Friends Mailing; Art Scholarships; Art Auction
Jeff Kane
Marblehead,
MA (February 21, 2011) The Marblehead Festival of Arts’ primary fundraising effort gets
underway Saturday, March 12, with the preparation of the annual Friends-of-the-Festival
Mailing, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, at the Gerry No. 5 Veteran Fireman’s Association
Hall, 210 Beacon Street, Marblehead (next to the Community Store). Many hands are
needed to prepare mail packets that will be sent to businesses and households
in Marblehead, Swampscott and other nearby towns.
Stefanie Gladstone, Friends Mailing Coordinator, says “Come over for an hour or
more anytime during the day, bring some helpful friends or family members and
share some stories. Snacks will be provided. The Friends Mailing is a great
opportunity to support the Festival, meet other volunteers, learn about
upcoming Festival events and have fun.”
Please note that parking is available, and volunteers should use the rear entrance.
For more information, visit www.MarbleheadFestival.org.
Marblehead Festival of Arts Offers Two Art Scholarship Programs
For both grants, criteria considered by
the Scholarships Committee include academic and art achievements; art-related
and extracurricular activities, both in and out of school; intended vocation;
and any honors or special citations received. This year’s Art Scholarships
Committee includes Peggy Farrell, Lynne DeVoe, Mike Evers and Herb Goldberg.
For the past two years, the Festival has had an additional grant, made by the Milton Bloom Student Art Scholarship Program. Open to students in grades 7-11, the $500 award will go to a deserving student interested in developing his or her artistic talents. Selection shall be based on artistic talent, accomplishments and motivation. Applicants should have a demonstrated passion for art, at least two years of experience, excel in their chosen areas, and seek to expand their artistic horizons. The scholarship, to be awarded to assist a student in paying tuition for a program in the arts, is made possible by contributions donated to a special fund in memory of Milton Bloom.
Applications can be obtained at www.MarbleheadFestival.org., Marblehead
High School, Marblehead Veterans Middle School, Marblehead
Community Charter Public School, Tower School and Cohen Hillel Academy. The deadline to submit applications for the Bloom
Scholarship is May 1, 2011.
An all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization, the MFoA produces a summer Arts Festival during the July 4th weekend and sponsors other events and art projects throughout the year. For more information, call 781-639-ARTS or visit www.MarbleheadFestival.org.
Marblehead Festival of Arts 40th Annual Art Auction
Marblehead MA (March 1, 2011) – Marblehead Festival of Arts 40th Annual Art Auction, to be held on Saturday, April 2, promises to be an outstanding evening of art, music, food, wine tasting and good company, highlighted by the silent and live auctions of fine arts and crafts, gift certificates, services and outings donated by area friends, businesses and organizations.
The
festivities get underway at Abbot Hall, 188 Washington Street, at 5 pm with the
silent auction, catered hors-d’oeuvres, wine and musical entertainment. The
live auction, with headline auctioneers Gene Arnould and Henry Dembowski,
begins at 7:30. The Art Auction is the
major single-event fundraiser for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts,
traditionally held each year over the July 4th weekend.
Art Auction Committee co-chairs Kathleen Lewis, Stefanie Gladstone and Gisela Gladstone are proud to present some of this year’s offerings. Lewis said, “We are so pleased that WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, is offering round trip airfare for two, to either Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket. It is a wonderful auction item. In addition, the station is also contributing a private station tour, where winners will be able to sit in on a live broadcast of either “On Point,” with Tom Ashbrook, or “Here and Now” with Robin Young. Both are exciting, new donations to our Auction and are guaranteed to generate a great deal of interest.”
Another new donation comes from Alison Trick, a professional vocal instructor for over 25 years, who will be contributing four ½ hour voice lessons at her studio in Newburyport. Trick graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the United Kingdom, one of Europe's most prestigious music conservatories.
Among Marblehead businesses, gift certificates have been donated by 5 Corners Kitchen (2 School Street), offering a gift card good for any day, including brunch; and Marblehead Opticians (51 Atlantic Avenue), providing Ray Ban sunglasses for bidding.
A highlight of the Art Auction each year is the Herb-Nordia, a special collector’s piece by Marblehead photographer Herb Goldberg and artist Nordia Kay, a longtime Marbleheader, now of Peabody, which combines a black and white photograph and a watercolor depicting a Marblehead scene. This artwork is produced specifically for the Festival’s Art Auction, and many bidders attend the auction in quest of this outstanding piece.
Goldberg and Kay, who had been friends through the Festival of Arts for many years, have teamed up to create their labor of love for over 30 years, beginning in 1980. Recently he reminisced about how the project got started. “In the winter of 1979, the two Stevens cottages on Front Street, dilapidated and about to be torn down to make way for the Fort Sewall parking lot, attracted Nordia’s attention. She wanted to paint them, but the December cold made it impossible to do so. She asked me to photograph the cottages for her before they were demolished, which I did.
“Nordia took my photograph and rendered it in watercolor, interpreting the cottages as she saw them in the photo. Rather than auction the two pieces separately, Nordia, my wife Jan and I decided to combine the two pieces in one matte and present them to the Art Auction for bidding that evening. We were successful, and Nordia and I have been collaborating on this project of rendering a Marblehead scene in two mediums every year since. Now the pieces are beautifully matted and framed together, and we’re proud that we’ve raised over $28,000 for the Festival of Arts with this single annual contribution.”
Goldberg’s daughter, Stefanie Gladstone, commented, “As always, this year’s Herb-Nordia will be kept under wraps until it is offered for bids in the live auction. And, again, it will be a treat for auction attendees.”
The Committee is hard at work, and there are many surprises in the works. Also, donations are still welcome for such items as original art, gift baskets, gourmet food and wine, professional services, concert or theater tickets, sporting event tickets, vacation getaways, and gift certificates to specialty shops, inns and restaurants. Questions can be addressed to artau...@MarbleheadFestival.org. A donation form can be downloaded from www.MarbleheadFestival.org.
Auction tickets will be on sale for $15 beginning Monday, March 14 at these Marblehead locations: Arnould Gallery and Framery (111 Washington Street), Shubie’s Marketplace (16 Atlantic Avenue), Spirit of ‘76 Bookstore (107 Pleasant Street) and Manhattan Sandwich Company (1 Bessom Street). Tickets sold at the door on April 2 will be $20.
For more information, visit www.MarbleheadFestival.org.
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