Author: SPY

Eric Lease Morgan – Fourth Friday at Jonal Gallery/Alverta Arts Shop

                                                  

                           YOU’RE INVITED…
       Fourth Friday in the River Towns to visit…
   Jonal Gallery/Alverta Arts Shop
     653 Locust Street – Columbia, Pa. 17512
                            717.681.9400    ****    jonalgallery.com
Two exciting events take place during one enjoyable evening at the Gallery …
The opening of emerging artist Eric Lease Morgan exhibit in our Labyrinth Gallery
   and the U.B. Artist Benefit Silent Auction for the Columbia Food Bank in the
    Alverta Arts Shop. Join us at 5:00pm to kick off both of these great events!
     *****     *****     *****     *****     ***** 

                          ERIC LEASE MORGAN – EMERGING ARTIST
Eric Lease Morgan’s paintings and sketches identify beauty in everyday objects and characterize this beauty through color and line.
Using an impasto technique and acrylic paints Eric captures and emphasizes the essences of his subjects; frequently flowers and figurative works. Sometimes based on real-world examples, yet many times his works come from his imagination. It is not important to him, in his art, to make exact representation of what he see and states “If I wanted to depict an object just as it appears, then I would take a photograph.”
Using acrylics, Eric passionately paints stylized flowers and nudes with bold impasto strokes and bright hues. “What appears on the canvas is a combination of what I see, what I feel, and what I believe to be the essence of my subject. When it comes to technique, the work is not done until there is enough paint on the canvas.”
Eric currently calls Indiana home where he is a nationally acclaimed librarian for more than twenty-five years, but is a true Lancaster County native. Born to Carol Morgan and the late Richard Morgan, both of whom, for many years, were active in Lancaster’s art community. “I learned the concept of line from my mother, and my father gave me an appreciation for color.”
His other interests include photography, folding origami flora and fauna, growing roses, binding his handmade books and music. Eric is a proficeint  musician, playing many styles of guitar and a Baroque recorder. As a special treat, during his opening reception, Eric will not only be sharing his artistic talents with us, but will share with us his musical talents as well!
          Eric states, “There is beauty everywhere. All one has to do is open their eyes and see it.” 
Join Eric at Jonal Gallery/Alverta Arts Shop in our Labyrinth Gallery for an evening of art and music!
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                                          “See you at the Gallery”  Dale and John
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Thomas Welsh Symposium held Saturday at CHiPS

Re-enactor Glenn Bachert portrayed Captain Henry A. Haines at the seventh annual symposium on Columbia native son Union General Thomas Welsh and the 45th Regiment.  (Haines was from Maytown and served under Welsh in the 45th.)  The event, sponsored by the Columbia Historic Preservation Society (CHiPS) and the Columbia Public Library, was conducted by Rick Wiggins on Saturday at the CHiPS building on Second Street.   The event also featured presentations by authors John Mulcahy, Mike Coker, and Tim Ware.
(Click for larger view.)

Abolish Columbus Day and Rename Our Town

Columbus Day will be observed this coming Monday, October 14, but was traditionally observed on today’s date, October 12.

 Christopher Columbus has been hailed as the discoverer of the New World, but was in fact a ruthless, greedy entrepreneur who perpetrated genocide upon the indigenous peoples of North America.
A website called The Oatmeal, which can be found HERE, has laid out in simple terms some of Columbus’s most horrific and despicable crimes.
Unfortunately, our hometown of Columbia was named for this mass murderer when Samuel Wright thought doing so would influence the US Congress to select it as the nation’s capital.
Here are two excerpts from The Oatmeal:
Several groups have been working to have this holiday repealed and abolished, but considering our dysfunctional Congress’s preoccupation with infighting and grandstanding, this goal seems elusive, at least for now.
In the meantime, perhaps our borough council would consider renaming the town.

Glory and Honor in the Columbia Region: Col. Thomas Welsh in the War of the Rebellion


Rick Wiggins has been conducting an annual Symposium in Columbia for seven years about Columbia native son, Union Civil War General Thomas Welsh.  Each year, the event has drawn scores of Columbians and area residents interested in their local history.  This year’s event is jointly sponsored by the Columbia Historic Preservation Society (CHiPS) and the Columbia Public Library and will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 19 at the Columbia Historic Preservation Society, 19-21 North Second Street.


The program includes a visit by Capt. Henry A. Haines from Maytown (who served under Welsh in the 45th Regiment, and is portrayed by re-enactor Glenn Bachert), as well as the little-known story of the deployment of the 45th to the Sea Islands of South Carolina, where they encountered thousands of suddenly abandoned Island slaves (termed “contrabands” because they were not yet officially recognized as being free).  This story is particularly interesting because suddenly their military mission came face to face with evolving Federal policies and a humanitarian crisis of profound significance.  The speaker, author Mike Coker, is coming in from Charleston, South Carolina specifically for this event.  Still another presentation will draw from the diary of Capt. Emanuel Roath of Marietta to explore the myriad roles and duties of Civil War officers during the vast majority of the time – i.e., the time when they were not actually leading their troops in battle.

Thomas Welsh was a Columbia native and civic leader who recruited and led a large number of boys from Columbia and the surrounding towns in the Civil War, and who remains a Columbia favorite son to this day.  He first served in the Mexican War, where he was wounded in the leg, and returned home as a local hero.  At the start of the Civil War, he raised in Columbia one of the first companies of volunteers raised in Lancaster County, later became Colonel of the 45th PA Regiment, and then went on to become a Brigadier General before he died of malaria contracted at Vicksburg in 1863.  His family remained prominent in Columbia through the first part of the 20th century.

CHiPS and the Columbia Library have been conducting this Symposium since 2007.  From the beginning, it has been one of the most popular programs put on by either organization, drawing between 50 and 75 interested residents each year.  In addition, it has brought to light nearly two dozen previously unknown documents about Welsh, his family, and the Civil-War-era Columbia region.  The Proceedings of the Symposium are transcribed and distributed to area libraries, schools, and historical societies.

Annual Mardi Gras Parade to Feature "Cartoon Craziness"

Columbia’s annual Mardi Gras parade will hit the streets on Thursday, Oct. 24, beginning at 7 p.m. The parade floats and walking revelers will embark from Manor Street, continuing along a 1-mile route on Fourth, Union, Locust, and Sixth streets. The theme for the parade, “Cartoon Craziness,” will have participants dressing as many beloved animated characters to march through the borough. “We expect any cartoon character you can think of,” commented parade organizer Jeff Fortna.