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September 19, 2021

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Spy Highlights Spy Top Story

Phil Dutton and his Alligators bring Louisiana to the Mid-Shore

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If you close your eyes in this summer heat and humidity while listening to Phil Dutton and The Alligators, you might think you’re in a Louisiana roadhouse munching po-boys and knocking back a sweating mug of beer. Bonus: no plane ticket.

For seven years, Dutton and The Alligators have delighted local audiences with their gumbo stew of toe-tapping Louisiana musical styles. Their one hundred song list includes zany zydeco, swamp pop, and R & B jazz, with a nod to iconic musicians like Satchmo and Clifton Chenier.

Dutton, a Louisiana native, discovered his interest in music as a church organist, but it wasn’t until after his professional life in business that he reconnected with his love for the piano and decided to hone his skills at the keyboard.

“One of the first concerts I saw as a kid was Dr. John at a big stadium in Shreveport, and that was when he created the persona “Dr. John” on his Gumbo Tour. He comes out with that big headdress on. It kind of blew my mind. Well, I guess that stuck,” he recalls.

But it was after Phil and his wife Linda moved to the Eastern Shore, the musician caught the Louisiana music bug again and embraced the New Orleans piano style. As he began to play with other like-minded musicians, The Alligators took shape.

When he’s not rehearsing with the band, Dutton is involved with community social issues. He’s on the board of Minary’s Dream Alliance, co-chair of James Taylor Justice Coalition, and is a member of Social Action Committee for Racial Justice. Linda also dedicates much of her time as board member of PFLAG Chestertown Chapter, an education and advocacy group promoting LGBT equality.

Dutton appreciates Kent County’s support of arts and attributes it to The Alligators’ ongoing enthusiasm to entertain.

“This is such an accepting community for artists,” he says. “You can do no wrong; everybody is so supportive.”

Over the years, The Alligators have dazzled their way across the Mid-Shore with performances at The Avalon Theatre in Easton, The Mainstay in Rock Hall, and at The Shanty at Tolchester Marina for several years, along with private parties and spontaneous get-togethers.

The Spy recently visited Dutton in Worton and asked for a quick lesson in “Junker Style” piano. As always, he brightened the moment with talent, class, and good humor.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more about Phil Dutton and The Alligators, see their Facebook page here.

 

Chestertown’s Dark Lady of Cinema

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A few years ago I stumbled upon a photograph of silent film star Miriam Cooper with an appended biographical blurb mentioning Chestertown. Curious and always interested in how people find their way to this part of the Eastern Shore, I filed it away for a rainy-day project.  And one day it rained.

Turns out, Miriam Cooper was a D.W. Griffith actor for a decade between 1914 and 1924 appearing in two-dozen “flickers” including the “hideously insidious” Birth of a Nation in 1915 playing the eye-batting and waifish plantation aristocrat Margaret Cameron. Her better “flicker” moment was in  Intolerance, another Griffith film and in-your-face response to Birth of the Nation detractors.

Miriam Cooper, circa 1915.

Never intending to be an actor, Cooper trained as a painter at St. Walburga’s School and Cooper Union, at one time posing for Charles Dana Gibson’s first painting in oils. Art school became a fallback during her early years as an actor— she was once fired for asking for higher wages and returned to her artistic studies. The vicissitudes of part-time employment and reluctance to get into the movie business ended when she was spotted as an extra and offered a contract by the D.W. Griffith company.

Aside from her role as Margaret Cameron in Birth of Nation, Cooper’s work as an actor continues to draw interest from film buffs. Archivist and amateur film historian P. Joyce described Cooper’s work in The Mother in Law as an “outlier of a more sophisticated age even if she lacked the other’s raw skill.”  To say that she was intense might be an understatement. In her 1973 autobiography, Dark Lady of the Cinema, she wrote “I bit my lip and drew blood. The camera stayed on my face and you can see the blood run down my chin. I didn’t feel the pain so intent was I on what I was doing…”

Miriam Cooper by Charles Dana Gibson.

After leaving both the California and New York movie-making industry and splitting from a dreadful marriage with director Raoul Walsh, Cooper returned to New York’s social life, worked for the Red Cross during WW2, and attended Columbia University to prepare for a writer’s life.

Cooper arrived at her newly purchased writer’s retreat near Still Pond in 1943 and spent a decade there before moving to Charlottesville, Virginia. The structure still stands magnificently as “Salutation Farm,” built by William Rasin circa 1780.

Born in Baltimore, she probably was not unaware of the Eastern Shore and its invitation to a life of pastoral anonymity. Although the exact timeline is unclear, she finished two plays and a book based on some of her movies. All were rejected by FOX, and along with the many lost films from that era, there seems to be no trace of the manuscripts.

According to her autobiography, co-authored with Bonnie Herndon, Cooper moved to Virginia in 1953 where she started a women’s writing club, played bridge, golf, and working for charity.

But her career would eventually be rediscovered.

Miriam Cooper, “The Mother in Law,” 1919.

In 1969 someone from the Library of Congress discovered that the “Dark Lady of the Silents” was still alive—by then she was almost 70—and Cooper became a cause celebre for her first-hand knowledge of the nascent movie industry. She hit the guest lecture circuit speaking at university film schools about Griffith’s film techniques and being interviewed by film historians.

Who wouldn’t want to talk with someone who thought Fatty Arbuckle was guilty, Pola Negri charming, Charlie Chaplin annoying, Theda Bara despicable, and gave Carol Lombard a leg up to stardom?

Her death at 84 in 1973 left Lillian Gish as the sole surviving cast member of Birth of a Nation. Her book, Dark Lady of the Silents, was published that same year.

 

“Salutation Farm” in Still Pond. Photo with permission by the wonderful Laurette Sisk who gave me a tour of her Maryland Historical. house.

Editor’s Note: I couldn’t have found “Salutation Farm” without the help of Cross Street Realtor Stacey Kendall and her network of friends and family, including Linda Wall and Marianne Hickman. Thank you.

 

 

Keep on Learning: A Chat with WC-ALL’s Anna Wolgast

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Suppose you are curious about the dynamics of the current Supreme Court or fascinated with Eastern Shore dragonflies. In that case, Washington College’s Academy of Lifelong Learning (WC-ALL) might have just the extended learning class for you. And, guess what, no tests.

WC-ALL, a peer-led, self-supported autonomous department of the College, has been attended by thousands of adults who want to learn for the joy of it. Classes meet once a week for 4 to 6 weeks and is self-funded through membership fees and activity charges.

For those interested in the classes, Wolgast recommends the Fall 2021 Showcase at 4 pm Tuesday, August 10 at Hotchkiss Recital Hall, Gibson Center for the Arts on the WC Campus. Instructors will be present to discuss their courses, and registration will also be available. 

Another popular feature of WC-All is “Learn at Lunches,” and the opportunity to have lunch and socialize with lecturers and friends. Because Hynson Lounge is slated for classes, lunches will be held at the Chester River Yacht & Country Club.

The Spy caught up with the incoming Chair of WC-ALL Anna Wolgast, and talked about the program offered this Fall, excited that after a year of Zoom courses due to the pandemic, the majority of courses will return to on-site classrooms.

Wolgast is amazed by the talent pool available in the Chestertown community. 

“We were at the Farmer’s Market to sign up people and tell them about our courses and we wrote down names of an astrophysicist, an epidemiologist who works on global epidemiological issues, and a former US counter-terrorism expert in the Middle East. I mean, really, where else does this happen?”

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For online registration for any of the 19 courses, go here. Registration is open from July 26 to August 18. Please note that in-person WC-ALL events require attendees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or wear a mask covering the nose and mouth. Masks are optional but recommended for vaccinated attendees. For the Fall 2021 Course Catalogue, go here.

 

 

 

 

Mid-Shore Arts: Chestertown Hits Higher Orbit with Woicke Sculpture Donation

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With a gift of twenty-four sculptures, Chestertown is about to enter an extraordinary phase of its ever-ascending appreciation and showcasing of the arts—with an installation of twenty-four sculptures to be placed throughout the town.

For the last two years, members of the Public Art Committee, Kent Cultural Alliance, and the A & E District have been in discussions with Hanna and Peter Woicke of St. Michaels about the couple’s offer to donate their world-class sculptures to Chestertown,

Ben Tilghman, Chair of the Public Arts Committee presented the full proposal to the Town Council during their Monday, July 19 meeting. The Council will review the proposal and make their decision in one of the next two Council meetings.

“After carefully reviewing the collection and discussing possible locations for the works in accordance with the Accession Policy approved by the Town Council, the Public Art Committee (PAC) proposes that we accept the gift of the full collection over the course of the next three years. A three-year timetable will allow the town to manage the complexities of installation without having to store the works in the meantime,” Tilghman said.

If officially accepted by the Council, the first set of sculptures will be delivered to the town sometime this fall. Locations for several of the pieces have already been suggested.

“I love how quickly the Woickes understood what a viable setting Chestertown would be for their artworks. They could see the community’s active appreciation of the arts and the array of possible settings,” former Economic Development and Marketing Coordinator Kay MacIntosh said.

The Woickes’ fondness for Chestertown began some years ago with visits to the MassoniArt Gallery and an appreciation for the Kohl Gallery at Washington College. When they decided to donate their sculpture collection to a community—and keep the collection intact—the couple saw Chestertown as the perfect location and a town that appreciated such a unique opportunity with open arms.

Two weeks ago, The Spy interviewed the couple at their St. Michael’s residence to discuss the sculpture collection, how it came to be, and their affection for the community. 

Since 1993, as an executive at World Bank and its requisite worldwide travels, the Woickes always made time to visit international galleries and public art landscapes large and small. Along the way, they couldn’t resist wanting to bring one or two back to the US. One thing led to another, as they say. Now their lawn is a panorama of sculptures.

“We’ve never disagreed on any art we’ve acquired,” Peter says and is quick to point out that Hanna has a more extensive background in the arts, having studied hart history at University in Saarbrücken, Germany. She was also one of three curators at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, one of the foremost regional museums of contemporary art in the country.

But Hanna and Peter didn’t just collect art. They became life-long friends with many of the artists, and in some cases, invited them back to their guest cottage in St. Michaels to create a commissioned piece for them.

Director of Kent Cultural Alliance John Schratwieser told the Spy that the collection is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a small rural community. “The artists are diverse in every sense, and the long-term benefits for the people of Chestertown and Kent county are many. Having a public art trail for students to learn from, seniors to interact with, and visitors and residents alike to enjoy, is just a win for all.”

This game-changing gift of public art to the community has roots in a 2016 art initiative by Alex Castro, former Director of the Sandbox and Art Lecturer at Washington College, and the Broad Reach sculpture in Wilmer Park. When contacted to tell him the news about the Woicke’s gift, Castro, now retired, was ecstatic. This is the kind of thing he hoped would come to pass. “This opens the doorway to having visiting artists create on-site.”

That’s a sentiment John Schratwieser plans to realize when the Kent Cultural Alliance building is completed and art residencies can begin.

In the meantime, for three years, sculptures of all kinds, shapes, and materials will arrive for all to experience. 

Schratwieser says that the collection is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a small rural community with long-term benefits for the town and county.

“The pieces are expressive and engaging, the artists are diverse in every sense, and the long-term benefits for the people of Chestertown and Kent County are many. Having a public art trail for students to learn from, seniors to interact with, and visitors and residents alike to enjoy, is just a win for all. Peter and Hanna have been generous of heart and spirit throughout the process,” Schratwieser says.

This video depicts only a handful of the sculptures that will appear in Chestertown over the next three years. The Spy will offer images of more of them in the weeks to come.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length.

 

ESLC Is Taking It to the Streets: A Chat with Owen Bailey

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Owen Bailey has a vision for safer, more attractive downtown street layouts originally designed as automobile-centric thoroughfares.

With the rise in pedestrian use, especially in a town with high tourist traffic, safe and attractive modifications to our streets should become a primary objective, he says.

Bailey, the Town Project Manager for Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and a member of the Chestertown Planning Commission, wants to enhance the widths of sidewalk zones at intersections and has his eye on the south end of High Street and Water Street as being a perfect pilot project.

Widening the sidewalk areas by adding “bump-outs” at its intersections narrows the width of the crosswalks, slows traffic, and enhances the town’s pedestrian appeal.

A temporary set-up using safety cones would be used to test traffic flow.

Bailey sees the intersection project as a template for other pedestrian-unfriendly areas in the community. If successful, the change can become a “cut and paste” application for other intersections in the community.

Once approved by the community, Town and State, if applicable, these cost-effective modifications could occur when the roads are next paved.

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is comprised of avid conservationists, outdoors people, agriculturalists, environmental scientists, public servants, urban development professionals, and a variety of other stakeholders in our communities.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about For more information about ESLC, go here.

 

 

 

Minary’s Dream: History and Music Join Forces in the Chesapeake Heartland

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For four weeks, Washington College student mentors and Kent High School students have been meeting at Minary’s Dream Alliance to pluck sound bites out of Kent County’s recorded history and shape them into contemporary collages of music and spoken words wrapped in a hip-hop beat.

Sponsored by Washington College’s Starr Center, the “Hip Hop Time Capsule” is an innovative learning program developed to explore the rich traditions of Kent County’s African American music, culture, and history.

The three-week program immerses students in workshops learning how to research Chesapeake Heartland’s digital archives in search of the perfect spoken phrase or gospel lyric. The collected sound bites, “samples,”  are selected by the students and handed over to WC sound engineers to be “cleaned” and ready to overlay with others. Original student lyrics are sometimes added or snippets from the oral history archives.

To add to the sound lab experience, professional musicians and writers hold workshops to discuss their creative process. Poet and playwright Robert Earl Price recording artist Kentavius Jones (appearing in this video), and Karen Somerville were a few who discussed history through the lens of art.

Faithlin Hunter, a Junior at Washington College and classical violinist, was surprised at how the experience affected her.

Originally not a fan of hip-hop, Hunter began to appreciate the history of Kent County through the discovery of its archives. “I found inspiration in the stories of growing up in Kent County and taking those experiences and sound and making something new. It made me grow as an artist and violinist,” she says.

With one week left in the program, students hope to have a substantial catalog of original sounds to present at the end of the month.

The Spy interviewed Starr Center’s Asst. Director for Programs and Experiential Learning Kacey Stewart and Kentavius Jones about the summer program.

Chesapeake Heartland is an initiative of the Starr Center working in partnership with numerous partners in Kent County (including Sumner Hall, the Kent Cultural Alliance, and the Kent County Public Library), and with the collaboration of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture,

This video is approximately eight minutes in length. For more about Chesapeake Heartland, a collaboration between Washington College and the Smithsonian please go here. For more about Minary’s Dream go here.

 

Mid-Shore Arts: “El Trompo” Mural Unveiled in Chestertown

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One of Chestertown’s July 2 First Friday highlights was the unveiling of the colorful mural “El Trompo” on Chestertown’s Cross Street.

The long-anticipated art piece by Fredy Granillo and Vanna Ramiriz was revealed Friday evening on the exterior wall of Ortiz Studios.

Local craftsman and musician Bob Ortiz introduced the project to a large gathering of supporters and art enthusiasts. Kent County Cultural Alliance Executive Director John Schratwieser and the new Director of Chestertown’s A & E District spoke about the importance of public art.

Artist Fredy Granillo talked about the evolution of the project. As a Salvadoran musician and artist, he wanted to convey an image of community and hope through the lens of a Latin American villa with children in the forefront. A young boy holds a spinning top in his hand, an emblematic worldwide childrens’ toy.

The mural was commissioned by Roberto & Pamela Ortiz and Robert Ortiz Studios with additional funding by the Kent Cultural Alliance, The Chestertown Arts & Entertainment District, The Social Action Committee for Racial Justice, Rob & Deb Glebe, and two additional friends who wish to remain anonymous.

Here are a few minutes of the mural unveiling and festivity.

Homeless on the Shore: A Chat with Martin’s House and Barn’s Deborah Vornbrock

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For all its beauty, life in rural America presents a special set of challenges to meet the critical needs of its people, and some of those needs are invisible. According to a 2019 Federal Reserve study, 4 in 10 Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency, and 22% say they expect to forgo payments on some of their bills. HomeServe USA reports 31% of Americans don’t have at least $500 set aside to cover an unexpected expense.

Homelessness can be the next step for people balancing on the edge of their last paycheck.

More than 6,000 people are estimated to be homeless in rural Maryland at any given time, depending on which criteria you use to qualify it. Because it’s not as evident as a tent community in a city, it’s a hard problem to measure and address.

The “hidden homelessness,” those who do not seek needed services, do not appear in the standard statistics. While they might not be sleeping in local parks, they may be migrating from relative to relative or friends, sleeping in cars or uninhabitable structures.

Of those counted, according to a January 2020 Maryland estimate, 17,601 Maryland public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Kent County reports about 20 young adults without sustainable housing.

Obstacles facing solutions to homelessness can be overwhelming—housing affordability, assuming one can qualify; transportation, mental health, and addiction issues— can all merge into insurmountable problems. Even a wage earner making one dollar over the upper-income limit can be disqualified. An arrest record, disqualified.

To explore the issues and seek solutions to homelessness on the Eastern Shore, the Spy reached out to Deborah Vornbrock, Executive Director of Martin’s House and Barn, formerly Saint Martin’s Ministries, in Ridgely.

Since 1983, Martin’s House, a non-denominational non-profit, has been essential in the Mid-Shore to serve the poor and homeless and provide essential shelter, food, and clothing for those in need. They also seek to help clients find resources to overcome barriers to self-sufficiency.

Aside from their ongoing food pantry serving 250 families per month, Martin’s House and Barn provides shelter specifically for families who have found no other pathway to affordable housing. Families with children require a private living area. Currently, four families are living at Martin’s Barn with a capacity of 12.

Vornbrock says that the young families she sees often suffer from generational poverty. If they stay with other family members in subsidized housing, they put that family’s contract with subsidized housing at risk. Martin’s House is a central part of the network of service providers available to address poverty and homelessness on the Eastern Shore and coordinates with Mid Shore Behavioral Health’s Continuum of Care.

The Spy will next be looking into Kent County’s efforts of the Local Management Board and their efforts to address transportation, affordable housing, and emergency shelter.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For more information about Martin’s House and Barn, go here.

 

 

 

 

Treasure of 18th and 19th-century documents saved from auction block

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Sometimes there’s more in an old house’s attic than moldy winter clothes, broken children’s toys, and mice enclaves. Sometimes there’s treasure.

And treasure, hundreds of rare 18th and 19th-century documents, were found in the attic of a Queen Anne’s County house on the brink of demolition. The retrieved papers, some 2,000were sent to auction at Crumpton. Luckily, an eagle-eyed historian—Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience Director Adam Goodheart—noticed the auction online and knew what he was looking at: rare slave documents and other papers related to Black history on the Eastern Shore.

The full story written by Michael E. Ruane appeared in Monday’s Washington Post.

Ruane describes the first moment he saw the small broadsheet that offered a reward for a runaway slave “A Negro Man Named Amos:

“It was chilling. There, on cheap rag paper, was the story of American slavery. Amos was “a smart fellow,” about 20, who might be headed for his mother in Philadelphia. But in 1793 he was the property of one William Price, who wanted him caught.”

Charles Sumner Hall just released their official announcement about the find:

“The Commodore Collection of original historical documents on the early experiences of African Americans in Kent and Queen Anne’s counties is a rare find,” according to Dr. Ruth Shoge, First Vice President of Sumner Hall. “The documents, which are intellectually enriching, also evoke an emotional response to the harsh reality of the lives of enslaved and freed Black people in 17th and 18th century America,” she continued. “It is very important to Sumner Hall that this collection has been given to us in perpetuity. The ownership of this collection is an honor and, in a special way, a homecoming for the memories of our ancestors. This collection supports our mission of promoting an understanding of the African American experience within the overall context of American history and culture.”

Thanks to the efforts of local Black residents and the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, approximately 2,000 pages of documents were purchased from Dixon’s Crumpton Auction this spring. The collection, named after Washington College’s first local Black alumnus, Norris Commodore ’73, will belong to Sumner Hall but is being conserved and archived at the school’s Miller Library. Mr. Commodore, who has deep roots here, gave generously toward the acquisition cost and was joined by the Hedgelawn Foundation, the Kent Cultural Alliance and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The papers are being digitized as a part of the Chesapeake Heartland Project and several can already be viewed online here. President of Sumner Hall’s Board of Directors, Larry Wilson, says, “The Commodore Collection is a very meaningful record of African American life and survival. I believe that it is very important to know our history and to learn from the lives of our ancestors as we work together for equal rights, justice and freedom in this county and across the country. We look forward to having exhibits at Sumner Hall based on these materials soon.”

For more about Sumner Hall, go here.

 

Mid-Shore Arts: The Journey of Artist Faith Wilson

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Every artist has a creative odyssey shaped by doubt, exploration, and discovery, and what seems like eternal transition, sometimes even from genre to genre.

For Chestertown artist Faith Wilson, an early impulse to create found a place in weaving, carding, spinning, and dying homegrown wool. Inspired by two years traveling Europe and visiting some famous French tapestry studios, Wilson thought she’d discovered her creative path and set out to make tapestry jackets under her “Circe” brand.

But her interests began to change when she discovered painting, starting with small jobs like helping paint theatre set with local artist Jack Schroeder.

Continuing to experiment with forms, Faith, with her sister, ceramic artist Marilee Schumann, opened a studio and gallery at the old granary building on Washington Avenue. It was there she met a visiting artist who was painting on canvas. She loved the texture of canvas and the fact that it was raw, unstretched.

And, she thought, “these might work well as floor coverings.” She never looked back, and the last 20 years have been a whirlwind of exhibits at elite galleries and shows like the American Craft Council, Visionary Art Museum, Washington Craft Show, and the Smithsonian. For five years, her work has been offered at the cooperative artists gallery, Create, and she fulfills many custom orders for clients throughout the country.

Working with her own stencils, Wilson’s dimensional technique of multiple overlays reveals a constellation of motifs, some abstract, others a kind of luminous and reimagined folk art. For example, her recurring blackbirds show up in entirely different contexts.

If you are like some of us, shy of using them for their purpose—as utilitarian floor coverings—your walls will brighten with her vision. Then again, a floor is just another surface.

“These are meant to be walked on, have table and chair on them, or in the kitchen,” she says.

The Spy recently visited Faith’s studio on Cannon Street to talk about her journey. While she demurs from considering herself an “artist” while self-identifying as more of a craftswoman, the contrast in words are eclipsed by the created wonder of her work.

 

This video is approximately seven minutes long. For more about Faith Wilson’s art and her gallery please go here.