Peale Museum

Frances C. Hess, 65, women's clothing buyerFrances C. Hess, a bibliophile, lover of classical music and women's clothing buyer for a Baltimore store, died of cancer yesterday at her home in Ruxton. She was 65.Mrs. Hess was a buyer for The Store Ltd. in the Village of Cross Keys for 17 years. She resigned due to illness in 1995.She was born Frances Cohen in Philadelphia. In 1954, she graduated from Hood College and married Thomas Hess, who became president of Hess Shoes and later vice president of Inland Leidy Inc., a Baltimore chemical company.

ARTSHOWCASE GALLERY336 N. Charles St. Glenn Walker Retrospective.In a case of art censorship -- and inadvertent promotion -- Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. banned Glenn Walker's painting "In a Room" in 1956 from a Peale Museum exhibit, calling the rendering of a nude man and woman "morally objectionable and obscene." Thanks in part to the attention, this Maryland Institute graduate's paintings subsequently could be found in all of Baltimore's major art galleries. Walker died in 1988 and this retrospective features some 50 pieces, spanning various movements including figurative, abstract and pointillism in woodcuts, oil paintings and pastel, watercolors and drawings.

Ona B. O'Connell, an artist who enjoyed painting seascapes, landscapes and portraits in watercolors and oils, died Oct. 25 of cancer at her Towson home. She was 93.Her works were shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Peale Museum and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. She taught at the Metropolitan School of Art, University of Baltimore, Forest Park High School and Villa Julie College.Mrs. O'Connell, who started painting in the 1930s, was a graduate of Maryland Institute, College of Art. During the 1950s, she had a studio in the 900 block of Cathedral St., in a rowhouse that was known as Studio House.

Elizabeth Leonard Fiske, an abstract artist whose works have been displayed at area art galleries and universities, died Friday of cancer at her home on North Charles Street. She was 86.Proficient in watercolors, oils and collages, Mrs. Fiske studied with Baltimore artists Gladys Goldstein and Keith Martin in the 1950s and 1960s."Her paintings showed a gentleness and a sensitivity, with a flair for the dramatic," said Mrs. Goldstein, who met Mrs. Fiske in the 1950s when Mrs. Fiske enrolled in her class at the now-defunct Metropolitan School of Art."

Elizabeth "Libby" Fletcher Hartley, a researcher of Baltimore's cultural, social and architectural past, died Oct. 13 of cancer at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 65 and lived in Charlesbrooke in North Baltimore.Her interest in historical research was stimulated by a purchase in the late 1950s of a portrait of a Mrs. Gomm, an Englishwoman."She was interested in finding out who she was and she kept looking until she discovered that she was the wife of Sir William Gomm, an English field marshal who was a contemporary of the Duke of Wellington," said her son, John H. Eager IV of Baltimore.

GREEK, LITHUANIAN FESTIVALS:You can check out two ethnic festivals, plus a street party, this weekend near the Inner Harbor.* The St. Nicholas Greek Community's annual Greek Folk Festival begins today and continues through the weekend at two sites a couple of blocks apart. The hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. today and tomorrow and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday. At St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 520 S. Ponca St., you'll find cultural exhibits, folk dancing, imports and jewelry for sale, a tavern and Greek food.

What choices Baltimore area parents have on this day after Christmas! Sleep late. Clean up the house. Buy more batteries for all those gift toys. Or take the kids to see Akai, Nalu, Nani, the bottlenose dolphins who are the star attractions of the new Marine Mammal Pavilion opening today at the National Aquarium.Whether today or in the coming few weeks, thousands of Baltimoreans will mob the long-awaited aquarium addition. The new $35 million pavilion adds extra dimensions to the decade-old main complex.

A new ticket kiosk at the Inner Harbor is offering individual and discounted package tickets to 16 Baltimore museums and attractions.City Life Tickets, operated by the Baltimore City Life Museums, is also selling tickets to Baltimore Trolley Tours and the upcoming City Fair and expects to become a TicketMaster outlet within 30 days.The kiosk, on the promenade between the Maryland Science Center and Harborplace's Light Street Pavilion, opened a week ago and will have a ceremonial grand opening tomorrow at 9:45 a.m."

On the airMayor Kurt Schmoke is the scheduled guest of talk show host Tyrone Parker in his Sunday radio magazine show on WCBM-AM 680. The show is scheduled for two hours beginning at 8 p.m., and will include questions from a panel of journalist guests as well as inquiries from listeners.Crystal gazingA children's workshop on minerals and crystals will be featured in a ''Science and Rational Amusements Day,'' being held Sunday from 12:30 to 4 p.m. at the Peale Museum, 225 Holliday St. Displays by the Baltimore Astronomical Society and Baltimore Gem Cutters Guild, puppet shows, phrenology demonstrations and tours of the ''Mermaids, Mummies and Mastodons,'' exhibit will also be available.

"The decorator is the artist, and the house becomes the canvas."So says Dean Krimmel, curator of local history at the Baltimore City Life Museum, who this weekend is leading a pair of bus tours to area homes with fabulous Christmas decorations."Deck the Halls . . . and Streets & Alleys" leaves from the Peale Museum, 225 N. Holliday Street, at 6 p.m. today and tomorrow. The cost for the four-hour tour is $15 for BCLM members and $20 for nonmembers. Seating is limited, so call 396-3279 for reservations.