July 25, 2012

AB’s “Botch-Up” of Master Plan, Code, Can Be Rectified by Turning to EE&K

To the Editor:

The Princeton Medical Center and developer AvalonBay (AB) can still salvage a deal that will damage the Princeton community.

It is doubtful that hospital leadership (or its president and CEO, Barry Rabner) directed AB’s attention to the 2006 Master Plan, which lays out an exciting vision for the civic rejuvenation of the site. The lapse is disturbing because Mr. Rabner himself, in countless meetings with the Borough’s Task Force, negotiated a housing density of 280 units to boost the property’s value — in exchange for which Mr. Rabner agreed to public open spaces and walkways crossing the site, a public plaza, LEED “to the extent practical,” and retail stores for the neighborhood’s economic health.

None of this appears in the site plan submitted by AB. A draft version was sharply criticized by the Site Plan Review Advisory Board for manifold violations of Borough code. Revisions show only perfunctory changes, one of which simply agrees to comply with fire code. AB stubbornly disallows public walkways crossing the site. The AB plan still proposes two conjoined monolithic squares: a gated community that wrecks the vision of a newly diversified community. The opening of the smaller block into a dead-end space for “quiet meditation” is a mockery of the code. The economic fallout for the Princeton community is unknown; if the Lawrenceville AB development is a model, renters will be slapped with a $500 annual maintenance fee in addition to rent. Other communities — no wonder — have rejected AB: Scripps Ranch in California, Greater Huntington (Long Island), and Highland Park, N.J.

Hospital leadership and AB should collaborate to do better. AB’s architectural firm, PerkinsEastman, has recently merged with EE&K, a creative group of architects who deliberately design “green” and generate solutions to foster healthy neighborhoods (see www.eekarchitects.com). Fully one-third of their staff are LEED-accredited architects; three of their recent buildings qualified for LEED-Gold certification; and The Aventiene (Gaithersburg, Md.), certified LEED for New Development, won a National AIA Design Excellence Award.

EE&K’s website states: “Our approach starts with an acute awareness of how residential buildings can both contribute to and benefit from the public realm.” This is exactly what is missing in the AB site-plan and in Mr. Ladell’s dismissive approach to Princeton communal needs. It is what Mr. Rabner supported while he negotiated for the hospital’s economic benefit — and now seems to have forgotten.

Why should Princeton settle for anything less than excellent design that does not violate Borough code?

The botch-up of the Princeton Master Plan and Borough code embodied in AB’s site plan application can be rectified by turning to EE&K now instead of courting conflict later. The hospital has a profound obligation to press its contract-purchaser to heed the dictates of that plan and code. Princeton residents are tired of hearing Mr. Ladell say what he won’t do — for example, “zero” LEED; we do not want affordable housing at the any price. Mr. Ladell should try not to smash the potential for neighborhood revitalization. The Master Plan lays out public policy: both parties should work, now, for the public good.

Daniel A. Harris

Dodds Lane

AvalonBay: Comfortable but Contained; Why Turn a Vibrant Community Inward?

To the Editor:

Thank you for keeping residents up to date on major site planning now underway in the Princeton area. After hearing the recent presentation of AvalonBay at Princeton Borough Council, I would say that the developer is prepared to do a competent, responsible job of constructing 280 housing units on the Princeton Hospital site. It appears, however, that future residents will be comfortable — but contained.

What invites them to explore the Community Park School neighborhood nearby? To enjoy our wonderful new pool and excellent recreation program? To eat in the growing number of local restaurants there and share in programs at our outstanding Public Library — all within walking distance? This is a vibrant community. Why turn inward? At the same time, I have to ask myself, what would invite me into the proposed AvalonBay project? The touted wide-arch doorway on Witherspoon becomes narrow and leads to a distant cluster of benches, nothing more. I would feel that I was an intruder in a private space, which is clearly how residents under the current plan would view me. Why the expense of a private pool, with a first-class pool just a few blocks away? It doesn’t have to be this way.

We know how to design economically for livable space. I’ve seen urban buildings with a completely open network of wide sidewalks interspersed with playground equipment and benches for parents and passersby. Parents can keep an eye on the children from their apartments, yet both adults and children have a wonderful sense of freedom of movement, and of belonging. AvalonBay must of course have to pay attention to the lay of the land and project costs, as its architects have done. But planning also has to encompass a deeper feel for the surrounding community and the interactive possibilities. AvalonBay is being pushed by Princeton’s residents to put more effort — and more imagination — into its planning for the hospital site. The results could be AvalonBay’s finest — a real step-up for this builder. AvalonBay gains, and Princeton continues to be the kind of diverse and welcoming community that we know is possible.

Nancy Strong

Maple Street

If University Were to Expand Without Zoning, Where Would the Town Go?

To the Editor:

Even as the University is being sued over its plan to move the Dinky, the State Legislature is moving to exempt private universities from municipal zoning ordinances. Interestingly, when I asked random riders whether they thought the Dinky should be moved, most said no, but that the University can’t be stopped. Does the University already have all the power it needs? In his published discussions with NJ Transit, Mr. Durkee has generally avoided mention of the consistent and ongoing objections of townspeople.

The Borough worked long and hard to create its Master Plan and a transition to consolidation representing all of Princeton’s issues, from trees to sewers and back again. We approach saturation on land use: if we are to grow in any direction it will have to be largely by improving what we have, rather than expanding. But the University is our largest landowner. If it were to expand regardless of zoning, where would the town go? Land values (and taxes), which have recently doubled for some, would continue to rise, our working neighbors would continue to move out, and the Master Plan’s goal of inclusion — a varied community, not just for the privileged — would fall apart.

While A-2586, already approved in the Senate, purports to “equalize” private universities with public ones, it would actually put their bar below that of public universities, which are funded by taxes and thus must also be approved by voters.

We all appreciate what the University brings to the town; we hope though that its response to the changing times will come to resemble that of Brown and Yale: both have voluntarily increased municipal payments by many millions of dollars — to $30 million/year for Brown. Will Princeton, with an endowment about 15 times larger than Brown’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment) make a similar contribution, e.g., for its use of land for other than direct educational purposes?

Cooperation with and from the University is critical. We hope it will seek more input, rather than less.

Mary Clurman

Harris Road

Planning Board Must Make Sure That AB Design Adheres to the Master Plan

To the Editor:

Other communities have rejected AvalonBay developments including Highland Park, New Jersey, and Huntington, Long Island. Princeton should do the same unless it can be assured that AvalonBay will be an asset to the community and not just an opportunistic developer that muscles its way in using affordable housing as its battering ram while building undesirable, huge structures that are not sustainable over the long haul. Their interests are relatively short term while Princeton will be left with the problem of poor site use for generations. Of particular interest are several recent letters to the editor of the Town Topics: “AvalonBay’s Closed Compound Impedes Connectivity between Our Neighborhoods” (6/6/12 ); “AvalonBay’s Revisions to Plans Still Do Not Comply with Borough Code (6/20/12); and “AvalonBay Should Build to LEED Standards” (6/25/12).

Why should Princeton settle for a less than desirable, sustainable development in a premier location once occupied by the hospital? Aside from its financial profits, AvalonBay will gain a lot from having the Princeton connection and will likely use the connection to attract other communities that may reason “If AvalonBay’s cookie-cutter design is good for Princeton, it must be good for us,” making assumptions that are inaccurate.

Princeton can do better and should. The Planning Board will have a heavy burden to justify approving this proposed development and it will need an astute planning staff to address the many issues raised over the past several months by the public for the benefit of the community. The Board must exhibit the mettle necessary to ensure the best design possible, one that adheres to the Princeton Master Plan and the promised compromise reached between the Hospital and the community that resulted in the MRRO zone. Our community cannot afford to be intimidated by the tenor of the June 11, 2012, letter written by AvalonBay’s local attorney Anne Studholme to Borough Attorney Chow and Planning Board Attorney Porter and included as part of AvalonBay’s Site Plan submission of June 8, 2012.

Diane Perna

Carnahan Place

Expressing Thanks to Princeton Borough Police For Tireless, Undercover Work on Burglaries

To the Editor:

I am writing to thank the Princeton Borough Police Department for their hard work in responding to the rash of burglaries in the east end of Princeton. They worked tirelessly, often undercover and in extra shifts, and coordinated closely with neighboring law enforcement, which resulted in the arrest of a suspect. In addition, they were diligent and responsive to neighborhood concerns throughout the investigation.

Of course, we should remain vigilant and continue to take precautions to protect our families and property. For example, as residents travel this summer, they should be aware of the opportunity to take advantage of the vacant house check service. The Vacant House form, which is now available on the police department’s website and can be submitted electronically, allows a resident to notify the police that they will be away so that the police can monitor their home during their absence.

Heather Howard

Princeton Borough Council

Increased Attendance Would Show We Care About Films Montgomery Presents

To the Editor:

We are fortunate in the Princeton area to have two very good independent movie theaters; the Garden and the Montgomery Cinemas (“Montgomery Cinema Ponders Future as Digital Projection Takes Hold,” July 11, 2012). With the advent of digital technology and the large expense to the smaller independent theaters to convert to digital (which is not used by foreign filmmakers) we are in danger of losing such theaters and that would be a loss of a valuable amenity for many in our community. The Garden Theater is likely more secure because of its eligibility for funding from the large U.S. movie studios to defray digital conversion costs and because of Princeton University’s ownership of the Garden Theater building.

The Montgomery is the more threatened theater because it is not eligible for the large studios’ funding since it shows exclusively first run independent and foreign films not available elsewhere in our area and does not show studio mainstream films.

I have spoken to the owner of the Montgomery theater who is trying various strategies over the next few months to see how he can deal with these technical and financial problems. In the meantime, increased attendance is one way of showing that the community cares about the kind of films Montgomery shows on its six screens.

Grace Sinden

Ridgeview Circle

Eden Autism’s 5K Race and Fun Run Exceeds Previous Fund Raising Record

To the Editor:

On behalf of Eden Autism Services, and the children and adults and their families whom we serve, once again I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for the generosity of our community.

On July 15, Eden held its 9th annual Eden Autism 5K Race and one-mile Fun Run in the Princeton Forrestal Village, the location of Eden’s recently opened Education and Outreach center. I am thrilled to announce that we exceeded our previous fundraising record for this event with more than $150,000 raised to date.

Special thanks to Tony Kuczinski, president & CEO of Munich Reinsurance America, and the Munich Re staff and interns, for Munich Re’s leadership role as title sponsor of the race; Curt Emmich of Princeton Forrestal Center, who served as race director; the numerous volunteers, sponsors, and the many other individuals and businesses who provided monetary or in-kind support for our event.

We are deeply grateful to the dedicated Eden Autism 5K steering committee that helped plan this remarkable event and to the more than 800 walkers and runners who participated in the race and Fun Run. The funds raised will help Eden continue its mission of improving the lives of individuals with autism and their families.

Thomas P. McCool

President and CEO, Eden Autism Services

Obituaries 7/25/12

Virginia M. H. Stuart

Virginia Marie Heide Stuart died peacefully at Central Vermont Hospital on July 11, 2012 after a brief illness.

She was born in Kenosha, Wisc. On August 25, 1914 and graduated from N.J. College for Women (now part of Rutgers) and did her graduate work at Columbia University. Born of Danish immigrant parents, she was an early crusader for women’s rights and a gifted writer and editor. Her short stories appeared in Harper’s and Blackwoods, and her first novel was published when she was 89 years old, a young adult novel about the rescue of the Danish Jews during World War II entitled Candle in a Dark Time.

She was the first female editor at the Princeton University Press, where she met her future husband, Douglass Edmunds Stuart, who worked at the Princeton Alumni Weekly. Her husband was the cousin of Town Topics co-founder, Donald Stuart, and he also served as editor there.

During her long career she worked for the Princeton Hospital, the State of New Jersey, and after retirement had a successful career teaching writing. She spent most of her life in the Princeton area, but moved up to Greensboro, Vt., to join her daughters in 2005.

She was predeceased by her husband; her son, Douglas; her daughter, Alison (Taffy) Todd; her grandson, Stuart Todd; and her granddaughter, Jill Riley. She leaves behind her daughter, Anne (Krissie) Stuart Ohlrogge; her grandchildren, Kathryn (Kaim) Ohlrogge and Timothy Ohlrogge of Greensboro, and Jennifer Todd Taylor of Lake Tahoe; her beloved nieces and nephews; and many dear friends.

There will be a graveside service in Greensboro on August 4th and a memorial service in Princeton in the early fall.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Greensboro Arts Alliance & Residency, P.O. Box 304, Greensboro, Vt. 05841.

———

Antoinette M. Orsi

Antoinette Mary Orsi, of Princeton, died Saturday, July 21, 2012 at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro.

She was born in Kingston and was a lifelong Princeton area resident. Antoinette worked at Princeton University and the College Entrance Examination Board before joining the staff of the Educational Testing Service. She was the vice president of operations at ETS at the time of her retirement.

Daughter of the late Louis and Mary D’Andrea Orsi; sister of the late Leo Orsi, Peter Orsi, and Louise Rosenberg; Aunt of the late Theodore R. Fekete and Richard Matthews; she is survived by her sister, Clara Matthews of North Brunswick; and her nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, and great great-nieces and great great-nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 24 at St. Paul’s Church, Princeton.

Burial was in St. Paul’s Cemetery.

Calling hours were held on Tuesday at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton.

———

Leland C. Allen

Leland Cullen Allen, 85, professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton University, passed away on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at Acorn Glen in Princeton, after a five-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Carol Allen, and their children, Abigail Allen of Princeton, Ethan Allen of Princeton, Emily Allen of Seattle, and granddaughter Hillary.

Born December 3, 1926, he grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and on North Bass Island in Lake Erie. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and received a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1949, and a PhD in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956. While a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California-Berkeley, Leland met Carol, and they were married in 1960, the same year he joined the faculty of Princeton University’s department of chemistry.

During a five-decade career in theoretical chemistry, Professor Allen investigated molecular orbitals, hydrogen bonding, and electronegativity. Focused on the basic research and the fundamentals of electronic structure, his scientific publications have been widely cited by other scientists and the doctoral and post-doctoral students and fellows whose research he supervised are now engaged in research and teaching in universities and laboratories throughout the world.

In the area of electronegativity, Professor Allen was proud to be able to explain mathematically and elegantly what had previously been an empirically measured atomic property and, through his discovery, contributed the visual, pedagogical concept of electronegativity as the “third dimension of the periodic table.”

Leland was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. As an encourager and advocate of his children, he taught his daughters math and science at young ages. He founded a parental advocacy and support group for families with children, including his son, with special needs. He especially enjoyed the role of grandfather in recent years. He had been a dedicated long-distance runner who participated in many running events over the years, including the annual Midland Run to benefit the Midland School, which his son attended.

Leland C. Allen lived a life full of purpose, inquisitiveness, and enthusiasm. He had a lively personality and an intellectual curiosity which led him to read and engage on a wide range of topics. He was passionate about scientific progress, the value of education, learning and basic research, and equal rights for women.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 22 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton at 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial gift to either the Peace Action Education Fund (of the Coalition for Peace Action), 40 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, N.J. 08542; or the Children’s Science Collection of the Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

———

Audrey C. Johnson

Audrey Crawford Johnson died peacefully at the age of 90 in the Cape May Court house, on June 13, 2012.

Audrey was the daughter of Frank Hepburn Crawford and Anna Beal Crawford of Berwyn, Pa., and was born in Montclair, N.J. on November 6, 1921. She attended Tredyffrin/Easttown High School in Berwyn, from which she graduated at the age of 15. She then attended the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, studying piano, and when war broke out she moved to Washington and was employed in mapmaking by the War Department.

She married Dr. Frank Wagner Johnson of Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1949, and soon thereafter moved to Princeton, where they raised their three children, Hollis Johnson of Tahoma, Calif., Brodie Johnson of Greenwich, Conn., and Cristin Johnson Clarke of Cape May Court House, N.J. Audrey’s second daughter, Heather Johnson, died in childhood.

In her personal and professional life, Audrey was devoted to children. She began teaching nursery school at the Charlestown Playhouse in Phoenixville, Pa. After moving to Princeton she taught at the Nassau Presbyterian Cooperative Nursery School for over 35 years. She was appointed director of the school in 1997, which was re-named the Dietrich Johnson Cooperative Nursery School in honor of Audrey and the school’s first director, Mary Dietrich.

Audrey also gave piano lessons to young students in her home on Cherry Hill Road, and drove a school bus for public and private schools in the Princeton area. Her own children are deeply grateful for the generous and unwavering support she provided during many happy years and through occasional hardship. She was inspiring in her determination and energy, and continued to teach until she was 82 years old.

She was warm, caring, patient, and nurturing. She travelled extensively in Russia, the Canadian Arctic, Turkey, and Morocco, and after her retirement she performed volunteer work for the Cape May Bird Observatory and the Wetlands Institute, both in Cape May County. She valued the preservation of nature and contributed generously to several non-profits, including the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and Greenpeace. She was also an avid supporter of local and regional public radio stations, from New York City, Philadelphia, Princeton, and Trenton. She continued to play piano beautifully until her last days. She was loved, and will be missed by all who knew her and left the world a better place for her presence.

In addition to her three children, Audrey is survived by their spouses, Roger Holdsworth of Tahoma, Beverly Johnson of Greenwich, and Kevin Clarke of Cape May Court house; and grandchildren, Ian and Caroline Johnson, and Samuel, Emmy, and Garrison Clarke.

A memorial service will be held in honor of Audrey on July 28 at the Nassau Presbyterian Church on Nassau Street, Princeton, at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, 31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, N.J. 08534; or the Cape May Bird Observatory, PO Box 3, Cape May Point, N.J. 08212.

Condolences at www.radzieta.com.

———

Louise M. Ownes

Louise M. Ownes, 76, of Robbinsville, passed away on July 16 at Robert Wood Medical Center at Hamilton.

Born in Princeton, Mrs. Ownes was a resident of Hamilton Township since 1961.

Mrs. Ownes graduated with the class of 1953 from Princeton High School. She was employed as a secretary for J & G Tile and Marble Inc., of Bordentown. Mrs. Ownes was a member of Our Lady of Sorrows—St. Anthony’s RC Church community for many years.

Wife of the late William E. Ownes; mother and mother-in-law of the late Patricia L. and Joseph Giovannetti; she is survived by her four grandchildren, Joseph Giovannetti and Christine Fityere, both of Hamilton, and Michael and Anthony Giovannetti of Ewing; her two brothers and their wives, Bruno and Margaret Maddalon of Princeton Junction, and Frank and Iris Maddalon of Mercerville; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services for Mrs. Ownes took place on July 24 at the Saul Colonial Home, 3795 Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on July 24 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows — St. Anthony RC Church, Hamilton.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Mrs. Ownes’ honor to the Giovannetti Educational Trust Fund, c/p Roma Bank, 500 Route #33, Hamilton, N.J. 08619.

———

Marion B. Cullen

Marion Buckelew Cullen died peacefully in Hamilton, New Jersey on Wednesday, July 18, 2012.

Born in North Brunswick, she was the descendant of three of New Jersey’s oldest families: the Buckelews, the Housels, and the Stouts. While a teenager she was a member of the 4-H Club and was recognized for her skills as a seamstress, and she appeared on the WOR Farm and Home Hour radio program in New York in recognition of her accomplishments. She was a graduate of the New Jersey College for Women, now Douglass College of Rutgers University, where she majored in English, history and the dramatic arts.

She worked for J.O. Roth Engineering in New Brunswick and the Research Foundation, Inc. in New York City, which conducted critical atmospheric testing for the United States government in Arizona using rockets captured in Germany. From 1948 to 1950 she also served as civilian assistant to Captain James Sapero with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit in Heliopolis, Egypt, researching tropical diseases.

Marion enhanced the quality of life in the Princeton community through her commitment to public service. She was a charter member of the Friends of the Princeton Theological Seminary, a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Boychoir School, president of the Women’s College Club of Princeton, president of the Women’s Association at Nassau Presbyterian Church and a member of the Present Day Club and the Nassau Club. She was also president of the Center for Women’s Organizations of New Jersey.

With the Women’s College Club of New Jersey she instituted the “silent auction” at a fundraising event for the New Jersey Training School for Boys at Skillman. This innovative fundraising concept garnered attention from many non-profit organizations and clubs throughout the United States. A member of the Republican Club of Princeton, she participated in voter registration campaigns in many of Princeton’s neighborhoods.

A member of the Westminster Choir College Board of Trustees from 1983 to 1989, Marion received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in 2003. “I’ve travelled extensively throughout my life. No matter where I’ve been in the world — whether it was attending services at Presbyterian Church in Egypt or the chapel of West Point, I’ve encountered a Westminster graduate. They are undoubtedly the best,” she said reflecting on this honor. “I will always remember attending rehearsals on campus when some of the world’s greatest conductors, such as Leonard Bernstein and Riccardo Muti, came to prepare students for major orchestral performances. Receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University was a highlight of my life.”

Marion was preceded in death by her husband of 34 years, John L. Cullen, an investment banker and founding president of the Corporate Bond Traders Club of New York. Her life and legacy will be recognized at select Westminster Choir College events in the coming year.

———

R. Miriam  Brokaw

R. Miriam Brokaw, a long-time resident of Princeton, died June 19, 2012 at Meadow Lakes in East Windsor.

Born in 1917 in Kobe, Japan, she was the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, Rev. Harvey Brokaw and Olivia Forster Brokaw.

She graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa. and began her publishing career in 1945 at the Princeton University Press. During the decades of her tenure at the press, Miriam made outstanding contributions, including her role in establishing the Princeton Library of Asian Translations. She rose to the position of associate director and editor at the Princeton Press, from which she retired in 1984.

In 1966, her alma mater, Wilson College, awarded her an L.H.D., honoris causa. From 1974 to 1975, she was president of the American Association of University Presses, the first woman to hold that high office.

Awarded a Fulbright to advise the University of Tokyo Press, she spent a fruitful year doing the work she loved and reconnecting with the country where she was born.

She was predeceased by her sisters, Evelyn Brokaw Cook, Dr. Katherin Brokaw, and Frances Brokaw Leet. She is survived by a nephew, Robert Leet; two nieces, Nancy Leet Manning and Helena Leet; and by several grandnieces and grandnephews.

Arrangements were by Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton.

Extend condolences at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.

———

Francesca Delneso

Francesca Delneso, 98, of Princeton, died Friday, July 20, 2012 at Merwick Care and Rehab Center of Plainsboro. Francesca was born in Manhattan, N.Y. and resided in New York until age 6 before moving to Ischia, Italy, and then returned back to Princeton at the age of 20.

She was a member of St. Paul’s Church of Princeton. Francesca enjoyed writing, and would send birthday and anniversary cards to all her family and friends.

Francesca was the daughter of the late Salvatore and Teresa Trani, wife of the late Francesco Delneso; and mother of the late Francesco Delneso. She was also predeceased by three sisters and three brothers. She is survived by two sons and a daughter-in-law, John L. Delneso and Salvatore and Antonietta Delneso, all of Princeton; a daughter, Maria and Robert Merrick of Pennington; four grandchildren, Frank Delneso, Theresa Helper, Julianna Delneso, and Andrea Merrick; two great grandchildren, Steven and Michael Helper; and many nieces and nephews here and in Italy.

The funeral will be held at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, July 25 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton.

Burial will be in Princeton Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn., 38105; or St. Paul’s Church, 214 Nassau Street, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

———

Renowned Ballerina Returns to Princeton To Coach Dancers at PDT Summer Session

AT HER PEAK: Ballerina Cynthia Gregory, shown here as Odile, the black swan in “Swan Lake,” during her career with American Ballet Theatre.

In a classroom at the Princeton Dance and Theatre Studio in Forrestal Village, six young men take their places and wait for music from the ballet Raymonda to begin. Sitting in front of them with her back to the mirror is a woman who was dancing “Raymonda” — and just about every other ballet in the classical repertory — before they were born.

Watching Cynthia Gregory demonstrate how to use a plié, or deep knee bend, to add spring to a jump, or how to open the arms into a more authoritative pose, it seems as if she might have performed these movements yesterday. Yet it has been two decades since this famous ballerina retired from dancing after a stellar, 26-year career with American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

These days, Ms. Gregory spends much of her time coaching younger generations of dancers. For the past several years, she has traveled to Princeton from her home in Las Vegas to Princeton Dance and Theatre Studio’s annual Summer Intensive. For one week, she works with the students on the finer points of performance. The 48 students in this year’s program come from several states and Guatemala. In addition to Ms. Gregory, they studied this summer with former ballerinas Susan Jaffe and Kyra Nichols; and with Roy Kaiser, who is artistic director of the Pennsylvania Ballet. The students will give an end-of-term performance Friday, July 27, at 1 p.m. at The Hun School Auditorium. Tickets are $10.

“I like to coach, rather than teach. There are so many better teachers than me,” Ms. Gregory says. “I like to work on the art of dance rather than the nuts and bolts. And they already know what they’re doing when I get here, so I can work on the finer points with them. The students here are very strong. There are no watered-down versions of anything. They’re learning the real thing.”

For Risa Kaplowitz, co-founder of the school, hosting Ms. Gregory each summer is a thrill for the students, and for her. “This is Cynthia’s fourth or fifth time at PDT, and I am still in awe of what she offers the students,” she says. “Her coaching is filled with positive energy and her simple explanations for difficult steps can make such a big difference in how a dancer executes them. Most of all, she gives the variations context and inspires the students to dance them with joy.”

A much younger-looking 66, Ms. Gregory has a warm smile and open manner that seem to put the dancers immediately at ease. She is quick to offer encouragement while pushing her charges to work harder and reach for a level that transcends technique and athleticism.

“The level of technique today is fabulous. It’s amazing,” she says, speaking of ABT, where she spent her career. “But the general feeling is more bravura than drama. Somehow, the heart is gone. We didn’t have that level of technique, but we had something else. I try to pass along what I learned from people like Agnes de Mille, whom I loved. She taught me how to be a real person on stage. I tell the dancers today to be real with their gestures, to be themselves. That translates to the audience.”

De Mille is only one of the renowned choreographers with whom Ms. Gregory worked during her long career. Born in Los Angeles, she began studying ballet as a small child. She managed to get herself into a class that George Balanchine was teaching when she was only 13. The great choreographer and co-founder of the New York City Ballet was impressed and invited her to come study in New York, but she was too young.

A year later, though, she was accepted into the San Francisco Ballet as an apprentice. Her parents sold their home and business and the family moved to San Francisco, where Ms. Gregory thrived. She stayed with the ballet company for four-and-a-half years before deciding to make the move to New York. Since Mr. Balanchine had encouraged her, she expected to join his company, where abstract ballets tend to dominate the repertory.

“But I saw a performance by ABT, and I set my heart on that,” she says. “It was drama. I like to tell a story, and that’s what they were doing. It’s not that I don’t love the Balanchine repertory; I do. But the story ballets suited me best.”

ABT had Giselle and La Sylphide in its repertory when Ms. Gregory joined. Over the years, more full-length classics and ballets by Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, and other choreographers were added. “I just fell in love with all of those ballets. They kept adding more, every year or two,” Ms. Gregory says. “I could really immerse myself in the roles.”

While drama was her forte, Ms. Gregory was also a formidable technician. She was known for her ability to balance en pointe longer than just about any other dancer, and her fans loved her for it.

She especially enjoyed working with Mr. Robbins, performing his ballet Other Dances with Alexander Godunov and Kevin McKenzie, now ABT’s artistic director. “He showed another side of me,” she says of the choreographer. “A lot of people never thought of me in that way.” Mr. Robbins was her favorite choreographer. But he was a tough taskmaster. “He made you do things over and over, and I get worse as I do things over and over,” she says. “Twyla [Tharp] was like that, too.”

Ms. Gregory exited ABT during the period that Mikhail Baryshnikov was artistic director. The Russian superstar favored younger dancers. Only in her mid-thirties, which is considered a dancer’s prime, Ms. Gregory chose to bow out. “I didn’t thrive under him, so I started doing guest performances,” she says, tactfully. “I did get to dance with him once, in Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, and that was great. But I needed to move on.”

When Ms. Gregory ended her dancing career a few years later, she was ready. “I don’t miss it,” she says. “I was really completely fulfilled.”

She has been divorced twice and widowed once. Ms. Gregory raised her son, now 24, in Greenwich, Connecticut. She moved a few years ago to Las Vegas, where she is an artistic advisor with the Nevada Ballet Theatre. She coaches for that company and elsewhere.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” she says, flashing her radiant smile. “I had no major injuries. I got to  work with the most amazing choreographers in the world. And now I get to pass it on.”


Carnage and Communion: Encountering Art in the Shadow of Aurora

On my way across campus to the University Art Museum, I see a single leaf drifting toward the September 11 memorial garden at Chancellor Green. I’m in a don’t-take-anything-for-granted mood, my reporter’s notebook in my hand, my objective a show called “Encounters: Conflict, Dialogue, Discovery,” which opened July 14 and will be on view through September 23. At the time, I know nothing of the work of Gabriele Münter and the only Aurora I know of is the Aurora Borealis.

In art exhibits you go from one work to another, looking, attending, thinking, so it must be because I’m already in a museum state of mind that I’ve been paying attention to this one yellow leaf. How come it’s falling now, in the middle of summer? I’m waiting to see where it ends up so I can have a closer look.

As it’s about to come to earth by the 9/11 memorial bell, the leaf flutters to life and flies away. Though I’m not in the museum yet, I take out my pen and write, “Butterfly = leaf.” The real exhibit has begun.

The Shadow of Aurora

The carnage at a Colorado multiplex showing The Dark Knight Rises seems a long way from an art museum on the campus of an Ivy League university. Yet the same film opened across the street from the campus at the Garden Theater with a midnight screening a day before the midnight show in Aurora. Meanwhile, visitors to the exhibit are going to see it differently now than they would have if, like me, they had come to it the day before the shooting.

A large, attractively designed hand-out showing a plan of the museum is accompanied by a colorfully printed essay about the exhibit that refers, appropriately enough, to “commonality,” “cultural encounters,” “entangled interaction, mutual impact,” and “points of contact” that “occur across place as well as time …. Such encounters elicit curiosity, bemusement, or, sometimes ardent condemnation and rupture” (the last word is printed in big pink capital letters against a purple background). When you read the preceding statements after learning that a lone, heavily armed gunman shot and killed at least 12 people and wounded 58, “encounter” becomes the mother of all euphemisms. At the end of the essay, which was apparently co-written by the Curator of Asian Art Cary Y. Liu, Project Coordinator Francesca Williams, and Curatorial Fellow Juliana Ochs Dweck, “rupture” is among the five key words that are highlighted and defined (viz, “to burst open — treaty, nation, body, or belief”).

Because of the killings in Colorado, I’m more attuned to terms of “rupture” and “conflict” than “dialogue” and “discovery” as I look back over my exhibit notes. The words of a New York Times article about the shooting, “Fantasy became nightmare, and a place of escape became a trap,” have me asking the obvious: “Aren’t people going to an art show also looking for a place of escape?” More likely, the long view provided by a presentation that spans centuries offers something more enlightening than a vivid, violent, big-screen vacation from routine; speaking of “fantasy as nightmare,” for instance, there’s Goya’s image of the artist slumped over his desk, his head buried in his arms as a nightmare phantasmagoria of owls and bats hover over him in “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” the etching from Los Caprichos that inspired the most spectacular encounter in “Encounters,” Yinka Shonibare’s massive four-part photographic adaptation of Goya’s original vision.

Encountering Carnage

If you don’t count the leaf that became a butterfly, Le Carnage is the first object mentioned in my notes, an oil on canvas painted by Georges Clairin (1843-1919), described as a “mock Equestrian battle” in the curator’s commentary. My scribbled comment is, “Why ‘mock’? Mock carnage?” You’ve got robed and turbaned warriors and horsemen firing rifles and pistols, the skies in the background blazing like hellfire; there’s a dead horse in the right foreground and on the other side, if you look closely, you can make out at least three corpses. Few museumgoers will be able to view this scene without thinking of the ongoing folk tale of carnage being told in the media and spreading like a virus online. There’s even a lone gunman in the painting, a Hell’s Angel lookalike, the only warrior with a pistol and there’s nothing fake looking about the flame spurting from the barrel.

Before your thoughts can turn to more benign matters, the next thing the museum shows you is a case containing a dagger with an ornamental handle in the shape of a Saracen with sword upraised, about to behead a crusader. And above the dagger is a pen and brown ink sketch by Tiepolo of a Saracen Cavalryman. After that come a legion of Amazons followed by two terra cotta Amazons from 300-280 B.C. in blue leather boots and lavender-colored skirts. As the exhibit brochure suggests, conflict and rupture are everywhere.

The Sleep of Reason

I first saw one of Yinka Shonibare’s massive photographic revisitings of “The Sleep of Reason” at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers four years ago (“Goya’s Book of Dreams: Sharp as the Point of an Etching Needle, Sept. 10, 2008), but the four-fold impact here is considerably more impressive because of visual excitement created by the arrangement. It’s rare enough to speak of a “view” unfolding within the confines of a museum, but what the curators have created is very definitely a view, and a great view at that. You enter the exhibition gallery on your left as if coming to the summit of an old world city — imagine yourself, say, atop the Palatine Hill in Rome peering through a statuary-ornamented balustrade at a Nigerian Sound and Light spectacle fashioned with fabrics from London’s Brixton Market.

Or, to put it another way, less fancy and more fact, what you see is a matchless matching of the photographic clarity and richness of color and design with which Shonibare has clothed the four dreamers, each one representing a continent, Africa, Asia, America, and Australia. The genesis of the work — Goya’s vision remastered in living color — is implicit in Shonibare’s personal history. Born in London in 1962, he moved with his family to Lagos, Nigeria, when he was three years old. At 18, after returning to Britain, he contracted an inflammation across the spinal cord that left him disabled. Because of his disability, he depends on a team of assistants to help him manifest his visions, the essence being composed of the African and Indonesian fabrics he buys himself from the aforementioned London market.

Shonibare includes his MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) whenever he uses his name, to emphasize his hybrid identity. “I have always viewed art as a form of opera, or as being operatic,” he explained in 2004. “And opera is excessive; it is beyond the real, and therefore hyper-real.”

The opera in images arranged around Shonibare’s hybrid, hyper-real aesthetic is all about, according to the museum’s summer 2012 magazine, the pursuit of “the ideas of cross-cultural discovery — and its attendant dislocations — as a common human experience and of the visual arts as a crystallization and visualization of that experience.”

Cosmic Encounters

Instead of presenting the effect of a view across an earthly vista, the other half of the exhibit, which is located in the gallery opposite the one centered on the spectacle of Shonibare’s “Sleep of Reason,” offers views of the moon and the cosmos, with an emphasis on “encounters with the unknown,” including “other spiritual realms or celestial worlds” and “so-called encounters of the third kind.” The epigraph of moment is from Lewis Rutherford, the father of celestial photography, who observed on January 8, 1865: “Few things have inspired as many myths and mysteries as the moon.” The range is stunning. You go from photographer Ruth Bernhard’s shiny, smashed-flat teapot to Howard Russell Butler’s “early scientific visualizations of other planetary bodies” to Liu Guosong’s hanging scrolls, five full moons painted after the first lunar landing.

Having infinitely expanded the dimensions of the subject at hand, “Encounters” allows a larger view of what happened at the Century cineplex in a place called Aurora. For one thing, scientists at NASA have predicted that in 2012, the Aurora Borealis will be the brightest and most intense in 50 years. Last April 24, according to an article in Huffington Post Science, “The Aurora Borealis put on a dazzling show in more than a dozen states,” including Colorado and Illinois. A post from County Antrim in Northern Ireland described “vertical green pillars of light some 60 degrees high accompanied by amazing pulsating motions like the beating of a heart.”

Münter’s Moments 

When you leave “Encounters” make sure to stop by the gallery of 19th − early 20th century art to see the newly displayed paintings by Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), from the repository of works of the Berlin-born artist donated by Frank E. Taplin, Class of 1937, his wife Margaret (Peggy) Taplin, and their family. The paintings include a thoughtful self-portrait of Gabriele in her early thirties, peering at us, at once focused and wistful, from under an extraordinary lampshade of a hat, and an oil on board from 1910 of her fiance-for-a-decade, Wassily Kandinsky, age about 44, holding forth over coffee to a young woman named Erma Bossi.

In a 1958 interview with Edouard Roditi in Dialogues – conversations with European Artists at Mid-century, Münter said, “My main difficulty was that I could not paint fast enough. My pictures are all moments of my life – I mean instantaneous visual experiences, generally noted very rapidly and spontaneously. When I begin to paint, it’s like leaping suddenly into deep waters, and I never know beforehand whether I will be able to swim …. When I painted my ‘Blue Mountain,’ I had learned the trick. It came to me as easily and naturally as song to a bird.”

In the context of current events, murder and mayhem, art shows and butterflies, it’s hard not to think of another Gabrielle, the survivor of another shooting in the west, Gabrielle Giffords. Which brings us back to the present, July, 2012, where a carpenter who makes crosses for the victims of massacres travels from his home in Aurora, Illinois, to Aurora, Colorado, with 12 more.

———

The image of The Sleep of Reason (Africa), 2008, C print mounted on aluminum, is from the Collection of Nancy and Rodney Gould, courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York/Shanghai.


Vienna Piano Trio Presents Trio of Works; From Two Viennese and A French Master

Throughout music history, the city of Vienna has been a hot spot for musical performance, with Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert among its masters. Two centuries later, Vienna is still exporting great music, and a sample came to Richardson Auditorium last Wednesday night as part of the Princeton University Summer Concert series. The Vienna Piano Trio performed three works for piano, violin, and cello, showing precision and a solid command of 18th and 19th century repertoire.

The other ensembles heard in the Summer Concert series this year have maintained blended repertoires of traditional and contemporary (event, avant-garde) music, but the Vienna Piano Trio is firmly rooted in the classics. Violinist Wolfgang Redik, cellist Matthias Gredler, and pianist Stefan Mendl have compiled a discography of the great masters of chamber music, including the piano trios of Franz Josef Haydn.

The Vienna Trio’s performance of Haydn’s Piano Trio in A Major was clean from the outset, beginning with exacting chords from the piano. Mr. Mendl showed a very light touch on the keyboard, with even fingering on running passages and a subtle left hand. Mr. Mendl demonstrated a great deal of character in his piano accompaniment, complementing a sweet violin sound from Mr. Redik. Haydn’s trio included stylistic musical teasing, which was well executed by the Vienna ensemble.

Throughout the three movements, the strength of Mr. Mendl remained the evenness of his hands, which enabled a concise and well-timed dialog between piano and violin. Mr. Gredler drew a rich sound from the lower register of the cello, especially in the darker second movement. The Vienna Trio also demonstrated their quick playing in the third movement as they brought the Haydn work to a fast and furious close.

The Viennese work paired with the Haydn Trio was Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, composed less than a year before the composer’s death. Despite Schubert’s physical suffering at the time, his late works, including this trio, were infused with expressive melodies and a bit of playfulness. The Vienna Trio brought out well the lyrical second subject of the first movement, allowing the silences between musical thoughts to become a bit longer each time. The second movement, Andante, resembled a typically Schubertian lieder for cello and piano, with Mr. Gredler deriving the most from the phrases, evenly accompanied by Mr. Mendl. The full ensemble sound and musical drama showed Beethoven’s presence in the same city (he died shortly before Schubert began work on this trio) and the Vienna ensemble illuminated the saucy refrain of the closing Rondo with its especially Beethoven-esque dash to the finish.

French musical impressionist Maurice Ravel is not a composer one normally associates with Vienna, but he did travel to the city many times, and had a great regard for Viennese musical heritage. From this tradition Ravel may have borrowed the piano trio form, but his Piano Trio in A Minor was colored by a far darker influence than light-hearted Viennese court life. From the time of this trio’s beginnings in 1913 to its premiere in 1915, France moved from the joie de vivre of the early 20th century to immersion in World War I. Ravel was forced to rush completion of this trio in order to enlist in the military, and the four movements of this work are almost a pastiche of world-wide musical influence.

In this work, Ravel took an old form and added a new harmonic twist, and the Vienna Trio brought out well all the nuances and impressionistic musical tricks. Mr. Mendl began the work with a very liquid piano character, soon joined by unison violin and cello. Mr. Gredler’s cello part showed more range than the other two works, with long melodic lines in both stringed instruments and more use of vibrato. An elegant dialog between the violin and cello smoothed out the Basque irregular meter of the movement.

The second movement, Pantoum, drew its structure from Malaysian poetry, with a great deal of rise and fall in the music and jagged rhythms. This movement was more demanding of the players, and the Vienna Trio moved smoothly into the third movement Passacaille. Mr. Mendl well intoned the funeral march theme in the lowest register of the piano, and the three instruments built intensity well as the movement arched and returned to its funereal roots from the keyboard.

In all three of these works (as well as the Schumann excerpt which served as an encore), the Vienna Piano Trio paid tribute to the precision of the Classical era, while stretching their range into Ravel’s muted instrumental colors. This was clearly an ensemble rooted in the great traditions of the history of music.


Area Exhibits 7/25/12

Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street, Lambertville, is showing “Water Light,” watercolors by Eric Rhinehart and Carol Sanzalone, through August 5. The artists will host a “Coffee and Conversation” August 5 from 2-5 p.m. Visit www.lambertvillearts.com.

The Arts Council of Princeton at Paul Robeson Center has “Poolscapes and Swimmers,” with drawings of the old Princeton Community Pool by Stephanie Magdziak and Ronald Berlin, through July 28. “Monday Gestures and Poses,” in which members of the ACP’s Monday night Life Drawing Workshop, is also on view. For more information call (609) 924-8777 or visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.

D&R Greenway, 1 Preservation Place off Rosedale Road, presents “Crossing Cultures,” art celebrating the biodiversity of habitats, in the Marie L. Matthews Galleries. In the Olivia Rainbow Gallery, work from the Ennis Beley Photography Project, a summer student program, is on display. Both shows are through July 27.

Dalet Gallery, 141 North Second Street, Philadelphia, hosts “Made in Princeton,” with works from members of the Princeton Artist Alliance and the Princeton Photography Club, through August 13. A reception is August 3, 5-9 p.m. Hours are Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Visit www.dalealert.com.

Ellarslie, Trenton’s City Museum in Cadwalader Park, shows “Trenton Makes,” the local segment of the Trenton Artists Workshop Association’s Trenton/New York Visual Art Exhibition, through August 5. A partner show is at the Prince Street Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, 4th floor, New York, July 31-August 18. Works by Mel Leipzig, Jon Naar, Aubrey Kauffman, Leon Rainbow, Linda Osborne, and others are included in these shows. Call (609) 989-3632 for Ellarslie information; (646) 230-0246 for Spring Street Gallery.

Firestone Library at Princeton University is showing “A Fine Addition: New & Notable Acquisitions in Princeton’s Special Collections” through August 5 in its Main Gallery. In the Milberg Gallery through December 28 is “Woodrow Wilson’s Journey to the White House.”

Gallery 14, 14 Mercer Street, Hopewell, shows the third annual Juried Photographic Exhibition through August 11. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. or by appointment.

Gourgaud Gallery, Town Hall, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, exhibits “Flora, Fauna and Mystical” through July 27. Paintings by Linda Gilbert are in the show. Next is “All About the Birds,” the art of Necati Itez, from August 5-26. A reception is August 5 from 1-3 p.m. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 1 to 3 p.m. Sundays July 15 and 22.

Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, presents Ming Fay’s “Canutopia” installed in the new East Gallery through February 15. Artists displayed in other GFS galleries through September include Sharon Engelsein, Willie Cole, and Marilyn Keating. “Aerial Roots” by Steve Tobin is in the Meadow Gallery through July 31. See www.groundsforsculp
ture.org.

Historical Society of Princeton at Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau Street, Princeton, is presenting “Einstein At Home,” an exhibit featuring home furnishings, personal memorabilia, and photographs of Albert Einstein with family, friends, colleagues, and national dignitaries, through August 19. Admission is $4 per person; free to HSP members. At the HSP’s Updike Farmstead on Quaker Road, “The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson: American Impressionist” is on display through September 15. Opening hours are Saturday and Wednesday from 12-4 p.m. For more information visit www.princetonhistory.org.

Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton shows sculpture by Nancy Cohen and ceramics by Bill Macholdt through September 9. Visit www.hunterdonartmuseum.org.

The James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine Street in Doylestown, Pa., has a permanent exhibit, “Intelligent Design: Highlights of Arts and Crafts Studio Craft Movements,” featuring works by Wharton Esherick, George and Mira Nakashima, David Ellsworth, and others. “Offering of the Angels,” a selection of 45 Renaissance and Baroque masterworks from the Uffizi Gallery, is on view through August 10. “To Stir, Inform, and Inflame: The Art of Tony Auth” is on view through October 21. “I Look, I Listen: Works on Paper by Marlene Miller” is exhibited through October 14.

The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street, on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, is hosting “Aspects of Architecture: The Prints of John Taylor Arms,” through July 31. The museum is offering free admission this summer to all active military duty personnel and their families, through Labor Day. “Lynd Ward Draws Stories: Inspired by Mexico’s History, Mark Twain, and Adventures in the Woods” is on view through June 23, 2013.

Joan Perkes Fine Art Gallery, 202 North Union Street, Lambertville, has the First Annual Works on Paper Show through August 17. Call (609) 460-4708 for more information.

Mercer County Senior Art Show is being held through August 3 at Meadow Lakes, 300 Meadow Lakes just off Etra Road, East Windsor. Categories are acrylic, craft, computer imagery, drawing, mixed media, oil, pastel, photography, print, sculpture, and watercolor. Call (800) 564-5705.

Morven Museum & Garden, in collaboration with the Arts Council of Princeton, presents “The Garden at Night: Photographs by Linda Rutenberg” through September 16. Museum hours are Wednesdays-Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. on. Group tours of 10 or more can be arranged any day by advance reservation. There is free on site parking.

Mudd Manuscript Library at 65 Olden Street, Princeton University, is presenting “She Flourishes,” showcasing the history of women at Princeton, through August 31. The show documents the struggles and accomplishments of women associated with the University.

New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton, is showing “Botanica Magnifica: Photographs by Jonathan Singer” through August 26.

Princeton Art Gallery, 20 Nassau Street, is showing works by artists influenced by the late professor I-Hsiung Ju. A closing reception July 31 is from 6:30-8 p.m. Howard Ye will demonstrate Chinese brush painting. The gallery’s hours are 1-6 p.m.

Princeton Brain and Spine Care Institute at 731 Alexander Road, suite 200, presents “The Activity of Form,” a photography exhibit by Laura McClanahan, Greg McGarvey, Barbara Osterman, and Larry Parsons, through September.

Princeton Township Municipal Complex, 400 Witherspoon Street, is exhibiting a photo collection of the traditional costumes of the Molise region, on loan from the Cultural Ministry of the Region of Molise. The photos will be on display through the month of July. The exhibit was arranged by the Princeton/Pettoranello Sister City Foundation.

The Princeton University Art Museum presents “Encounters: Conflict, Dialogue, Discovery” through September 30. The show includes more than 60 works from the museum and private collections and mixes media, historical period and place of origin. “Root and Branch,” which explores the form of a tree in art and includes several art forms, runs through November 25. The Museum will install 12 sculptures by Ai Weiwei at Scudder Plaza, in front of Robertson Hall, for one year starting August 1. Museum hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Call (609) 258-3788.

Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, has works by Johanna Furst through the end of July. “The Future is Female 2.0” runs the month of September.

Straube Center, Route 31 and Franklin Avenue, Pennington, presents “The Inception of an Era” through August 31. Works in all media are by artists who have graduated from colleges and universities within the past five years. Visit www.straubecenter.com.

West Windsor Arts Center Gallery, 952 Alexander Road, Princeton Junction, will show “Pantyhose, Wire, Brushstrokes & Lens” through August 31. This is work by teaching artists and faculty of the arts center. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday, 12-6 p.m. Visit www.westwindsorarts.org.

Carefree Cherub Laments Climate Change in Enchanting Tale

TOO BAD THIS HOLIDAY ONLY COMES ONCE A YEAR: Six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) runs excitedly through the bayou holding a lit sparkler in each hand. She is clearly enjoying the holiday as only a six-year-old can.

Six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) is growing up in “The Bathtub,” a backwoods bayou located on the swampy side of a Louisiana levee. The self-sufficient tomboy divides her days attending to her sickly father (Dwight Henry) and she lives in harmony with a handful of other hardy refugees from civilization.

Hushpuppy feels sorry for the children growing up in nearby New Orleans because they eat fish wrapped in plastic and have been taught to fear the water. While those city kids were confined to strollers and baby carriages during their formative years, she’s been free to explore her surroundings that are teeming with vegetation and wildlife.

Yet, her existence is far from idyllic, because she pines for the mother whom her widowed father explained simply “swam away” one day. The heartbroken little girl tries to fill the void via flights of fancy. Using her vivid imagination, she has imaginary conversations with her long-lost mother.

Hushpuppy is also concerned about her father’s failing health and by an ominous foreboding that climate change is ruining her surroundings. She’s been warned by Miss Bathsheeba (Gina Montana), a sage soothsayer, who is her surrogate mother, that “The trees are gonna die first, then the animals, then the fish.”

So unfolds Beasts of the Southern Wild, a compelling tale which is also the directorial debut of Benh Zeitlin. The movie, an early entry in the Academy Awards sweepstakes, is a surreal fairy tale about the prospects of the planet that richly deserves all the accolades it received at Sundance, Cannes, and other film festivals.

Considerable credit goes to Quvenzhané Wallis, a talented youngster who not only portrays protagonist Hushpuppy but narrates the film as well.

A clever mixture of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, the movie repeatedly reminds us of a pre-pollution, pre-digital era when children were encouraged to plunge headlong into nature to experience the world firsthand rather than through electronic media.

The movie is a visually enchanting fantasy told from the perspective of a naïve waif untouched by the 21st century.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for profanity, mature themes, child imperilment, disturbing images, and brief sensuality. Running time: 91 minutes.Distributor: Fox Searchlight.


Arts Council Savors New Dodge Grant, Citation of Excellence, Anonymous Pledge Toward “Burn the Mortgage” Campaign

NOW SHOWING: A recent grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation will continue to help support The Arts Council of Princeton’s exhibitions and gallery-related programming. ACP installs exhibits in Taplin Gallery, throughout the Paul Robeson Center, on the building’s terrace and exterior spaces, as well as in partnership with the Princeton Public Library, on their second floor. (Photo Courtesy of the Arts Council of Princeton)

Just in time to celebrate Princeton’s Fourth ArtWalk on Thursday, August 2, the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) learned that it had received a $20,000 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

“We love Dodge,” said Arts Council Executive Director Jeff Nathanson. “It’s been a very loyal supporter of the ACP for many years.” This ongoing support does not preclude having to go through the application process every year.

The Dodge Foundation describes itself as source of funding for New Jersey arts non-profit organizations that “pursue and demonstrate the highest standards of artistic excellence in the performing and visual arts.”

“It’s really an organization that has taken a very progressive view and has provided some very important leadership,” Mr Nathanson observed. In addition to recognizing less traditional non-profit organizations, he reported that Dodge “actually takes steps to encourage us and other grantees to minimize the use of paper. They told us to send our acknowledgment for the grant via email.”

The ArtWalk, a self-guided evening of drop-in visual art activities in downtown Princeton from 5 to 8 p.m., is the result of a collaboration between the Princeton University Art Museum and the Arts Council of Princeton, along with seven other Princeton art organizations. This year’s ArtWalk has been designed with children and families in mind, and will include special activities like a scavenger hunt sponsored by the Historical Society, hands-on art making with the Arts Council of Princeton, and a BBQ sponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum.

Supporting Exhibits

Mr. Nathanson and incoming Development Director Jean Durbin described the Arts Council’s plans for the Dodge grant as supporting “gallery related programs.” Although the most visible exhibit space is the Taplin Gallery on the main floor right off the entry lobby, exhibitions are mounted elsewhere in the building throughout the year. The Dodge gift provides support for all of them.

“Every year we to try to present up-to-date exhibitions and related educational programs,” said Mr. Nathanson. These include panel discussions for adults, and hands-on workshops with school groups who are given an “up close and personal” tour of a gallery exhibition by an artist, followed by an opportunity to create some of their own art. The Arts Council also regularly collaborates with area institutions like the Princeton Public Library, and is among the participants in the upcoming six-month long series of exhibitions and events known as “The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society.”

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, which recently awarded the Arts Council a citation of excellence, is another “important source” of financial support. Mr. Nathanson noted, however, that the Arts Council’s “annual budget is considerably greater than the total of the money we get from the two grant sources. We have individual contributors, corporate sponsors, other foundation grants, and membership fees that all feed into the budget to run programs.” The Arts Council basically “does not get taxpayer funding,” he added.

Other area recipients of Dodge grants this year were The McCarter Theatre ($75,000), and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra ($10,000).

“Burn the Mortgage”

Mr. Nathanson and Ms. Durbin were also happy to report that The Arts Council of Princeton had received “a very generous anonymous pledge of $750,000” towards its ‘Burn the Mortgage’ Campaign, being held in conjunction with the Council’s 45th anniversary.

“The campaign’s goal is to pay off the ACP’s $2 million mortgage so that the funds used for hefty monthly mortgage payments can instead be used to pay for creative programming costs,” said Mr. Nathanson. “Achieving the goal means the ACP will be much better positioned to maintain and grow the ACP’s innovative programming, which substantially enriches the community. With this anonymous gift, there is now only $750,000 remaining to raise in order to successfully complete the ‘Burn’ campaign. The ACP hopes to raise these funds through the collective efforts of its members and donors with an aggressive campaign push between now and December 31.”


Battlefield Society Fires Another Round In Fight Against Institute Housing Plan

Efforts to prevent the Institute for Advanced Study from building faculty housing on land many believe is the site of the crucial counter-attack at the Battle of Princeton escalated last Friday with the filing of an appeal in Mercer County Superior Court. The Princeton Battlefield Society is challenging the approval by the Princeton Regional Planning Board for the planned 15-unit development.

The housing site, which was approved by the Planning Board last spring after several contentious meetings, is part of the land on the Princeton Battlefield that was designated last month as one of America’s 11 most endangered historic places for 2012 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The appeal says that the approval by the Planning Board violates terms of a 1992 settlement between Princeton Township and the Institute, defining specific zoning limitations. The Battlefield Society includes 12 counts that challenge the approval. “The Planning Board failed numerous times to properly support its decision with proper findings of fact,” says Bruce Afran, attorney for the Battlefield Society, in a press release. “We vigorously disagree with the Planning Board’s decision to allow this 15-unit development to move forward.”

Specifically, the appeal says that the 1992 settlement does not permit cluster housing. “And in any event, the Planning Board’s findings violated the municipal ordinance’s requirements for cluster housing by not meeting the requirements for an ‘As of Right Plan,’” Mr. Afran says. “An As of Right Plan is a conceptual site layout that must meet zoning requirements, in this case one-acre lots that are not encumbered by buffers or setbacks or other lot use limitations.”

Additionally, the appeal disagrees with the Planning Board’s acceptance that the historic and archaeological features of the site would be protected should the project move forward.

The Planning Board was unanimous in its approval of the Institute’s plans for seven single-family homes and eight townhouses on a seven-acre portion of the campus. In addition to a 200-foot buffer zone next to the Battlefield Park that would be permanently preserved as open space, the Institute has promised to provide interpretive materials about the history of the park for visitors. Proponents of the plan say that the housing development respects its historic setting and does not adversely affect preserved farmland and the Institute Woods.

Battlefield Society members say the Institute claims the site did not play a significant role in the Battle of Princeton, but that the opposite is true. “Governor Edge, as far back as 1944, recognized that this site was critical to understanding the counterattack, and his map showing the properties that were to be acquired to become part of the park, included this parcel as an essential part of the park,” says Jerald Hurwitz, president of the Battlefield Society.

The recent appeal marks the second challenge by the Battlefield Society to the Institute project. After the Planning Board’s approval of the plans last April, Mr. Afran filed a complaint in the Chancery Court on behalf of the Battlefield Society, asking for a judicial determination on various site limitations created by the 1992 agreement.

The designation of the Battlefield last month by the National Trust as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2012 “puts a focus on the issue at a national level,” says Kip Cherry, first vice president of the Battlefield Society. “But even more importantly, it shows that the National Trust has endorsed the importance of the site.”

As of press time Tuesday, the Institute had not been served with the appeal so no comment was issued.


Retail Changes Underway in Town and Malls

Construction and renovation crews have been a significant presence this summer in downtown Princeton and area malls. Change is underway at several retail and restaurant establishments. Much of Quaker Bridge Mall has been involved in construction, and several new tenants have been announced for neighboring MarketFair.

In Princeton Borough, crews have been busy for months gutting the inside of the former Lahiere’s restaurant on Witherspoon Street. Construction workers at the site say an American restaurant with a long bar is being installed, but an official announcement of just what establishment is moving in has yet to be made.

Up a stairway behind Redding Plumbing on East Nassau Street, there was good news this week for patrons of the Nearly New Shop, a fixture in town since the 1940s. Moira Mittnacht, who worked in the store for 12 years, has taken it over from Princeton Day School. The school announced this spring that it was going to close the shop, which was founded as a fund raiser. Ms. Mittnacht plans to reopen it the day after Labor Day.

“I just couldn’t walk away from it,” she said Tuesday morning as she shoved several bulging bags of clothing, to be picked up by the Rescue Mission, out the door. “Yesterday was bag sale day so we’re really cleaned out, but we’ll have plenty when we open again in September.”

The Nearly New Shop sells used clothing, small appliances, and books for bargain prices. Patrons range from needy residents and workers in the area to Princeton University students and professors. “The kids in the eating clubs really depend on us for their parties that have different themes,” Ms. Mittnacht said. “They email me with their party themes, and I’ll save stuff for them. Like if they’re having an 80’s night, I know what to put aside.”

Many low-income workers in the area count on the store for clothing. “Everything is clean and in good condition,” Ms. Mittnacht said. “I always have a rack of tee-shirts for a dollar, for guys who are mowing lawns.”

Ms. Mittnacht began volunteering in the shop when her children were students at PDS. The school decided to close the shop last spring in order to focus on other fund raising projects. “I’m not sure they realized the impact the store has on the community,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe the letters we were getting. People were so upset. This is a place they can shop with dignity, for quality clothing.”

Ms. Mittnacht is in the process of cleaning, decorating, and restocking the shop. She is meeting with local business people to get advice on whether to remain a non-profit, and how to continue to donate some proceeds to PDS. The store did not accept credit cards in the past, but will do so when it reopens. Hours will change slightly, opening at 11 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. Ms. Mittnacht is considering whether to make room in the shop for a seamstress.

“It’s my goal to keep the prices low and the quality high, and to just keep it going,” she said. “We’ll have all new stuff for fall.”

Palmer Square

On Palmer Square, the store that formerly housed Banana Republic is being turned into Brooks Brothers, with an expected October opening. Banana Republic has moved to MarketFair. Urban Outfitters is expected to move in November into the former Talbot’s store on Nassau Street, while Talbot’s is consolidating with its second store, formerly Talbot’s Petites, just a few doors down. Urban Outfitters will occupy two floors of the building. Talbot’s was using the second floor space for offices and storage.

Anita Fresolone of Palmer Square Management said that the announcements a few months ago of Brooks Brothers and Urban Outfitters on the office’s Facebook page generated positive feedback. “It was one of the larger responses we’ve gotten; dozens and dozens of ‘likes,’” she said. “All ages responded. We’re bringing two totally different concepts opening within a few months of each other.”

Other Palmer Square changes include the expansion of Lace Silhouettes into the spot where Bucks County Dry Goods has been located, with that store moving up the street. “That’s a success story, and we like that,” said Ms. Fresolone. “It’s a store that has been here a long time and is moving to a larger location.”

A new restaurant called Mistral is moving into the spot formerly occupied by the restaurant Zen, and before that, Ichiban, in the small strip mall at Witherspoon and Hulfish streets. This is a co-venture of Scott Anderson, the chef at nearby elements, and businessman Steve Distler, elements’ co-owner. Set to open sometime this fall, the restaurant will have about 45 seats inside with the possibility of another 40 outside. It will not have a liquor license.

Mr. Anderson told the website eater.com earlier this month that the restaurant will be casual and serve small plates. “You won’t be able to classify it as tapas or any other type of cuisine,” he said. “We’ll be doing the interpretive American cooking I’ve always talked about …. The kids from Princeton can come in and eat, or even high-schoolers who want a nice night out or are on a date.”

Mistral will have a wood-fired oven and raw bar. Mr. Anderson is working on a charcuterie program and several pastas for the menu, according to the website.

Quaker Bridge Mall

Much of Quaker Bridge Mall has been covered in protective plastic this summer as crews work on a new look for the 36-year-old shopping center in Lawrence Township on Route 1. While the anchor stores Lord & Taylor, Sears, Macy’s, and J.C. Penney will remain, several changes are underway. New retailers include Michael Kors, Pandora, Sephora, Sur le Table, Teavana, Ann Taylor, H&M, and Brighton Collectibles. The Cheesecake Factory restaurant is under construction. Another eatery will also be coming to the mall, but mall marketing director Marian Kapp declined to name it because negotiations are still ongoing.

“We’re getting new tiles, new railings, ceilings, skylights, and landscaping,” she said. “The mall obviously needed a facelift. We originally announced a renovation a few years ago but the scope changed slightly. There is a demand in the market for fashion-forward stores. We get that request constantly. We were listening to our customers.”

The question of whether the Nordstrom and Neiman-Marcus stores will come to the mall, as originally announced, is “on hold,” Ms. Kapp said. The mall will have a new food court on the upper level, in space that formerly housed part of the Old Navy store and other retail space. Ms. Kapp preferred not to say which eateries will be installed in the court, since negotiations are not complete.

MarketFair

Across Route 1 and slightly north is MarketFair, where four new restaurants, the West Elm furniture store, and a relocated and retooled Barnes & Noble are part of the changes targeted for the next two years. Valet parking and new business fronts are part of the plan for a village-like atmosphere.

The new Barnes & Noble “flagship” store will open in September 2013 under the company’s new design, which is focused on e-books and new publishing technology, but will still sell books. The bookstore, which will remain open during the renovations, will relocate to the north end of the mall.

The new restaurants Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze will be placed in the location currently occupied by Barnes & Noble. Eastern Mountain Sports will also be moved from its current spot to the existing Barnes & Noble space. Bobby Flay’s Burger Palace and Qdoba will be located in the mall’s west corridor near West Elm, which is being built out in the former food court space. The food court closed in late April. MarketFair officials declined to comment on whether the food court will be relocated and reopened.

The mall opened in 1986. Princeton architect Michael Graves designed new interior and exterior touches in 2008, beginning the makeover that is expected to be completed at the end of 2014.


Officials Describe Car-Destroying Fire As “Not Suspicious”

A dramatic car fire drew crews and equipment from several local departments to the intersection of Spring and Witherspoon Streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon.

Princeton Borough Police Lieutenant Sharon Papp said that the car’s driver, Jaime Geter, later reported having seen smoke emanate from the hood of the 1999 green Dodge Stratus several times after the thermostat was replaced. Fire Inspector Ron DiLapo concluded that there was nothing suspicious about Saturday’s fire.

No one was hurt in the blaze, which destroyed the car it originated in, melted the parking meter next to it, cracked a large glass window at Tico’s Eatery and Juice Bar, and charred the nearby pavement. Tico’s remained closed on Monday afternoon, with a sign on the door reading “we need to clean and get rid of the smoke in the dining room.” The smell of smoke was still evident outside, as well.

Princeton Borough Police received a call about the fire at 2:35 p.m., Lieutenant Papp reported. As officers arrived on the scene, she said, the vehicle was smoking and some flames were visible. When using a fire extinguisher from one of the patrol cars failed to put the fire out, Lieutenant Papp noted, firemen were called in.

In addition to Mr. DiLapo and Princeton Hook & Ladder, respondents included companies from Plainsboro and South Brunswick, she reported.

“It was weird,” said Zach Smith who was in his Spring Street store, Cool Vines, when the fire occurred. In his account, employees from Tico’s “called it in,” but “it took 20 minutes for two Borough police officers to arrive.”

Mr. Smith and Savory Spice Shop owner/operator Jon Hauge reported “a lot of onlookers” stopping to watch the fire and the efforts to contain it. “They were probably too close,” suggested Mr. Smith, noting that “everyone had their cell phones out.” Both stores remained open, and Mr. Smith reported “a pretty reasonable day” of business despite the temporary street closing. Ms. Papp reported that Spring Street was reopened at 5:43 p.m., after the vehicle was towed from the scene.

Ms. Geter said that she and a friend had gone into Chuck’s Spring Street Café. After 15 minutes, they emerged to see the smoking car. Fire Inspector DiLapo was not able to determine the cause of of the fire because of the extent of the damage to the car, which was described as “beyond repair.”

Fire Department officials said that they had no information to report and referred queries about the fire to the Borough Police.

Democrats to Open New Headquarters; Event Draws Candidates and Supporters

Princeton Democratic Headquarters for this year’s presidential election will open on or about September 1 at 217 Nassau Street, in the rear of a building just across the street from St. Paul’s Church.

“It’s a great, walkable location near the center of town,” enthused Princeton Democratic Community Organization (PCDO) President Dan Preston at a Sunday afternoon picnic sponsored by the organization at the Harrison Street Park.

Until a few weeks ago, the difficult real estate market made for some uncertainty about even having an office this year, Mr. Preston reported. Princeton resident Jan Weinberg came to the rescue by offering the Nassau Street site at a price that couldn’t be refused. Mr. Preston said that he paid the rent out of his own pocket using a single bill with George Washington’s picture on it.

In 2008, Princeton Democratic Headquarters were located on the second floor of 162 Nassau Street, above Nassau Interiors.

The Sunday event included what Mr. Preston described as “eating, drinking, juggling, game-playing, socializing, hearing from our candidates, and hootenannying.” Congressman Rush Holt (D-12) also made an appearance.

Committeewoman Sue Nemeth struck a gracious note as she introduced Marie Corfield, who defeated Ms. Nemeth in a bid for the Democratic nomination to represent the 16th district in the State Assembly. “Don’t feel disloyal,” Ms. Nemeth counseled her supporters as she urged them to get behind Ms. Corfield’s campaign.

Kids played with hula hoops, people refilled their plates, and enthusiasm ran high as Mr. Holt acknowledged the size of Sunday’s turnout in his comments.

Mercer County Freeholder Sam Frisby praised Princeton for voting to consolidate last November. “Princeton showed us how to do it,” he observed, describing other communities’ growing interest as a result.

Township Deputy Mayor Liz Lempert, the Democrats’ nominee for mayor of the consolidated municipality, who was a key local organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign, said that current obligations would keep her from participating as actively this time. She expressed optimism at the “good progress” being made toward consolidation, as staff “embrace it” and “long-standing issues are viewed with a new perspective.”

Arts Hub

The Arts Council of Princeton is celebrating a new Dodge Foundation grant; preparing for another ArtWalk; and participating in the coming multi-institutional collaboration, “The Fertile Crescent.” Summer campers probably don’t know about these events, but they certainly seem engrossed in their work. (Photo Courtesy of the Arts Council of Princeton)

July 18, 2012

Don’t Take for Granted Montgomery Cinema’s Rewarding Alternative to Mainstream Hollywood

To the Editor:

Thanks so much for your July 11 front-page article (“Montgomery Cinema Ponders Future As Digital Projection Takes Hold”) that clearly explained the grave financial dilemma confronting small, independent cinemas, which are being forced to decide whether to convert from 35 millimeter film projection to digital projection.

Profound thanks also go to Bob Piechota, owner of Montgomery Cinemas, who was interviewed for your story. Mr. Piechota has somehow managed to keep his unique but fragile enterprise alive, even though the financial realities imposed by the explosion of other entertainment options, most of them available on home screens, has significantly diminished the number of people who go out to the movies. For movie lovers who savor independent and foreign films, as well as acclaimed documentaries, Montgomery Cinema has been a godsend. We do not take for granted the luxury of having in our area a theater that consistently offers rewarding alternatives to mainstream Hollywood fare — alternatives that are challenging, ambitious, layered, and nuanced (but also beautiful, enlightening, entertaining, and well-acted), and that provoke us to think and talk about what we’ve just seen, often for days afterward.

We worry about how limited moviegoing in our area would be if we no longer had the good fortune of being able to choose to see the kinds of films presented by Montgomery Cinema. I urge everyone to recall how exhilarating it can be to see exceptional films on a large screen, in the company of others who share one’s anticipation and responses — and then to take advantage of this remarkable theater while we still have it. Perhaps if there is an upsurge in patronage, Mr. Piechota will be further encouraged to find a way to keep Montgomery Cinema in operation, and eventually see it thrive.

Janet Stern

Monroe Lane

“Under the Red Umbrella” Program Helped by F.I.S.H., JaZams, BM-W

To the Editor:

Something fun for kids is happening on Thursday afternoons at 4:30 through August 23. “Under the Red Umbrella,” which is a story time for kids of all ages, will be held at the Mary Moss Park on John Street.

A recent special guest reader was Township Councilman Lance Liverman. Last week’s theme was Fireman. After the stories, we all shared some juicy, cold, watermelon slices!

On July 19 at 4:30 our stories will be in both Spanish and English and our guest reader will be Senora Blanco. On July 26 we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss and our special guest reader will be Ms. Judy Cashmore from the F.I.S.H. Foundation..

We are grateful for the generous donations from F.I.S.H., JaZams (in Princeton), and the Bryn Mawr and Wellesley Book Sale that supplied us with funds to buy books and as well as some wonderful, gently used children’s books. No child leaves without a few new books to add to their personal library.

Please consider joining us “Under the Red Umbrella” on Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:30. Mary Moss Park is at the corner of John and Lytle Streets. The program is run by the Red Umbrella Group of the Princeton Public School’s Board of Education’s, Minority Education Committee.

Joyce Turner

Secretary for the Minority Education Committee

Woods Way

$12,000 Raised Thanks to Local Support For “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 2012”

To the Editor:

On behalf of the Riverside School PTO (Parent Teachers Organization), we would like to thank everyone in the Princeton community who supported our “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 2012” celebration of school gardening and healthy living last month. We raised approximately $12,000 net that will support garden education programs at Riverside and other Princeton public elementary schools.

We are especially grateful to our Golden Orchid sponsors, the Princeton Radiology Group and YogaStream, and to our Silver Sage sponsors, BlackRock, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., Morven Museum & Garden, Neil McKeon, Merrill Lynch, Pinneo Construction and Rhone Bryant, LLC. Thanks also go to our Bronze Dahlia sponsors Bagel Barn, Bent Spoon, Richard Holstein, DMD, FADH Pediatric Dentistry, The Ivy Inn, Mason, Griffen & Pierson, McCaffrey’s, Minuteman Press, Naturally Nora,
Princeton Shopping Center Merchant’s Association,
Rambling Pines Day Camp, Terra Momo Bread Co., The Whole Earth Center, and our Garden Friends, including Bounce U, Donald Cox, Esq., The Majeski Foundation, Princeton Ace Hardware, Princeton Windsor Pediatrics, The Suppers Program, Trader Joe’s, and Dr. Tyl and Dr. Fogarty, Dental Healthcare Associates. Our silent auction was also a great success thanks to generous donations from Riverside families and local businesses.

As co-chairs, we are grateful for the enthusiastic support from fellow PRS school gardeners Stephanie Chorney, Amy Mayer, Karen Nathan, Elizabeth White, Lee Yonish, and Alan Zetterberg, as well as dozens of Riverside parents, students and alumni volunteers and the strong-armed PHS football team. Our gardens blossom thanks to garden educator Dorothy Mullen, whose vision, tenacity, and hard work are the life force of our school gardens, and Roger Martindell, who invests countless hours in garden labor and care.

A special thanks goes out to Principal Bill Cirullo for his years of support for garden education programs and his positive energy and vision, as well as the Riverside teachers and staff who have invested enormous energy into integrating the garden residency into their teaching of our children.

Finally, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to those in the Princeton community who turned out on June 9 and enjoyed the beautiful day, while supporting vital programs that teach our children about healthy food choices and active living. Thank you for joining us in support of Princeton school gardens!

Beth Behrend, Julie Capozzoli,
Marianna Torok, Heather Aton,

Co-Chairs, Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 2012

Riverside School PTO

Thanks to Mayors, Volunteers, Township Staff, Ground Will Be Broken on Copperwood July 26

To the Editor,

On July 26 ground will be broken on Copperwood in Princeton. After almost a decade of discussion, debate, design, and deliberation, a modern, sophisticated community designed for those Princetonians who want to downsize and still stay in the town they love will come into being. The project is a model of land preservation and sustainability, of which Princeton should be very proud.

This project would not have come about were it not for the support, mentorship, guidance, and positive actions of both civic volunteers and Township staff. My thanks go to former Township mayors Phyllis Marchand and Bernie Millier and to the current mayor, Chad Goener. They also go to the Princeton Township Committee and their attorney, Ed Schmierer, to the Regional Planning Board under the leadership of Peter Madison and Wanda Gunning, and to the Site Plan Review Advisory Board under the thoughtful leadership of Bill Wolfe.

Of course, the “devil is in the details,” and the Township staff has been diligent, appropriately demanding, understanding, cooperative, and, when deadlines were imminent, especially responsive. The Township engineer, Bob Kiser; planner, Lee Solow; zoning officer, Peter Kneski; building official, John Pettenati; and their respective staffs all deserve a big “thank you” for not only enabling the project to proceed, but for the fine work they do in protecting the interests of the Township and preserving that special quality that is Princeton.

Through everyone’s efforts, Copperwood is a better project. It will finally bring to Princeton the much-needed active adult community that it has needed for so long.

J. Robert Hillier, FAIA, PP

Principal

MCIA Hazardous Waste Team Performs A Friendly, Surprisingly Speedy Service

To the Editor:

I left Hopewell Borough Saturday morning, aiming to be “early” for the Hazardous Waste collection day scheduled for 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Fire Service Training Center on Lawrence Station Road. My car trunk was filled with nasty items accumulated over 40 years! Arriving at the receiving station, I was greeted with a mile long (yes, clocked) line! To leave? Or not to leave? Some cars bailed and the line inched forward. Slowly. Very Slowly. But it was still only 7:59 a.m.

Suddenly, we started moving at an astonishing rate. No need to turn off the ignition. Inches turned to yards. The entrance was in sight! A very cheerful, lovely looking lady checked my driver’s license to confirm Mercer County residency. Cars snaked one way for chemicals, another for chemicals and electronics. Incredibly efficient and friendly men waved my car forward so they could unload the trunk, whipping cans into shopping carts and dashing them away! The guys worked with such speed and good cheer it entirely erased the pre-8 a.m. worry of spending an entire morning throwing out stinky smelling liquids! In a flash, I was OUT, following the well-marked “driveway” created within the parking lot, and on the way home. The time? 8:26 a.m.

How did they do that? Process a mile long (and growing) line so easily and pleasantly? The secret must be somewhere in the brain trust and teamwork of the Mercer County Improvement Authority. I’m sending up BIG thanks this morning to the folks that made doing the “right” thing with hazardous waste, such an easy, easy chore!

Jinny Baeckler

Hart Avenue, Hopewell

Elegant Design and Superb Craftsmanship Characterize Orion’s Unique Jewelry Selection

IMAGINATIVE CREATION: “Creating jewelry is my passion. It’s what I always wanted to do and have always done. I am very fortunate to be able to do it.” Jewelry designer and goldsmith Robin Hepburn, owner of Orion Jewelry in Pennington, is shown in her new boutique.

As they enter the Orion Jewelry boutique in its new location in the Pennington Square Shopping Center, on Route 31, customers are captivated by the dramatic decor, highlighted by the striking “Chambord” walls and organic lattice work motif.

In addition, the warm and welcoming environment, featuring displays of imaginative, innovative, and beautiful jewelry, adds to their pleasure.

“I want people to feel comfortable here. This is very important,” says owner Robin Hepburn, who is a jewelry designer and goldsmith.

Ms. Hepburn moved to the new location in May, and she could not be more pleased. “I needed a larger place, and I am so happy to have a beautiful showcase for my work in this new boutique.”

Goldsmith and Designer

Ms. Hepburn is an experienced goldsmith and jewelry designer, having been in the jewelry business for 35 years. And before that, she was always interested in art and design.

“My father was a silversmith,” she adds, “and I went to art school. Later, in 1986, I had a jewelry business in St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Three hurricanes and 10 years later, she relocated to Pennington, where she had been born.

Today, in many ways, her jewelry design still evokes the tropical motif and the spirit and serenity of the islands. The sculptural forms and rare gemstones fuse to create hallmark pieces that are both elegant and exotic.

“I think the main draw has been the uniqueness of the jewelry,” she points out. “My pieces are all personal and one-of-a-kind, made from scratch.”

Many of her creations, including earrings, necklaces, pins, and bracelets, are on display, and in addition, she does a great deal of custom work.

Custom Design

“Someone can come in with a dream, and I help the dream become a reality. A customer may bring a stone to me, and I can create whatever they want. I also custom-design older pieces that a client may wish to have a newer look. This is one of my specialties. I like working with special pieces and creating something that is unique for the client. I recently made a cuff bracelet in gold with three diamonds for a man to give his wife for their 30th wedding anniversary.”

Ms. Hepburn also recalls one of her more unusual projects, but equally personal. “I made an 18k gold locket, which was to contain the ashes of the client’s beloved pet dog.”

Ms. Hepburn explains that when considering a piece, she first begins with a drawing, “and then I start to figure out how to make it three dimensional.”

Her pieces incorporate precious, semi-precious, and museum-quality gemstones with high karat gold and sterling silver. In keeping with her life-long dedication to fair trade practices and protecting the future use of rare materials, all Orion jewelry is made using 100 percent recycled and refined metals and ethically-sourced gemstones.

“I get the stones from people who mine and cut the stones, and I like to work with the more unusual stones, including tanzanite, drusy, and ametrine (combination of amethyst and citrine),” she explains. “I also include different kinds of opals and pearl, and stones, such as lapis, aquamarine, and turquoise. Opals can have many colors, and I have recently used bright Mexican fire opals. I’ll also use blackened sterling silver, which can be very dramatic.”

Three of Ms. Hepburn’s pieces, two necklaces and a brooch, were recently entered in an international contest.

Green Diamond

Among the pieces which are showcased is a beautiful green beryl pendant with gold chain, coordinated with matching earrings. Another necklace includes a green diamond with aquamarine set in yellow and white gold, with a white gold chain.

Still another superb necklace features a green garnet pendant, with matching earrings.

Ms. Hepburn is especially enthusiastic about the design and decor of her new boutique. In collaboration with Hopewell-based artistic designer Sean Mannix of Highland Design Farm, a uniquely attractive setting has been created.

“Sean designed the entire interior, the showcases, and the Orion brand. He implemented the entire look of the store brand and design. All the showcases, signs, and logos were done by Sean. His artistry and my vision came together, and made my dream come true.”

Dramatic and Intriguing

The design of the interior, including inspired lattice work-style motif, is dramatic and intriguing. Assorted lighting fixtures of different sizes are suspended from the ceiling, adding more interest. It is all together a very fitting setting to showcase Ms. Hepburn’s creations.

“It is important to note that everything — the materials, the showcases — were made locally,” she adds.

In addition to the jewelry, Ms. Hepburn offers elegant Orion “Tini”, sets of small martini glasses, which are suitable for hors d’oeuvres or “mini” drinks. They include solid silver picks, handcrafted by Ms. Hepburn. A set of four is offered in a beautiful lavender gift bag, and is an appealing hostess gift.

“I so much enjoy working with my customers, and I look forward to helping them in my new studio,” says Ms. Hepburn.

Orion Jewelry is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 10 to 4. (609) 737-7235. Website: www.orionjewelrystudio.com.