Passionate dedication to Chrysler earns ALLI award for its director

The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk has been open for free since Sept. 2, and that’s largely due to the passionate dedication of the museum’s director, William J. Hennessey.

Since he arrived in 1997, Hennessey has pursued partnerships with other cultural organizations and worked at making the museum more accessible and appealing to a broader range of people. Hennessey also has volunteered extensively and is on the boards of the Norfolk Public Art Commission, the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Norfolk Forum.

For his efforts, Hennessey was awarded the Vianne B. Webb Award for Lifetime Achievement on Sunday. His prize was announced during the annual Alli Awards sponsored by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads, an arts support group.

The awards primarily honor contributions in the past year to the local arts community by individuals, businesses and the media. The ceremony took place at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum in Williamsburg.

Patty Edwards was handed the other special Alli, the Bettie Minette Cooper Arts Educator Award. A former elementary school art teacher, she has been the lone art lecturer since 2006 at the Old Dominion University-Virginia Beach Higher Learning Education Center.

Edwards has excelled at connecting her art-education students with community organizations through public art projects.

This year’s media award went to Mal Vincent, an arts and entertainment writer for more than 40 years at The Virginian-Pilot, and its former entertainment editor.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he reviewed virtually every area theater production. Early on, he wrote extensively about the regional arts scene, including covering the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Stage Company and the now-defunct Tidewater Ballet. He now writes primarily about theater and film.

Vincent hosts a festival of classic films each summer at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk, which consistently draws packed houses.

Winners in the professional arts category were John Dixon of Norfolk, and Diana Davenport and Martha Frances Fortson, both of Portsmouth.

Dixon has been executive director since 2003 of the Academy of Music, which offers about 10,000 hours of private music lessons each year to students of diverse socio-economic backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. He is credited with restoring the organization’s fiscal health and building its programs.

Davenport, art supervisor for Portsmouth public schools, has taught art in the schools since 1967. She has volunteered the past four years at the Portsmouth Museums for an after-school arts enrichment project for at-risk youths.

Fortson, executive director of the nonprofit Portsmouth Museums Foundation, was integral in the creation of the foundation’s regional advisory board. She also recruited volunteers from other cities to advise the foundation’s board of directors during its $4 million campaign to install new exhibits at the Children’s Museum of Virginia.

Four arts volunteers also received awards.

Robert G. “Buddy” Bagley of Chesapeake, a retired senior vice president of the Bank of Hampton Roads, was honored for his work on the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission from 2004 to 2008. The city created a post for Bagley as honorary arts commissioner, in appreciation of his fundraising and networking. He helped raise money for a stage at Chesapeake City Park, now named Buddy Bagley Stage.

Ken Woolard of Portsmouth is president of Portsmouth Community Concerts, a performing arts series, and volunteers for the city’s outdoor Seawall Art Show. Woolard served on the Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission, has been a Cultural Alliance board member and has raised large sums for his city’s groups.

Louis Vosteen of Williamsburg is a founding member of the Williamsburg Heritage Dancers, a group that performs English country dances dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. Since 1988, he has faithfully researched the dances and the accompanying tunes, making the group widely known for its authenticity.

The Williamsburg Garden Club was honored for 80 years of contributions to cultural heritage. The organization has raised more than $14.5 million to restore and maintain gardens at some of the state’s historic attractions, such as the Moses Myers House in Norfolk and the 1846 Courthouse in Portsmouth.

The group has taken part in “fine arts and flowers” programs at the Chrysler Museum and the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, which pair artworks with floral arrangements inspired by them.

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com

Source URL (retrieved on 11/02/2009 – 11:09): http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/passionate-dedication-chrysler-earns-alli-award-its-director

From the Virginian-Pilot…9-06-06…

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Art for a cause
Across the street from Foreman Field, three of the university’s art students painted paw prints, ODU logos, footballs and blue-and-white swirls on the faces of fans entering the game.
The students, all members of the university’s art club, did the work to raise donations to travel to New York.
Ashley Pickin, a senior, had done roughly 60 paintings Saturday afternoon – including working on three elaborate lion faces.
Malik Asante put the finishing touches on an ODU logo for alum George Shpil. Shpil’s wife, Gale, had a similar painting, with a decorative swirl, on her left cheek. “This is one of the things I wanted to do,” she said. “This is what it’s all about.”
Art lecturer Patricia Edwards said the face painting was a way for the students to use their talent to support the school community. “This is just one way we thought we could give back and get spirit going,” she said.
The artwork caught the eye of Norview resident John Legault.
“I wanted some paw prints,” he said. “I had to have something blue.” He pointed apologetically to his white shirt and madras shorts.
“I’m almost 60 years old, and this is my first college football game,” he explained.
Legault will have more games under his belt by the end of the fall – he bought season tickets to cheer ODU. “We’re starving for sports around here,” he said. “I’ve been here since noon. I was just so excited. I couldn’t get here early enough.”
- Meghan Hoyer

source:
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/odu-football-were-you-there-when

Please visit the website for the Lab Schools of Washington. In the spring of 2008 I was privileged to receive an award as an art educator and witnessed first hand “The Power of Art” to reach and transform lives through arts education. I was delighted to meet Chris Rauschenberg and to visit this magnificent, magical campus designed where all students can learn successfully. The faculty, parents, students and administrators were amazing – - and thank goodness for the gifts of Sally and Bob and for their ongoing legacy of teaching and learning through the arts! –Patty Edwards
This comes from the web.. “About Sally Smith (1929-2007)
Sally L. Smith founded and designed The Lab School of Washington in 1967 for intelligent children and adults with learning disabilities. She was also a Professor in the School of Education at American University in charge of the Master’s Degree Program in Special Education: Learning Disabilities. It was Professor Smith’s belief that everyone can learn, and she designed Lab School teaching approaches involving all the art forms and experiential education to teach academic skills to children and adults. She developed the Academic Club Method, a highly scholastic academic vehicle that teaches history, geography, civics or any subject through the arts, which has been overwhelmingly successful with Lab School students since its inception. It builds storehouses of knowledge, vocabulary, fluency of language, and critical thinking in poor readers and non-readers, which good readers develop from prolific reading.

Professor Smith was a national leader in the field of learning disabilities. In April 2001, American University gave her a medal for twenty-five years of outstanding service. In November 1999, she was recognized as a Principal of Excellence and presented with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award by The Washington Post.”

ODU Art Education Student Teachers spring 2009.

student teachers: left to right- Erica-Joy Lannon, Ian Jewell, Rachel Rodgers, Nicole Piland, Lauren Futrell, Emily Hampton, Kelly Hover, Kristen DeLizzio, Beryl Perlin and Carrie Spencer.
missing from this photograph: Lauren Coppedge

This semester, as part of the studio coursework, ODU Art Education Students taught lessons to young learners and planned/designed art murals as part of their studio practice. Students enrolled at the VBHEC ARTE 305 course worked in the community at the Boys & Girls Club at Rosemont. Students put into practices the concept of “perspective” and gained new skills in painting. The goal of “transforming” a community space was met and now teens will enter a safe place designed especially for them!

Gina Saenz works with a young learner at the Chrysler Museum of Art. ODU students enrolled in the ARTE 305 course designed art lessons based on the permanent collection at the Chrysler Museum of Art. The lessons were developed collaboratively through research and ODU students engaged young learners in looking and responding to works of art. ODU students applied methods for teaching using meaningful dialogues both in the art galleries and in the workshop areas.

Students prepared lessons for fall classes held at the Chrysler Museum of Art as part of their course research. Students enrolled in the ODU ARTE 305 class designed curriculum based on the big idea – - scapes. The lessons drew from gallery connections. Young students created meaning through sketchbook, dialogue and studio workshop. Photo (above): Jamie Mahoney successfully teaching in the gallery using “higher thinking” questions. (above right) Kelley Anderson (left) and Charlotte Moore (right) planning for instruction based on African Masks.

ARTH121 students ventured beyond the classroom walls to visit a special event hosted at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Students conducted on-site research of the many Shona stone sculptures on display. Mutambo means “celebration”. Students explored the garden exhibition of work from Zimbabwe.
A satellite display is on exhibit this fall at the VBHEC.