Stars in our eyes – Ideablob award to Atlanta entrepreneur

Thanks to my friend, Mike Schinkel, I spent last Friday evening at a cool little awards ceremony hosted at the Fernbank Science Center.   The event was a special gathering to recognize a local entrepreneur and PhD candidate, Jessica Hammock, and to present her with a photo-op-ready oversized check for $10,000 to help her lauch her new business idea.   Jessica is developing a business, called Project Epiphany, to help urban kids learn about astronomy and give them a chance to do real field observations with professional equipment and far enough outside the city lights to be able to actually see something in the night sky.   Sounds like a great idea, and it is one of many businesses receiving funding through an innovative program inspired and funded by Advanta, called Ideablob.   In their own words:

Ideablob.com is a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs who bounce ideas off each other. They give feedback, advice and much-needed encouragement. Every month, the community votes on the best idea. The winner gets $10,000 to help their idea grow.

Check out their site and join in to congratulate and support Jessica Hammock, our local winner.

Senior Care Wine and Art Auction

I’ve been on a roll lately with opportunities to put my artwork out into the world.  This next display has the added plus of being for a good cause:  raising money for the Senior Care and Activities Center in Montclair, NJ.  On March 7th they will be holding a wine and art auction to help raise money and to celebrate their 30th Anniversary.  For more information visit their web site or call 973-783-5589 Ext. 12.  I will have a handful of pieces for sale to help the cause, along with several other artists.  A special shout-out goes to Jacklyn Kling of KlingArts for her work curating the show, and to my dad for being my biggest fan and keeping me informed about these things.