Graphic Arts

Newell Melanchthon Gerstmyer, a retired salesman for a graphics arts business, died of complications from dementia Friday at the Maryland Masonic Home in Cockeysville. The former Towson resident was 95. Born in Newville, Pa., he moved to the Patterson Park area as a child and cut short his city public school education at 15. He worked as a printer and electrician, and played trumpet and bass at nightclubs. During World War II, he served in the merchant marine as an electrician and worked on a hospital ship that made several trips to England to pick up wounded soldiers and bring them to New York.

This week the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster is pretty in pink … and yellow ... and green ... for the fifth annual Peep Show, a combination of candy and art taking over the Main Street gallery through next Sunday, April 15. The show, which opened April 5, challenges local residents to create original works of art made with Peeps, the marshmallow confection created by the Just Born company of Bethlehem, Pa. This year's show includes 196...

Aspiring graphic designer gets $500 scholarshipThe Advertising and Graphic Arts Society of Howard County recently presented its annual $500 scholarship to Amy Sehman of Ellicott City.Ms. Sehman is a graduate of Centennial High School and is planning a career as a graphic designer and illustrator.Each year, the society awards a scholarship to a local high school senior who is interested in a career in the graphic arts, advertising or related field.For more information or an application for 1995, call 381-4959.

The woman who came up with the idea - suggesting that a very large member of the Baltimore Ravens might hand off some XXXL clothing to a very large Towson University student who can't afford to buy his own - wishes to remain anonymous, and that's fine. Under the principles of her Jewish faith, such deeds are best if performed secretly, or at least quietly. So we'll call her Ruth, and leave it at that. Two years ago, Ruth and her husband started supporting a teenage boy from Middle River named Andrew Nagengast.

NOTESColumbia acquires Citizens accountsThe Columbia Bank announced Monday the acquisition of about $10 million in customer accounts at Citizens Bank of Maryland's Normandy Plaza branch, which is closing.Citizens agreed to transfer the accounts to Columbia Bank, which will offer services at its Ellicott City branch, 9151 Baltimore National Pike.Society offers $500 for graphic arts studyThe Advertising and Graphic Arts Society of Howard County is offering a $500 scholarship to a Howard County high school student entering the advertising or graphic arts field.

Ellicott City firm wins 2 Telly AwardsBassett Communications of Ellicott City won two 1995 Telly Awards, which are presented to non-network video productions.The communications firm won for HAI Fly Neighborly, a helicopter pilot training video for Helicopter Association International, and for its corporate marketing video.Young School gets loan for new buildingThe Young School in Columbia received a $3.1 million loan from Taneytown Bank & Trust and the Small Business Administration to build a new facility.

Elizabeth K. "Beth" Hendrickson, a pharmaceutical sales representative who restored a Baltimore County farmhouse, died May 21 of brain cancer at her Upperco home. She was 53. Elizabeth Kearney was born and raised in Mechanicsburg, Pa. She was a 1975 graduate of Mechanicsburg Area High School. While attending Millersville University in Millersville, Pa., where she earned a degree in fine arts in 1979, she met and fell in love with a classmate, Karl L. Hendrickson, whom she married in 1981.

Chester Stacy wanted to create something unusual for his final honors project at Western Maryland College.Neither a research paper nor an artistic performance, the usual vehicles, would do.Instead, the graphic arts major chose to build a red brick wall.It's a sculpture, really: an expanse of 1,512 bricks off West Main Street near the college admissions office.Stacy, who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in graphic arts, calls his work the Voice Wall."I wanted to do something that would be a highly noticed and interactive public piece," said Stacy, 22, a Garrett County native who was enrolled in WMC's honors program.

Deep into engineering the appropriate look for a history of Mad Magazine, New York graphic designer Alexander Isley speaks of the five minutes of good ideas that emerge from hours of careful thought. And as he describes the mechanics of his creativity, it seems more a matter of editing material than of generating it.Famous for creating the saucy, spirited look of Spy Magazine, Isley will speak about the world of graphic arts at 8 p.m. Monday in the Mount Royal Station Auditorium of the Maryland Institute, College of Art. He is visiting the college as designer in residence in an annual program sponsored by the Art Litho Company.

Olney Theatre's summer season will include the area premiere of "Hot 'n' Cole," a new revue of the music of Cole Porter; the revival of Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful" and the revival of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana," the theater has announced. The season will begin May 3 and run through Oct. 23."Hot 'n' Cole," a production with more than 50 Cole Porter songs, will run May 3-29. "The Trip to Bountiful," the story of a widow's pilgrimage to her native hamlet, will run June 7-July 3. "A Small Family Business," a farce by Alan Ayckbourn that concerns a principled man modifying his ethics, will run July 12-Aug.

Elizabeth K. "Beth" Hendrickson, a pharmaceutical sales representative who restored a Baltimore County farmhouse, died May 21 of brain cancer at her Upperco home. She was 53. Elizabeth Kearney was born and raised in Mechanicsburg, Pa. She was a 1975 graduate of Mechanicsburg Area High School. While attending Millersville University in Millersville, Pa., where she earned a degree in fine arts in 1979, she met and fell in love with a classmate, Karl L. Hendrickson, whom she married in 1981.

Participating artists in the coming month-long celebration of our nation's birth might evoke a 21st-century reflection of Walt Whitman's poem, "I Hear America Singing," which concludes with "Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs." Beginning Sunday, downtown Annapolis galleries will celebrate America's spirit through paintings, graphics, ceramics, art glass and sculpture in the third annual Red, White and Blue Exhibit sponsored by the Annapolis Gallery Association. Visitors will discover artists' tributes to Independence Day that should prove as spectacular, exciting and appropriate to the occasion as any dazzling July 4th fireworks display - but far more enduring.

Newell Melanchthon Gerstmyer, a retired salesman for a graphics arts business, died of complications from dementia Friday at the Maryland Masonic Home in Cockeysville. The former Towson resident was 95. Born in Newville, Pa., he moved to the Patterson Park area as a child and cut short his city public school education at 15. He worked as a printer and electrician, and played trumpet and bass at nightclubs. During World War II, he served in the merchant marine as an electrician and worked on a hospital ship that made several trips to England to pick up wounded soldiers and bring them to New York.

For nearly two decades, Anne Peach has taught graphic arts at a Catonsville high school using Apple Macintosh computers, knowing her students would use that system in the working world. But the Apple logo has given way to the waving Windows icon in Baltimore County schools' graphic design and multimedia computer labs, and Peach is furious. "We have," she said, "potentially thousands of students who are potentially not going to be prepared after this year's class." Most of the county school system's computers are PCs running Microsoft Windows software, but not in the labs for the graphic and multimedia programs, until now. School system leaders say the move makes sense because it will make it easier to provide technical support and because graphic design software is available for both platforms.

Judith A. Blumberg, an accomplished graphic artist and painter, died of complications from multiple sclerosis Tuesday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. The Rodgers Forge resident was 51. Born Judith Toler in Baltimore, Mrs. Blumberg graduated from Northern High School in 1970 and attended Maryland Institute College of Art for a year. In 1973, she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Stratford College in Danville, Va. She worked as a graphic artist at several Baltimore-area studios and advertising agencies before landing a job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland in 1981.

For eight days during their yearlong physical education class, Anne Arundel County middle-schoolers dance. They twist, they turn, they aerobicize, they improvise and they practice "dance for athletes," which focuses on agility, balance and speed. County school officials, struggling to meet a state requirement for fine arts instruction, wanted to know: Do those eight days of dance count as fine arts? School officials also asked the state Department of Education: Does the graphic arts portion of technology education qualify as fine arts?

It's official. A French company's 2-year-old attempt to bring a European-style "hypermarket" to the Baltimore area ended today as Leedmark announced it would close its giant Glen Burnie store.The company said most of its 297 workers would be laid off immediately.No more food or merchandise will be delivered to the store after today.A skeleton crew will operate the store through Jan. 15. After that, the remaining merchandise will be liquidated, a company statement said.The company estimated it had 85,000 kinds of items on its shelves.

For nearly two decades, Anne Peach has taught graphic arts at a Catonsville high school using Apple Macintosh computers, knowing her students would use that system in the working world. But the Apple logo has given way to the waving Windows icon in Baltimore County schools' graphic design and multimedia computer labs, and Peach is furious. "We have," she said, "potentially thousands of students who are potentially not going to be prepared after this year's class." Most of the county school system's computers are PCs running Microsoft Windows software, but not in the labs for the graphic and multimedia programs, until now. School system leaders say the move makes sense because it will make it easier to provide technical support and because graphic design software is available for both platforms.

For eight days during their yearlong physical education class, Anne Arundel County middle-schoolers dance. They twist, they turn, they aerobicize, they improvise and they practice "dance for athletes," which focuses on agility, balance and speed. County school officials, struggling to meet a state requirement for fine arts instruction, wanted to know: Do those eight days of dance count as fine arts? School officials also asked the state Department of Education: Does the graphic arts portion of technology education qualify as fine arts?

In Baltimore County Board rejects proposal for bungee-jumping operation in TimoniumTOWSON -- The county Board of Appeals has denied a businessman's request to alter a one-story office and warehouse building in Timonium to open a bungee-jumping operation.The board rejected James Riffin's bid to open a business at 1941 Greenspring Drive that would hoist jumpers 100 feet into the air, hook them up to two or three bungee cords and allow them to jump off a platform.The board noted traffic, parking congestion and safety concerns in a Dec. 31 decision rejecting Riffin's request for the special exception and variance he would have needed to operate in a neighborhood zoned for warehouses and office buildings.