Trenton Museum SocietyP.O. Box 1034Trenton, NJ 08606

The Trenton Museum Societywelcomes your membership!Why not ask a friend to join!

Senior/ Student — $30Individual — $45

Family — $65Patron — $125Donor — $250

Sponsor — $500Benefactor / Corporate — $1000

Enclosed is my check for $ ________________as 2005 - 2006 Membership Dues

Name: ________________________________Address: _______________________________City: __________________________________State: ________________ ZIP: _____________Phone: Home (____) _____________________

Work (____) _____________________E-mail: ________________________________

EXHIBITIONS

March 5 - April 24, 2005

Delores D'Achille, Salomon Kadosche,

David Rivera & James L. Gafgen

April 30 - June 12, 2005

Ellarslie Open XXIII

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 30 from 5 to 8 p.m.

H. M. SZENES MUSIC SERIES

Friday, April 15 at 7 p.m.

Fred Miller presents “Cole Porter: Lectures in Song”

Concerts are $15 for members; $20 for non-members

EXTENDED MUSEUM HOURS

To better serve the community, Ellarslie will now be open

the second Friday evening of every month from 5 to 7 p.m.

NEW!

The Ellarslie MuseA Newsletter for Members of the Trenton Museum Society Spring 2005

That's the only way I candescribe the blues extravaganza thatclosed the "Blue Notes" exhibit at theTrenton City Museum. One blues afi-cionado called it the best performanceof music he'd ever seen - and he's seena lot of blues.

Where to start? First, with the bestblues guitarists in the area - PaulPlumeri and Joe Zook. And whothought of Ernie White as a blues gui-tarist? But there he was jamming.Vocals by Sandra Di, John Golden andmany more alternately rocked andsoothed the house. A father/son per-

formance by Larry andDanny Fox showed whatgood genes can do. Andtwo appearances by stu-dents from the MartinLuther King MiddleSchool were stirring. Iwonder if this opportunityto play to a packed housewill set one of these talent-ed youngsters on the roadto a career in music. Ifnothing else, it must haveinspired confidence andpride.

The museum waspacked, with the crowdfilling every room of thesold-out space. The con-cert was the official closeof the blues exhibit thatopened in October, in con-junction with McCarterTheatre Center's produc-tion of Zora NealeHurston's play “PolkCounty.” Even Hurston

buffs learned new things about theauthor and folklorist in the exhibitcurated by Trenton Museum Societypresident Stephanie Morgano. Andthe "Trenton Blues" side of the exhib-it, curated by museum DirectorBrian O. Hill, was a walk downmemory lane for any blues fan fromthe greater Trenton area.

Museums generally have animage of being stodgy, academicplaces. The mission of the TrentonMuseum Society is to celebrate thearea's art and introduce the commu-nity to the joy of art in itsmany forms. Over the pastyear, the museum has show-cased painting, sculpture,ceramics, food, wine, choco-late, music and more. TheMuseum Society has wel-comed many new membersover the past year, and webelieve much of this growth isdue to the open approachwe've taken to presenting'art.'

Put simply, the museum is a fun place to be, whether it's anart opening, a concert or a wine-tasting dinner. This eventbrought much of the best of Trenton together. The MuseumSociety looks forward to more such events, and we hope theTrenton community will come out and join the fun.

AR E A BL U E S MU S I C I A N S Rock!EL L A R S L I E AT BL U E S EX H I B I T FI N A L E

By Patricia Rodeawald

WOW!

D

Sandra Di

Guy DeRosa, John Sopko,Mario DiBartolo and

Dave ‘The Professor’ Orban

Children from Martin Luther KingMiddle School Paul Plumeri (left), Joe Zook (right) and friends beltin’ out the blues!

Ernie White & John Golden

Paul Plumeri

E

THE ELLARSLIE MUSE PAGE 2

The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie is owned by the City of Trenton, Douglas H. Palmer, Mayor; Maintained and Operated by the Department of R.N.R.&C., Francis E.Blanco, Director with additional support from the Trenton Museum Society which is funded in part by the NJ Commerce & Economic Growth Commission, the NJ State Councilon the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the M.C.C.&H.C.

MU S E U M HO U R S

Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a .m. to 3 p .m.Second Friday - 11 a .m. to 3 p .m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p .m.

Sunday - 1 p .m. to 4 p .m.Closed Mondays and major hol idays

Phone: (609) 989-3632Fax: (609) 989-3624

Website: www.Ellarslie.orgE-mail: TMS@Ellarslie.org

D I R E C T O R ’ S L E T T E R

It has now been seven wonderful yearssince I was fortunate enough to be appointedthe Director of the museum and for me, theEllarslie Open is the most exciting event inthe exhibition schedule because of the volumeof artists and work that goes through themuseum. It has allowed me the opportunity tobecome familiar with many of the local artists,en masse.

Back in 1999 when I hung my first"Open," two of the artists were SalomonKadosche and Delores D'Achille. When I saw their work I simply fell inlove with both of them. They employed a classic use of color, light andtexture, masterly applied with a gentleness that has long disappearedfrom the contemporary art scene…until I saw David Rivera's work inthe Ellarslie Open in 2001. David was the only person to qualify fourpaintings in the history of the Ellarslie Open. I then knew what I need-ed to do and combined these three wonderfully talented painters withthe local sculptor, James Gafgen. James did the statue of Sam Plumeriin front of the Trenton Thunder baseball stadium, the Illinois KoreanWar Memorial and most recently the statue to Robert Morris, signer ofthe Declaration of Independence, in Morrisville, PA. These four comple-ment each other very well, and they all deserve the accolades that theyare going to receive.

“The Classics” return to Ellarslie Mansion through April 24 whenthe Ellarslie Open brings us full cycle in the 23rd annual exhibition.Our awards sponsors, over the years, have been Joseph Teti andTriangle Art, The Trenton Artists Workshop Association, ArtifactsGallery, Café Ole and the Gallery on Lafayette. Other awards includethe Directors Award, the Museum Society Purchase Award as well asthe Ben Whitmire Purchase Award. I look forward to seeing you all atthe last two shows of this season and thank you all for making theTrenton City Museum a great place to work.

TH E EL L A R S L I E MU S Eis a publ icat ion of the

Trenton Museum SocietyP.O. Box 1034

Trenton, NJ 08606(609) 989-1191

TR E N T O N MU S E U M SO C I E T Y

BO A R D O F TR U S T E E S

Greg BaberDavid ChiacchioJennifer ConchaSusan Fiscarelli

Christiana Foglio-PalmerMary Kay Girmscheid

Amy GonzalesBob Heil

Susan HoganCarol Hubert

Shawn LawsonBeverly MillsEric Mooney

Heather PoolMichelle PostChristina RangPatricia RodeawaldJane RosenbaumKhalilah SabreeJudy SearsLynne SemmelCarolyn StetsonGail SzenesPeter WagnerNicole Yull

PresidentVice President

SecretaryCorresponding Secretary

Co-Treasurers

- Stephanie Morgano- Eric Fowler- Michelle Emerson- Martha Press- Beth Feltus and

Charles Lorimer, CPA

Director, Trenton City Museum - Brian O. Hill

MISSION OF THE TRENTON MUSEUM SOCIETY

The Trenton Museum Society is a volunteer, non-profitorganization which supports Ellarslie, the Trenton CityMuseum. This museum was established to collect, con-serve, and display tangible items that represent the cultureand traditions of all Trentonians. Collections, changingexhibitions and public programs are supported by themuseum to advance the historical and cultural significanceof Trenton, its people and its industries. The TrentonMuseum Society supports the acquisition and conservationof the permanent collection and originates programs to sus-tain and nurture the cultural life of Trenton and its artistsand to foster aesthetic awareness in fine and decorativearts.

Greg Baber Jennifer Concha Eric MooneyStephanie Morgano Patricia Rodeawald

NEWSLETTER STAFF

Staff Photographer: Bob Heil

© 2005Trenton Museum Society

Brian O. Hill, DirectorTrenton City Museum

PAGE 7 SPRING 2005

PEACEMAKING WITH PUPPETS:

CHARACTER EDUCATION THROUGH

INTERACTIVE, HANDS-ON PUPPETRYBy Carolyn Stetson

"Peacemaking with Puppets" is an inno-vative pilot program involving collabora-tion among the Trenton Museum Society,Kidsbridge Children's Museum, the city ofTrenton's SCOOP program, and theTrenton Public Schools. This after-schoolprogram at Ellarslie aims to address charac-ter education needs of children from theTrenton Public Schools while the studentslearn to express themselves by creating andworking with puppets. The Trenton CityMuseum was fortunate to receive a gener-ous donation of a large collection of puppetsfrom around the world belonging to Dr.Henry Ahrens, Professor Emeritus at TheCollege of New Jersey. This collectionserves as the nucleus of the project.

Twenty-five sixth grade students fromthe Dunn Middle School are coming toEllarslie from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. one after-noon a week for a total of ten weeks. Duringthe classes, students are introduced to theart of puppetry, perform skits using puppetsfrom the Dr. Henry Ahrens Collection,write their own skits, create their own pup-pets, build a stage, create scenery and will

ultimately perform the skits for an audienceof younger Dunn School children. The proj-ect will culminate in a final performance atEllarslie for parents, Trenton dignitaries,school district officials, Trenton MuseumSociety Board members and the generalpublic, followed by a reception honoring theparticipants.

Lynne Azarchi, of Kidsbridge Children'sMuseum, an expert in character education,is working with two puppetry experts, JudySears and Rebecca Erickson, to write thecurriculum for "Peacemaking withPuppets." Judy Sears is a Trenton MuseumSociety Board Member and art teacher atDunn Middle School, and Rebecca Ericksonis a teacher currently working in the after-school program at Princeton FriendsSchool. They are designing the curriculumto help children understand and value prin-ciples of character development, particular-ly tolerance and respect for others, by hav-ing the students create their own stories anduse the puppets to tell them. The same threeprofessionals are team-teaching the classesat Ellarslie.

Susan Hogan and Carolyn Stetson, co-chairs of the Trenton Museum Society'sEducation Committee developed the origi-nal proposal and have been meeting with theteachers and the other members of the edu-cation committee to develop this excitingprogram. "Peacemaking with Puppets" hasbeen made possible through the generosityof a donor who wishes to remain anony-mous.

A successful program will be followed bya more intensive two or three week (fourdays per week) program to be held atEllarslie during the summer of 2005.Target participants are Trenton MiddleSchool students, but the program would beopen to students rising to grades sixthrough eight from anywhere in the city.The Education Committee is currently look-ing for funding for the summer program.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you are interested in contributing tothe program, please contact the Trenton

Museum Society at 609-989-1191.

Trenton Museum Society Wins Trenton Council of Civic Associations AwardThe Trenton Council of Civic

Associations (TCCA) named theTrenton Museum Society CitizenOrganization of the Year and pre-sented the award at the TCCABanquet on November 5, 2004.The Trenton Museum Society isproud of the award and thanksthe TCCA for the honor.

The Trenton Museum Societyalso thanks everyone whohelped the museum over thecourse of 2004 and into 2005. TheMuseum Society received

numerous donations of time,money, services and goodsthat helped make its fundrais-ing efforts a success. Ofcourse, like all non-profits, theSociety needs your continuedsupport, especially in the formof membership. If you're notcurrently a member, you canjoin by sending in the form onthis newsletter, going online towww.ellarslie.org, or joiningnext time you're at the muse-um.

Representatives of the Trenton Museum Society proudly display their award certificates at the TCCA banquet.

THE ELLARSLIE MUSE PAGE 6

H. M. SZENES MUSIC SERIES

AT THE TRENTON CITY MUSEUM

The Trenton Museum Society offered two performances as part of the H.M. Szenes MusicSeries. The first was An Afternoon of Art Song presented on February 6th and featuring RobertBullington (baritone) and Sara Kohane (piano) performing the music of Robert Schumann andRalph Vaughan Williams. On March 6th, Rollin Wilber, composer, private teacher and concertperformer, performed Bach, Debussy, Chopin and others in an intimate afternoon of lovelymusic.

Fred Miller appears at the Trenton City Museum on Friday, April 15th at 7 p.m. with a per-formance of Lectures In Song: Cole Porter, a 75-minute musical and anecdotal overview of oneof America's great songwriters. This event follows Mr. Miller's sold-out Ellarslie performanceof George & Ira Gershwin - A Lecture in Song in 2004. Mr. Miller's personal and professionalodyssey in popular American music dates back to hearing Ella Fitzgerald sing Cole Porter.Over the last twenty years, his enthusiasm has found expression in production, direction, andperformance of Broadway, Operetta, and Americana classics in dozens of cabarets and concertrecitals throughout New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.

Concert tickets are $15 for members; $20 for non-members.

The Rollin Wilber and Sara Kohane / Robert Bullington performanceswere made possible through the generosity of Ted Boyer and Jane Rohlf

Sara Kohane and Robert Bullington

D

E

A r t T e a c h e r s ’ A r tS h o w d a t e s : 1 / 8 / 0 5 t o 2 / 2 7 / 0 5

S u s a n K i l e yM y F a t h e r ’ s

T o t e m

A n t h o n yC o l a v i t a

F r a g m e n t s

Pictures From an Exhibition

Rollin Wilber

WE NEEDYOU!

WANTED

The Garden Committee isseeking donations ofperennials to plant inEllarslie’s front garden. Ifyou can help, please call609-989-1191 and leave usa message.

WANTED

The Education Committeeis seeking a small cam-corder to document stu-dent puppetry sketchesfor the “Peacemaking withPuppets” project. If youcan ‘lend a lens,’ pleasecall 609-989-1191 andleave us a message.

WANTED

TMS is currently lookingfor volunteers to helpwith all aspects of theSociety. If you are intere-setd in becoming part ofour Volunteer Registry,please call 609-989-1191and leave us a message.

PAGE 3 SPRING 2005

D a l l a s P i o t r o w s k i a n d H a r r y I . N a a rS h o w d a t e s : 1 1 / 1 3 / 0 4 t o 1 / 2 / 0 5

Beverly Mills, a Pennington resi-dent, is a member of the Hospitalityand Education committees of theTrenton Museum Society. Like manytrustees, she is using her talents to helpthe museum, as well as fulfill somepersonal interests.

With 15 years experience in thefood-service industry, Beverly is well-suited to the Hospitality committee,which manages catering for allMuseum Society events. Beverly land-ed in the food industry unexpectedly.

She was studying for her degree inFine Arts at The College of New Jerseyand took a job with a well-known localcaterer, Claire's Cuisine, for a regularincome. She discovered she enjoyedthe business, and after graduation shesplit her time between freelance graph-ic art and catering - only to find sheenjoyed catering more than art. Sheand a partner bought Claire's Cuisineand eventually opened a retail andcatering enterprise, Flavors Café inPennington. In 2000, she gave up theretail part of the business and took ontwo more partners, who togetheropened Four Girls catering, which wonthe YWCA Award for OrganizationalExcellence. Despite much success, thestress and the physical nature of thebusiness took its toll, and Beverlybowed out of the business. She is nowin charge of marketing for aPennington day spa.

Beverly always had a connection toTrenton because her grandmother wasa hairdresser in the city and was one ofTrenton's leading African-Americanbusinesswomen in the 1950's. Beverlyhad visited Cadwalader Park often,knew about Ellarslie, and wanted to bea part of it.

After joining the board, Beverlydeveloped a desire to help exposeTrenton's youth to the cultural experi-ences available in the area, so shebecame a member of the Society'sEducation committee. Beverly remem-bers working in the museum store(Molly’s the Shop at Ellarslie) oneSunday afternoon when a girl aboutfour years old walked in with hergrandmother. "The girl called themuseum her 'pretend house,'" saysBeverly, "She said, 'this is what myhouse is going to look like when I growup.’” I never forgot that encounter - themuseum was a little oasis for this girl.That's when I got involved in theEducation committee."

Like many other trustees and mem-bers of the museum, Beverly is sur-prised that so few people in the areaare aware of it. She hopes her workwith Trenton youth will help a newgeneration appreciate the museum andart in general.

Beverly and the members of theHospitality and Education committeesare always looking for volunteers. Ifyou would like to get involved, contactthe Trenton Museum Society at 609-989-1191.

T R U S T E E S P O T L I G H T : Beverly Mills

Pictures From an Exhibition

THE ELLARSLIE MUSE PAGE 4

Last summer, the Board of Trustees of the Trenton MuseumSociety spent countless hours planning what was to be known asA Season to Remember. The chairwomen of the Community Events,Public Relations and Hospitality committees took on the task ofplanning and executing what was shaping up to be one of themost ambitious calendar of events the Museum Society has everprogrammed.

We, as a Board, hoped to present a year of programs andevents that would pique the interests and appetites of all ourmembers as well as the public at large. We hoped that this yearwas going to be GREAT! Now that Spring is finally here, I havethe time to pause for a moment to evaluate the progress of ourgreat hopes and what I see is a year that can be summed up in thesingle word - SPECTACULAR!

We started the season off with a five-week wine tasting seriesthat sold out just days after The Trenton Times featured our eventon the front page of the Food section in an article entitled, ArtfulSetting for Ellarslie Wine Classes. In the midst of our huge winetasting series, the Museum opened Blue Notes: Chronicling theBlues from Polk County to Trenton promptly followed by the con-cert A Night of the Blues which featured performances by Joe Zook,

Steve Guyger, Doris Spears, Georgie Bonds and James Cheadle.And what a night it was! The evening of October 8th was the firsttime the roof was blown off of Ellarslie, and once the dust anddebris had settled, the powers-that-be decided it was time to startplanning a second night of the blues. With Joe Zook and PaulPlumeri headlining the event, we hosted concert #2 - An Eveningof the Blues on January 21st to a record sold-out crowd. Not onlywas the roof blown off again, but by the end of the night, the win-dows and walls were missing too. Lastly, to round out the sea-son, the highly anticipated and much talked of 2nd Annual It’s AllAbout Chocolate - Again! chocolate tasting was attended by acrowd numbering close to 200.

Looking back, I can’t begin to fathom how a volunteer groupof 27 Trustees created, what I feel has been, the most spectacularyear the Trenton Museum Society has ever experienced. As I con-template A Season to Remember, I realize that we, the TrentonMuseum Society, didn’t create this spectacular year all on our own;we did it with help from a lot of our friends!

The Museum Society wishes to sincerely thank the following“friends” for their time, dedication, support and generosity inmaking this past year such a success.

THE ELLARSLIE WINE EXPERIENCE

Marc SenginJoe Grinbaum

Lenox, Inc., Lou Fantin, Lori Delany Carol Hill and Trenton Printing

Susan Sprague Yeske Community Events Committee

George BarkerShawn Lawson

Michelle Cimiluca for her generosityBob Merkle and Olsson's Fine Foods

Panera Bread, Princeton

FOR TAKING A CHANCE AND LOANING

YOUR CHINA TO "THE CAUSE"

Carolyn StetsonBrian O. Hill

Jennifer Concha Christiana Foglio-Palmer

Susan and Nicola FiscarelliEliz and Peter Yull

Rhett Pernot

A Season to RememberRespectfully submitted by Stephanie Morgano, TMS President

Marc Sengindiscusses thewine beingserved witheach course.

Peter and Elizabeth Yull enjoy a dancebetween courses.

Shawn Lawson of Soufflé Catering at workon the wine tasting dinner.

A sell-out crowd enjoys food,wine and music.

Staff members of Lenox (whograciously donated dinner placesettings) with museum director,

Brian O. Hill.

PAGE 5 SPRING 2005

“IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOCOLATE - AGAIN!”

Joanne Reilly ~ Sweety Peety ~ Susan Sprague Yeske & Pat Rodeawald and Beth Brody(for an outstanding job on publicity!)

H.M. SZENES MUSIC SERIES

Jane Rolf and Ted Boyer for their generosityGail Szenes

Carolyn Stetson

OPENING RECEPTIONS

Joe and Marnie Derrico Revere Ristorante Italiano and Staff

Peter Wagner (for always lending a needed hand)Susan Fiscarelli and the Hospitality Committee

(for making the rest of us look good!)

Joe ZookDeborah Raven

Philip McAuliffeGary Sareztsky

Ron KramerMcCarter Theatre

The Zora Neale Hurston TrustLucy Hurston

Victoria Sanders and AssociatesLibrary of Congress

Rollins CollegeUniversity of Florida

DeLorenzos Image FactoryDoris Spears

Georgie BondsSteve Guyger

James CheadleD.D. WorekErnie White

Billy HoltAngelo Di Braccio

Rick LawtonTom Reock

John Sopko Bobby Merc Greg Simon

Mario DiBartoloMikey jr

Dave “The Professor” OrbanRick Baldassari

Tony "Mojo" BufordFrankie Boy Pinto

John Gulden Ed Wilson

Danny and Larry Fox Chris Musica

Tom Verdi Russ Taline Sandra Di

Rick PoganyGuy DeRosa

"Cap'n " Harry ChapmanMLK Middle School and

TCHS 9th Grade Annex BandFD Subs

Beth Feltus (for doing too much!)

Charlene Cothran looks on as Lucy Anne Hurstonsigns a copy of her book about Zora Neale Hurston,

“Speak, So You Can Speak Again”.

Steve Guyger, James Cheadle and Joe Zook rock thehouse at the opening of the Blues exhibit.

Guests, including young Master Hank Taylor, enjoy the elegant ambience anddelicious goodies at the 2nd Annual chocolate tasting event.

“BLUE NOTES” AND BLUES CONCERTS