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School's Out & WorldPlay

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PRESS RELEASE:

June 13, 2008

For immediate release:
Through August 8, 2008                                         For more information:
Laura Lieberman 770/949-2787
  

SUMMER EXHIBITS AT CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: “SCHOOL’S OUT” AND “WORLDPLAY” ON VIEW

                                                                                         

Douglasville, Georgia – The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/Douglas County presents two concurrent exhibitions this summer:  “School’s Out” featuring recent works by Douglas County Schools art teachers and teaching artists who work with children and young people through the Cultural Arts Council’s Arts in Education programs.  The exhibition opened Thursday, June 5th, and will be on view through August 8th at the Cultural Arts Center.  Hosted by the Douglas County Historical Society, the artists’ reception will be the annual Ice Cream Social on Sunday, July 6th, 2 until 4 p.m., at the Cultural Arts Center.

Lithia Spring-based Westside Winds’ brass ensemble will perform Sousa marches, other patriot tunes, and early 20th century popular tunes during the reception and Ice Cream Social. The exhibit and Ice Cream Social are free and open to the general public.

The display of teachers’ artworks is as diverse as their talent.  Outstanding pieces include a large canvas by Judy Callaway and several digital prints by Ken Callaway, a husband and wife team whose work was represented during an April exhibit at the arts center this April. Several art teachers presented insightful portraits like Tabitha Antonovich’s pencil drawing, Losing Face, Melody Chambers’ watercolor, Grandma aka Frances Giles, and Sherri Adams’ hand-colored photograph, Innocence of Youth. Carissa Green displays a bold and untitled abstract pattern painting, and Linda Handyside offers an arresting mixed media piece, You Did This To Your Friends. Photographs are among the strengths of the exhibition including Pipar West’s marvelous Flagler Frogs and Flagler Façade, and an entire series of stunning empty urban landscapes by Carl Jordan who is also represented by a trio of inventive intaglio prints.  Nowhere is the diversity of the exhibit more apparent than in the range of works by CAC’s teaching artists – Mack Porter’s geometric stained glass, LaVue Vandecar’s brightly glazed ceramics, Joseph Falligan’s action heroes pencil sketch, Tamara Morgan’s delicate watercolor of a pair of pears, and Terumi Todd’s knockout cut paper fish.

  Accompanying the local teachers’ artworks on the gallery walls are more than 75 individual handmade toys created by children from around the globe on loan to the Cultural Arts Council from WorldPlay, a nonprofit organization which celebrates the creativity of children through the toys they invent.  WorldPlay hopes to promote understanding of diverse cultures throughout the world using creativity and play.  Its founders comment, “No matter the economic status, education, or physical abilities, a child’s creativity is universal. We fervently hope that through play, children will gain respect for each other.” 

On display at the Cultural Arts Center are many traditional folk toys and more unique ones, each made by a child, offering a tour around the world.  There are “Bottle Cap” men made out of recycled metal soda caps  (which are also used for some of the musical toys) from South Africa, and a “Rock Man” made of granite pebbles from Iceland; a helicopter made out of a plastic bottle from Haiti and a boat in a glass bottle created in Brazil; and a cork snake from Italy and a bigger snake made from recycled stockings made in the U.S.  There are corn shuck dolls and acorn head dolls from the American South, homemade chia head or “grasshead” dolls from South America, “attitude dolls” from the Caribbean, and a yarn doll from Eastern Europe. This a tiger puppet from Indonesia, prince and princess puppets from India, skeleton puppets from Mexico, and a tiny paper puppet theater from England.  Among the most wonderful and artistic toys are the wire vehicles – a train from South Africa, a jeep from Zimbabwe, a bicycle from Senegal, and a motorcycle from Mexico.
“We hope children in our community will come by and play with our toys this summer, having fun and learning how all children no matter where they are from enjoy themselves,” states CAC Director Laura Lieberman. “We will also be offering our annual Wonderful Wednesday Workshops during July so our kids can learn how to make many of the toys on display and take them home after spending an afternoon working with one of our teaching artists.”
The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/Douglas County is located at 8652 Campbellton Street in historic downtown Douglasville, Georgia. Hours of operation are Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, 1 until 5 p.m.  Directions from Atlanta:  Take I-20 west 18 miles past I-285 to the Chapel Hills exit (Exit 36); stay right off the exit following signs for Campbellton Street; stay on Campbellton through 1 stop light and three stop signs; after Douglas County High School on the left, the Cultural Art Center is on the right; turn right on Duncan Street and take an immediate right into CAC’s free public parking. For more information, contact the Cultural Arts Council, 770/949-2787.

 

www.artsdouglas.org