Greenville & Hockessin Life Winter 2017

Winter 2017

Magazine

Voices of the choir at the Christ Church Christiana Hundred - Page 40

Inside • In fine tune: The duPont family’s 1923 Aeolian pipe organ plays on • Local museums are becoming community hubs • The Hockessin Art & Book Fair

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Winter 2017

Greenville & Hockessin

Life

Table of Contents 12 24 32 40 50 54 60

The art of the image

70 78 86

The Hockessin Art & Book Fair

In fine tune

70

50

Local museums are becoming community hubs The human instruments Reminiscing about Mt. Pleasant School #34 Q&A: Olga Ganoudis RH Gallery and Studios is a new outlet for area artists

60

George & Sons is making waves in Hockessin Home Ideations

78 Cover design by Tricia Hoadley Cover photograph by Jie Deng

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In fine tune

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Letter from the Editor: In this issue of Greenville & Hockessin Life, writer Lisa Fieldman talks to Irenee duPont, Jr. about his efforts to keep the family’s 1923 Aeolian pipe organ in top condition. In the early 1900s, it was fashionable for wealthy families to have a residential pipe organ installed in the home. A majority of the pipe organs from that era have not survived through the years.

One that did survive, and remains operational, is in Granogue, the home of Barbara and Irenee duPont, Jr. When Irenee duPont, Sr., decided to install a pipe organ in the family home nearly 100 years ago, he could not have foreseen how much pleasure it would bring to his family. But, three generations later, the pipe organ continues to bring joy. We talk to Mr. duPont about the pipe organ and its meaning to the family.

The holidays are a perfect time to find new adventures for the family. If you haven’t visited one of the museums along the Route 52 corridor in a while, you could be in for a surprise as museums like the Delaware Art Museum or Delaware Museum of Natural History are finding new ways to engage a new generation of patrons. Pam George writes about how local museums have taken on certain attributes of parks, arts centers, performing venues and community centers as a way to attract visitors and connect to the community.

Also in this issue, writer John Chambless profiles Luigi Ciuffetelli, a photographer who has enjoyed a long career of making people look their best. We also talk to Roderick Hidalgo II about the opening of RH Gallery and Studios, which debuted in September, and visit another Hockessin hotspot, George & Sons. With the Christmas season quickly approaching, writer Richard Gaw takes a look at the 18-member Christ Church Choir and its dynamic director, Bruce J. Barber II. Greenville & Hockessin Life was there on Saturday, Nov. 4, when approximately 70 talented writers and artists gathered for the fourth annual Hockessin Art & Book Fair. Vendors, participants, and organizers say that the event is getting bigger and better every year.

By now, many Greenville-area shoppers who collect artisan jewelry are familiar with the name Olga Ganoudis. Her booth is consistently crowded at the Brandywine Festival of the Arts and Wilmington Flower Market. She is the subject of the Q & A in this issue.

We also talk to Barbara Miller, who has very fond memories of the time she spent studying at the Mt. Pleasant School #34, which was one of several one-room schoolhouses that served the area.

The staff at Greenville & Hockessin Life would like to wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. We’re already hard at work planning the next issue of the magazine, which will arrive in the summer of 2018. In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions for future stories, please let us know.

Cover design by: Tricia Hoadley Cover photo: Kristin Finio

Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13

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————|Greenville & Hockessin Arts|————

The art of the image

Luigi Ciuffetelli has enjoyed a long career of making people look their best

By John Chambless Staff Writer

L

Photo by John Chambless

Photographer Luigi Ciuffetelli in his Wilmington studio.

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uigi Ciuffetelli was 12 when his future found him. It was in the form of a Pentax 35-mm camera that was a Christmas gift to an older cousin.

“To me, it was just the coolest thing ever,” Ciuffetelli recalled during an interview in his sleek, fourth-floor studio in downtown Wilmington, Del. “So I borrowed it and fell in love with photography. It just fascinated me.”

Growing up in the Stanton area, “I was always drawing and painting as a kid,” Ciuffetelli said, but photography quickly took over. His parents eventually got him his own 35-mm camera. “For me, it was a passion.

I loved creating imagery,” he said. “I was about 13 years old, so my subject matter was pretty slim.”

Born in 1964, Ciuffetelli grew up in the do-it-yourself days of home photography. He took his color negatives to the local

Photo by Luigi Ciuffetelli

The cover of Joe Biden’s ‘Promises to Keep’ features one of Ciuffetelli’s portrait images.

This image for a story on the School of Rock was shot in Ciuffetelli’s studio.

Acme for processing, waiting a week until he could see what he shot. “I started building a darkroom in my parents’ basement, and taught myself to develop film,” he said of his black-and-white work at the time. “I got a part-time job to help pay for it.”

Ciuffetelli went to high school at Salesianum in Wilmington, “and I wanted to absorb as much about photography as I could. We had a family friend who was our local priest at St. Matthew’s Church, and he was a big-time amateur photographer. My mother was ranting and raving one day about how it was costing her so much money because they were paying for all my pictures to be developed. She didn’t get it. But he looked at my pictures and said, ‘This kid has got an eye.’ He kind of awakened everybody to the idea that ‘Don’t think he’s just goofing off with a camera. He’s got something.’

“My art teacher at school saw my photography and said that there was a school in Philadelphia that had just started up, called The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and they had a photography program,” Ciuffetelli said.

Seeking a direction for his work, Ciuffetelli had come across the fashion magazines read by his two older sisters.

“I discovered Cosmopolitan,” he said, “and I thought, ‘Wow. I want to be the guy who takes these pictures of these beautiful women.’”

Being a teenager probably helped stir him in the direction of fashion models, but he laughed and said his interest in the technical aspects of the photography was also a prime motivation.

“I went to the Art Institute of Philadelphia for their new photography program,” he recalled. “My father was a

Delaware Today has prominently featured Ciuffetelli’s work.

laborer who worked at the News Journal. The only person my parents knew who was a photographer was Fred Comegys. So my dad thought I had to go take pictures for the newspaper.”

Ciuffetelli, though, took a different path. After graduating from the Art Institute, he got a job with a Philadelphia photographer who shot the thousands of images of groceries for the Acme ads that appeared in every Sunday’s newspaper. “It was boring,” Ciuffetelli said, smiling, “but I learned a lot about photography and cameras. I was working to learn more about photography, and saving my money.”

He had connections with a photographer in New York City, so, with youthful optimism, he moved to the city and lived in a series of rented rooms with roommates while he landed a job as an assistant photographer for Macy’s. The store had an in-house studio where their fashions were photographed. He was on the set as models posed for the ads that ran in The New York Times.

“They trained me for six months and then gave me a shot.

It was a freelance gig, it wasn’t a full-time job,” he said, adding that the world of fashion photography was a wordof-mouth network. He worked wherever he could for two years, assisting other photographers in New York City, and eventually landed a regular job as a photographer for the Macy’s lingerie catalog, in many ways fulfilling his teenage dream, he said, laughing.

“Even though all the models got paid double-time because they were in their underwear, all the shoots were confined to an inside studio or a rented house,” he said.

“The budget was smaller for those lingerie shoots, so they Continued on Page 14 www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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Luigi Ciuffetelli Continued from Page 13

always started the young photographers on them.

“I did a lot of catalog shooting for Macy’s, and then transitioned into doing some magazine work.”

Along the way, “I met Cindy Crawford once and was an assistant on the set, and I photographed Rachel Hunter for Macy’s when she was just getting started,” Ciuffetelli said.

“Two months later, she was on the cover of Cosmopolitan.

I used to shoot Stephanie Seymour for the lingerie stuff before she became a Victoria’s Secret girl. None of them would remember me now, though,” he added. “It’s been too many years.”

For a decade, Ciuffetelli traveled in the world of the beautiful people. Eventually, the job became a grind, and he was beginning to transition out of fashion into assignments for magazine work – Woman’s Day human interest stories, for instance. When 9/11 hit, “all the magazines turned their stories over to 9/11 families and victims,” he said.

The magazine assignments to photograph women doing remarkable things around the nation led him to spend two days following chef/entrepreneur Paula Deen, working at her home in Savannah at the start of Deen’s career.

After all the years of traveling when an editor would call, Ciuffetelli stepped away from New York and moved back to Delaware. He shot for Delaware Today and got his name known in the Wilmington area corporate world. He married, and lived in Hickory Hill in Hockessin, a home he still owns today, more than 20 years later. He is now divorced, and his three children are grown and launching into careers of their own.

“I like Hockessin a lot. It’s quiet,” he said. “It’s safe, the school system is great. It’s just a cool area to live in.” Living in the area also allows him to commute to Wilmington, where he had a studio in a Union Street warehouse for about a decade. He now has a sunny studio space on the fourth floor of a rehabbed building on Market

Photo by Luigi Ciuffetelli

Sushi chefs as envisioned by Ciuffetelli.

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Street – part of a revitalization effort at the lower end of the street. It’s an ideal location with everything he needs, including a picturesque exposed brick wall, a huge white backdrop and plenty of floor space.

Now, Ciuffetelli works up and down the Northeast Corridor, commuting from New York to Washington, D.C., for assignments. Much of his work these days – “about 75 percent” he said – is photographing lawyers for advertising or trade publications. The challenge, he said, is working within the time constraints of people who are frequently very much in demand, and finding ways to get his subjects to step away from their desks.

“I sometimes come into the offices looking around for good locations,” Ciuffetelli said. “Whenever I go into a situation, my philosophy is that I don’t want to be predictable and I don’t want to do what every other photographer would do. Most people in the corporate world, they don’t want to look corny. Their image is everything, and they want to look professional.”

Photo by Luigi Ciuffetelli

George Stephen Williams, Jr., a vice president of commercial banking services for Wells Fargo.

Along the way, he has produced images that make a bold statement – such as the three Philadelphia lawyers he convinced to get into a boat for a photo in Super Lawyers magazine. “Most law firms want to be serious. For that shoot, I found out one of the lawyers was a rower, and the others Continued on Page 16

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Luigi Ciuffetelli Continued from Page 15

agreed to go to Boathouse Row for the shoot. Not everybody’s like that, but these guys wanted to stand out. When you have a magazine devoted to lawyers, every picture in there is an ad.”

For a photo of sushi chefs for the Delaware restaurant Mikimoto’s, Ciuffetelli had all the men bring their knives and stand in an impressive V formation with the head chef in the foreground. The image, bristling with solemnity and very sharp knives, is immediately arresting.

Ciuffetelli’s images for Delaware Today magazine have made his name locally.

One shot for a story on the School of Rock in Wilmington features an adult instructor and a young student, airborne with his electric guitar in true rock-star style. “The kid really jumped, a couple

K

‘Captain America,’ one of Ciuffetelli’s iconic portraits of action figures.

‘Ultraman,’ one of Ciuffetelli’s portraits of action figures.

dozen times,” Ciuffetelli said, laughing. “It wasn’t Photoshopped in.”

Many of Ciuffetelli’s images are of doctors and hospitals, such as Christiana Care. The surroundings can be cluttered with medical equipment and visual chaos, “but I try to go for ‘organized distraction,’ or sometimes I can touch things up in post-production,” he said.

Perhaps one of the pinnacles of Ciuffetelli’s career are his many images of Joe Biden through the years. His association with the Biden family goes Continued on Page 18

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Luigi Ciuffetelli Continued from Page 16

back to his high-school days, when his aunt was then-Senator Biden’s housekeeper and got young Luigi a glamorous summer job doing yard work. “I spent the summer of my junior year at Sallie’s working there,” he said. “His yard was riddled with poison ivy, and I had no idea. I was just being covered with it. I remember going to Sen. Biden and saying, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m allergic to poison ivy.’ As charismatic as he is, he actually talked me into staying there another couple of weeks.”

A decade later, after Ciuffetelli’s New York fashion career, Delaware Today wanted to feature Biden on its cover.

“I got to photograph him again,” Ciuffetelli said. “Now, he didn’t remember me at the time, until I told him the poison ivy story. He is an incredibly loyal person. And he loves family connections. It made photographing him easier because I had a connection with him.”

Ciuffetelli shot Biden several times for Delaware Today, and his photo appears on the cover of Biden’s book, “Promises to Keep.”

Before Biden stepped into his job as Vice President, Ciuffetelli got an unannounced visit at his old studio from the Secret Service, whose members checked out every inch of the studio before Biden arrived for a Delaware Today shoot.

A couple of weeks later, without even entering his name into consideration for the job, Ciuffetelli was hired to photograph Biden at the inaugural festivities in Continued on Page 20

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Photo by John Chambless

The identification pin and tags worn

by Ciuffetelli when he was covering the Presidential inauguration.

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Luigi Ciuffetelli Continued from Page 18

Washington, D.C. “I was shocked, but at the same time, completely honored. It was a life-changing experience to be part of that historic event.” he said. “I found out later that more than 1,000 photographers nationwide had asked for the job, and they picked me. I didn’t think I would have ever been considered.

“My job was to shadow Biden everywhere he went, 24/7,” he said. “It was a quick week, but a memorable week. I met him at his house on Saturday or Sunday, then headed out on the train from Wilmington.

“Everybody who was close to President Obama or Vice President Biden got a pin. It was on my lapel. They gave us a new one every day. I could walk right over to him at any point and the Secret Service would step aside if they saw that pin. I was with him for seven straight days, I was in the motorcades, in the press car, which was behind Biden. It was me and a photographer from Time magazine working behind the scenes. I was at the motorcade early, about 6 a.m., and we would be going until 1 or 2 a.m.,” Ciuffetelli said. “There was not much sleep, but the adrenaline was going. There was so much going on that entire week.”

He was mere steps away from Bono and Bruce Springsteen when they performed for the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial, and his images of the artists are striking.

“I ended up shooting about 15,000 images that week,” he estimated. “There are so many pictures taken on a daily basis. They put me up in a hotel room two rooms away from Biden. There were a couple of times when they knocked on my door and said, ‘The Vice Presidentelect is going to do a press conference, and we need you right now.’ I had to be ready.”

While the Biden chapter has passed into his resume, Ciuffetelli remains a very busy man, but still finds time for personal work, including landscape images of the places he visits, and a series of manipulated, pop-art style images of superhero toys that belonged to his children.

“Picasso and Andy Warhol are two of my inspirations,” he said. “I wanted to combine what they did and what I do. So I did portrait photographs of toys. I found a way to manipulate them that was really cool. I printed them big, 4 feet by 4 feet, and showed them several times. I sold a bunch of them. People really enjoyed them.”

Ciuffetelli has been in his current studio space for about five years, after he was invited to set up shop in the burgeoning Market Street art district. He did much of the work himself, stripping out the sheet rock walls that had 20

Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

‘Super Lawyers’ magazine has featured Ciuffetelli’s images for several years.

been put over the original 1880s brick, and taking out the ceiling and interior walls. “We got salvaged wood, and built as much out of recycled material as we could,” he said. The studio has been rented to other photographers and as party space, and the developers used the finished space as an example of the possibilities of the art district.

Ciuffetelli has perfected the art of negotiation with clients who can sometimes be stuck in their day-to-day image and reluctant to try something new for a photo.

“We have a back and forth,” he said. “I’ll say, ‘OK I’ll shoot your ideas, but then we’ll do one of mine.’ I have clients come to me and say they want something different and edgy. I usually do a safe shot and then a crazy shot, and I always think my crazy idea is better. Most times, they love it when they see it, but then three weeks later when they make their final decision, they go back to the traditional picture. But I’m always trying.”

He works with digital only these days, Ciuffetelli said, but he remembers when shoots were largely a guessing game. “When we would do these big shoots, we had no idea what it was going to end up looking like,” he said of the pre-digital days. “We’d shoot Polaroids to check, but we’d still be holding our breath until that film was developed the next day. Now, I can shoot 20 pictures and I can see if I’ve got the right one. We can stop shooting.”

The omnipresent nature of cameras today has forever altered the way a professional photographer operates, he admitted. “That’s the biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome in the past three or four years. Everybody thinks they’re a photographer,” he said with a sigh, lamenting Continued on Page 22 www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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Luigi Ciuffetelli Continued from Page 21

clients who will use cell-phone photos in their advertising. “People will say, ‘I’ll just get my kid who’s in art school to do it.’ I tell them they can do that, but I give them my card because they’re not going to be happy. I call that clean-up work. I do a lot of clean-up work now. A lot of young photographers don’t have a sense of composition and style and lighting.

They just know how to work the camera and they can fix it all in Photoshop.

Well, you can’t fix a lot of things in Photoshop.”

As his three adult children move into their own careers – there’s one son who graduated from DCAD as an animation

major, one son is studying to be a chef, and his daughter is a college senior majoring in screenplay writing – Ciuffetelli said he’s led a charmed life.

“In my opinion, my biggest accomplishment was showing my kids the fact that there’s more than a 9-to-5 job,” he said. “I want them to follow their passion. You can make money in the arts. I never feel like I’m at work. I’ve done that for 30 years. Even on the crappy days, I’m still having the best day. I get to take pictures for a living. I have no regrets.”

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty.com.

Elena Delledone poses for Ciuffetelli’s photo for a Christiana Care advertisement.

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———|Greenville & Hockessin History|———

In fine tune Irenee duPont, Jr., has kept the family’s 1923 Aeolian pipe organ in top condition

Photos by Lisa Fieldman

Irenee duPont, Jr., has enjoyed the family pipe organ since he was a child.

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Lisa Fieldman Staff Writer

I

n the early 1900s, it was fashionable to have a residential pipe organ installed in your home. They were showcased in the houses of affluent residents, and several homes in Wilmington had pipe organs, though the majority have not survived through the years.

Of those pipe organs, one remains operational and is at Granogue, the home of Barbara and Irenee duPont, Jr. “The organ was installed at the time the home was built,” Mr. duPont said. “There were about 760 of these residential organs made by the Aeolian Pipe Organ Company. It was an off-the-shelf item.”

Like many residential pipe organs, the Granogue organ is self-playing, but can also be played manually.

“Learning to play a pipe organ is a lifelong dedication; it’s much more complicated than the piano,” duPont said.

No one in the family played the instrument, so they relied on paper scrolls for automatic play. Originally, scrolls came with instructions detailing which stops to pull on and off, though later scrolls were fully automatic. Today, the pipe organ can be controlled through a computer. You simply type in a song’s code, and sit back and enjoy the music.

Irenee duPont, Sr., built Granogue after World War I, and in 1923, the family relocated from Rising Sun Lane.

“We were moving into the country from Wilmington,” duPont said. “My mother and my eight sisters liked the outdoors as well as music, and we were still close to the bright lights of the city, which they also enjoyed.” DuPont Continued on Page 26

The 23-rank organ console can be played manually.

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In fine tune Continued from Page 25

recalled that the pipe organ was playing as the family walked into their home for the first time.

Incorporating a pipe organ into the building plans of a grand house was not uncommon in that era. “It was before electronic recordings of orchestras, so to get good quality music, you had to go all the way,” duPont said. “There were quite a few around Wilmington, and of course New York City was full of them.”

The 23-rank pipe organ console sits in the spacious drawing room, under a portrait of Barbara duPont’s mother. “She could play, so we put the portrait where she could feel at home,” duPont said with a smile. He opened a cabinet to display the computer control of the pipe organ. Shortly after he switched on the blower and entered the code for “The Lost Chord,” music swelled up through the organ well and resonated throughout the drawing room.

As the organ played, duPont pointed out the stunning view from the arch porch, a sweeping vista of the Brandywine Valley.

“You can see all the way to Downingtown,” he said as he pointed to the far-off tree line. “It’s that little V-shaped valley on the very distant horizon.”

The view was pristine, as if the surrounding countryside had

Family friend Maxfield Parrish painted a mural to hang in the organ pipe alcove.

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Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

remained unchanged for generations. Looking out to the land on the northeast side of the property, he said, “Fifty to 60 years ago, that was all mom-and-pop farms. Now it’s wood lots.”

DuPont selected another tune, “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” a song that showcases the pipe organ’s chimes. He then offered a tour of the pipe organ components on the lower level. The “works” consist of 1,200 pipes and windchest, a set of chimes, and a glockenspiel, giving the organ a full orchestral sound.

A pipe organ is a sensitive instrument, and temperature and humidity need to

The family still has some of the organ music scrolls, though now it can be played by computer.

Continued on Page 28

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In fine tune Continued from Page 27

be monitored to keep the organ in prime condition.

“There is no air conditioning in the house except for the organ chamber,” duPont said. “The air conditioning was paid for over the first year in the savings on organ maintenance.”

Standing in the heart of the pipe organ as it played, and watching the metal hammers hitting the chimes and glockenspiel, seeing the pipes engage, was to be fully immersed in the music.

As the song ended, duPont walked into the adjacent room where the turbine engine is located. “In the old days, someone had to work the big bellows,” he explained, “so when the electric motor came along, they made an electric fan that would create pressure to blow the pipes.”

The turbine was purchased second-hand from a church up north. “This motor is special because it had been blessed by the Pope while in the church,” duPont said.

“It was brought here, and the blessings have spread all throughout the house.”

Back in the drawing room, duPont continued to talk about the enjoyment music has brought to his family.

Sharing space with the organ console is a grand piano.

In the parlor sits a hammered dulcimer, and his Uncle Pierre’s George A. Prince reed organ, circa 1855.

Irenee duPont, Jr., stands next to one of his own paintings.

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In pipe organ circles, the Granogue organ is well known. It is not uncommon for like-minded enthusiasts to stop by to chat with duPont and play the instrument. “When the organist from Atlantic City gets tired of playing his giant pipe organ, he comes down to play our smaller organ,” he said with a chuckle. The Atlantic City organ is located in Boardwalk Hall and designated as the world’s largest pipe organ.

Technicians working on the Longwood Gardens pipe organ also like to stop by to visit.

The pipe organ has seen two restorations over the years, in 1965 and 1998. In 1997, a digital playback system was added. DuPont credits his son-in-law, Terry Tobias, as the driving force behind the restorations.

The digital system has simplified the operation of the organ and gives access to a larger range of music. There is still a collection of paper music rolls on hand, but most of the rolls were donated to an organization in Boston that restores pipe organs.

Granogue is a grand country estate, but first and foremost, it is a comfortable family home. The importance of family, past and present, is evident throughout the living space. Framed family pictures are in every room.

“Barbie never throws away a picture,” duPont said with a smile. Painted portraits grace the walls throughout the home. “The picture of E.I. duPont was hanging there when we moved in,” duPont said, pointing to the mantle, “and I think those candlesticks came over on the American Eagle Continued on Page 30

This turbine motor operates the blower that powers the pipes.

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In fine tune Continued from Page 29

with E.I. and his family.”

Holding court in the sunny breakfast room are portraits of Irenee Sr., Pierre, and Lammot duPont. “The three gentlemen who made it all possible,” duPont said.

In the drawing room, a Maxfield Parrish mural hangs above the pipes on the wall of the organ alcove.

The mural is a three-panel, luminous landscape, and is known simply as the duPont mural. The artist was a childhood friend of Pierre duPont.

“He lived on the same block as Lammot’s family

30

The pipe organ contains a glockenspiel and chimes, in addition to the pipes.

Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

and was Pierre’s contemporary,” duPont said. “On one of Parrish’s frequent trips through Wilmington, he came to the house and said to my father, ‘I can decorate that wall for you if you like.’ So he painted three panels, and there it is.”

The artist painted the panels in 1933 on gesso board, but

by World War II, the mural was falling apart. “He would come down now and then to patch it up,” duPont said.

“Eventually, Parrish said, ‘I’m going to paint you another one.’ Well, my father didn’t think he ever would.”

Parrish was 83 years old when he finished the second version, which is dated 1953.

One of nine children, duPont has outlived all his siblings. “Now Barbie and I are the only ones left of that generation,” he said. He and his wife enjoy spending time with family, which includes 13 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren, who visit often and enjoy hearing the pipe organ play.

When Irenee duPont, Sr., decided to install a pipe organ in the family home, he could not have foreseen how much pleasure it would bring to his family. But, three generations later, it continues to bring joy – and will hopefully do so for many years to come.

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———|Around Greenville & Hockessin|———

To grow awareness and memberships, local museums are becoming community hubs

By Pam George Staff Writer

I

f you haven’t visited one of the museums along the Route 52 corridor in a while, you could be in for a surprise.

At the Delaware Art Museum, for instance, there might be a group of yogis practicing tree pose in the sculpture garden. At the Delaware Museum of Natural History, you might spot “detectives” searching for clues to solve a case. And if you visit Hagley Museum & Library on certain evenings in summer, biking – not the history of black-powder production – is the main attraction.

The activities are all part of efforts to engage a new generation of patrons.

“The graying of the audience, declining membership and subscribers and reaching out to the community have been the topics of theater and museum conferences for years,” said Sam Sweet, executive director and CEO of the Delaware Art Museum. “The solutions have been a long time coming.”

Indeed, in 2009, National Endowment for the Arts’ report on attendance showed that visits to museums, galleries and performing arts institutions have been steadily declining for decades More recently, local museums have found answers by going outside the gallery walls and into the community. “We’ve opened up conversations about what the community needs and how we can serve those needs,” Sweet said.

As a result, local museums have taken on certain attributes of parks, arts centers, performing venues and community centers.

The debate as to whether a museum should be a temple or a forum has existed for generations, said Lois A. Stoehr, associate curator of education for Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

But the aging audiences in many cultural institutions, including theaters, have added more urgency to the discussion. At a museum association meeting in Wilmington, there were up to three workshops focused on attracting millennials, Continued on Page 34

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All photos courtesy

www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

33

It takes a village Continued from Page 32

said Jessica Eisenbrey, the marketing manager at Hagley Museum & Library.

Museums aren’t the only ones interested in this age group, which was born from the 1980s into the mid-tolate 1990s. It’s easy to see why. People in this generation are entering their prime working and spending years.

Hundreds of business blogs and articles are devoted to their buying habits, which differ drastically from those of their parents and grandparents.

Traditional print and TV ads have little effect on millennials, who rely more on social media and the internet to make purchasing decisions. They lean toward an affiliation with a product, service or place that is in alignment with their own ideals.

To reach this audience, museum marketing mavens are looking at their lifestyles. In today’s active households, adults work during the day. “They can’t come

34

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to the museum on a Tuesday morning the way some people could 20 or 30 years ago,” Eisenbrey explained.

On weekends, they might have children’s activities and chores to address.

Consequently, many museums have implemented afterhours programs. Hagley, for instance, in summer offers a bike-and-hike program from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Admission is reduced to $2, and guests can stay one hour or all three. (Admission is normally $14 and $8 to $10 for children, depending on their age.)

A partnership with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, which supplies the beer, the evenings have attracted up to 600 people, including families, individuals and couples. Some buy food at the on site café, and others bring

their own meals and libations. “It’s a casual, relaxing experience,” said Eisenbrey. “People are reacting in a positive way.”

In October, Hagley hosted an after-hours bonfire.

More than 100 people turned out to take walks on the grounds, buy beer, roast marshmallows and listen to music. Hagley also held “Play.Make.Sip.,” which let adults delve into their inner inventor. While sipping Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale, they made scribbling robots and mini catapults.

The Delaware Art Museum has also started after-hour events. From the start of summer through Oct. 28, the museum hosted happy hours from 5 to 7 p.m. Guests could gather with friends o the terrace, which overlooks the sculpture garden, where dogs were allowed on leashes. They could also wander inside.

Winterthur has featured a beer garden and live music on select Friday evenings. “After Hours is not so much a specific program as it is an availability – an opening of our resources for audiences on select Friday evenings

to experience and discover us on their terms,” said Jean Cucuzzella McCuskey, senior manager of adult and community programs.

In addition to wanting more than flexible hours, younger Continued on Page 36

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35

It takes a village Continued from Page 35

audiences want to explore the property in a more relaxed fashion. They’re not content to stroll quiet museum galleries and squint at the placards beside the exhibits.

Hagley’s periodic Sunday Strolls let attendees wander the property or take a guided tour; it’s their choice. The café is open for breakfast and lunch during the promotion.

It helps that Hagley has 235 scenic acres along the Brandywine near the city, which is an attraction on its own, particularly when events have reduced admission fees. Likewise, Winterthur boasts sweeping grounds and shady woods that let people experience the property even it they choose not to go inside.

The Delaware Art Museum’s 11-acre campus sports a sculpture garden that’s been a backdrop for yoga classes. “It’s a unique setting,” Sweet said. “We’re trying to figure out how to do more of that – to bring art into the outdoor setting to enrich people’s lives. They don’t need to come inside the museum, although we hope that they will. We have people who love the happy hours on the terrace, the sculpture garden and the labyrinth. They’re all part of the museum community.”

Whether indoors or out, younger generations are drawn to places where they can make memories.

“They want to have experiences,” Eisenbrey said. The occasional classical music concert at an exhibit opening won’t do.

Several years ago, Winterthur included jazz concerts during its holiday tours. “Musicians love the acoustics of the Galleries Reception Atrium, and crowds thrive in the festive atmosphere,” said McCuskey. It was so well received that Winterthur added a “Music Along the Bank” series outside, which included Americana and bluegrass performers. It’s not such a stretch. The museum is repository of American decorative arts.

Hagley is looking at concert series next year. “We have buildings, we have land – we want to get more people out for live music next year,” Eisenbrey said.

Movies are another added, and unexpected, attraction. Hagley has shown the pop-culture hit “Mean Girls” in the Soda House’s auditorium. Attendees were invited to wear pink and sip pink cocktails.

Winterthur purchased a new projector for its lecture

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hall. “It’s another local venue for cult and documentary film series,” McCuskey said. The museum hopes to partner with film groups, such as the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

At the Delaware Museum of Natural History, participants became actors during a successful murder mystery. Held in February 2016, the evening sold out a few days after a notice was posted on Facebook. The museum added a second evening. A kids science camp, held at the same time, made it easy for parents to attend the murder mystery without hiring a babysitter.

While beer gardens and jazz music sweeten the museum experience,

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It takes a village Continued from Page 37

making it more attractive for people to spend time on the grounds, programs can also enforce the museum’s mission, but in a new way.

The Delaware Art Museum’s labyrinth, for instance, served as the setting for “The Day Before Tomorrow,” an interactive work by Syrian visual artist Emad “Jano” Hemede, a former international artist-in-residence through the University of Delaware’s Art Bridging Cultures program and the English Language Institute. The work, which featured a performance by the SHARP Dance Company and choreography by Diane Sharp-Nachsin, depicted the beauty of Syria and the destruction of war.

In October, the Delaware Art Museum invited the community to sit for portraits, drawn by participating Delaware artists. The event was part of Beauty Shop Project Delaware, spearheaded by painter and portrait artist Stacey Davidson of South Carolina.

Winterthur has a book club and craft program for adults (“Crafternoon”) that typically tie into the collection or a featured exhibit. In one craft class, for example,

l

participants made Shrinky Dinks-style earrings that were replicas of 18th-century porcelain dishes. The Bead Garden, based in Havertown, Pa., once led a class that made pendants inspired by the Tiffany exhibits. Because budget constraints limit these programs to daytime, however, they’re mostly popular with retirees.

In April, Hagley started offering walking tours with Elton Grunden, a guide who is also a photographer. “He takes small groups of people out and shows them different picturesque areas of the property, some of which are off the normal route,” Eisenbrey said. Every time the tour is offered, it sells out.

Museums are also collaborating to reach the community.

Winterthur and the Delaware Museum of Natural History have joined forces for coordinated events. Parents can drop their children off at the natural history museum and then head to Winterthur for a function.

But the collaborations aren’t limited to other museums. In mid-2018, Winterthur’s garden department will hold an event featuring a variety of Delaware

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organizations to highlight the environment, McCuskey said.

Next year, the Delaware Art Museum plans to join a collective of cultural, educational, civic and faith-based organizations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wilmington riots in 1968, which followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “It was a very significant and life-changing event,” Sweet said.

He also wants to use art to create discussions around immigration, feminist issues and the Black Lives Matter movement – topics that are relevant to audiences of all ages.

In all of these instances, the goal is to get the community to view the museum in a new light. “We want

to keep Hagley relevant and have people say, ‘Hagley has these really cool events, I should check out what they’re doing,’” Eisenbrey said. “So far it’s going well, although it’s in the beginning process. It has great potential.”

www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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————|Greenville & Hockessin Arts|———— The Christ Church Choir at the Christ Church Christiana Hundred may date back to 1851, but the voices of the current 18-member choir are fresh with a sense of spirit, dedication and joy, and they’re being led by a dynamic director

Musical Director Bruce J. Barber II leads the choir through a recent rehearsal.

The human instruments

Courtesy photo

The Christ Church Choir at the Christ Church Christiana Hundred is under the direction of musical director Bruce J. Barber II. 40

Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

I

t is an early Wednesday evening in November, and the effects of Daylight Savings have turned the parking lot of the Christ Church Christiana Hundred in Greenville to a grayish, brooding tint, illuminated only by an occasional light above. In perfect juxtaposition, however, there is a room that night at the Parish Center that will soon glow with the light of 18 different voices.

Bruce J. Barber II, the Director of Music at Christ Church, consults with Assistant Organist and Choir Director David Hearn as they prepare to conduct a rehearsal with the Christ Church Choir. One by one, choir members file into the room, but instead of remaining in their seats designated according to their voice ranges – soprano, alto, tenor and bass – they float around the room, speaking to each other the way friends do. The room is dominated by conversation, the flicker of sheet music of many choral arrangements like “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” by Leo Sowerby, and the infectious enthusiasm of Barber.

Not one note has been performed yet.

It may be the beginning of Christmas in the stores, but it’s the preparation of Advent for the Christ Church Choir, and there is lot to work on. As if set by an imaginary clock, the members of the choir sit down at the same time on either side of Barber, and moments after the second bar of the opening arrangement begins, Barber extends his two index fingers in front of him, and the voices go still: “You’ve got the two-four measure going now, but be mindful of the first one,” he tells the choir. “I’m used to this piece in D, but here we are, in B-Flat...The tenors have the passing note, but not too much of the passing note. The bass needs to be a little stronger on the B-flat, so that we can hear that B-flat staying there as well as leaving...One more time, breathing well and singing nicely, cleanly and inward. Go... ” Barber’s hands soon begin to wave above him and then in front of him, in the manner of someone who wants to gather these voices he hears into his chest and hold it there like a gift he gives to himself...but that’s not his job, because when arrived Continued on Page 42

All photos by Richard L. Gaw unless otherwise noted

Currently, the Christ Church Choir consists of 18 members. www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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Christ Church Choir Continued from Page 41

at this venerable parish three years ago – and became its director of music two years ago – Bruce Barber’s job has been to let these 18 voices in front of him soar.

“What I look for is to hear them listening,” said Barber, who is only the fifth music director at Christ Church since 1890. “You can hear them listening to each other when they become an ensemble, when they turn from 18 individuals into one choir. The moment they listen, a rehearsal goes wonderfully. When they don’t do that, the music becomes difficult to pull together as an ensemble.

“This is my job, and when they arrive, I am already here, but for them, they arrive from having taught all day, or they arrive from offices, bringing their day with them, with the need to become an instrument.”

Since its beginning in 1851, the Christ Church Choir has

served as the lyrical soundtrack to the rich history of the parish, which was founded in 1848 by members of the du Pont family and the Rev. Samuel C. Brinckle. It began from simple communal singing in the parish’s schoolhouse to the addition of professional support, eventually becoming a fully professional quartet and then a sextet.

Construction of the church began in 1851 and was completed in 1856, and when it opened, its new organ was played by Mrs. Alexis du Pont, who played regularly there, until the task was taken over by Mrs. Lammot du Pont, who played the organ for services in the church and in the school.

By the 1920s, the choir grew to include a group of ten singers, who were all paid for their services. Throughout its three centuries of existence, the choir has regularly performed as part of the parish’s regular liturgical schedule and has produced a number of recordings that celebrate liturgical arrangements as well as seasonal festival carols and anthems. Their most recent CD, “Lord, Open Thou

Congregation members and the general public are invited to attend the upcoming

Advent Lessons in Carols

with the Christ Church Choir Sunday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m.

Christ Church Christiana Hundred 501 E. Buck Road, Wilmington, DE

Above: Soprano Lauren Conrad.

Left: The choir is made up of a blend of sopranos, basses, tenor and altos.

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Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

Rehearsals introduce choir members to new hymns and arrangements.

Our Lips,� was recorded in 2014 as part of the 100th anniversary of the choir.

To a visitor or a member of its congregation, Christ Church Christiana Hundred does not announce its presence from a great distance. Rather, it reveals itself slowly, like someone who doesn’t want to immediately tell his or her entire story, but there it is, eventually, at the leafy end of Buck Road, standing in quiet fortitude.

Continued on Page 44

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Christ Church Choir Continued from Page 43

“I had come here from St. James Cathedral in Chicago on Huron and Wabash, a block-and-a-half off of Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile,” said Barber.

“I’m used to big buildings and lots of people. I remember driving down Buck Road and coming to the opening at the end of the lane, seeing this beautiful church and surrounding landscape, and thinking to myself, ‘Wow. This is something.’”

It’s the same feeling that Soprano Lauren Conrad has known her entire life.

Long before she joined the choir in 2001, her parents had been members of the choir since the 1970s (her father Tom still performs), and said that spending countless hours as a child watching the choir rehearse and perform had a huge influence on her.

“The Hearn family is another family unit here, and we all sort of grew up together, and the church became a part of our being,” she said. “I sang throughout junior high school and high school, and when I told my mother that I wanted to major in music in college and be a performer she began to cry, but I told her that I wanted to follow in her footsteps.”

Bassist David Schueck, who has been a member of the choir since 1989, has known Conrad she was a little girl, and now sits across from her at rehearsal. There is pure magic in the cohesiveness between members, he said, and it happens the moment they are introduced to a new piece of music.

Continued on Page 46

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Christ Church Choir Continued from Page 44

“I sight read it and take it home and dissect it on my own, and then bring it back here and rehearse it with the group,” he said. “Slowly, the piece gets more exciting. We all listen to one another, and eventually, we reach a stage where we have a shared musical experience.

“This is truly a collaboration,” he added. “It’s getting 18 people all on the same page. We can’t do that with politics. You can’t do that with religion. What a crazy, exciting thing to have happen, especially in today’s world.”

“I just love to watch them learn and grapple with and chew on something that’s tough or challenging or new, and being able to lead them through it is a really fun thing to do,” Barber said. “Perfection is never a player in the game of making music. The moment you strive to be perfect is when a slip will happen. Rather, it’s striving to offer your very best. We’ve gotten used to perfect recordings that are absolutely without blemish, and that’s not the way live music happens.”

For several years, the Christ Church Christiana Hundred has invited the greatest English choral conductors to work

with the Christ Church Choir as Musicians in Residence, such as Sir David Willcocks, James O’Donnell and John Rutter. While being able to work alongside such musical dignitaries has proven to be an incredible experience for the choir, it led Barber to a conversation with Church Rector Ruth Beresford.

“I asked Ruth, ‘Don’t you think it’s time that the Christ Church Choir become the musicians in Residence in England?’” Barber said.

From August 14-25, 2018, the Christ Church Choir will travel to England for the first time, where it will be Musicians in Residence at Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, singing daily Choral Evensong and the Sunday Eucharist.

Accompanied by Barber and Christ Church Rector Ruth Beresford, the choir will also allow for as many as 45 “pilgrims” – either members of Christ Church or the general public – to be a part of the pilgrimage.

“Every year, I have led a choral pilgrimage that hasn’t included the choir, so this time, to be worshiping with our choir will transport this journey to another level, that will provide an even richer experience,” Beresford said. “The pilgrims will get to see some places of worship and history in England that have helped influence who we are as a congregation. A pilgrimage is always about seeking God,

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and this takes us to places where those who came before us have also sought God.” In the large picture of the mission Christ Church Choir, it’s not about the music or the performance Barber said.

It’s about serving God. “Everything else we do here springs from our identity as being a worshiping community, whether it’s outreach or mission trips, and music is integral to all of that,” he said.

“It will remain an integral force in the future of this parish.

That’s what the founders really felt about the role of music in this church and in the life of our parishioners.

“There is a lining up of things here at Christ Church that I have rarely experienced anywhere before,” he added.

“There is a commitment that extends to all of the staff and is seen in the synchronization that I have with Ruth. There is the beautiful organ in the church...and then there are the human instruments of the Christ Church Choir. These people are among the nicest of anyone I have ever worked with. In a way, they have become my family.”

Lauren Conrad sits in a comfortable chair in a room at the Parish Center, moments from the start of rehearsal. Her time, she said, is measured now in appointments on the calendar – a chock block regiment of places she needs to be. She has been a music teacher at Concord High School

The Christ Church Choir recorded their most recent CD in 2014.

for the past 12 years, and is also pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership at Wilmington University. And yet, when she arrives at the Christ Church to sing, it’s to do something she loves, with people she loves.

“I think the number one component of what keeps me here is experiencing the family atmosphere among the choir,” she said. “That’s pretty rare for a group of Continued on Page 48

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Christ Church Choir Continued from Page 47

professional musicians. Typically, we are hired to perform a task, and we come in and perform that task, and then we go home. We are here because we love the music and because we love each other.

I think that it helps solidify our music making.

“Music, as cliché as it may sound, is

the universal language,” Conrad added.

“You don’t have to have common ground in terms of your political background or your religion, the languages you speak or your ethnicity, but if you can find a home in music, then everyone belongs.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.

Join the Pilgrimage The Christ Church Christiana Hundred is making room for as many as 45 guests to accompany the Christ Church Choir next year, during their Musicians in Residence pilgrimage to Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, from Aug. 14-25, 2018.

Registration for the trip is now open, on a first-come, first-served basis.

To learn more about joining the trip, visit the Christ Church Christiana Hundred website at www.christchurchde.org, or call Rector Ruth Beresford at 302-655-3379.

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——————|Hockessin History|——————

Courtesy photo

Only very old images of the Mt. Pleasant School #34 remain today.

The schoolhouse once served children in the Hockessin area.

Reminiscing about Mt. Pleasant School #34

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

O

ne-room schoolhouses are a symbol of a bygone era, and a reminder of a simpler time in American life. It wasn’t all that long ago that one-room schoolhouses still served some of the children growing up in the Hockessin area.

Hockessin resident Barbara Miller has very fond memories of the time she spent studying at the Mt. Pleasant School #34, which was one of several one-room schoolhouses that served the area.

“I had such a good experience growing up in Hockessin,” Miller explained during an interview at the Lamborn Library building, which was also known at one time as Public School No. 29. Today, Miller remains dedicated to her hometown—she’s a member of the Hockessin Community Club and the Friends of the Hockessin Library and a docent at the Mt. Cuba Center—in part because of the wonderful experiences that she had growing up in Hockessin.

She was born in nearby Yorklyn, but her family moved

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Greenville & Hockessin Life | Winter 2017 | www.ghlifemagazine.com

to Hockessin early in her childhood. She was the oldest child of seven siblings—four brothers and two sisters.

They lived out on Old Wilmington Road, and the Mt. Pleasant School #34 was the closest school to the home.

It was about a mile away.

“We didn’t mind walking to school,” Miller recalled.

“You could see pheasants and rabbits, and cows out in the pastures. There weren’t any sidewalks, but there wasn’t a lot of traffic, either. Hockessin was a much smaller community then. Nobody was being bused to schools at the time.”

The one-room schoolhouse experience bears little resemblance to today’s educational facilities, which have collaborative spaces for STEM programming, large rooms for music or gym, and where iPads and Chromebooks are omnipresent.

Miller explained her earliest memory of Mt. Pleasant School #34: “My earliest memory, I guess, is that when you entered the school, you were in a vestibule where we hung our jackets up. Then we opened the doors to this big room, which is where we were taught.”

At. Mt. Pleasant School #34, each school day began

All photos by Steven Hoffman unless otherwise noted

Hockessin resident Barbara Miller holds the personal recipe book of Anna Hobson, her teacher at the Mt. Pleasant School #34. When items in the Hobson farm went up for sale in the 1960s, Miller said that she knew she wanted to have it as a memory of her teacher. “It’s a treasure,” she said.

with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer.

When Miller was a student at Mt. Pleasant School #34, the teacher was Anna M. Hobson, who taught first through sixth grade for about a dozen students.

“We had a lot of benefits having one teacher like that,” Miller said, explaining that first graders would take the seats closest to the front of the classroom. Hobson would teach a concept—reading, arithmetic, or cursive writing—

to the first-graders and then give them an assignment, and then move on to teach the second-graders. A big library table was set up in the back of the room for the students to do their work once it had been assigned. The children usually completed all their work while they were still in school.

“Every pupil also had to help with jobs,” Miller recalled.

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Mt. Pleasant School #34 Continued from Page 51

“The older boys would take care of the furnace that was heated by coal. The younger children would go get buckets of water so that we could wash or rinse our hands.”

Miller explained that a highlight of the day for the young students was recess, where they would play games like hide-and-seek. The fact that there were so few students meant that they grew to be very close to each other.

“We got along very well,” Miller said. “Nobody seemed to be bullied. It didn’t present a problem that there were so few of us.”

While teaching methods are certainly more advanced today, there has never been a substitute for a good, caring teacher who can offer individualized attention to students.

Miller credited Hobson for offering that individualized attention in the one-room schoolhouse, even though she was trying to teach students in six different grades throughout the day.

“She took time with each grade,” Miller explained. “She would notice if something was wrong, if something was bothering one of us.”

Hobson did not hesitate to bring any issues to parents.

The teacher also lived on a farm not far from the school, so she was a neighbor to the families that had children in the school.

“If she thought that we weren’t giving the quality of attention to work, she would bring it up to your parents,” Miller explained. “She was a wonderful, dedicated teacher—she really had an interest in each one of us in that school.”

The teacher would even take Miller and some of the other kids to Kennett Square with her when she got her car serviced.

“The real treat for us was that we would stop at Connor’s Pharmacy in Kennett Square for an ice cream cone or a Hershey bar. It was a different time growing up back then, but it was a good time.”

When it was time to attend seventh grade, Miller briefly attended Hockessin Elementary School, but then school officials decided that they were going to start busing students to the H.C. Conrad High School in Woodcrest.

“Talk about having to make a quick adjustment,” Miller said with a laugh. “At Mt. Pleasant, the most we had were 12 or 14 pupils. We thought it was a private school. Then we were put into this school with hundreds and hundreds of students, and we had several different teachers for our subjects. Now we went from class to class.”

Being bused to the school rather than walking was also a big adjustment for students like Miller who had attended the one-room schoolhouse.

“We had to make the trip, picking up all the other students on the way,” she explained. “It was close to an hour until we got to the school.”

She noted that the long bus trip offered an opportunity to catch up on assignments or study for that day’s classes.

Miller said that she has very fond memories of the years she spent studying at Mt. Pleasant School #34—including those winter mornings when she and her classmates would have to trudge through large snowdrifts to attend school. Despite the fact that many more students walked to school at the time, schools did not shut down just because of some snow. They were simpler times, sure, but also good times.

There are no markers to signify where Mt. Pleasant School #34 once stood. There are housing developments in the area now.

Today, the Bon Ayre Housing Development is situated in the area on Old Wilmington Road where the Mt. Pleasant School #34 was located.

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“I really think that I had a good introduction to my future years of education,” Miller said. She explained that attending a one-room schoolhouse “makes you realize that you can improvise. You don’t have to have everything at your fingertips. Your creativity was not curbed by anything. We learned from one another. There’s always something that other people have to share if you give them the time and the space. You learned from each other all the way along.”

As for the Mt. Pleasant School #34 building, it did not survive long after it stopped being utilized as a school in the 1940s. Today, the Bon Ayre Housing Development is situated in the area on Old Wilmington Road where the one-room schoolhouse was once located. There is no marker to signify that the Mt. Pleasant School #34 ever existed, but it lives on in the memories and hearts of people like Miller who attended the school.

Miller and her husband actually ended up buying a home out on Old Wilmington Road.

“When I go past that area, I have all these good memories flash back,” she said. “That school left a good impression on me.”

While there have been many changes in the community in the years since Miller attended Mt. Pleasant School #34, enough of the Hockessin from Miller’s childhood still exists to make her want to call Hockessin home.

“I still think Hockessin has a community feel to it, even though it’s been growing,” she said. “It’s still a good place for a family to raise children.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

While Old Wilmington Road sees a lot more traffic these days, at the time the one-room schoolhouse was located there it was quiet enough for children to walk to school. www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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———|Greenville & Hockessin Life Q&A|———

Olga Ganoudis B

y now, many Greenville-area shoppers who collect artisan jewelry are familiar with the name Olga Ganoudis. Her booth is consistently crowded at the Brandywine Festival of the Arts and Wilmington Flower Market, but those in the know can find her on most days simply by pushing open the purple door to her small Trolley Square studio. Located on North Scott Street, the studio experiences brisk traffic around the holidays and Valentine’s Day. Not only can you see Ganoudis at work at the large table, which dominates the space, but you can also view her jewelry, which is attractively displayed in cases. There are statement-making cuff bracelets with mixed metals and eye-catching stones, earrings with bold textures and elegant earrings with pearls.

Even diehard collectors, however, might not realize that Ganoudis is responsible for many items sold on HBO’s “Game of Thrones” shopping site, both in the U.S. and abroad. This is not the first time she’s leveraged the love of a popular television show.

She also designed jewelry inspired by the show “Lost,” which was sold through ABC’s online store.

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Her own designs are sold at such local shops at The Station Gallery in Greenville, as well as in galleries across the country.

Yet the Wilmington-born Ganoudis didn’t grow up determined to be a jewelry designer. She had an early case of wanderlust and wanted to travel the world. The middle child and only girl of three children, she grew up in a townhouse near Matson Run, a creek in the Brandywine Hills area of Wilmington.

“It was a Norman Rockwell-like area at that time,” she recalled.

“We all loved it.”

Her parents both had an artistic streak. Although her father was an engineer for the DuPont Company by day, he caned chairs at home. “He was good with his hands on any project,” Ganoudis said. Her mother, who worked for Frances Boutique in Centreville, was a clothing buyer.

After graduating from St. Elizabeth’s High School, Ganoudis got a job at an airline. Based in Washington, D.C., she worked at reservation desks and arranged travel to ski resorts and Hawaii. It was a well-paying job with travel perks, but she wanted to pursue her artistic streak. She moved home to attend the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts.

Greenville & Hockessin Life talked to Ganoudis about her impressive 30-plus years as a jewelry-maker.

Q.: Did your mother’s job at Frances Boutique in Centreville have an influence on your style?

A.: It was a very inspiring place. There were clothes and designers there that were just unbelievable. There’s never been a store like it since. Ladies were looking at Chanel furs, and the boutique sold clothes by designers who were coming into their own. One of the people I admire the most has been and still is Coco Chanel.

I think her story is amazing.

Did your mother take you on buying trips to New York?

She took me with her a few times, but my grandmother lived in Brooklyn, so we were going to New York all the time.

When did you first develop an interest in the arts?

I was always into the arts. Always. I was always making stuff, and I was in the arts club [in school].

Why did you go into the airline industry?

I wanted to travel, and that was the best way to do it at the time.

But I didn’t want to stay in the airline industry forever, and I don’t even know why. I came home, went to the Philadelphia College of Art and worked part time in a travel agency.

In college, you gravitated toward jewelry design. Did you have a mentor?

My teacher was Dana Standish. She said, “If you want to make a living at this, it’s going to take a lot of blood, sweat and tears. You have to do a lot of craft shows. You have to spend a lot of hours alone. You just have to do it.” So that’s what I did.

What did it take to start a business that’s focused on making and selling own jewelry?

It took a lot of energy. You live, eat and breathe it for 24 hours.

Ganoudis’s work is sold locally, as well as in galleries across the county.

I’m not sure I could do it again. Back then there was no internet. I had to do a lot of craft shows, and I had to do wholesale shows in Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. It wears you out.

Galleries came by and placed orders, and you had to fill the orders. Things have changed. You can sell so much online now or send a text.

Galleries don’t want to go to a show because it costs them money to go, too. They tell me, “Send me a box of jewelry; you know what I like.”

After so many years, do you sell direct to consumers?

People still come to my studio a lot.

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Q&A Continued from Page 55

What is your design process like, and how has that changed? How do you come up with ideas?

I never draw out my designs, because my work is really about texture. Once I’ve created the texture, then I go in and make the jewelry. I may know I want to make a cuff and use a certain stone, but I don’t put it all together until I’m at the bench.

Do you still take classes?

I just took a workshop with Marne Ryan, [a jewelry artist and instructor]. She was so inspiring. Workshops are a great way to get your creative process. As you gain experience, everything seems to flow more fluidly. You know how to execute to realize the idea. In the beginning, it’s a lot harder. Some of my early designs were so complicated. I was trying to overachieve a design.

What are you working on now?

The new textures that I’m creating are like working with pieces of fabric. My current pieces have layers and layers.

Do you create a collection, much like a fashion designer does each season?

Yes, I do limited editions. I don’t want to run with the same thing forever. I was doing a lot mixed metals with sterling, copper and bronze. Right now, I’m doing a lot of things that are all sterling silver. I’m really liking that look -- sterling silver with a stone or sterling silver textures all on their own.

Are there any designs or styles that are difficult to retire due to customer demand?

I dropped blister pearls for a while because I just wanted to do something else. Now I’m back to doing them again with a different design. People just love that blister pearl.

Then there are some designs that you just move away from, and people don’t ask for it, either. People like to see fresh designs; it’s so much better. You can still keep your signature style because your hands are the ones that are designing it. You’re always going to have your touch on it.

Are the items inspired by “Lost” still available?

I don’t make them anymore, but I still have some in the inventory in case somebody wants something. Other than that, I’ve put that one to rest.

Continued on Page 58

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Q&A Continued from Page 56

“Game of Thrones” has one more season left. Is there still a big interest in ‘GOT’-related jewelry?

People are still in the game, so to speak. People have become more obsessed with it. They know it’s ending, and they want to be part of it. The big seller is the collectible box with the three dragon eggs – we can’t keep them in stock. We’re constantly having my factory make more.

We’ll see what happens when season eight comes to a close. It keeps me busy. There are days in the studio when I’m just doing “Game of Thrones” stuff, and that’s it. But I still have time to do my other designs right now.

Would you get involved in making jewelry and accessories for another show like “Lost” or “Game of Thrones?”

Sure.

How has the marketplace changed since you entered it?

Etsy has really opened up the market for stay-at-home crafters and artists. It’s more competitive. But with jewelry, it’s always competitive. The market is still going to dictate whether you’re successful or not. If you’re making something you love but people don’t love it, then no one is going to buy it.

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You live in the Highlands, which is close to Greenville. Why is this area a good place to live?

It’s so convenient to everything – the Copperhead Saloon, Brew Ha! Ha!, Pizza By Elizabeths, Janssen’s Market. I buy all my cards at Whimsy and shop at Francesca’s. Houpette is fabulous.

Do you have a motto?

Good things come to those who work their butt off. They always do. Work hard, even if you don’t feel like working.

Is there a profession other than yours that you would like to try?

I’m right where I want to be. I really like what I do.

Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m working because I enjoy it so much. When I hear people say they hate their job, I don’t know how they exist. To make a living out of something you love is like winning the lottery.

—Pam George

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——|Greenville & Hockessin Arts|——

RH Gallery and Studio owner Roderick Hidalgo II with artist Trissa Hill, who has a studio at the gallery.

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RH Gallery and Studios is a new outlet for area artists

By Kevin Barrett Staff Writer

Photos by Kevin Barrett

R

oderick Hidalgo II wanted to create a studio space where artists could work and feed off one another’s energy. When he learned that a Hockessin location had a large, open space at the front, he decided to make that space into a gallery.

“The gallery was almost an afterthought,” he said. “I just really felt the need to have my own creative space where I could curate my own art shows.”

After having done most of the renovation work himself, starting in April and finishing up in early July, the RH Gallery and Studios officially opened in September. It’s on Old Lancaster Pike, across the street from the Wawa entrance.

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RH Gallery Continued from Page 61

Hidalgo spent most of his formative years in Hockessin.

He wanted to create a unique place for residents and tourists to visit, for example, on a Sunday afternoon after having lunch in town. “This is where I grew up. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t try to make the place I grew up a better place?” he said. “I want to bring something to the table.”

The gallery is not only an attraction for Hockessin residents and visitors, however. Hidalgo, who has been teaching art at Nativity Preparatory School of Wilmington since 2013, also wants his gallery to be a space that encourages other artists by giving them confidence to display their works.

While the gallery does exhibit traditional art such as oil paintings, he wants to create a space where less traditional art can be appreciated. He has found that people who live in the Hockessin area tend to favor more traditional pieces. “I like to mix in extremely contemporary work Continued on Page 64

Hidalgo works in his studio.

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with traditional, so people can view it and not be turned off by it,” he said.

Hidalgo works with resin and powdered pigment, a method he says is rarely used. He has only met one other artist in the United States who works in the medium, which he describes as time-consuming.

“A lot of it is actually more science than art,” he said.

“It’s a chemical process, a technical process, a liquid medium. In a way, it does want what it wants to, but I’ve learned to control it over the years.”

Hidalgo’s journey to becoming a gallery owner took well over a decade. He attended A.I. DuPont High School, where he concentrated in art. He admits he ended up doing so because he enrolled late, and his only choices were art and band. However, he had enjoyed art before his enrollment.

“I always doodled on paper and remember always being a maker of some sort and having a wild imagination,” he said. “If I didn’t have a Pokémon card that I wanted, I’d make my own. I was really into superheroes and anime

T L

as a kid, so I most frequently drew these characters. I also reached a point where I was really into architecture and car design. I would draw fantasy cars or homes, and dream big.”

However, he had no intention of becoming an artist as a child. He wanted to be either an FBI agent or Cirque du Soleil performer. It wasn’t until after his sophomore year of high school that he decided he wanted to dedicate his life to art.

He credits teacher Bob Boyce for the decision. Boyce, he said, was very strict and set high standards for the best work. While Boyce is now retired, the two are still in contact. “If he had been any different, I don’t know if I’d be where I am,” Hidalgo said. “He just made such a huge impact.”

After graduating from high school, Hidalgo ended up styling hair at area salons instead of painting or sculpting.

During those few years, he admits that he was partying too hard. In 2010, he finally decided to recommit himself to his art.

He still needed to support himself, so he worked as a barista, then as a server on the Wilmington waterfront.

All the while, he was creating works of art. Finally, at 22, Continued on Page 66

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RH Gallery Continued from Page 64

he sold his first painting, for $100, to his friend George Meldrum, a lobbyist for Nemours. At the time, he was painting in an abstract style using encaustic paints, made from heated beeswax and colored pigments. He learned about encaustic painting after visiting a gallery in Lambertville, N.J., with a friend. An artist exhibiting there worked in encaustic, and Hidalgo wanted to learn more about it.

“I’ve always been interested in different textures and surfaces,” he said. “I’ve never been a traditional artist.”

Soon after selling the first painting, he sold another painting for $1,500. That’s when he realized he might be able to make a living with his art. He also spent about a year taking continuing education courses at the Delaware College of Art and Design in Wilmington. It was during that time that he decided he wanted to work with resin, and taught himself.

“I figured out that no one would be able to teach me that,” he said. “Ever since, I’ve been working with that medium.”

The decision to work with resin was partially the result of

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an accident. He had an exhibit at a gallery in downtown Wilmington. A curious child tried to feel the texture of an encaustic painting and accidentally knocked it off the wall, chipping a corner. Hidalgo said he was not satisfied with knowing his work would go to a new home and possibly not withstand a simple accident.

Afterwards, he tried a number of glaze coats and varnishes, but nothing really helped to accomplish what he wanted until he saw a painting that was encased in resin while he was visiting a museum in Boston. He bought resin when he returned home and started experimenting.

“I got a few interesting results and a ton of terrible mistakes,” he said.

Eventually, after months of experimentation, he got the hang of his new medium and decided to work only in resin.

Hidalgo admits that his family, while supportive, was nervous about his decision to focus solely on his art career.

Almost everyone in his family works, or has worked, in the medical field in some capacity. They initially suggested he focus on something else and work on his art on the side.

“I wasn’t going to take that for an answer,” he said.

While he owns his own gallery and studio, and his work

Hidalgo spent his formative years in Hockessin, and has been teaching art at Nativity Preparatory School in Wilmington since 2013.

can be found in private collections in 20 states, Hidalgo said that one of his great joys in life is being a teacher.

When he started at Nativity Preparatory School four years ago, the school didn’t have an art program. His work there started as a volunteer, working with a comic book club. He was eventually asked to become a staff member.

“Even if I hit the lottery or sold my work for a million dollars, I’d still give back and teach these guys,” Hidalgo said. “They are such a vibrant and gifted group. I couldn’t leave them without a creative outlet.”

George Meldrum, who was the first person to purchase one of Hidalgo’s works of art, now owns several of his pieces. An art collector who sits on the board of the Delaware Children’s Museum in Wilmington, Meldrum has known Hidalgo for a decade. He has also bought from other artists who work out of Hidalgo’s studio.

While not an artist himself, Meldrum thinks he has a good eye. “I know what I like when I see it,” he said.

In regard to Hidalgo’s decision to open a studio and gallery in Hockessin, Meldrum said that it takes a special sort of person, and all of our lives are enriched by art.

Continued on Page 68

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“Just the energy he has to bring other artists together is an art form,” Meldrum said. “I think it really contributes to our neighborhoods. He has a level of confidence that you don’t see in everybody.”

The woman who bought Hidalgo’s second piece of art, back when he was still working with encaustic paints, now rents space in his studio and pursues her own artistic endeavors.

Trissa Hill, a Hockessin resident, learned of Hidalgo’s work through a mutual friend. She was looking for art for her vacation home in Ocean City, Md. Her friend showed her pictures of Hidalgo’s work on his phone, and she was impressed enough to meet Hidalgo in front of the K-Mart in Pike Creek and pay him for a piece of work he had not yet created. She told him she wanted something “beachy.”

Otherwise, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

Hill designed the room in her vacation home around what Hidalgo created, and he is now a friend of her family.

He’s also the one who gave her the courage to create her

own art. About 15 years ago, she took a class with local printmaker Mitch Lyons, but spent the years that followed focused on her family. Her art took a backseat to being a homemaker. “I was too afraid to be an artist,” Hill said. “I didn’t have the courage until recently.”

Hill, who donates the proceeds from her work to charity, said that everyone at the studio Hidalgo built gets along, and she enjoys having her own creative space. At times, she’ll go to the studio to just relax and unwind. “There’s a constant flow of information, discussion, and ideas,” she said.

Hidalgo intends to continue having show openings at his gallery every month, on the second Friday. In October, which happened to be Friday the 13th, the artwork was Halloween themed. While he typically works with bright colors, his work was uncharacteristically black.

“My goal is to provide a new experience every time someone walks through our doors,” he said. “Our range will be anything from contemporary to traditional, including sculptures and installations.”

RH Gallery and Studios is at 1304 Old Lancaster Pike, Suite D, in Hockessin. Call 302-377-1989 or find them on Facebook.

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————|Greenville & Hockessin Arts|————

The Hockessin A

A showcase of the work of the

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

T All photos by Steven Hoffman

Nahjee Grant read from his book, “Where Did My Dream Go?” on the children’s stage.

He has published seven books so far.

The fourth annual Hockessin Art & Book Fair attracted many visitors throughout the afternoon.

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he fourth annual Hockessin Art & Book Fair attracted a large crowd to the Hockessin Community Recreation Center on Saturday, Nov. 4 as the work of approximately 70 talented writers and artists was showcased.

“It’s amazing to see how many local artists and authors there are,” said Carol Dougherty, a coordinator from the New Castle County Art Studio who helped organize the fair. “This is a really fun event.”

Raymond Sikes, a writer who also teaches English at the Delaware Technical Community College, also remarked about the number of writers and artists in attendance.

“Any time you can get artists and writers together, that’s a good thing,” Sikes said. “It’s a nice event.”

James DiLuzio, a New Garden Township resident, agreed with that sentiment. DiLuzio was selling copies of his book, “Passion Tide,” and it was his first time at the fair.

“It’s a well-run event,” DiLuzio said. “The volunteers are outstanding. The vendors are of the

Art & Book Fair

f the area’s writers and artists highest quality, and the food here is exceptional.”

Standing nearby, Maryellen Winkler, the author of three cozy mysteries, including her most recent release, “Cruising to Death,” said that the fair was a wondeful event.

The Hockessin Art & Book Fair is a collaboration between many different organizations in the community—the New Castle County Art Studio, the Hockessin Library, the Hockessin Continued on Page 72

This robot, which was promoting the formation of a Robotics Club at the Hockessin Library, attracted a lot of attention.

Freda Camille, a resident of Newark, has written six books, including “The Key is Me.” Her stories tend to promote self-love and anti-bullying messages to youngsters.

Authors Ed Charlton, James DiLuzio, and Maryellen Winkler at the Hockessin Art & Book Fair. www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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Art & Book Fair Continued from Page 71

Community Recreation Center, the Hockessin Book Shelf, Written Remains Writers Guild, Center for the Creative Arts and All Out Monster Revolt, and county executive Matthew Meyer.

Places like the New Castle County Art Studio and the Center for the Creative Arts help the art community thrive locally. The Hockessin Book Shelf, an independent bookstore, plays an important role in fostering a good environment for local writers, scheduling book release parties, signings, and other author events on a regular basis.

“The Hockessin Book Shelf has been amazing. They are so supportive of authors,” said Sharon Huss Roat, the writer of two highly regarded young adult books, “Between the Notes” and “How to Disappear.” The latter work, published earlier this year, explores the story of a girl with social anxiety who creates an alternate identity online, and how the reallife personality blends with the online persona.

Roat served as the Honorary Author Chair of the event, while Lee Zimmerman was the honorary artist chair.

Rebecca Dowling, the owner of the Hockessin Book Shelf, was delighted to have Roat and Zimmerman serve as the honorary chairs this year. Both are extremely talented and creative. Dowling was also pleased with the move this year to the Police Athletic League’s Community Recreation Center on Lancaster Pike. The new and larger site allowed all the vendors to have good visibility. The additional space also allowed for the inclusion, for the first time, of a main stage and a children’s stage where authors could read from or talk about their work.

Zimmerman, “The Puppet Guy,” attracted a large crowd at the children’s stage when he did his rock and roll puppet show that featured some of the greatest names in the history of music. He has a Jimi Hendrix puppet that he made when he was 15 years old that he still uses in some of his shows. Zimmerman grew up in the Hockessin area, and has enjoyed a nice career in Los Angeles where he appeared 72

Jenny Caldwell and Manisha Antani, students at the Center for the Creative Arts.

Lee Zimmerman, “The Puppet Guy,” attracted a large crowd at the children’s stage when he did his rock and roll puppet show that featured some of the greatest names in the history of music.

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in dozens of TV shows and films and was a regular performer in places like The Improv in Hollywood. He has now moved back to his home state of Delaware, and was pleased to be selected as an honorary chair of the Hockessin Art & Book Fair.

“I love this event,” Zimmerman said.

“This is rare to get more than 20 artists under one roof. Everyone is very supportive. The dynamic here is great.”

The fair brought together a diverse group of artists and writers with a wide variety of offerings.

Jenny Caldwell, a student at the Center for the Creative Arts, was at the table selling pottery that was made by some of the Continued on Page 74

Raymond Sikes with his book, “The Good and Ancient Way.”

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Art & Book Fair Continued from Page 73

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adult students at the Hockessin arts center specifically for the purpose of selling the pieces at the fair. Caldwell, a resident of Pike Creek who takes a wheel throwing class at the Center for the Creative Arts, said that the work of six or seven different students was on display, including a mug and vase that she had made for the sale.

Another student at the center, Manisha Antani, said that all the money that is raised from the sale is used to buy materials or support the programs.

“We try to use it for cool things, like some different kinds of stains or glazes that we wouldn’t be able to get otherwise,” Antani said. The Landenberg resident has been taking courses at the arts center for the last three years. She works at a stressful desk job during the work week, so she enjoys the chance to be creative in the classes.

“It’s a creative outlet,” she said. “In the studio, I have the opportunity to be creative. Being in the same space as creative people gives you inspiration. Some of my very best friends are from those classes.”

At the Children’s Corner, Nahjee Grant, a resident of Havertown, Pa., read from his book, “Where Did My Dream Go?” It is a story about a little girl who wakes up one day and can’t remember the dream that she had.

Grant writes books aimed at children who are in kindergarten through third grade, and the books are often about characters who are pursuing their dreams.

“I want to give them the message that they can do anything that they put their mind to,” Grant said.

Grant himself was inspired to pursue his dream of writing children’s books by the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. After he graduated from high school in 2007, and Obama became the President of the United States a year later, he was inspired to write a book titled, “The Journey of the Cool, Smart Kid.” He has published seven books so far, and has a goal of writing and publishing at least two books per year.

Sikes has managed to write and publish books even though he is very busy with his regular teaching duties at the Delaware Technical Community College. He has written a novel and a collection of short stories, and his most recent work is a spiritual memoir titled, “The Good and Ancient Way.” He described the book as a concise guide to The New Testament beliefs that are shared by Christians.

Freda Camille, a resident of Newark, has written six books, including “The Key is Me.” Her stories tend to

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promote self-love and anti-bullying messages to youngsters. Like many of the authors at the fair, she fell in love with writing at an early age. Camille said that she wrote her first poem when she was six years old, and has been writing since she was 11 years old.

She has a memoir that has been in the works for about five years.

“I’m pulling back the layers of who I really am, and the true experiences that I have had,” Camille said.

On the main stage, Newark resident Andrea Piscarik read from her book, “Unearthing Christmas.” The book was originally published in 2015, and she has a deal to have it re-published in 2018. “Unearthing Christmas” is part of a five-book “Miriam Chronicles” series that she is working on. She has already written about half of the second book and has started writing portions of both the third and fourth books. Piscarik, who studied acting in New York City, said that she enjoyed the opportunity to read from her book on the main stage. She also found the event to be a good way to connect with other writers and artists.

“We are all here to celebrate art,” she explained. “The main thing is meeting other writers. It’s a way to build community. There will be something that we can learn from each other and grow our art.”

The fair was also a way for groups and organizations to make important connections.

Shelley Stein, who works at the Hockessin Library, was at the fair handing out information about the library and talking to authors. The library wants to showcase the work of the local authors.

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Art & Book Fair Continued from Page 75

“I’m here sharing the love of reading,” Stein explained.

“The library got involved with this event to support local published authors.”

Umema Ganijee, a computer aide at the library, was at the fair to promote the Robotics Club that starts meeting in December. She was demonstrating one of the Vex IQ robots that participants in the club might soon be working on.

“A lot of the kids love playing with it,” Ganijee said of the robot, explaining that they are very excited about the new club.

Members of the Kennett Square-based The Write Group were on hand to promote the activities of the writers’ group that meets in the Kennett Library on the first Tuesday of every month. Ed Charlton, who helped found the group, said that he was at the fair for the third time. He explained that The Write Group can help writers in a variety of ways—ranging from writing and editing to marketing and publishing. Providing support to local authors is at the heart of The Write Group’s mission.

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“I know there’s a vibrant, independent author scene in the area. I think indie books should be treated with the same respect as indie films,” Charlton said.

Dougherty credited Dowling and The Written Remains Writers Guild with initially coming up with the idea for the art and book fair as a way to showcase the talent of artists and writers in the area. The fair started out small, and as a summer event, but has grown each year, attracting both larger crowds and more artists and writers as vendors.

November works as a good time for the fair because people are starting to look for unique gift ideas for Christmas.

A committee handles a lot of the work of planning the event, and Dougherty said that they do a very good job of planning out all the details.

“This is an event that has taken on a life of its own,” said Suzy Casey, an events coordinator with the county. “It’s amazing.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

————|Greenville & Hockessin Life|————

All in the family Owned by a father and his two sons, George & Sons is making waves in Hockessin

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By Pam George Staff Writer

A

t first, it was all about the oysters.

Happy to find somewhere other than Harry’s Seafood Grill to satisfy her craving for raw oysters on the half shell, Marcia Stephenson and her husband headed to George & Sons in Hockessin, which opened an oyster bar in 2015.

“The quality is exceptional,” said the Prices Cornerarea resident. “It’s great to have an alternative.”

She and her husband now go to George & Sons about twice a month, but now their eyes wander to the entrée section of the menu. “We ‘graduated’ from the oyster

bar to sit at the tables,” she said. The first time her husband tired the colossal crab cake – a mound of snowy white meat – he was hooked.

“They’re excellent,” Stephenson said. “And the sauce they put on – that slightly spicy curry sauce? It is really, really good.”

She’s not the only one who thinks so. Her friend, Gillian Daniels of Landenberg, is also a loyal customer. “The oysters are always top notch,” Daniels said, “and the crab cake is heaven.”

Given that George & Sons started life as a seafood market, it’s not surprising that the quality of the ingredients is rave-worthy. But using what’s in the case to create a memorable meal is no small feat, as any restaurateur will tell you. In the nearly three years that George & Sons has been open, the Esterling family has proven that they can deliver the goods. The unassuming seafood eatery is a Hockessin hotspot.

Continued on Page 80

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All in the family Continued from Page 79

The patriarch of the business is George Esterling III, who’s been swimming in the local wholesale and retail seafood industry for some time. He was just 23 when he started working for Pathmark as a trainer under Bernie Kenny.

(Kenny, who retired in 2004 from Pathmark, went on to purchase and open Shop Rite stores in northern Delaware.)

Esterling decided to put his experience to entrepreneurial use with the opening of Fresh Catch, which had three successive locations. As the business expanded, he moved, and by 1999, he was selling to Greenville-area patrons in a Lancaster Avenue location near Wawaset Park and Westover Hills.

Fresh Catch’s most recent location was in the Wilmington Riverfront Market, where he soon realized that customers wanted prepared meals, such as fried fish sandwiches, instead of a piece of ruby tuna to cook at home. Unwilling to compromise on his vision, George III closed and went back to working in wholesale and retail for other operators.

Bitten by the self-employment bug, he decided to open George & Sons in 2009. This time, he picked a site on Old Lancaster Pike in Hockessin, near the family’s home in Mendenhall Village. The business moved to its current location, a landmark red brick building, in December 2014.

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Meanwhile, George IV and younger brother Tyler grew up in the business. On weekends, they often accompanied their father to the Philadelphia seafood market to buy product. When college was not a good fit for George IV, he helped his father open the new business. Tyler was still in high school, so he worked on weekends and holidays.

The younger Esterlings came up with the idea for a nine-seat oyster bar, with additional table seating and a limited menu, which included lobster rolls, soups, salads and other items that you might find at a lobster shack on a coastal New England road.

The building, which many longtime locals remember as Hank’s Market, had previously been home to a sub shop, which had removed the kitchen equipment when it vacated the space. The new owners had to outfit the kitchen from scratch.

As for the culinary talent, George IV had some highschool friends who’d gone into the hospitality business and were willing to work for up to seven months each to build a resume.

He acknowledged that it is challenging to find staff who are as excited about the business as he and his brother.

It takes a certain personality to embrace shucking. As with the Esterling brothers, it’s often in the blood. Last

summer, patrons at the oyster bar watched a fresh-faced high-school student shuck oysters with ease. His father had been a shucker. “His dad came in and was really cool. He wanted him to learn it,” George IV said. “He just took to it.”

The staff has settled into a core group that the family would like to keep. “We want that interaction between people,” he said. But the family is still on the floor.

“Customers want to see Tyler and me shuck the oysters or

cut their fish. It’s our trade; it’s what we do. We already had built such a rapport with our customers that they would come in to buy a fish and stay 45 minutes, just to talk. Now they can sit down and have a beer.”

As the owners grew more confident in their restaurant skills, they expanded the menu. Additions were also due to customer demand. “We have a 20-foot case filled with fish,” George IV said. “People were like, ‘When can I have Continued on Page 82

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All in the family Continued from Page 81

some of that? When can you sear me up a piece of tuna?’

Now we know that the demand is here for a solid seafood restaurant.”

Stephenson and her husband have had fun trying different items on the menu. “Their steamed shrimp?

Amazing!” she said. It’s hard to stay away from the lobster bisque and crab cake.

The restaurant recently installed a char-grill and fryer to enhance the menu options. But that does not mean the relaxed feeling of the restaurant will change. “Some of my friends are into the fine-dining scene, but that is not the direction that this restaurant is going in,” George IV said. “I want to stay homey and true to what George & Sons is. I don’t want a pretentious restaurant.”

Right now, there is no fear of that. A fish tank gurgles against one wall, next to a sign that reads, “George & Sons. Thank you for coming in today! Just shuck it.”

Strings of lights twinkle from a drop ceiling, and from anywhere in the bar you can see the refrigerated cases of fresh fish. The best seats are at the oyster bar, where you can watch the shuckers at work.

Stephenson appreciates the baby boomer-friendly music that the family plays in the dining room. “The service has been good, too,” she said. “The people are friendly. I really like it.”

This is truly the place where everyone will learn your name, if they don’t know it already.

It might please the customers to have the Esterling family on hand on any given day. But how does the family feel about working with each other? George III’s wife and the boys’ mother, Mary Ellen Esterling, helps out with the bookwork when she’s not at her full-time job at the DuPont Company. The boys’ girlfriends pitch in when needed. There are occasional disagreements, but George IV said it helps that they all share the same vision for the business.

That vision includes leveraging strong relationships with oyster growers to help restaurants build their own programs. Wholesale, after all, was the older Esterling’s bread and butter for a number of years. “Wholesale is his strong suit,” George IV said. “I’m getting excited about the idea of getting on the road with my dad and extending our reach to chefs in the area.”

By putting the focus on wholesale, some might say that George & Sons is filling the gap left by the closing of Dawson’s Seafood in Wilmington. But George IV said that’s not been a reason for the increased interest.

Continued on Page 84

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All in the family Continued from Page 82

The wholesale side has grown organically. He said businesses, including personal chef companies, are calling if their current vendor can’t deliver on time, or they’re unhappy with the quality. It’s not unusual for chefs in white coats to pop in and order seafood for the nightly specials. “We want anybody who isn’t getting attention from his or her current supplier to call us,” he said.

The retail market and restaurant’s customers primarily come from the immediate area, but there are also a bevy from Kennett Square, Landenberg and Newark. One couple from New Jersey made the trek over the Delaware River because they said the seasonal closing of the Jersey Shore restaurants had left them without good seafood.

Feeding these customers and filling orders takes a lot of legwork. Since there’s not enough cold storage for seafood in the Wilmington area, the Esterlings travel to a Philadelphia holding house four or five days a week for pickups.

Swordfish, salmon and tuna remain staples. Older customers, many of whom did not grow up eating seafood,

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Expanding the selection, the menu items and other businesses opportunities, including catering, does not mean George & Sons plans to open more locations. Hockessin is home. Said George IV, “This is a town that we can thrive in.”

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———|Greenville & Hockessin Business|——— Scott Fulton and Cindy Fallon-Fulton of Hockessin are helping families plan well for their future

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Scott Fulton and Cindy Fallon-Fulton of Home Ideations, Inc.

Home Ideations: Aging in place solutions that keep your house your home

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

S

cott Fulton and Cindy Fallon-Fulton describe themselves as non-followers, but for several years, they were both part of the early-morning cattle ride commute that begins in the far reaches of New Castle County and finishes in or near the corporate culture of Wilmington.

Scott’s 35-year engineering and business career included serving as the head of a consulting firm and working for a number of years with DuPont.

An organic chemist, Cindy spent 26 years in

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various technical and marketing roles at Dupont.

They were riding the crest of success, but with each passing year, their careers were taking them further down the rabbit hole of unfulfillment.

“We began to ask the question, ‘What are we going to do now that means something?’” Cindy said. “We began to realize that we wanted to leave this world knowing that we did something for someone -- something that mattered, that touched people.”

And yet, the inspiration that eventually led the Fultons to begin Home Ideations -- a home mobility solutions company that helps families in Delaware and beyond transform their homes

in order to fit their changing lifestyle -- came from something deeper than just their desire to leave the corporate world.

Soon after Cindy’s mother passed from pancreatic cancer, she found herself caring for her father in failing health. She saw him slowly transition from a very active retired business executive who loved life -- which included world travel and a hiking adventure in Thailand just prior to her mother’s diagnosis -- to the slow and tortuous descent that went from the assistance of a walker to a wheelchair and finally, to a permanent bed.

Every day, Cindy carved out time in her busy schedule to travel 40 minutes each way to the extended care facility to be with her father.

Weeks before he died in June 2013 at the age of 84, he turned to his daughter and told her that “this was not my plan.”

“Mom and Dad thought they would live until they were one hundred,” Cindy said. “They had the financial planning down, but I assumed -and they assumed -- that they would have much more time. To see that stripped away so quickly was very painful for all of us. If there was some better planning up front, there may have been a way for my father to spend his last days at home, rather than in a nursing home.”

Cindy’s emotional experiences, combined with Scott’s years of engineering and managing contractors, inspired a year-long investigation that led to an ultimate discovery: that in the process of making some of the most important decisions about how to match their living plan with their life plan, millions of Americans were not achieving their vision to Age in Place. They could benefit greatly from a single point of contact to help them understand the challenges and develop a more robust plan.

Enter Scott and Cindy Fulton of Home Ideations.

As the only design, build and maintain firm in the region, Home Ideations brings Universal Design remodeling capabilities, coupled with a unique, holistic approach to help homeowners enjoy more time with family for many years -- without having to sell their current home. Working directly with families, Home Ideations creates an across-the-board, hereto-there options plan that provides long-term

Courtesy art

A major component of Home Ideations is redesigning rooms to fit their clients’ needs.

Continued on Page 88 www.ghlifemagazine.com | Winter 2017 | Greenville & Hockessin Life

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solutions that explore the detailed financial comparisons of remaining in one’s home versus moving to an adult community; possible home design ideas; the development of a home plan and a managed maintenance service.

“Our clients appreciate that their home is foundational to preserving their retirement lifestyle, and understand that sustaining that lifestyle takes more than aspirations,” Scott said. “It takes planning, decision-making and action. There’s a term I came across, “Spend Healthy,” that nicely captures the mindset needed for retirement success at home.

“Saving money for a rainy day is one part of a good financial plan, but it’s just as important to actively invest in the home in ways that can pay big dividends down the road. Refitting an entire bathroom, complete with a curbless shower has a payback of just a few months, compared to the costs of a retirement facility.

It’s better for resale, and is so much more functional for all ages. It just makes good financial sense.”

In short, Home Ideations helps spell out the best path forward for seniors and their adult children.

“So many families just look at one or two options,” Cindy added.

Continued on Page 90

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Home Ideations Continued from Page 88

“We want to provide the whole solution -- an entire management model. Home Ideations combines engineering, contracting, facilities management and ideation to come up with tailored solutions. If you can put that all together, you have something unique that can be of value to these families.”

Scott said that about 80 percent of families who are mapping out plans to age in place are failing at it.

“A number of retirees are playing a game of Russian Roulette,” Scott said. “They are saying to themselves, ‘I’m active and I’m going to keep doing the same things, because I’ve been doing them my whole life. But when something goes wrong, it’s usually too late to take corrective action. Often, it takes place over a weekend -- some sudden and unexpected incident that no one thought would ever come -- when they get the news that they’re not going to just go home.”

The Fultons begin many client relationships by designing a custom-made home plan, an exercise that helps each homeowner understand and articulate his or her home-life

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goals, and potentially avoid pitfalls later on.

“We try to get involved early in people’s retirement planning to help design a plan for staying in their home and ensure the spaces are inviting and architecturally appealing,” Scott said. “It often calls upon some engineering creativity, but there are usually several good options.”

Perhaps the largest factor for couples and their families in planning for the future is whether or not to remain in the family home which, for many, becomes more of a burden than an asset. Bathrooms become danger zones, closets are unreachable, and mobility around the home, once taken for granted, is now a day-to-day struggle.

Home Ideations encompasses the entire process of a new home renovation, from design to construction, with a specialty in designing for retirement and disability needs.

As homeowners get older, the last thing they want to worry about is taking care of the endless “punchlist” of home projects and upkeep. Home Ideations’ maintenance management service includes routine comprehensive checks of the home, an up-to-date maintenance

schedule, and handyman services. a place of warmth and emotion, where Home Ideations also provides a thorsome of their life’s best moments have ough list of all equipment and current happened. services in an “e-binder” to help keep the “We approach every client relationship home running smoothly. we have with the understanding that they In addition to Home Ideations, Scott are a person or a family, first,” Cindy teaches Aging in Place courses at said. “Not every aspect of what we do is University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong applicable for everyone, so the success Learning Institute, where he’s been able to Courtesy art of what we do comes from determining help many families and individuals learn Home Ideations bases its concept on what is needed and what’s important for how to identify and establish priorities, fulfilling five key elements of aging in each person.” and gain a much deeper understanding of place.

Home Ideations LLC is available for how to Age in Place successfully. seminars and presentations to church “There’s a lot more to it than most realize, but it’s all very groups and 55+ community associations who are lookmanageable once you get your priorities set and a plan ing to better understand aging-in-place challenges and layed out that makes sense for you,” he said. acquire some tools to help them develop their own home The Fultons believe that the mission of Home Ideations plans. To learn more about Home Ideations, visit www. is to recognize that each client wants to continue his or homeideations.com, or call 302-584-6712. her life’s story, in a place that is more than merely a strucTo contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ ture that needs to be retro-fitted to suit their needs, but as chestercounty.com.

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