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January 19, 2025

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

Arts Arts Portal Lead Arts Arts Top Story

Mid-Shore Arts: Bob Ortiz and a Mural for “El Trompo”

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Anyone who knows Bob Ortiz knows him as an artist who has long been at the forefront of promoting Kent County arts. If he’s not putting the finishing touch on an exquisite wood creation at his Robert Ortiz Studios on Cross St., he and musician wife Pam, as the Pam Ortiz Band, were performing pre-pandemic for the community.

Ortiz has always regarded his work studio as more than a place to create furniture. Countless artistic ventures, surrounded by table saws and raw planks of wood, have been launched there, from music and dramatic rehearsals to poetry and exhibits of fellow artists.

“I honestly believe that furniture making is the least important thing that happens in my shop,” he says.

Now, the master-craftsman feels a sense of responsibility to showcase two young artists he has taken under his wing for the last three years. From Latin America, the artists bring an aesthetic often under-represented on the Eastern Shore.

“In April 2021, I will celebrate my 71st birthday, and it’s clear to me that I’m in the final stage of my working career. With this in mind, I have felt that I have an obligation to be supportive, in an active way, of local artists who are starting out in their careers,” he recently wrote in a funding proposal.

With that in mind, Ortiz is offering the exterior wall of his shop as a blank canvas to emerging artists Fredy Granillo and Vanna Ramirez for their “El Trompo” mural.

“El Trompo,” or “the top,” is a nod to the ancient and universal children’s wooden toy spun from a string. Popular in Latin America and worldwide, the top in a child’s hand with a village backdrop will be the central motif in the artists’ mural.

The Spy recently talked with Bob Ortiz about the project, and the importance of showcasing the often underrepresented artists from the Latin American community whose roots in Kent County are deep and generational.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. To see more of Fredy Granillo’s art, go here. For more of Vanna Ramiriz’s art, go here.

 

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Art on Lockdown: Yuh Okano

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When I first saw Yuh Okano’s silk scarves during an outdoor Chestertown artist market, I was impressed by the unique spectrum of colors in her work. I wanted to know more about her creative process and ascendance as an artist whose work has been collected by the Museum of Modern Art and many international exhibitions.

Turns out, after befriending fellow artist Faith Wilson while attending many of the same art shows, Okano decided last February to make Chestertown her home after 20 years in New York City.

Okano’s residence on High Street is more like a workshop and gallery. The first floor is a fabric dying room and workspace where yards of silk is stretched hammock-like. These are her blank “canvases” that will be painted and dyed with her visions of the natural world.

The second floor is a gallery for her favorite works from the past and new creations for sale. Okano explains that the fascinating small shadow boxes on the wall are fabric concepts from which larger projects may evolve but often stand alone as art in miniature.

Okano says that her childhood in Japan was influenced by her family of artists, including an uncle who was a renowned famous graphic designer. In the early 1980s, her artistic pathway brought her to the US and Rhode Island School of Design.

“To this day, my network of friends from RISDY, and artists I’ve met along the way, have formed a valuable network. We help each other,” she says.

Drawing heavily from the natural world, Okano exhibits a rich and joyful chromatic scale offset by creations that lean more toward muted olive and cinnamon earth tones.

From bold to subtle, all on silk or fine wool, her commercial work offers ornate necklaces, flower pins, shawls, and handbags of Devore fabric.

 If you visit her gallery, you must see her Shibori Dumpling Bag,

Okano’s fabric art appears in museums and galleries worldwide from Japan and MoMa to Finland and Denmark, and she has taught fabric arts in equally diverse countries.

Scan her website for a full introduction. These few minutes do not do justice to the range of this artist’s work.

This video is approximately 7 minutes in length. To see her prolific range of art, visit her website here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Cats on High Street in Chestertown

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I’m convinced cats live in a parallel universe and for brief moments slip into our lives to eat, plot and sleep. It must be exhausting on the other side. For seven million years they have perfecting their “I’m a cat and you’re not” sensibility.

Kidding aside, I recently visited Chestertown’s Cat Colloquium on the second floor of the newly renovated 18th century landmark Stam’s Luncheonette to talk with CEO Laura Johnstone Wilson about their mission.

Cat Colloquium was founded by cat-lover and entrepreneur Wendy Culp and conceived as an educational forum with a “commitment to revitalizing downtown Chestertown by establishing a dynamic and inviting community space for both human and felines alike.”

Through partnerships with other, Cat Colloquium also acts as a fundraising source to support organizations that care for animals, children and the community,

Meant as a community open space and educational hub for meetings and school visits, the floor was architecturally designed to be a haven for cats. A 20-ft rope encased tree, with limbs reaching the skylights, sits like an art installation in the play area. Cat tunnels, platform areas, nooks and pillows abound and there’s even a narrow staircase down to Stam’s front window.

And yes, there are cats!

The dozen felines encamped at Cat Colloquium are special—they are all rescues and many of them have suffered from various injuries and medical conditions. Robinson, for example, is blind, but lives and thrives to annoy the group with his antics. Peake (Chesapeake) was bread without ear cartilage—now an outlawed procedure—and Buster lost his tail after being hit by a car. Each cat receives special medical care from Dr. Renee Rucinsky from Mid-Atlantic Cat Hospital.

Cat Colloquium is open to the public. If you are a cat lover, it’s some kind of paradise.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length. To learn more about Cat Colloquium please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Confessions of a Voting Process Witness with Justinian Dispenza

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No, ballots are not delivered in burlap bags by stagecoach.

With allegations of national voter fraud running rampant throughout the news, the Spy wanted to find out what takes place at a ballot canvassing office.

As luck would have at, Spy friend and videographer Justinian Dispenza at Andover Media.

was the official videographer contracted to record and live-stream the ballot counting process for the 2020 Talbot County Elections.

“When they ran the live stream, the Committee posted a call-in number. If people had a question about any part of the process, they could call and immediately get an answer,” Dispenza said.

Dispenza witnessed and recorded every minute of the procedures, and he’s here to say that the process he saw was ironclad from start to finish each day with tiers of checks and balances and including sophisticated security for the vote-reading machines before and after each day’s counting.

“There are people who watched the entire day, not a lot of people because it’s really boring, but that’s’ the process— a Democrat and a Republican bridging a gap and saying the most important thing is that we participate in a representative democracy to make sure this election is fair.”

Here, Dispenza describes in detail the scrutiny each ballot undergoes when received at the Elections canvassing office.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For information about Andover Media please go here.

 

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Chesapeake Arts: Keeping Art Alive and Selling During COVID with Carla Massoni

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Since March, every business open to the public has been forced to invent a new way of surviving the pandemic restrictions. New strategies are required to creatively adapt to the coronavirus.

Carla Massoni, owner of MassoniArt Gallery on High St. in Chestertown fearing the worst for a business dependent on a vibrant tourist trade and community engagement, “pivoted” early with a strategy to continue promoting her artists.

“I will do anything in my power to support the artists that I have represented for years. I value what they do. I love their work—this is the partnership we’ve established. They do the work, and I find a way to get it to market,” she said in a recent interview.

Even before the restrictions began to ease up, Massoni began to enhance her online presence with professional videos by Andover Media and to return to her scheduled exhibits.

Concerned that an open gallery approach risked to much social exposure during the pandemic, Massoni decided to customize her approach by inviting customers by appointment only. That way, she says, visitors can have the gallery to themselves and take their time with the exhibit.

The November-December exhibit, Marc Castelli’s “Shouting at the Wind” is already attracting appointment dates. His reputation for astonishing portraits embracing the heart of the Chesapeake—its waterman—along with his on-site talks about the men who are his subjects have been a perennial draw for the gallery.

But change comes with a cost. She misses the pre-pandemic gallery openings, the crowds of First Friday visitors, and the excitement of Tea Party and Downrigging’s festivities.

“I love being with all the people who have come in all these years… I’ve watched a whole generation of people who come in and out of the gallery, folks who have weekend homes and I’ve seen their children awkwardly graduating from high school and college and now they bring their new wife or husband and baby.”

Massoni speaks for all of us in our lament for better days. But she also speaks to our determination to move forward and to continue to innovate, create, and connect in new ways.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. To find out more about MassoniArt and watch the artists’ videos please go here.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Melissa McGlynn: Savory Pot Pies, a Vaccine for Our Times

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One bright silver lining to the utter mayhem of the pandemic is the necessary drive to innovate. Business closures alone have swept jobs into a river of uncertainty. School closures and remote learning have upended family life. Social distancing has muted social life.

Some are lucky to continue their work remotely while others are forced to scan the horizon for work that may be far afield of their talents. Innovators take the leap of faith and strike out on their own.

One fantastic example of this has been Mellissa McGlynn’s Cottage Pies’ sudden appearance and immediate success, a savory vaccine for our time.

For three consecutive Saturdays, McGlynn and her husband, Walt Steffens have hauled a week’s work of their made-from-scratch frozen pot pies from the kitchen at Betterton American Legion to Saturday Market. It takes a week of baking to stock up enough pies for the market, and those are gone within minutes.

McGlynn is no novice when it comes to specialty baking. Cordon Bleu trained and five years of creating popular baked goodies at local bakeries and restaurants from Evergrain Bakery, JR’s, and Louisa’s Restaurant, she has cultivated a community following. But when COVID hit, work came to a halt.

“I was at Louisa’s in March and knew when Italy closed because of the pandemic we would be next in line. The day Memo closed the restaurant closed, I had pastries in the oven.”

The next couple of months were tough.

“I sat around in depression and realized the pandemic wasn’t going away anytime soon, but I couldn’t just sit around,” she says.

McGlynn and Steffens began to kick around a few ideas. “I wanted to head out on my own but wanted to make sure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes.”

Recalling that Swanson pot pies were always a winner at dinner as a kid, McGlynn began to consider creating a medley of pot pies. It seemed the perfect fit. Then things began to fall into place.

Meeting the rigid Health Department requirements for licensing, McGlynn searched for a kitchen and found her new home at Betterton American Legion.

“The licensing took months, and I couldn’t have done it without Erica at the Health Department who took time out of her emergency level schedule dealing with the pandemic. In the meantime, I tested a few recipes in my kitchen, starting with chicken pot pies, the universal comfort food.”

These days she offers a full menu including Chicken Pie, Beef Vegetable Pie, “BOM” Pie (Beef, Onion, Mushroom, Jarlsberg cheese), Shepherd’s Pie, Vegetable Pie, Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie, Aussie Pie, and a seasonal fruit pie. Last week it was Apple, Walnut, and Salted Caramel Apple. And yes, everything is from scratch, from the pie dough to the caramel.

Struck with sudden success, McGlynn looks to the future. At this point, she does not take orders. It’s a first-come, first-served offering that works well as she refines the process and logistics of having 200 pot pies ready by Saturday.

“We’re excited by the challenge,” McGlynn says. “I’m at capacity now and working on expanding the business at a healthy pace,” she adds.

Indeed, the town is ready. If you want one of McGlynn’s Cottage Pies, you have to get to Saturday Market early. Very early. Everyone knows comfort is one pot pie away.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information please go here on FaceBook. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Chesapeake History: Kent County’s 1863 Failed Election Coup with Kevin Hemstock

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Every election cycle is rife with fear of corruption, ballot tampering, or some nefarious “rigging.” Certainly, a raging pandemic and a storm of hostile political divisiveness aren’t doing much to quell anxiety surrounding the current election.

Despite the general consensus that US elections’ integrity is safeguarded, there have been a few brazen attempts to interfere with election outcomes. New York’s Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed come to mind and before that, an organized mail-in ballot scam by Union troops favoring George McClellan in his attempt to end Lincoln’s presidency.

Others, like the Kennedy-Nixon election of 1960 and Bush-Gore in 2000, still linger under suspicion despite countless investigations finding little evidence for grand malfeasance.

Kent County Maryland, however, is another story, according to Kevin Hemstock.

Hemstock, former Editor of The Kent County News and regarded regional historian tells the tale of an attempt to forcibly “rig” the local county election of 1863 during the height of the Civil War. It is a story complete with a Casablanca “round up the usual suspects” at gunpoint moment, a steamboat of arrested prominent Kent citizens to Baltimore, Federal troops at the polling stations, and a dramatic intervention.

The coup attempt was even bizarre enough to make it to Lincoln’s desk where it might have affirmed his decision to suspend Maryland’s constitutional rights at the outbreak of the Civil War.

In fact, Hemstock’s story reflects Lincoln’s concern with Maryland, a slave-state teetering on succession. In the microcosm of local politics, Kent County faced the Emancipation Proclamation dilemma—could Maryland both embrace the North and abolition? Slave owners in Kent County tried: one party thought as much while another believed unconditionally in abolition; however, it could succeed.

G. Kevin Hemstock, is a lifelong history sleuth, archivist, and author. His books include “Injustice on the Eastern Shore,” “The Thirteen Most Sensational Murders of Kent County, MD,” “Freaks, Fables and Fires of Kent County, MD,” and “The History of Millington: Vol 1 and 2.”

This video is approximately eleven minutes in length.

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At Compass: A Different Kind of Daughter and Father Story

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Receiving a diagnosis for an incurable disease can be a frightening moment for the individual and family. For most of us, any end-of-life plan remains vague and lacks knowledge of options.

As much as the idea of dying can be fearful, making decisions and managing one’s end-of-life plan can maximize the quality of life for those who have been diagnosed with an incurable disease.

One of the great options is hospice, a service that focuses on the quality of life for people experiencing advanced, life-limiting illness.

That’s where hospice comes in, providing comfort, support, and a host of other care services provided by a team of health care professionals whose mission is to reduce pain and address physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs.

Compass Regional Hospice in Centreville is a shining example. Their spectrum of services offers “care on your terms” for the individual and the family, and have been serving Kent, Queen Anne’s and Caroline since 1985.

Depending on one’s needs, Compass can help families make decisions as soon as a person has been diagnosed. That may range from home care when curative treatment is no longer an option, to residential hospice care, a medically supportive alternative when staying at home is no longer possible. Other services include continuous care to address short-term crisis care in the home and general inpatient hospice care for short-term pain management and symptoms requiring 24-hour medical supervision.

The Spy was recently offered an opportunity to talk with Shelagh Grasso, whose father, Keith, decided on Compass as soon as he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in June.

Both Shelagh and Keith were familiar and impressed with Compass. Some years ago, Shelagh’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and the family suddenly found themselves in need of a plan for her care. That’s when they discovered Compass Regional Hospice.

Keith’s second wife also succumbed to Alzheimer’s, and once again, Compass became part of the family’s life.

Keith wanted to remain home as long as he could and continue living on his own under the care of Compass’ Home Hospice Care team, who visits several times a week.

But it’s more than just health check-ups. Shelagh says that members of the Compass team have become “family.”

“Right now, he’s very happy comfortable, and I’m comfortable knowing that there’s someone other than me caring for him and making his life a little easier,” Shelagh says.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.