Gray's Reef Fantastic Fishes Award

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) held its 30th Annual Sidewalk Arts Festival on Saturday, April 30, 2011 in Forsyth Park. Visitors viewed temporary chalk masterpieces created by SCAD students, alumni and prospective students on the walkways of the historic park in Savannah, GA.

For the seventh year, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary sponsored a separate category in the festival. The Gray's Reef Fantastic Fishes Award seeks to encourage student artists to find inspiration in the marine environment. With an emphasis on whimsy and biologically accuracy, Gray's Reef promotes art as another way to engage the public on marine issues through non-traditional educational means.

The 2011 award was won by Adela Kang, an illustration major from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Judges thought her image of a little girl listening to the ocean in a shell captures the spirit of love and stewardship for the ocean.

The image will be used by Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary to represent the 2011 Ocean Film Festival.

-----

Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

Georgia Museum of Art at UGA Wins SEMC Exhibition Award of Excellence and Eight Publication Awards

This past Tuesday, the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA) at the University of Georgia (UGA) won an unprecedented nine awards at the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) annual meeting in Baton Rouge, La. Among the honors bestowed upon the museum was an Award of Excellence for the exhibition “Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection” and a number of museum publications, some related to the exhibition.

The museum, which has been closed to the public since March 2009 for a $20 million expansion and renovation project, continued its programming offsite as part of its GMOA on the Move initiative. GMOA curator of American art Paul Manoguerra organized the exhibition “Lord Love You” from the private collection of folk-art enthusiast Carl Mullis. It was on display from August 8 to October 24, 2009, at the Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens, Ga., and featured 83 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs created by Georgia self-taught artist Reuben Aaron “R.A.” Miller.

In conjunction with the exhibition, GMOA produced a hard-cover catalogue that received a Gold from SEMC in the Books and Catalogs category. The full-color book, edited by Hillary Brown and Mary Koon and designed by Scott Sosebee, includes more than 25 reproductions of Miller’s works, an essay by curator Paul Manoguerra and an interview with Mullis and Durwood Pepper, Miller’s friend and collaborator.

The SEMC publication judges also distributed awards for the “Lord Love You” publicity campaign items, including a Gold for the “Lord Love You” rack card, an Honorable Mention for the exhibition’s opening reception invitation, a Gold for the exhibition poster and a Best of Show for the entire exhibition campaign.

Darcie A. MacMahon, exhibits director at the Florida Museum of Natural History and coordinator of this year’s SEMC Publications Competition, stated in her award letter to the museum, “the judges were enamored by the work, particularly the ‘Lord Love You’ campaign.”

GMOA also received awards for other publications. In the Books and Catalogs category, the museum took a Silver for “The South in Black and White: The Graphic Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939–1946” and an Honorable Mention for the “Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in the North American Public Collections: The South.” GMOA’s 2008–2009 Annual Report also received an Honorable Mention.
“We are thrilled at these commendations from our peers,” said Brown. “Each of these projects was a pleasure to work on in its own way, and we could not be prouder of them.”

The Southeastern Museums Conference is a networking organization that serves to foster professionalism, mutual support and communication. A nonprofit membership association, SEMC strives to increase educational and professional development opportunities and improve the interchange of ideas, information and cooperation. SEMC focuses on the Southeastern United States, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Georgia Museum of Art is scheduled to reopen its newly expanded facility with an official University of Georgia ribbon-cutting ceremony on January 28, 2011, and grand-opening activities running through February 5.

Visit our website at www.uga.edu/gamuseum or call 706.542.GMOA (4662) for more information.

It's FOUR Big Medals for the Diamond Anniversary Dogwood Festival

Atlanta Dogwood Festival Honored With Festival Association Awards

The Atlanta Dogwood Festival was thrilled at the recent 2010 International Festivals and Events Association’s Pinnacle Awards when the city’s oldest festival showed its youthful prowess by bringing home four awards. Winning in categories like sponsorship, eco-friendliness, community outreach and children’s programming, the 75th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival remains as relevant and vital to the city as it was when Walter Rich created it in 1936.

“We are ecstatic about these four wins,” said festival Executive Director Brian Hill. “Each year, we work hard to make sure the festival stays exciting and current to attendees from Atlanta and beyond. These awards are confirmation that we’ve been getting it right!”

The Dogwood Festival brought home the Gold for Best Sponsor Follow-up Report thanks to the efforts of sponsorship team MixIt Marketing. Having happy sponsors is key to keeping the Dogwood Festival entrance free as it has been for the past 74 years.

For the second year, the International Village won a Silver award in the category of Best Community Outreach. The International Village featured an International Stage with acts inspired by all parts of the globe that paid homage to the diversity of Atlanta’s populations. International organizations also hosted booths within the Village, providing edutainment about their individual countries and cultures. Back again as part of this area were the decorated golf carts, decorated by international consulates and organizations. For 2010, the golf carts were provided by Peachtree City and decorated to reflect different nations. Throughout the weekend, attendees had a chance to vote for their favorite golf cart, and 2010’s big winner was Mexico.

Two Bronze awards came home with the Dogwood team too - one for Best Environmental Program and the other for Best New Event. The environmental award came from the Green Initiative partnership the festival enacted with the U.S. Green Building Council – Georgia Chapter. This Green Initiative included lots of recycling, the use of only compostable containers and supplies by all vendors, the turning over of used cooking oil for future bio-diesel and more. With the Green Initiative, the Dogwood Festival became a truly sustainable large-scale event. The Atlanta High School Art Exhibition earned the Best Children’s Programming award. This showcase of some of the city’s best young creative talent welcomed more than 600 entries from 58 schools in 2010 and supplied winners with nearly $30,000 in prizes and scholarships.

The International Festival & Events Association is the premiere association supporting and enabling festival and event professionals worldwide. With the 75th annual festival coming to Atlanta in the spring of 2011, festival organizers are already looking for ways to enhance these and other aspects of this historic event.

The city’s longest-running festival, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing the annual springtime celebration of arts and entertainment. The 75th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival will take place April 15 – 17, 2010. The festival offices are located at 887 West Marietta Street, Studio S-105, Atlanta, Georgia 30318. The Atlanta Dogwood Festival can be reached at 404-817-6642 or visited online at www.dogwood.org.
---
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter:
@artsacrossga
@softnblue (music & dance)
@RimbomboAAG (books, authors +)

Savannah Film Festival Presents Emmy Rossum With the Young Hollywood Award Nov. 2

/PRNewswire/ -- The 12th annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, presented Emmy Rossum with the Young Hollywood Award on Nov. 2.

"I'm extremely honored to be given this award," said Rossum. "This award and the incredible student films shown here at the festival show that SCAD has an eye on the future of film, as well as an appreciation of its past. I'm delighted to be here to accept this."

Rossum's starring performance as Christine in "The Phantom of the Opera" in 2004 earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her acting performance in "Songcatcher" earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance. Other past film credits include the Clint Eastwood-directed drama "Mystic River," "Poseidon," "The Day After Tomorrow" with Jake Gyllenhaal, "Dragonball" and "Happy Now."

At age 7, Rossum began singing at the Metropolitan Opera, and she has since performed with such musical talents as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Dolly Parton. In 2007, Rossum recorded her first album for Geffen Records, "Inside Out." She wrote and recorded all her own songs. She is currently working on her second album.

Following the presentation, film festival attendees were treated to a late night special screening of the independent drama, "Dare," starring Rossum. "Dare" follows three teenagers through their last semester of school, who make a last-ditch effort to shake things up by taking the biggest risks of their lives before they actually have to start living as adults. "Dare" will be released theatrically by Image Entertainment Nov. 13.

The day began with a special screening of "Valentino: The Last Emperor," the acclaimed portrait of Valentino Garavani, the man behind the legendary couture label Valentino. The film focuses on the period between Valentino's 70th birthday and his final couture show. After the film, director Matt Tyrnauer joined Vogue Editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley for an in-depth look at the making of the film.

Attendees were also treated to a special screening of "The City of Your Final Destination," with an appearance by the multi-Academy Award-nominated director, James Ivory. Directed by Ivory and written by his longtime collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, "The City of Your Destination" stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney. It tells the story of a young American academic who attempts to persuade the reluctant heirs of a celebrated Uruguayan novelist to allow him to write an authorized biography of the writer, who has recently died.

Throughout the day there were also narrative feature competition screenings. Among those films competing was "Mercy," written and starring Scott Caan, who made a special appearance at the Festival. "Mercy" centers around a successful but cynical young writer who writes about love but does not really believe in it until he meets someone who turns his world upside down. Playing Caan's on-screen father is his real father, Academy Award-nominated actor James Caan.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

2009 Savannah Film Festival Opens October 31

/PRNewswire/ -- The 2009 annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design opened last night with the university's President Paula Wallace presenting the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award to Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster for recognition of their work in the acclaimed drama, "The Messenger." Also, on hand to share the tribute was the film's director and co-writer, Oren Moverman. Following the tribute to both actors festival goers were treated to a special screening of the film.

Looking out over the audience, Foster accepted his award from President Wallace by exclaiming, "Holy Smokes! I want to thank SCAD for inviting us...I'm deeply inspired by you and Savannah."

Harrelson also graciously accepted his award from President Wallace, who applauded him for his support of sustainable living and invited him to apply for SCAD's new degree in Design for Sustainability. Referring to his recent film, "Zombieland," filmed outside of Atlanta, he said, "When I was filming earlier this year, I was told that I've got to go to Savannah, the best city in Georgia...there just weren't enough zombies to kill."

In "The Messenger," Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. The film hits select theatres on November 13th.

Harrelson's critically acclaimed portrayal of controversial magazine publisher Larry Flynt in Milos Forman's "The People vs. Larry Flynt" garnered him best actor Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations. Other highlights from Harrelson's film career include "No Country For Old Men," "The Thin Red Line," "Ed TV," "Wag the Dog," "Kingpin," "Natural Born Killers," "Indecent Proposal" and "White Men Can't Jump," among others. He won an Emmy in 1988 for his role in the NBC sitcom "Cheers" and was nominated four additional times during his eight-year run on the show. He later made a return to television with a recurring guest role on the hit NBC series, "Will and Grace."

Foster has starred in such films as "Alpha Dog," "3:10 to Yuma," and "X-Men 3."

On television, he starred in the HBO drama "Six Feet Under," for which he was nominated for two SAG awards. His other television work includes "Freaks and Geeks" and the Emmy-nominated HBO film "The Laramie Project." His performance in Showtime's "Bang Bang You're Dead," a meditation on school shootings, garnered him a Daytime Emmy.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia
Follow on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

Savannah Film Festival Honors Songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman With Lifetime Achievement Award Oct. 27

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 11th annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, presented acclaimed songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman with a Lifetime Achievement Award Oct. 27 at Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton St.

"What a team! Without tonight's honorees, the last fifty years of American cinema would sound completely different and the American Songbook wouldn't be half as good," said SCAD President Paula S. Wallace upon presenting the Bergmans with the award. "Alan and Marilyn Bergman provided the soundtrack to some of the most transformative moments in film."

"This city brings a lot of memories back to me. My mentor was Johnny Mercer," said Alan Bergman of Savannah's own beloved hometown songwriter.

Marilyn Bergman added, "I really get a feeling about Savannah. From the moment we walked into SCAD's classrooms and met the performing arts students, this place had such a commitment to arts excellence and a passion about it. It's for us to thank you. This is the kind of understanding audience that's so gratifying."

During their songwriting career, the Bergmans have won numerous Grammy and Academy Awards. "The Windmills of Your Mind" (1968), "The Way We Were" (1973) and the score for "Yentl" (1984) each won Academy Awards. In addition, "The Windmills of Your Mind" and "The Way We Were" earned Golden Globe Awards, and "The Way We Were" earned two Grammys.

Their song "Moonlight" was nominated for a Golden Globe, an Academy Award and a Grammy after it was performed by Sting in the Sydney Pollack film "Sabrina" in 1995. Other original Bergman songs include "Nice 'n' Easy," performed by Frank Sinatra, "In the Heat of the Night," performed by Ray Charles, and "That Face," performed by Fred Astaire.

In 2001, The Kennedy Center commissioned the Bergmans to write a jazz song cycle. Written with Cy Coleman, "Portraits in Jazz: A Gallery of Songs" was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to widespread acclaim. The show is now titled "Up Close and Musical" and is being prepared for Broadway.

Following the Bergman's tribute, film festival attendees viewed "Happy-Go-Lucky," the story of an irrepressibly free-spirited schoolteacher who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters.

The weeklong Savannah Film Festival, scheduled for Oct. 25-Nov. 1, already has honored Variety vice president and editor-in-chief Peter Bart and actor Malcolm McDowell with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Entertainment entrepreneur Suzanne de Passe will be honored Saturday, Nov. 1.

The Savannah Film Festival is sponsored by the City of Savannah, Memorial Health, The Talking Phone Book and the Savannah Morning News.

-----
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Local Artist to Receive National Honor

The National Museum of Naval Aviation recently announced Marc Stewart as the recipient of the 2008 R.G. Smith Award for “excellence in naval aviation art.” The prestigious honor is awarded annually to a single artist. The Museum’s Foundation selects the recipient.

Upon receiving the news from the Museum, Stewart’s initial reaction was one of disbelief. “At first I thought it was a mistake,” he laughs. “Actually, I feel honored to be so recognized for my work. It means a lot to me.”

Unlike a competition or a juried exhibit that may recognize one piece of artwork, the R.G. Smith Award is a career honor, similar to a lifetime achievement award. The namesake of the award, Robert Grant or R.G. Smith contributed immeasurably to the preservation of the proud heritage and rich history of naval aviation through his 50-plus year career as an aeronautical engineer and accomplished artist, according to the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Previous recipients include Jack Fellows, Keith Ferris, Roy Grinnell, Stan Stokes and numerous other artists at the top of the highly niched field of aviation art. Marc Stewart is pleased to now be counted among them.

Stewart shares the accolades with his supportive family. “I want to dedicate this to my Dad, the late Marcus Stewart, and to my Mom, Marilyn,” the artist explains. Both parents were talented artists themselves. “They’ve always encouraged me artistically. Aside from my wife, Robin, they’ve been my biggest cheerleaders and biggest fans. I wouldn’t be in this position without them.” Both Stewart and his father served in the U.S. Navy, which gives the award another dimension of personal meaning.

In May, the Naval Aviation Museum will bestow the award to Stewart at their annual symposium in Pensacola. During the ceremony, Stewart will present one of his original oil paintings to the Museum as a donation to their permanent collection. “I’m definitely excited,” says Stewart. “For an aviation artist, there’s simply no higher honor. It just doesn’t get any bigger or better than this. I’m thrilled!”

Stewart currently has 20 pieces of artwork on display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Georgia, near Savannah, as part of their “Southern Wings” exhibit. That show runs through early April. Twice his art has earned awards from Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. In 2006, his painting “Hell Over the Hadley” won Best in Show at the National Museum of Naval Aviation’s juried exhibition. Marc Stewart is an Artist Fellow of ASAA, the American Society of Aviation Artists, and an active member of the Newnan Coweta Art Association. His work may be viewed online at http://www.aviationartbymarcstewart.com/.
---