Golden Quince Produces Fantastic Art
It’s always a nice surprise to find a local artist producing stunning work. Today on Etsy, the online marketplace for artists, I stumbled upon Golden Quince, the studio of Rockville artist Erin Vaganos. She’s an illustrator working in watercolor, ink, colored pencil, and Photoshop creating fantastic original works inspired by diverse sources, including Art Nouveau architecture, medieval botantical woodcuts, graphic novels, and Chinese paintings. Her work is easily accessible but also very detailed and intricate. She’s currently completing her second children’s book but also sells prints and cards of her work at her online store on Etsy. You can learn more about her at goldenquince.blogspot.com. If you want to support a local artist or want something special from Rockville, I recommend Golden Quince.
Rockville’s Year 2010 in Review
Usually this type of post goes up on January 1, but I always prefer a bit of distance to identify the biggest stories of past year. Although this is admittedly from my limited personal perspective and is bound to generate controversy (but hey, that’s what these lists are supposed to do), here’s my list for Rockville in 2010:
1. Red Gate Golf Course. This is continued to be a thorny issue and made have seen its thorniest moment when the City Council used $2.4 million in “surplus” money to pay off past debt and the anticipated shortfalls for 2011, and also (once again) punted the decision to another time. Despite countless meetings and studies, for years the Council has been astonishingly agonized about making a decision on whether to commit to an annual subsidy, integrate it into the recreation program, levy a tax to support it, or to close it down. Meanwhile, the golf course continues to bleed money and participation rates continue to slide. Perhaps we need to start over: if we were offered 130 acres today (Red Gate is the second largest park in Rockville), what would most benefit the community? I don’t think most people would say golf course.
Welcome to (snowy) Twinbrook
2. Snowpocalypse. Who can forget this snowstorm? There was so much snow it closed the federal government for a week. The adventurous walked and explored the city in a new quiet way and neighbors found a new reason to talk and help each other. There was a lot of frustration with snow clearing and the City wasn’t prepared, but remember, the city worked around the clock and conscripted employees into snowshoveling duties to deal with this record snowfall. We also improved our abilities to monitor and respond to these situations so when this happens again (and it may not be for another fifty years), we’re prepared. And someone at the City gets two stars for Continue reading →
Glenview Mansion art exhibit attracts large crowd
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| Glenview photography exhibit |
The opening reception for an exhibit of photography attracted a large crowd to Glenview Mansion this afternoon. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the City of Rockville, the City sponsored a juried photography competition. On view are the final selections and it’s great fun to see how differently people see our town and what attracts their interest. The exhibit also includes images of Rockville past and present, often next to each other, so you can see what’s survived (and how much was lost!). The gallery also included a dozen collages by Patricia Zannie, an art instructor at Montgomery College and a trustee of the Rockville Art League. Mayor Marcuccio welcomed the standing-room-only crowd (which included council members Mark Pierzchala and Bridget Newton) before a concert by the U. S. Navy Band Chamber Ensemble. Click on the photo to open an album of pics from the reception today or visit yourself before it closes on February 2 (that three weeks away!).
Twinbrook House Brightened with Mosaic Tile Walkway
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| 1708 Farragut, Twinbrook |
Walking is often the best way to explore a neighborhood–zooming by in a car just doesn’t give you enough time to look (and you should be watching the road, not the houses). A couple months ago while I was walking precincts for my council campaign, I discovered a house at 1708 Farragut that first drew me back because it bordered on another example of “McMansionism” in a Twinbrook neighborhood (it even had the symptomatic Palladian window!). On closer inspection it turned out to be much nicer, especially because it had a fabulous mosaic tile walkway. I’m not talking about the typical 1 x 1″ squares or hexes of colored tile–that’s definitely ho hum. But this is a walkway decorated with all sorts of durable materials, including polished stones, glass pebbles, copper pipe, opalescent glass, marble, and glass bottles, arranged in a charming and beautiful manner. It really is fantastic and worth a look if you’re into architectural crafts or tile. I don’t know the artist, but it is signed “Jane 09” in one spot (can someone help identify?). In the meantime, click on the picture or the caption, and you’ll see a photoalbum of a dozen images.
Max for Rockville 