, and Fine Woodworking magazines and is the subject of George Nakashima Full Circle and author of the acclaimed Soul of A Tree. His works have been exhibited at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute; , Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Fine Art in Boston, and the
Nelson Museum. He has received countless awards for his outstanding work, was named fellow of the American Craft Council in 1979, and was the first honoree in a series of “America's Living National Treasures” at the American Craft Museum in New York.

Since his death daughter Mira Nakashima Yarnall has served as vice-president and shop supervisor of the internationally renowned Nakashima Studios, and has exhibited her work in fine galleries and museums around the world. She has designed and supervised construction a Vermont home of Steve Rockefeller; designed and supervised installations at James
Michener Art Museum, Nakashima Reading Room; sanctuary furnishing for St. George's Church in New Jersey, researched and coordinated Soul of a Tree Retrospective show and catalog in Japan, Full Circle traveling show at the American Craft Museum, as well as creating works for a dozen shows at Full Circle Gallery in Virginia and operating the Nakashima Studios in New Hope.

Mark Sfirri's works have been featured in exhibitions at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute; Hegley Museum both in Washington, DC; Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Port of History Museum in Pennsylvania; American Craft Museum in New York, at Rhode Island School of Design among others. His works which are included in numerous collections such as The Renwick Gallery of the
National Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Gallery at Yale University, and the Wood Turning Center; have also been featured in major publications including American Craft, American Woodworker, Crafts Arts International, Fine Woodworking, and the New York Times among others. Sfirri will exhibit both furniture and his impressive lathe turned figures.

Robert Whitley's furniture is in major museum collections including those of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Washington, The High Museum of Georgia, Boston Muumuu of Fine Art, Philadelphia Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum both in Philadelphia, and in numerous private collections throughout the east coast. He has won a number of awards including those from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Craft Museum, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute; and the Museum of Contemporary Crafts In New York. His works have been featured in major publications including American Craft Magazine, Colonial Homes, American Magazine, Fine Woodworking, as well as in the books Art With Wood, Creating Modern Furniture. He has received two Presidential Commissions; one for the recreation of John F. Kennedy's desk used during his presidency which Whitley created for the John F. Kennedy Library and a chess set presented by Richard Nixon as a gift from the people of the United States to the people of the Soviet Socialist Republic. The chess set and game playing board are currently displayed at The Hermitage, National Museum of Russia. Whitley will be exhibiting his signature “Whitley Rocker” in figured walnut and Birdseye maple as well as his “Throne Chair”, “Continuum Rocker”, and
“Forrest Console Table”.

`The exhibition includes approximately 55 works by 27 artists from throughout the region. All artists use wood as their primary medium. Works include furniture, sculpture, functional and fine craft, and art. Opening reception is August 29 from 7-9 pm at the David Rago Auction
Center, 333 N. Main Street in Lambertville, New Jersey. For information contact exhibition coordinator Robin Larsen at 215/862-3396.

12/97
Jim Magill, as you may or may not know, is the mayor, has been forever, and we have a new mayor beginning Jan. 1st. The Arts Commission is having a dinner in honor of him on JANUARY 12, 1998 at the Hotel du Village at 7 PM It's going to be quite an event and there is limited seating. Tickets are $60 each. Part of the proceeds will go to benefit the James Magill Scholorship Fund, which the Arts Commission has decided to initiate. Reservations can be made by calling 862-3347. RSVP was 12/20, but we are pushin the date to 1/6/98

09/97
This site was initially contacted on 9/9/97 by Floyd Cochran (Director of the Education and Vigilance Network in Coudersport, PA). He stated a meeting of anti semites and homophobics had been scheduled in New Hope on Sept 20 at the Best Western. Efforts to verify the platform of this meeting have been incomplete. The Anti Defamation League in Philadelphia was contacted and they could only confirm that the meeting was planned and that the speakers might espouse views that some would find extreme. On 9/13/97 the following article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Battle lines in Bucks
`Unity celebration' opposes right wingers
By Rena Singer
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Set 13, 1997

Quite frankly, Don Wassall says, he doesn't know what all the fuss is about. Wassall, head of the right-wing American Nationalist Union, which is hosting a day of speeches by a lineup of controversial figures next Saturday in New Hope, says his group is just ``a bunch of very traditional, law-abiding citizens.'' Yes, he says, it supported David Duke for president in 1988. And it wants to stop all immigration, construct a security fence along the entire Mexican border, repeal all gun-control legislation, reduce the size and power of the federal government, repeal NAFTA and GATT, abolish the IRS, dismantle NATO, and reject feminism and homosexuality, according the union's Internet site. ``But that doesn't make us radicals, racist or anti-Semitic,'' Wassall said in an interview yesterday. ``Just because we are courageous enough to talk about political Zionism, doesn't mean we want to stoke up the ovens.'' It is just such talk that concerns the fledging Bucks County Human Relations Commission. The group, founded in December to address hate crime and discrimination in the county, has decided it cannot let the American Nationalist Union event go on unopposed. It is urging area residents to stay away from the Nationalist Union event at the New Hope Best Western, and instead attend a ``unity celebration'' from 1 to 2:30 p.m. the same day in the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church on the corner of Routes 413 and 202 in Buckingham Township. That service will feature choir and harp performances.
``We want the program to be inspirational,'' said commission chairwoman Rea Boylan Thomas. ``We want it close enough to send the appropriate message and to reassure the community that these people will not speak for Bucks County.''
The American Nationalist Union event will include two well-known writers. Featured speaker Joseph Sobran is a conservative syndicated columnist whose writings were carried by The Inquirer from 1995 until earlier this year. Sobran has been criticized for alluding to a supposed international Jewish lobby that determines American foreign policy and for dismissing centuries of anti-Semitism in Europe on the ground that it ``worked two ways. Some rabbinical authorities held that it was permissible to cheat and even kill Gentiles.''
Sharing the podium will be author Eustace Mullins. Mullins has written columns for extremist publications alleging that both the Democratic and Republican Parties were controlled by communists. He also has proposed that an international Jewish conspiracy is responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, beginning World War II, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's election.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the Pittsburgh-based American Nationalist Union a wolf in sheep's clothing of sorts. ``They try to appear mainstream and play to popular issues,'' said Anti-Defamation League regional director Barry Morrison. ``But their ideology is very similar to the Klan's.''
Local police and officers from the Bucks County Sheriff's Department are expected to keep vigil outside the Best Western to ensure the Nationalist Union's event -- and any protesters it may draw -- remains peaceful.

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