Handcrafted at Perkins Brings Beer and Bites

Perkins Center for the Art's biggest fundraise of the year is a celebration of everything handcrafted.

Perkins Center Co-Founder Was 'a Pretty Amazing Woman'

Jean Gaasch, 82, passed away at her Moorestown home last weekend. For 40 years, she helped build and strengthen the nonprofit Perkins Center for the Arts.

Jean Gaasch, one of a handful of people who led the charge to found the Perkins Center for the Arts roughly 40 years ago, died on Saturday at her home at the age of 82. Gaasch, a Moorestown resident for more than four decades, served as acting director before the Center had such a position, according to board member Patricia Finio. “She was a diligent worker for the founding and survival of Perkins,” said Finio. “We better hope her spirit remains among us ... We need people who will stand up for the enrichment of the community.” Perkins' current executive director, Alan Willoughby, said that even in her later years, Gaasch continued to have an impact on the arts center “in her own quiet way.” A couple years ago, he said, she brought in a …

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Help Make Perkins Center the 'People's Choice'

Perkins Center for the Arts has been nominated in three categories, including "Favorite Art Gallery," in the annual JerseyArts.com People's Choice Awards. Read on to find out how to show your support.

Think Perkins Center for the Arts is the premier arts institution in the state? Show your support by voting in the annual JerseyArts.com People's Choice Awards.  Perkins, which has firmly established its reputation as a distinguished arts center in South Jersey, has been nominated in three categories: Favorite Art Gallery, Favorite Place to Take an Adult Arts Class and Favorite Place to Take a Kids Arts Class. Associate director Diane Felcyn said this is the third year in a row Perkins has been up for an award. "We're really honored this is turning into an annual nomination for the center," she said. "It would be even better if we won. We really need the community to support this nomination." Felcyn said Perkins stands out primarily …

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Perkins Winter Tea Fundraiser Nearly Sold Out

There are about 30 tickets left for the kid-focused arts event, which will be held Sunday in Moorestown. Performers include Sara O'Brien and the Bridge Players Theater Company.

It's sounds like a cliche, but organizers behind A Winter's Tea—the second-biggest annual fundraiser for Perkins Center for the Arts—mean it when they say this year's event will be bigger and better than ever before. Sarah Winslow, manager of projects and special events for Perkins, said that in addition to the finger foods and holiday crafts and activities attendees have come to expect, visitors this year will also get multiple musical performances. The Bridge Players Theater Company and Sara O'Brien of Studio Luloo and I Really Like NJ will serenade guests, who will also enjoy a cupcake station sponsored by Ponzio's and a gift basket auction, among other things. "This year, compared to past years, it's much more entertaining," said …

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Fill Your Empty Bowl at Perkins on Saturday

For $10, you get a hot meal from a great local restaurant, a hand-made piece of pottery from a local artist, and a chance to help your hungry neighbors.

"To work with clay is to be in touch with the taproot of life." --Shoji Hamada, Japanese potter This weekend, Perkins Center for the Arts hosts “Empty Bowls,” a unique charity event, as part of its Clay Fest. From trying out a kick wheel to demonstrating how to use clay artwork in your home, the entire exercise is meant to introduce guests to “the whole experience of clay,” said Perkins Center Director Alan Willoughby, himself a clay artist. “People who maybe aren’t around handmade clay work all the time are hesitant to actually use [and display clay art in their home],” he said. But the centerpiece of the weekend is the Empty Bowls fundraiser that will take place Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. For those three hours, guests can pay $10 for a …

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Five Things to Do This Week

Five Things to Do in Collingswood This Week: 11/26/12 to 12/1/12

This week in Collingswood you can: catch a meaningful film, learn how to be a better listener, share fellowship and suds, help the needy and help yourself to some new duds!

Monday, Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m.—Collingswood Public Library Bob Pileggi will present on the fundamental aspects of mindfulness, and how learning to be "more present to ourselves and the other person we’re speaking with" can help us "more compassionately and effectively say what we really mean, and how we can listen more effectively to others."  Patch's own GLBTQ blogger Robb C. Sewell wrote more about this event here. Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m.—Collingswood Public Library Collingswood Movie Club is led by Patch cinema blogger Robert Castle, who hosts a monthly presentation and discussion of meaningful movies on the fourth Tuesday of every month in the Collingswood Public Library. This month's selection is the 1991 Richard Linklater film, …

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Busy Saturday in the Borough: Where Will You Be?

Pack a lunch, Collingswood: it's gonna be a long day.

With all the things happening in town today, you almost feel bad for next weekend. How could it possibly top this? Collingswood Farmers Market Atlantic Ave. along the PATCO Hi-Speedline Alpacas are back-a, the Camden County Animal Shelter is featuring some adoptable pets, and we are one week away from the Apple Pie Baking Contest. Before the Bridge Music Festival Haddon & Woodlawn Aves. (near Grooveground and Warner Landscape & Patio) This free, all-day, bring your own chair music festival (co-sponsored by Patch) features 10 original music acts, many of which hail from the area. Local notables on the bill include Patch Readers' Choice favorite Kevin Monko and I Am Collingswood columnist Shannon McGill of She Hates Me. For detailed …

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Zane North Stars in Perkins Center Documentary

The 15-minute film follows the creation of the PTA-supported elementary school rain garden project in loving detail.

Although Zane North formally capped its rain garden project with a rousing dedication ceremony this spring, a just-completed short film on the process illuminates just why the experience was so valuable for the elementary school students. Among other things, The Rain at Zane, a tender document of the process produced by the Perkins Center for the Arts, offers a first-hand look at how the S.T.E.M. to S.T.E.A.M. movement worked for Collingswood kids. The educational philosophy that incorporates arts within science and technology education is well on display here, with footage of all steps involved in the process. The video also offers an opportunity to hear the reflections of students on what the project means to them even as they work on it…

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Reflections, Abstractions and Making Connections at Second Saturday

The monthly street fair drew a crowd to check out the shopping, dining and arts scene on an evening that proved to be waterproof.

Early showers couldn't dampen spirits of Second Saturday-goers, who soaked up the sights and sounds of the local artists and musicians that put on a proud display in downtown Collingswood. At the Perkins Center for the Arts, dozens flocked to the gallery opening of "Abstractions," a showcase of the wide-ranging work of three different artists.   “A lot of it is exposure for the artists and bringing in the community and to make them become more familiar for the arts,” said Philip J. Carroll, Perkins' associate curator of exhibitions. “Having an exhibition space is really fun for the community," he said. "They love the exhibitions and the variety. It’s a lot of fun.” Although Philadelphia residents Deborah Imler and Allen Spencer have shown …

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Zane North Celebrates Completed Rain Garden with Songs and Thank-Yous

With $30,000 from the Subaru Foundation and $3700 from Zane North parents, the elementary school students had an opportunity to integrate arts, science, and environmentalism in one big project.

After months of fund-raising and some strong grant-writing efforts, the students at Zane North Elementary School completed their rain garden. The $30,000 project represented the collective efforts of educators at the school, professional artists from the Perkins Center, and Zane North students, who enjoyed the hands-on creativity the multidisciplinary learning exercise offered. The learning wasn’t at all a one-sided opportunity. Joe Brenman, artist-in-residence at Perkins Center for the Arts, said that learning the technical aspects of a rain garden was important to him, “so we wouldn’t just be the arty people.” He said that awareness enabled him to guide the students in grasping what types of plant life would fit well in a rain garden. “…

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