Bob Benson, mirror artist
Twelve years ago when Bob Benson saw a single strand of mirrors in a friend’s yard blowing in the breeze, he remembers thinking, “Boy, that has possibilities.”
Posts by Algerina Perna:
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above
Bringing African American culture to ceramics
Natural hair has always held a fascination for Murjoni Merriweather, who incorporates African American hairstyles – afros, braids, cornrows, puffballs -into her gracefully elongated ceramic figures. “I come from a majority black community so I base a lot of my art work around my own culture,” says Merriweather, 19, who resembles her creations. She is a sophomore in the ceramics program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Wockenfuss, the candy family
Candy is a family affair for Paul Wockenfuss, owner and president of Wockenfuss Candies. Over a dozen of his family members are employed making chocolate confections and selling candy in eight stores in Maryland. It’s been Paul’s family’s livelihood for 100 years and five generations. In 1915, Wockenfuss’ grandfather Herman Charles opened the first store under the name “Wockenfuss Candy Company.” The company is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Read all about it here.
A walk around Centennial Lake Park
Centennial Park located just off Route 108 in Ellicott City, comprises 337 acres, and features a 54-acre, man-made lake which contains a wildlife management area. Home to over 200 kinds of birds, ducks and geese, as well as other wildlife, the lake is stocked with fish by the State Department of Fisheries. The 2.6-mile path surrounding the man-made gem also offers beautiful vistas in every direction.
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Childhood memories of Cape May, New Jersey
My favorite place as a child was splashing in the ocean with my siblings in Cape May, New Jersey in the 1950’s, making sandcastles and burying each other in the sand.
The extraordinary wood sculptures of David Knopp
Like ancient striated canyons shaped from water pulsing through the earth, David Knopp’s wood sculptures form flowing layers that evoke the essence of the natural world. The veneered pieces suggest movement, like wind rustling a branch, or waves swirling in a stormy ocean. Both artistic and practical, the sculptures serve as tables, chairs and lamps. “I just like the idea of functionality in art. I always have,” Knopp says. Only one of the 20 or so wood items is purely aesthetic: “Metamorphosis,” a thirteen-foot colossus, took about six months to complete
When it comes to doll repair, Sandy Hohne does it all
When it comes to doll repair, Sandy Hohne can do it all, and quickly, too. She sculpts, paints, patches, makes wigs, and replaces eyes and teeth. In her Cockeysville work room, Hohne repairs dolls made in the early 1800’s up to the present. Her tools include a drill press and band saw for replacing doll parts, even surgical clamps for restringing the arms and legs.
Quilting: A labor of love
Bursts of colors explode from Gyleen Fitzgerald’s quilts as she unfurls them one after the other, revealing splashes of vibrant reds, blues, greens, yellows and purples. Each quilt displays a different design, each as beautiful as the next. At twenty-three, Gyleen Fitzgerald took up quilting for one reason: she was bored. Having just moved to Joppatowne from Philadelphia with no local family or friends, she signed up for a quilting class. Thirty-three years and hundreds of quilts later, she no longer has time to be bored.
Keeping things ticking with the Maryland Clock Company
Time has been good to Rick and Doris Graham. Married for over four decades, their livelihood spans four centuries. They sell clocks at their family business, the Maryland Clock Company located in Davidsonville, and repair some timekeepers that date as early as the 1700’s. Graham fixes the clocks and says his wife “does everything else.”
Adam Lambert and Queen rock Merriweather Post Pavilion
Adam Lambert took over leading singing duties as he joined up with Queen to rock Merriweather Post Pavilion Sunday night.