Many people fear math, but I never heard of anyone taking it this far. What is the world coming to?
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Nancy DuBois: studio artist
| Nancy DuBois: Studio Artist |
“I like the challenge of doing something odd or different or pretty or unusual– it’s the joy of actually making things,” says Nancy DuBois. Though she rarely makes multiples, she accepted the commission to design and craft 30 NJSBS Diamond Anniversary buttons to be delivered on May 7. The base is a size medium Pinna Nobilis shell with an inserted metal shank. The main design of a goldfinch sitting on a red oak branch with leaves and acorns has been scrimshawed in 24-carat metallic gold. (Scrimshaw is the age-old art of scratching or carving line designs into the surface of natural materials, then rubbing pigment into the indentations.) The tiny violet was flameworked, done by melting colored glass in a hot flame produced by a torch and shaped it to the desired configuration. The goldfinch, branch, leaves and acorns was surface tinted with a yellow, brown and green paint and then sealed. A Swarovski Crystal recognizes the anniversary. Each button back includes an engraved design number, log number, date, signature with Nancy’s seal design, and the words “New Jersey State Button Society 75 years 1941-2016.” Another Swarovski Crystal finishes the button.
When given some buttons by Massachusetts collector Eva Evans, Nancy started a charm string that now has nearly 700 interesting specimens; her favorites are diminutives. She began making studio buttons in the late 1980s, when Eva — knowing that Nancy did leather sculpting — asked if she could sculpt a tiny log cabin button. Nancy’s first encounter with the NJ button club was in Flemington. “I was so happy to find out that our state had a club,” she remembers, “but I was nervous because I was showing up with a bunch of sculpted leather buttons to sell. I was so-o-o scared but when I got there, Gloria Chazin grabbed hold of me and introduced me to everyone and showed them my buttons! It was a great day! The next meeting, though, I paid for a table like I should.”
At present glass is Nancy’s main focus. She and her husband, Skip (also a noted paperweight artist), raise cattle and Muscovy ducks on their Salem County farm. When the Salem Community College Glass Education Center was built two miles away, Nancy joined her third child and youngest daughter, Emily, in the glass art program and earned dual degrees in glass and industrial design. Since Nancy now works at the Center, she can use the techniques of glass blowing, kiln casting, fusing, slumping, cold working, flameworking, and “pate de verre.” She also has her own flame working studio that she humorously named “Coop de Verre” because it looks like a chicken coop.
Nancy rarely has time to attend meetings, leaving it to Annie Frazier to sell her buttons. Currently she is making glass-covered dresses for the Glass Art Society convention in Corning, New York, June 9-11. Her work is in Antique and Collectible Buttons Vol II, by Debra J. Wisniewski, the late Jane S. Leslie’s reference book on studio button makers, and the second edition of the Big Book of Buttons.
It’s been a busy spring, what with 14 mother cows calving and several hundred Muscovy ducks producing ducklings for the Asian restaurant market. “We let the hens sit all around the farm,” says Nancy. “Then we have to catch the baby ducks to put them under heat lamps to grow into adult ducks. Then they go to pens, where they have plenty of room, fresh water, and nonstop feed.”
Not surprisingly, birds are among her favorite subjects, along with fables (the more unusual, the better) and Kate Greenaway designs. The most unusual of her “one only” designs was a carved bungee jumper that could spring up and down. Always on the go — that’s Nancy Dubois.
Who wants more McMansions?
Who wants another 4,000 square foot McMansion on Marion Road? Not my friends Wei-Chi Chen and I-Chen Mei. They have a large lot. Rather than sell it to downsize — so that someone can build a McMansion on their property — they plan to build two smaller houses, one for themselves in retirement and one for an offspring. Sounds ideal, right?
But this couple faces opposition. The Planning Board meeting is tonight, May 5, 7:30 p.m. at 400 Witherspoon Street, details here. I’ll be there.
Jim Looney: Science educator extraordinaire
I’m happy to share good this news, offered by Dr. Karen Zumbrunn. Karen – and Jim and Anna Looney -are good friends of mine at Princeton United Methodist church. Congratulations to all involved in this exciting project, and good luck in Wisconsin!
For the second year in a row, the Science Olympiad team at West Windsor-Plainsboro North High School will represent New Jersey at the National Science Olympiad to be held May 19 to 21 at the University of Wisconsin-(Stout campus) in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
The team is coached by Dr. Jim Looney, who has taught in the West Windsor-Plainsboro system since 1999. He was recently named Teacher of the Year by his colleagues at WW-P North.
From a pool of 60-70 students two teams of 18 members each are selected. For the state competition each school can bring only one team to compete. For the nationals 15 members and 7 alternates are selected. During the year the teams went to invitational tournaments in CT, PA, NJ, NY and also prepared at the local public library and in each other’s homes.
The Science Olympiad has 25 events in all aspects of Science. Some events are tests, such as Disease Detective, and Dynamic Planet. Other events, such as Forensics, Anatomy, Fossils, have a lab component. Still others require building a device, such as a Robot Arm or Protein Modeling. Participants can win individual medals; the team score is based on the total score from all events.
At the national tournament the WW-PN team will meet teams from all over the country and have challenges at a high level of competition. The Science Olympiad provides opportunities to develop leadership skills and learn the value of teamwork.
“As a coach, I am responsible for the tests, team selection, mentoring and organization” says Looney, but he credits physics teacher Regina Celin, biology teacher Holly Crochetiere, and chemistry teacher Kerry Pross, who are indispensable help in organizing, coaching and attending competitions. Looney acknowledges, “Coaching is such a time and labor-intensive job that it would be impossible to do all we do without their help” and assistance of other faculty as well as supportive parents. He himself brings extensive science experience in laboratory work in molecular biology in both commercial, medical and academic contexts. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from Columbia University.
Dr. Looney is active at Princeton United Methodist Church. For several years he went with church youth for an Appalachian service project. He has served as president of the United Methodist Men’s Group. He is married to Dr. Anna Looney, an assistant professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. They have one child, Emily, a family physician who lives in the Pacific Northwest and is completing a fellowship in hospice and palliative care.
Diamond Anniversary: buttons on 5/7
Join me at the New Jersey State Button Society (NJSBS) for its 75th Anniversary on Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Spring Show and Sale is at the Union Fire Company hall, 1396 River Road (Route 29), Titusville, NJ 08560, where there is plenty of free parking. All are welcome; admission is $2 for adults, free for juniors to age 17.
At 1:30 an historic costume will be auctioned. Covered with old mother of pearl buttons, it is fashioned after the English Pearly outfits, dating from the 19th century, which are still being worn today by Pearly Kings and Queens in London to raise money for charities. Ruth Berry, a pioneer in button collecting since the 1940s, wore it with matching pearly shoes, for special button shows and events.
Thanks to Laura Pollack and Vincent Xu of Hopewell Express for this article quoting Carol Meszaros and Sara Mulford about the joys of collecting buttons. Thanks to Yanis Careto of Hopeless Nostalgic for the photo of Carol Meszaros taken at an NJSBS program at the Lawrence Library.
Alicia Diaz Performs in NYC 5-14
Puerto Rican Soundscapes
“Watching the collaborative performance of dance artist Alicia Diaz and percussionist ‘Coco,’ is an exhilirating experience,” writes Ze’eva Cohen, professor emerita in dance at Princeton University. “Rarely do we witness two accomplished, classically trained artists delving into their cultural roots and identity by way of improvisation.”
Diaz, who grew up in Princeton, presents a performative lecture in the conference “Exploring Puerto Rican Heritage Stateside through Roots, Jazz, and Classical Music” on Saturday, May 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Her part, scheduled to begin at noon, is titled Improvising Identity: Bomba as a Point of Reference Between a Contemporary Dance Artist and a Percussionist in the Colloquium: Música in the United States: Puerto Rican Roots – Jazz – Classical Music. It will be in the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, North Building, Hunter College. Free Registration for the Colloquium. For updated information http://www.centropr.hunter.cuny.edu or call 212-396-6545.
“It is captivating,” writes Cohen, “to be taken along their journey as they deeply ‘listen’ to each other and connect with issues of roots and identity via physical and mental symbiosis, beyond what is familiar and known. They take their found material and develop it through the improvisation to a layered, rich, and authentic performance that seems and feels fully formed.”
David K. Lewis (1941-2001)
Congratulations, Steffi Lewis! Just out — the announcement about your donating David’s papers to Princeton University Library. The photo was taken in Cambridge, the year that he died, when he received an honorary D. Litt. degree from the University of Cambridge.
“He is widely regarded as one of the most important analytic philosophers of the twentieth century. He made significant contributions to philosophy of mind, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, epistemology, and metaphysics. His impact and influence was due not merely to the doctrines he defended, but also to the way he framed the philosophical debates in which he engaged. Lewis’s work continues to be widely discussed and remains a central part of contemporary philosophy.”
Ghetto confinement then and now
It’s wrong to use the word “ghetto” to signify “all things bad, broke, and black,” according to Mitchell Duneier, author of a book reviewed on April 17 in the New York Times. Khalil Gibran Muhammad reviewed “Ghetto: the Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea,” by Duneier, a Princeton University sociologist who is known for his book on sidewalk life, and who focuses on the black urban experience.
Duneier wrote that “Place-based policing” is one way whites majority historically used space to achieve power over blacks.
Muhammed writes that though “many white people know what it’s like to be poor…the ghetto involves more than restrictions on income; African-Americans, like the Jews of 16th century Venice…have historically had to contend with restrictions on where they could live — restrictions on space and on their very humanity.”
Plainsboro partner: Eileen N. Sinett
Speaking That Connects, owned by Eileen N. Sinett, was named Small Business of the Year at today’s b
reakfast held by the Plainsboro Business Partnership, part of the Princeton Regional Chamber. “Well deserved” was the often-heard kudo for the former chairman of the PBP who coaches professionals and corporate teams to enhance their communication and presentation performance and dedicates Monday nights to facilitating a Conversational ESL group at Plainsboro Public Library.
Mayor Peter Cantu spoke, and though you’ll get better detail from Vincent Xu in the next edition of West Windsor-Plainsboro News, here are some of the facts I was surprised to learn:
- More than 50 percent of the township is open space
- Plainsboro has an record-holding tax collection record– 99.6 percent, contributing to its AAA bond rating
- Child care and assisted living centers will break ground near the hospital this year, and a 300-unit senior housing development i planned.
- Forrestal Village, ever struggling, could get 395 apartments with a “unique design.”
- New retailers will be Panera, Five Guys, and a pet supply store but alas — no grocery store is imminent.
- Eight major companies have earned the state Good Neighbor award, with Sandoz the most recent.
- Gym rats rejoice, a 25,000 foot health spa is going through the approval process.
And — considering that Plainsboro ranks 5th nationally in “diversity” (translated, that means a population that is not primarily Caucasian) — it’s not surprising that the newest addition to the athletic scene will be a regulation cricket field. According to one sports reporter, cricket is the new soccer. A “capital commitment” has been made and, meanwhile, the next nearest field seems to be in North Brunswick.
Rocky Romeo at NJ CAMA on 4/28
Looking for a communications job? I know of one (at Princeton United Methodist Church) and you can learn how to network for others at the next meeting of the New Jersey Communications, Advertising and Marketing Association (NJ CAMA) on Thursday, April 28, 6 to 8:30 p.m. The dinner meeting is a bargain at $15, at an easy to park and attractive location, D&R Greenway, 1 Preservation Place (pictured). 
Rocky Romeo will speak on “Power Networking and New Business Development for Communications Professionals: How to Open the Door to New Opportunities,” and the eve
ning includes refreshments, networking, and a moderated panel discussion about where the opportunities are – from freelance work to full-time jobs for communications professionals. The panel will include Julia Zauner, Director, Digital Strategy & Corporate Communications at Springpoint Senior Living, Laura Virili, Social Media Brand Expert, and Frank D. Gómez, Strategic Alliances-Public Affairs Executive, Educational Testing Service. Larry Trink is the NJ CAMA president.
NJ CAMA was founded in 1986, the year I began at U.S. 1, and I remember its meetings as lively, fun, and inexpensive. Sadly, I can’t go to this one — but maybe you can.
Princeton Comment 