Children's2004.Issue 11/18/04 1:02 PM Page 1

ALARTS.Children's2004.Issue 11/18/04 1:02 PM Page 1

ALABAMAARTS In this Issue Art Trails in Alabama Children’s Art Activities Volume XX Number 2

Art for the Young and Young at Heart 3 Al Head, Executive Director, ASCA

Alabama Festivals: Community Celebrations 4 Georgine Clarke

Museum Art Trails in Alabama 8 Georgine Clarke and Miriam Fowler

The Alabama School of Fine Arts 14 John Northrop

Alabama’s Art Camps for Children 18 Rick Asherson, Linda Dean, Dee Ann Campbell, and Laura Nation

Nurturing the Art Patrons of the Future 28 Terry Schrimscher

Performing Arts Venues for Children and 30 Families

Play Environments: Fertile Ground for Fun 35 and Fantasy Jessica Armstrong

Alabama Authors for Children 37 Joan Nist and Judith Lechner

On the cover: “Castles in the Sky” by Jim Gunter. Used with permission of the artist.

Jim Gunter is a professional artist with an extensive exhibition and award record. He has retired as head of the Arts Department and Visual Arts Instructor at Baldwin Arts and Academic Magnet School, Montgomery, and is currently art instructor at Saint James School, also in Montgomery. He works with pastel on paper. His work looks at the child’s world of creativity through the adult perspective. He graciously allowed us to manipulate the piece so that it formed the shape of the State of Alabama.

Library of Congress Card No. 74628447 ART TRAILS IN ALABAMA CHILDREN’S ART ACTIVITIES 2004 • ALABAMAARTS • 1 ALARTS.Children's2004.Issue 11/18/04 1:02 PM Page 2

Florence

Tuscumbia

Columbiana

Moundville

Fairhope Festivals for Children and Families Museums with Activities for Children Art Camps for Children Playgrounds

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ART for the Young and Young at Heart by Al Head

ow many times have we heard a successful person, not unrealistic to expect parents, grandparents, aunts, whether a celebrity in the entertainment business, uncles and members of the extended family to attend. Ha community leader, a CEO of a big corporation Also, if a program attracts children, chances are parents or a public official talk about an influential person or and/or other adults will accompany them. On the other event in their early life that inspired them to achieve great hand, if parents want to go to a festival or other arts things? Obviously the answer is—more times than not. event that happens to also have a component for their Inspiration for young people comes in many forms and at children, that is a winning combination for everyone. critical moments in the developmental process of one In all of these instances, our state is rich in family-orient- becoming a productive adult. Thus, providing and shaping ed arts opportunities that are rewarding for everyone. “critical moments” is important for children. There are Hopefully the examples put forward in the text that many examples and stories about the arts and artists of follows will increase awareness of family-oriented arts Alabama providing these “critical moments” for our young opportunities, motivate broader audience participation folks. This issue of Alabama Arts spotlights some of the in programs, encourage support (financial and volunteer) programs, people and events throughout the state that pro- and provide ideas for new programming. Limited space vide these moments for our children. A trail of activity allows only partial credit and attention to the long list of provides many opportunities for education, family fun and fine programs taking place in the state. There is really no rich cultural experiences. valid excuse for not being able to find exciting family The amazed expressions of children at a production of opportunities in the arts in Alabama. There are programs the Birmingham Children’s Theatre, the wide-eyes of boys in communities, big and small, in the visual, performing and girls carving sand sculpture at the Kentuck Festival or and literary arts and activities for every age group. Even the enthralled gaze of young students listening to an kids who think they have grown-up will find plenty to Alabama author reading tales about a ghost named Jeffery, do. One can start by following the “trail” in Alabama are images hard to forget. These examples are but a few of Arts and continue the journey by keeping an eye-out for the experiences occurring almost every day in Alabama many other events taking place in all seasons of the year. involving artists and children. Performances, festivals, Who knows, you may see a future governor of our state classes and exhibitions are designed to provide young peo- starring as Hamlet in a student production of ASF’s ple with a wide-range of opportunities stimulating their Camp Shakespeare. creativity and learning. Children learn, are inspired, and Please note, you can start preparing for the “Year of the are reached in different ways. Some youngsters respond Arts” scheduled for 2007, being promoted through the State quickly to listening and seeing. For others, the light bulb Bureau of Tourism and Travel, by following the diverse “arts goes on from having hands-on activities and through the trails” being profiled by the State Council on the Arts in act of doing. The arts can and do provide “magic up-coming issues of Alabama Arts. moments” for all kinds of children in all kinds of ways. In almost every community there are arts organizations that place a high priority on presenting programs for Al Head is the children. Also, an incredibly important component to audience development for arts groups is the ability to suc- Executive Director cessfully reach out to families. It is no secret that one of of the Alabama State the best formulas for building an audience is to involve children. When a child is involved in an arts program it is Council on the Arts.

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Alabama Festivals: Community Celebrations by Georgine Clarke

labama communities pro- They may provide juried art vide families with a huge markets, with opportunities Avariety of festival celebra- to purchase art directly tions. Some are about food (blue- from the artists. Visitors berries, shrimp, crawfish, watermel- can watch and participate ons, potatoes, peanuts); some are in a wide variety of art about music (bluegrass, fiddling, processes from pottery dulcimers, chamber music, blues, being turned on a wheel to gospel, jazz); and some are about blacksmithing, printmaking heritage (farm days, pilgrimages, and quilting. These art and Kwanzaa). There’s Mardi Gras and cultural festivals offer the Rattlesnake Rodeo, Selma Tale unique children’s activities. Tellin’, International Festivals and Below is a sampling: Christmas on the River. They offer festive, diverse experiences for chil- Panoply Arts Festival in Photo courtesy of The Arts Council, Huntsville dren—not to mention tasty barbeque Huntsville (April) offers an Artist demo tent, Panoply Festival, Huntsville. and funnel cakes. Check the Alabama array of music, activities Bureau of Tourism and Travel website and programs for every age group. A Panoply guests the opportunity to (www.800alabama.com) for an unique part of the event is the experience the artistic process as pro- extensive, updated list of Panoply Choreography Competition, fessional artists demonstrate their art community events. which gives dancers the chance to forms and answer questions as they Some Alabama festivals are ded- participate in master classes and to create artwork on site. Calligraphy, icated uniquely to celebrating the showcase their work to festival audi- weaving, wood carving, portrait arts or presenting cultural traditions. ences in the honorable mention and painting, mosaic art and pen and ink final round per- drawing are often featured. Hands-on formances. activities, some with objects to take Regional per- home are among the most popular formers are also children’s experiences. These include on the schedule. using rubber stamps to create greet- Visitors can ing cards, designing “crazy hats” with watch every- streamers and jewels, creating thing from chil- bracelets or key chains with colorful dren’s theatre to beads, and various painting and orchestral per- drawing activities. formance to the Huntsville City The Helen Keller Festival in Elementary Tuscumbia (June) is a tribute to the Schools Festival life of Helen Keller, Alabama native Chorus. The who went on to become a great and Arts Demo effective spokesperson for deaf and

Photo courtesy of The Arts Council, Huntsville Village offers blind causes. Keller Kids is a program Artist demonstrating unique sequential painting process at Panoply Festival, Huntsville.

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for 100 pre-registered children in the demonstration expe- 5th and 6th grades. The children riences for children. participate in activities designed to help understand the everyday life of The Imagination the blind and hearing impaired; and, Festival, held during have presented a song learned in sign Magic City Art language from the main stage at the Connection in Festival. Other related activities Birmingham (April), include performances of William features over 30 Gibson’s powerful drama, The Miracle interactive work- Worker, at Ivy Green, birthplace of shops in art, music, Photo courtesy of the ONB Magic City Festival Helen Keller. The Helen Keller theatre and dance. A parade with costumes and banners, at the Imagination Festival, in conjunc- Festival Juried Fine Art and Craft The workshops bring tion with Magic City Art Connection, Birmingham. Show provides several art professional artists to work with the chil- Collector’s Classroom, a unique dren in projects opportunity to learn behind-the- which often reference scenes work which takes place in the historical artists. artist’s studio. Designed for adults Each year’s activities and older children, visitors have had are unique, but visi- the opportunity to learn glass bead tors can count on the making, encaustic painting, wood- most inventive block relief and glass etching. opportunities. Some past examples have The Sidewalk Moving Picture included building Festival (September) is a weekend large scale sculpture, celebration of new, independent cin- learning about film ema on 7 screens in Birmingham’s making by building historic downtown Theatre District. sets and shooting a A component of the event is the short movie scene Children’s Film Extravaganza. These with a professional films are quite short, some as short film maker, and as two minutes, with an average exploring sound as around 10 minutes. Grade sugges- vibration and impro- tions are given in the program for as vising short pieces of young as PreK, with such titles as music with musical The Wheels on the Bus and I Stink instruments made of (the story of the life of a New York bamboo and gourds. City garbage truck). These creative An in-depth program film projects offer a stimulating at Magic City Art approach, differing from major stu- Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Valley Art Center Valley Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Alan Burch, potter, teaches wheel-thrown pottery at the Helen Keller Festival in Connection is the dio productions. Another compo- Tuscumbia.

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ing about printing, bookbinding, wheel thrown pottery and quilting attract young visitors. One of the busiest areas is operated by the Sloss Furnaces Metal Arts Program. Visitors create low-relief metal sculptures with “scratch molds” and watch as molten iron comes from the furnace and is poured into their mold.

Presentation of Southeastern Indian culture draws visitors to the Moundville Native American Festival (October). Visitors get first- hand experience playing the game of stickball or making a shell bead or watching pottery being pit fired. Stone toolmakers demonstrate “flintknapping”, the process of making spear and arrow points from rocks. The Native American stage features dancers, storytellers and musicians. Photo by Georgine Clarke Lonnie Holley demonstrates his carving technique for Mahala Feinstein at the Kentuck Festival, Northport. From Argentina to Zimbabwe, the culture of about 60 countries is nent of the event is the showing of Holley (called by them the celebrated at the Mobile finalists in the Alabama Student Sandman) to carve small sculptures International Festival (November). Filmmaking Competition for grades from core sand. Young poets work The event features performers, cul- 7-12. These short films (5 minutes with Charles Tortorici at his Hanging tural exhibits, an art gallery, and or less) are devised around a theme. Word Garden, thoughts turned into The Festival has created a useful works of art and swinging in the publication titled, “So You Want to breeze. At the Musical Petting Zoo, Make a Movie.” volunteers from the Tuscaloosa Symphony Guild bring a variety of Kentuck Festival of the Arts in classical instruments from tubas to Northport (October) offers a juried violins for children to toot and artists’ market with 300 participants strum, learning how each instru- as well as an opportunity to meet ment works. A long-standing tradi-

nationally renowned folk artists. tion is the craft of making corn Photo courtesy of the Kentuck Festival Children can work with Lonnie shuck dolls. Opportunities for learn- A family carving scratch blocks for Sloss Furnaces’ iron pour at the Kentuck Festival, Northport.

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international foods. As visitors enter, they are issued a “passport” to be stamped at each country they visit. Watch as a performer plays a didgeridoo, a long wooden flute used by Australian aborigines for some 8,000 years or a dumbek, a drum from Pakistan. Listen to a

classical guitarist per- Photo courtesy of Montgomery of Fine Arts form traditional Artmaking during the Flimp Festival at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Russian and Ukrainian music or watch Les Statues Vivantes (“living statues”) from France. Quichua Indians from Ecuador, Japanese drummers, a Mariachi band and a Panamanian Folkloric Dance Group are all a part of the experience.

Festivals: celebrations of community and life. There are many in Alabama. We’ve listed only a few to start your adventures.

Georgine Clarke is the Visual Arts Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts and director of the Alabama Artists

Gallery. Photo courtesy of Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Hands-on creativity at the Flimp Festival, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

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MUSEUM ART TRAILS IN ALABAMA by Georgine Clarke and Miriam Fowler

oad up the family or friends for Month exhibition and the road trips to see art in Visual Arts Achievement LAlabama museums—and in Exhibition, held every spring, the process learn about Alabama present works by students in past and present and see the state in grades kindergarten through 12 a new way. Museums are institutions in North Alabama. These that collect, care for and exhibit exhibitions provide an oppor- materials with the goal of public tunity to see the best student education. Some objects are paint- work in a Museum setting. ings or sculpture; others are decorative arts such as textiles, furniture A visit to The and china; others reflect a variety of Birmingham Museum of Art, cultural traditions. Suggestions for with over 23,000 objects in your trips: you can choose to visit the permanent collection,

major art museums, or you can also including art of China, Japan, Photo courtesy of the Mobile Museum Art look for art in history museums and India, Korea, Africa, Europe, Discovering art through hands-on activities in ART Adventures at the Mobile Museum of Art. in local collections housed in his- America, early and contempo- toric homes. Look for exhibitions of rary and Native American art the permanent collections but also a from all over North America, will building and is featured in the schedule of traveling or temporary reinforce your understanding of how Museum’s outdoor sculpture garden. presentations. Check the schedule the art of the world overlaps and Important to see are the second for a variety of educational programs influences our rich culture. largest collection of Wedgwood out- to help interpret the objects. Make a Sculpture surrounds the Museum side of England and the Kress special point to visit places with exciting interactive areas. Here is a sampling of Alabama’s museums to start your travels. Check the Alabama Museums Association web site (www.alabamamuseums.org), or Travel and Tourism (www.800alaba- ma.com) for a more complete listing.

ART MUSEUMS The Huntsville Museum of Art is located next to Big Spring Park where Mr. Hunt reportedly first set- tled and founded Huntsville. The Museum fills its seven galleries with a variety of exhibitions and provides

educational art programs for children Photo courtesy of the Jule Collins Smith Museum throughout the year. The Youth Art Alma Mater by William Baggett, 2003, oil on canvas, 36' x 18', in the auditorium, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art, Auburn University.

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Collection of Renaissance Art. The O’Keefe, you can find furniture by permanent collection and use works Hess Education Gallery organizes Duncan Phyffe, silverware by Paul commissioned from living artists. hands-on, interactive presentations. Revere and early American artifacts Among notable activities is a three- A Town of the Creek Nation is a care- such as rifles and pistols. dimensional time line of art history ful recreation of a Creek village with objects representing art from from 1790. You will be able to expe- The Montgomery Museum of cave people to the present. The rience how they lived and used the Fine Arts is located in the Wynton Tannenbaum Screen allows the visi- artifacts that we have in museums. M. Blount Cultural Park near the tor to become a kinetic work of art, Visitors to the “Town” can partici- Alabama Shakespeare Festival. In moving in front of unusual colors pate by making a pot, bead designs addition to galleries featuring the and forms against the background and dancing to music. permanent collection and traveling art created by Ed Tannenbaum. presentations, the ARTWORKS The top level of the gallery allows Gallery is a stimulating, artistically younger visitors an unstructured designed space with many interac- art experience, bringing their tive experiences. Activities are own point of view to books, games designed to interpret objects in the and puzzles. Photo courtesy of Space 301 Opening Exhibition Southern Current at Space 301 in Mobile.

In Tuscaloosa, the Westervelt- Warner Museum of American Art is located on a knoll overlooking Lake Tuscaloosa in the NorthRiver Yacht Club complex. It contains works col- lected over 40 years by Jack Warner, former CEO and chairman of Gulf States Paper. The collection centers on American art, largely from the period of the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, but includes 20th century works as well. Warner has said, “My concept of this was a family museum. When folks come to see this exhibit, they’re going to feel America.” In addition to works by Thomas Cole, John Singer Sargent, Photo courtesy of the Mobile Museum Art Andrew Wyeth and Georgia A tour of the Permanent Collection at the Mobile Museum of Art.

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ART Lab, and ART Stops. All these A three acre lake and formal activities help children make a person- gardens create the setting for al connection to art. Auburn’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. The entry reflecting Searching in out of the way com- pool showcases the sculpture Spinoff munities can lead to hidden trea- by Jean Woodham. A spectacular sures. Of special note, the Fayette Dale Chihuly glass chandelier hangs Art Museum, located in the Civic in the foyer. Major items in the per- Center, houses a broad collection of manent collection include John works by regional artists, with a focus James Audubon prints and what on self-taught artists including Jimmy some say is the “art bargain of the Lee Sudduth, Brother Ben Perkins, century”—36 works of art by now Sybil Gibson, Fred Webster and famous twentieth century artists, Louis Wilson. The Aliceville purchased by Auburn University in Museum presents works by World 1948 for $1,072. War II German prisoners of war who were housed at Camp Aliceville. Many unique educational activi- Many of these men were artisans, ties await visitors to the Mobile and they painted, sketched and Museum of Art. Begin with a series of sculpted; made their own marionettes sculptural pieces on the outside of and wrote plays for them to perform; building. At the front of the building and built a 1000 seat amphitheater is a piece by Alabama artist Bruce out of handmade bricks. One prison- Larsen. Titled Transformation, the er created a working violin out of sculpture features a butterfly with a 20’ matchsticks. When they returned to

wingspan built with found objects and Photo courtesy of the Jule Collins Smith Museum Germany, Aliceville became the Dale Chihuly, Amber Luster Chandelier, 2003, attached to a 30’ metal blade of grass. hand-blown glass, 17' x 7', in the entrance rotunda, repository for these art pieces. A lever system allows visitors to move of The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art, Auburn the wings. Inside, a Museum University EXPLORING ART Scavenger Hunt provides materials to CENTERS help young viewers look at the state-of-the-art, interactive, hands-on Art Centers provide wide-rang- Permanent Collection. The education- gallery filled with creative and inven- ing exhibitions and activities, but al wing includes ART Adventures, a tive learning stations: ART Theater, often do not hold extensive permanent collections. To see outstanding examples of contemporary, often cutting-edge art, visit Space One Eleven in Birmingham or Space

Photo courtesy of Barbara Broach, Florence Department Arts and Museums 301 in Mobile. For Frank Lloyd Wright-Rosembaum House Museum, in Florence, Alabama.

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changing exhibitions of state and regional artists, travel to the Tennessee Valley Art Center (Tuscumbia), Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts (Florence), Mary G. Hardin Cultural Arts Center (Gadsden), Heritage Hall (Talladega) and Eastern Shore Art Center (Fairhope). Check on college and university art galleries for other changing exhibitions. And for two very unique experiences, stop by the Kentuck Art Center in Northport where you can visit working artists studios or travel to York, a thriving artists community which showcases local artists as well as nationally- known artists-in-residence.

HISTORY Photo courtesy of Birmingham Museum Art MUSEUMS—WITH Discussion at the Birmingham Museum of Art regarding the painting by American artist, Albert Bierstadt, entitled Looking AN ART TOUCH Down Yosemite Valley, California, Oil on Canvas, 1865. The Depot Museum in Fort Payne features items of local The entry to The Farley L. and encrusted scimitar (curved sword) history, railroad memorabilia and Germaine K. Berman Museum of from the ancient Middle East, rare blown glass “whimsies.” The World History in Anniston is an art embroidered and gold-braided uni- Museum also includes an outstand- gallery with paintings from many forms from medieval times through ing collection of Native American areas of the world. One painting, a the 20th century and, of course, Indian pottery, basketry, weapons, Pre-Raphealite, from the late 19th armor—including a Greek helmet tools and clothing. A truly unique century is of a medieval maid and from 300 B.C. In all there are more folk art exhibit includes more than knight and sets the tone for much than 7,000 pieces in the collection. 90 dioramas, which are three- that you will see in rest of the Sloss Furnaces National dimensional pictures, depicting Museum. Children’s interactive gal- Historical Landmark in Birmingham fairy tales, historic events, wildlife leries in the museum offer opportu- is a 17-acre blast furnace plant where scenes and other subjects. The nities to try on Asian clothing and iron was made from 1882-1971. It is pieces were hand crafted in 1913 ferocious masks and to sniff spices also an art center which attracts and were originally part of a travel- from around the world. Exciting metal artists from around the world ing medicine show. things to see are a diamond and ruby to make cast iron sculpture. Sloss

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offers a variety of public activities other precious that involve casting molten metal. objects. The most popular activity, also pre- On the sented at many of the state’s art festi- campus of vals, involves making a scratch Tuskegee block in a sand mold and then Institute is the watching it cast into a metal tile. George In the Capital city of Washington Montgomery, elements of art punctu- Carver ate the historic Civil Rights sites and Museum, oper- public buildings. The Capitol ated by the Building is one of the oldest in the National Park Nation and was rebuilt in 1851 after Service. George a fire destroyed the original. Look up Washington to the rotunda at the murals of Carver started Photo courtesy of Huntsville Museum Art Taking part in workshops at the Huntsville Museum of Art MUSEUM ACADEMY. Roderick MacKenzie and the decora- college as an art tive gilding and stained glass. The student, the only black student in his class at his HOUSE MUSEUMS college in Iowa. Although he decid- The Wright-Rosenbaum house ed that science might afford him a in Florence is the only Frank Lloyd better living, he was a life-long artist Wright designed structure in and art collector. He was a painter, a Alabama. Completed in 1940 with potter and even designed clothing. an addition in 1948, the house is One fascinating project that he one of the earliest Usonian designs undertook was creating house paint and has been called one of the from natural plant materials. He purest examples of Wright’s unique advised what color to paint house style. The house is constructed of

Photo courtesy of Huntsville Museum Art trim, ceilings and walls by making cypress, glass and brick. Notable fea- Students at the Huntsville Museum of Art MUSEUM large cards with complimentary col- tures are the flat roofs, large over- ACADEMY take part in a variety of classes throughout ors to give out to interested people. hanging eaves and expanses of glass. the year. The first Carver museum to open in Important house museums are Tuskegee was actually dedicated located in Demopolis. Gaineswood Alabama Department of Archives exclusively to his works of art. is on the National Register of and History nearby was the first state Unfortunately, the building burned Historic Places and is owned by the archives in the U.S. and it is the in 1947 and destroyed much of his Alabama Historical Commission. repository for many wonderful objects body of work. One important work The original owner, Nathan Bryan including a spectacular full-length that survived is Carver’s painting of Whitfield, put many ingenious and portrait of William McIntosh, por- yucca plants that won an award at innovative features into the archi- traits of other famous Alabamians, the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. tecture of the house. It has been early furniture of Alabama, the Head P.H. Polk photography is also in the compared to Monticello. Another of Christ by Giuseppe Moretti plus Museum’s collection. house dating from early Alabama is

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Bluff Hall, with early decorative There are wonderful portraits as well arts, and Laird Cottage, given by as unusual personal items of our first Geneva Mercer’s family to honor president and his wife. Many of the her life and art. For twenty-nine objects deal directly with the found- years, Geneva Mercer was the assis- ing of our country. A walk down the tant to Giuseppe Moretti, creator of ‘Mayberry-like’ Main Street of the Vulcan statue in Birmingham. Columbiana will take you to the Some of her art and that of Moretti 1854 Jeffersonian Courthouse, home

can be seen at the Cottage. of the Shelby County Museum and Photo courtesy of Birmingham Museum of Art The Smith-Harrison Museum Archives, where you will see 19th Interior view of the interactive exhibition A Tow n of the Creek Nation, 1790 at the (loosely called the George century clothing and textiles, Indian Birmingham Museum of Art. Washington Museum) is in artifacts and photographs. Columbiana, in Shelby County. Many artifacts in the museum were SPECIALIZED The Children’s Museum of the once owned by George and Martha CHILDREN’S Shoals offers a variety of exhibits Washington or by their descendants. MUSEUMS including “Artsploration.” Their Specialized children’s brochure mentions the Chinese museums in Alabama Proverb, “I hear and I forget. I see offer a wide variety of and I remember. I do and I under- educational experiences stand”—all good thoughts for in science, history and Museum Art Trails adventures. art. Early Works in Huntsville offers a story- Georgine Clarke is the Visual Arts telling tree, musical Program Manager for the Alabama instruments and build- State Council on the Arts and direc- ing a house in the archi- tor of the Alabama Artists Gallery. tecture area. McWane Center in Birmingham Miriam Fowler is Curator of and Exploreum in Education for the Birmingham Mobile have a primary Museum of Art. science focus, but there are always art experiences as well. The front entrance of the Children’s Hands On Museum (CHOM) in Tuscaloosa features a vivid yellow metal sculpture by artist-black-

Photo courtesy of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts smith Steve Davis. The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts’ ARWORKS Gallery is at the heart of the Museum’s educational philosophy, containing more than 30 stations for children exploring art.

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THE ALABAMA SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS

by John Northrop

here’s a joke urn on my desk, a Father’s Day gift offers from 166 higher ed institutions—places like the from my teenage son. Its label reads: “Ashes of Cooper Union, Brown, Berklee, the San Francisco T Problem Students.” Conservatory, Yale, Georgia Tech and many fine schools No school has less need of such an urn than the in Alabama. In 2003, our academic reputation hit the Alabama School of Fine Arts—we call it ASFA—where stratosphere when Newsweek magazine listed ASFA as we are blessed with a hand-picked student body of cre- the number four public high school in American, based ative and impassioned students. Every school has its prob- on the number of advanced placement (AP) tests our lems, but at ASFA our problems are rarely the kids. students take. I have what may be the single best job in American Not that I put much stock in such rankings! At public education. I work every day with energized stu- best, they tell only part of the story. AP tests show that dents and adults who want (in many cases ASFA offers chal- need) to be in our school, doing what they lenge and that our love. That’s not true in all public schools in students rise to Alabama—or anywhere else, for that matter. that challenge, but The human factor makes every school standardized tests unique. However, ASFA is unique also by can’t show the design. Think of us as a charter school, express- intangibles, the ly created by a 1971 enabling act, with our own unique blend of board of trustees, to provide tuition-free “personality traits” instruction to students in grades 7-12 from that set us apart throughout Alabama. Students audition to from some other enter the school in one of six specialty pro- very good schools. grams: creative writing, dance, math/science, When I think music, theatre and visual arts. about ASFA’s per- We’re in downtown Birmingham close to sonality, here’s other major institutions of civilization, like the what comes to Birmingham Museum of Art, the Birmingham mind: Public Library, the Birmingham Civil Rights Joy. We want Institute, the McWane Science Center and the every student

Sloss Furnaces Museum. Photo courtesy of Alabama School Fine Arts to find joy in Laramie Tyson, a senior from Gilbertown, and Sarah Jacks, Much of our teaching and learning, espe- a sophomore from Birmingham. learning, and we cially in our specialty programs, is college level. measure it. We challenge our 350 students to perform beyond usual Performance. Our students learn by doing, very high school expectations. Regardless of specialty, they often in front of live audiences. (Talk about tests!) also have to meet the state’s core curriculum require- Depth. Most of our students spend at least three ments in English, social studies, math, science and foreign hours every day in their specialty work, exploring and language. It all adds up to a long school day—typically 8 learning in depth. By graduation, they grow far beyond a.m.-4:30 p.m., plus rehearsals—sometimes with some the basics. They leave us with strong individual skills, fairly intense pressure. perspective and confidence. Our kids are the winners. For example, in 2004 our Choice. Through audition, our students choose 59 seniors earned $3.5 million in scholarship and grant ASFA and ASFA chooses them—but that’s just the

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find students sitting alone or in groups outside the direct view of teachers, actually working. And I often find myself in awe at what they achieve. One example is the music department’s production of Vivaldi’s Gloria two years ago. Vivaldi wrote the piece for students in an 18th century girls’ school. As befits church music, our choir and instrumentalists performed the piece in Birmingham’s Cathedral Church of the Advent. That day I took my seat knowing how hard the kids and teachers had worked to get there. For weeks, I had passed our recital hall and heard them going over and over one pas- sage after another, mastering the liturgical Latin, sharpening their phrasing and building Photo courtesy of Alabama School Fine Arts Alabama School of Fine Arts music rehearsal, bass section, from the left: Courtney Dye, Fairfield; toward a perfect blend of voice and instrument. Lia Walberg, Birmingham; and Robert Pugh, Leeds. Finally, in a superb acoustical setting, the department’s hard work paid off. The students sang beginning. Getting and staying here is a privilege, not a and played with confidence, precision and depth. From right, earned daily through every choice a student makes. the opening “Gloria in Excelsis” through the closing Diversity. Our students come from a wide range of “Cum Sancto Spiritu,” I sat rapt, sometimes with my eyes ethnic, economic and geographical backgrounds. They closed, noting with wonder that our students’ performance come with a rich mix of interests, points of view and was more compelling than the professional recording I had ways of thinking that together offer extraordinary at home. learning opportunities. I found myself snared in an odd web of emotion. On Respect. It’s the key basic, the first big heading in one hand, I felt a strong tug of pride in the kids for the our code of student conduct. If you come here without great music they were giving us. At the same time, I felt respect for other people and their interests, then you learn a counter pull of humility, knowing that in my own dis- it. We expect our adults to set a high standard of respect tant past as a student musician, I never approached such in their dealings with one another and our students. Out on-stage polish and maturity. Overall, I felt simply grate- of mutual respect comes a vibrant network of support. Our ful to find myself attached to a school where such beauty kids feel a strong sense of appreciation and belonging. could flower. Connection. The extra time our students spend in Gloria? Glorious! As the last notes resonated in the class means more time with knowledgeable, caring adults. church, the audience rose in a long, boisterous ovation, It also means, by the way, that we spend more per student the kids beaming back at us. For neither the first time nor than most other public schools. the last at an ASFA event, I wondered . . . was I the only Overall, what makes me most proud is that our adult with tears in his eyes? school is a place where every kid can feel valued, secure, Is ASFA for everyone? We field no sports and spon- trusted and productive. Walk down our halls and you’ll sor no clubs, as in most high schools. From time to time,

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our kids’ focused and sometimes ASFA is one of Alabama’s finest peculiar interests earn them educational jewels. I believe we’ve sideways looks and even mean- earned the chance to climb to a spirited epithets—for example, higher level, to grow from being at least one suburban school very good to truly great! A year counselor has called them ago, the city of Birmingham “weird.” Evidently, it’s hard for pledged us nearly a half-block of some people to understand how vacant property near the school as any normal teenager might have the site for a proposed world-class something more in mind than performance center, now on the just fitting in. I like what one drawing board. We are at work parent recently said in an devising a fund-raising plan that anonymous interview with an will touch all the bases—private outside researcher: sector, federal government, state Photo courtesy of Alabama School Fine Arts I feel there is a section of chil- Students in the production of Arabian Nights. Sarah Jones of and local government, and local dren out there, and if they’re not Vestavia Hills, Josh Butler of Leeds, and Brandi Burgess of and national foundations. taken care of, the world’s going to Birmingham. Our challenge and invitation to lose lots of talent and creativity— all will be to invest in a landmark but they can’t function in the regular mainstream. facility that will allow our kids to push the boundaries even It’s impossible. further, and to look their best doing it. At the same time, I’ve had five children. I’ve never seen any of my chil- we’ll lay the groundwork to expand our enrollment and dren ever have the love and support that she had from the offer the best in arts and science education to even more school. She loved it. Her whole high school experience was talented Alabama youngsters. fabulous. It wasn’t easy, I mean the whole thing was a strug- gle, but they never let her fall. It was so important because she is such a fabulous kid. John Northrop is the She just marches to a different drummer. Executive Director of I mentioned at the outset that we have problems, Alabama School of Fine Arts. but one of them these days is not the lack of public interest. We’re particularly grateful for the legislature’s contin- uing support. Without state funding there would be no ASFA. At the other end, private sector contributions to FOR MORE INFORMATION our non-profit ASFA Foundation enrich an already strong program and are chiefly responsible for the very ON ADMISSIONS TO THE roof over our heads. ALABAMA SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS, Opened in 1993, our present facility, with subse- CONTACT quent improvements, stands in stark contrast to the ram- JARONDA LITTLE shackle, makeshift quarters we inhabited for our first 20 AT 205-252-9241, years. However, even today’s building provides less perfor- OR [email protected]. mance space, flexibility and comfort than you see in many ordinary high school auditoriums.

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PUBLIC ART MAGNET SCHOOLS

Birmingham City Schools Gardendale High School Art Academy 800 Main Street Alabama School of Fine Arts Gardendale, AL 35071 1800 8th Avenue North 205-379-3600 Birmingham, AL 35203 205-252-9241 www.asfa.k12.al.us Mobile Public Schools

Old Shell Road Creative and Performing Art Decatur City Schools School 1706 Old Shell Road Gordon-Bibb Elementary School Mobile, AL 36604 211 Gordon Drive SE 251-221-1557 Decatur, AL 35601 256-552-3056 Dunbar Creative and Performing Art School www.ptc.dcs.edu/schools/elem/gb/gb.html 500 Saint Anthony Street Mobile, AL 36603 Benjamin Davis Elementary School 251-221-2160 417 Monroe Drive NW dunbar.mcm.schoolinsites.com Decatur, AL 35601 256-552-3025 LeFlore High School 700 Donald Street Mobile, AL 36617 Huntsville City Schools 251-221-3125

Academy for Academics and Arts 2800 Poplar Street NW Montgomery County Schools Huntsville, AL 35816 256-428-7600 Carver Elementary School www.hvs.k12.al.us/schools/magnet/aaa 3100 Mobile Drive Montgomery, AL 36108 334-269-3625 Jefferson County Schools Baldwin Art and Academics Magnet Shades Valley Theatre Academy 410 S McDonough Street 6100 Old Leeds Road Montgomery, AL 36104 Irondale, AL 35210 334-269-3618 205-379-3300 www.baldwinjhs.mps.k12.al.us

Shades Valley Visual Arts and Communication Booker T Washington Magnet High School Academy 632 S Union Street 6100 Old Leeds Road Montgomery, AL 36104 Irondale, AL 35210 334-269-3618 205-379-3300 www.btwmhs.mps.k12.al.us

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ALABAMA’ S Art Camps FOR CHILDREN

To start sharing and discovering the arts with your child, look for art camps in your community. Most local art councils, art museums, art guilds, universities and colleges offer art education programming for a variety of ages. Following are several diverse examples.

THE ALABAMA BLUES PROJECT

By Rick Asherson with special thanks to Debbie Bond and Sasha Reynolds-Neu

magine an arts program that gets many organizations kids excited and involved, builds providing BITS pro- Iself-esteem, allows them to dis- grams is the Alabama cover talents and interests they did- Blues Project (ABP). n’t even know they had, teaches Founded in 1995 and them history, celebrates diversity, based in Tuscaloosa, develops their writing and public Alabama, the ABP has speaking skills, and gets them a mission to preserve singing, dancing and playing music. the blues as a tradition- Impressed? Well, you should be. al and contemporary Blues in the Schools—com- art form. Their educa-

monly referred to as BITS—is one Photo by Alan Bernhardt tional programs teach such innovative arts program that Alabama bluesman Willie King and Debbie Bond jamming with Blues Camp self-esteem, discipline, Children. has been steadily growing in recogni- cross-cultural under- tion and demand over the last twen- country, wherever sufficient local standing, interaction, and teamwork ty years. Blues education programs interest, creativity and passion for within diverse groups. These pro- are now happening all over the the blues can be found. One of the grams are presented to a wide variety

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of audiences, and have been particu- Tuesday in a larly effective with at-risk and trou- Tuscaloosa church bled youth. Marquetta Lanier, an hall. About forty ABP student, says of the blues camp, children from fos- “It teaches kids things they should ter homes, Boys know instead of being out on the and Girls clubs, streets. The program offers a safe and schools have place to go and learn something very chosen to enroll in positive.” Adds Justin Bogan, “and this program. gives them something constructive When they sign to do.” The ABP programs have up, they choose been the recipient of many awards which instrument including the Druid Arts Award they would like to

from the Tuscaloosa Arts Council learn—guitar, har- Photo by Rick Asherson and the 2004 Keeping the Blues monica, drums or Blues Camp children perform on Kip Tyners’ Good Day Alabama. Alive Award for education programs voice. Each group from the Blues Foundation. is given musical tuition by a profes- This year’s performance So, what does a blues educa- sional blues musician. They then cultimated in a blues extravaganza tion program look like? The ABP is work toward a grand finale of per- at the Diamond Theater in down- presently in the middle of a twenty- formances which have included the town Tuscaloosa. three week after-school program and Kentuck Arts Center, City Fest, the Besides teaching hands-on summertime blues camp, held every VA Hospital, and a local TV station. musical instruction and blues history the ABP has developed a life-skills curriculum. This component is taught at each session by harmonica player and social worker J.K. Terrell. Legendary musicians like Willie King also make periodic visits with the young aspiring musicians and share their knowledge. They also jam and perform with the student band. This program is sponsored by the State Council on the Arts, The Children's Trust Fund of Alabama, Fender Guitar, Peavey Electronics, Mercedes Benz, Bonnie Raitt, Alligator Records and many individual donors. Last year's public performance at the Tuscaloosa Library attracted a Pohot by Alan Crow 2004 Blues Camp Band crowd of eighty enthusiastic friends,

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from its African roots to contemporary blues. Students learn how rock and roll, jazz, rap, hip-hop and other international musical forms all find their roots in the blues. With audiences of up to seven hundred, this whirlwind tour through the history of the music, and the history of America, is a foot-tapping, hand- clapping learning experience. As another blues camp student, Chad Carlile, puts it, “Music is important because its fun. I like the way we blend blues with everyday lessons. It can make a big difference.” Another popular program Pohot by Rick Asherson Alabama Blues Camp children: Chris Morris and Justin Bogan. offered by the ABP is its artist-in-residency classes. One or more artists work with the school to integrate the relatives and blues fans. It was the the easy part. A successful perfor- story and emotional power of the biggest public children's event in the mance demands tremendous focus, blues into the regular school curricu- library's history. The two lead concentration and attention; listen- lum. These full-time residencies typi- singers, 16-year-old Lakendrick and ing, cooperating and responding to cally last for four to six weeks, and 11-year-old Marquetta, fronted ten others; being interested in creating a provide a range of different learning harmonica players, five guitarists, ten community event which unites all experiences that allow for a powerful, drummers, six singers and one bass the performers and the audience in in-depth exploration of the blues, player. The kids had the audience one big musical celebration. embracing music, art, creative writing dancing and whooping, tapping their The ABP blues education pro- and history. These residencies culmi- feet, and waving their hands in the grams come in a variety of formats, nate in a Blues Extravaganza, where air. “It makes me feel good to play designed to suit different needs and the students stage a musical perfor- the blues,” says bass player Kim budgets. One presentation that is mance for their school, and also cre- Bogan, “and it makes me feel happy.” increasingly in demand is a one-hour ate an exhibition of the art and cre- The success of these perfor- class in the history of the blues, fea- ative writing they have produced as mances is no mean feat. Consider turing a full blues band, a guest part of the program. how difficult it is to get thirty adults Alabama blues musician, and plenty It is part of the ABP’s mission to create a successful performance, of audience participation. The ABP to preserve and celebrate the incredi- let alone thirty kids between age has presented these workshops to bly rich heritage of Alabama blues, a eight and sixteen, many of them schools, festivals and libraries heritage which includes such blues without any previous musical experi- throughout the Southeast. Titled greats as W. C. Handy, Dinah ence and many of them at-risk or “An Introduction to the Blues,” this Washington, and Big Mamma troubled. Teaching musical skills is program traces the story of the blues Thornton. ABP is now home to

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many outstanding blues musi- nationalities and a cultural gift cians, including three-time W. that underlies all forms of modern C. Handy award nominee Willie popular music. Teaching the story King. Indeed, all its educational of the blues takes the student from programs feature important, Africa to America, from slavery to often under-recognized, Alabama sharecropping; it follows the great blues artists, who are eager to migration from the rural South to share their music and talk about the industrialized North, from sim-

their life in the blues. To further Pohot by Rick Asherson ple country juke joints to Carnegie promote contemporary Alabama Alabama Blues Camp at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Hall. It is a cultural tradition that blues, they also present blues can give self-respect and self- showcases, where Eddie Kirkland, formances. This facility will be a esteem to its performers, and help us Willie King, Wild Child Butler, Jerry valuable resource for preserving and all weather the storms of life with “Boogie” McCain, Big Bo McGee, promoting Alabama blues. grace and dignity. Little Jimmy Reed, and many other American blues music is power- musicians have been featured. ful, emotional music created by Debbie Bond is the Founding Looking to the future, the organiza- African-Americans to help transcend Director of the Alabama Blues tion is hoping to establish a cultural suffering under the hardship of share- Project, an organization dedicated to arts center and archive. It will cropping and the racist Jim Crow the preservation of blues music as a include an open space for exhibi- South. It is a music that continues to tions, education, rehearsal and per- speak to all races, all ages, and all traditional American art form.

ASF CAMP f{t~xáÑxtÜx “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time.” (Macbeth, V,v, 19)

or children enrolled in the play, complete with lights, cos- Alabama Shakespeare tume, dance, and song. F Festival’s Camp Shakespeare, a On the first day of camp, week-long day camp for students children read through the ages 10-12, time doesn’t “creep,” it script and are cast in their flies! In one week’s time, camp par- roles. They also attend classes

ticipants weave a full-scale produc- in stage combat, dance, techni- Photo courtesy of Alabama Shakespeare Festival tion of an abridged Shakespearean cal theatre, and vocal training. Chris Mixon (left) directs 2004 Camp Shakespeare.

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The second day, the director leads Then Nurse, her them through the text, helping them only confidante, tells enjoy the playfulness of a pun or the her she should obey motivation of a character, and her father and reject blocking begins. In combat class, Romeo, whom she students practice techniques for sim- has already secretly ulating a convincing stage fight married. This is the punctuated with moans and gri- moment in which maces, sometimes parrying with Juliet decides to risk foam “weapons.” The movement everything and run teacher choreographs dances for sol- off to find Romeo or diers celebrating a victory or for face death. She lies witches frolicking around a caul- to Nurse and implies dron. Some students rehearse that she will do her songs—a love song, a dirge—that father’s bidding, but will help establish the mood of a the audience must scene, while others design their own know--or suspect-- costumes, part of the technical the- that she’s lying. So atre class that includes learning stage you have the power-

blood recipes or seeing how a fog ful scene with her Shakespeare camper crafts an original eye mask. Photo courtesy of Alabama Shakespeare Festival machine works. father, then the des- On the fifth day, the students perate scene with perform to a packed house at the the nurse, then this Alabama Shakespeare Festival. wonderful moment That shy camper from the first day of calm understand- has become an ambitious Lady ing which this young Macbeth, a cunning mistress of per- actress performed suasive language sweeping across the kneeling and facing stage with poise. straight out to the Instructors for the program are audience, when she drawn from ASF’s professional staff. simply responds to Chris Mixon, widely loved as Puck Nurse: ‘Tell my par- in ASF’s production of A Midsummer ents that I am gone Night’s Dream, has been Camp to Friar Laurence’s Shakespeare’s artistic director/acting cell/To make confes- Photo courtesy of Alabama Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare camper paints costume and mask designs. teacher for four years. Mixon vividly sion and to be recalls the young girl he cast as Juliet absolved.’ And the in 2003: “Juliet has a terrifying con- entire audience knew that this play suggest to her that the audience frontation with her father, who was going to be very tragic from this should know Juliet is lying. threatens to cast her out if she does- point on. I did little more than Everything else was performed n’t follow his orders to marry Paris. show her where to be on stage and instinctively by this young actress,

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and it was a very powerful perfor- actors when casting mance indeed.” children’s roles. Matt Dickson, ASF shop fore- The Camp has man, has taught the technical com- now become a model ponents in the Camp since its for theatres nation- founding in 1989. Its original goal wide that wish not was to expose students to all of the only to build future elements of the theatre that con- audiences but also to tribute to an effective production nurture a genuine and to help students develop the dis- love for and under- cipline required for the creative standing of the most process. Initially, the Campers wrote insightful playwright their own production, but since of all time. Linda 1995, emphasis has been placed on Dean, ASF’s director Shakespeare. Directors at ASF often of education, notes turn to this pool of skilled young that many of the students enroll in the camp Photo courtesy of Alabama Shakespeare Festival for three Daryl Foster (kneeling) choreographs dance sequence for Camp summers. Shakespeare’s Macbeth. By the time they are twelve they will have read and performed Camp dates 2005: three Shakespearean July 25-29, 2005 and plays, an accomplish- ment very few adults August 1-5, 2005 can match! Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm daily Number of students per session: 50 Ages: 10 – 12 Linda Henry Dean is the Tuition: $255 Director of Education Instructional areas: Acting, stage at the Alabama combat, dance, technical theatre, Shakespeare Festival, vocal training President of Board of Audition required: None Alabama Writers’ Scholarships: Yes Forum, and Secretary of Contact person: Linda Dean,

Photo courtesy of Alabama Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare Theatre Director of Education Shakespeare camper uses stencils to create painted designs on costumes. Association of America.

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KIMBROUGH’S CAMP: A BITE OF THE “BIG APPLE” IN THE RURAL DEEP SOUTH

by Dee Ann Campbell

he lights go down inside the crowds come, it doesn’t look like the lives to bringing theatre arts to the theatre. The curtain is pulled, Deep South at all. It looks like a lit- children in Fred’s hometown. Tthe music begins, and the tle slice of the ‘Big Apple’. “When you see the faces of makeup-clad face of a young girl Inside the small secluded the- these children attending their first beams at her audience as she belts atre that stands in a field that was ballet class or working on a scene out a song in Broadway style. Her once his grandfather’s farm, former from a play,” says Fred. “you know voice is superb, her acting flawless. Broadway star Fred Kimbrough and that this is the real value of the arts. And the audience is thrilled. his wife, former Lithuanian ballet These kinds of programs will steer It’s not New York. It’s not dancer, Svetlana Visily, have been our youth away from drugs and Hollywood. It’s Gilbertown. giving local children a little bite of alcohol and into a productive and that apple for the happy life.” past several years. But their work with children Through the doesn’t stay within the walls of their Kimbroughs’ Ballet theatre. The Kimbroughs also pro- and Theatre Performing Arts School (BTAPS), children have discovered hidden talents in dance, gymnastics, vocals,

Photo courtesy of Ballet and Theatre Arts Performing Company and drama. BTAPS students performing Little Orphan Annie for a Gilbertown audience. And behind the walls of Tucked away in the small town their little theatre, the in southern Choctaw County, along Kimbroughs have produced, a rough and winding backroad that directed, and choreographed leads to what was once fields of corn Broadway-style musicals, with and cotton, is something unexpected, local kids as the stars. something incredibly rare for the Although their careers rural Deep South. On the outside, once took them to New York, the small building looks like nothing with all the glitz and glamour of

unusual. But when the doors open, the ‘Big Stage’, Fred and Photo courtesy of Ballet and Theatre Arts Performing Company when the lights go on and the Svetlana have dedicated their Fred Kimbrough working with a child from the Summer Enrichment Program.

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Because of their dedication to children, the Kimbroughs have been instrumental in helping hundreds of area students develop a love for theatre. Their work through their theatre and through programs like Summer Enrichment has enabled Photo courtesy of Ballet and Theatre Arts Performing Company children, many of whom might Fred Kimbrough with students during a summer workshop. never have been exposed to theatre arts, to discover hidden talents, to vide summer workshops in theatre The children who are taught find their niche in the world of the- arts as part of the Summer drama, dance, gymnastics, and theatre, and to take their own bite of Enrichment Program of the Choctaw atre performance through the the ‘Big Apple.’ County Learning Center. The cost- Kimbroughs’ programs are quick to free program is held at area schools say that their demands are more than for 6 weeks during the summer to worth it. And the audiences who Dee Ann Campbell offer students a boost in their regular view their performances adamantly is the Features Editor school-year studies, as well as an agree, as do the parents of the kids for the Choctaw Sun opportunity to participate in the arts. who have learned to love the arts in Gilbertown. The Kimbroughs provide workshops through their tutelage. twice a week during the program at each of the participating schools. In an effort to reach children who might otherwise not be able to afford classes at the theatre, they have organized the ‘Adopt a Child through the Arts’ program, a scholarship program through which children are brought by bus to the theatre for classes at no cost to the child. “This program is the backbone of what we are trying to do in this rural area,” explains Fred. “Since 1997, we have become more and more committed to this outreach.” With a professionalism that accepts nothing less than a child’s best effort, the Kimbroughs expect hard work and dedication from their Photo courtesy of Ballet and Theatre Arts Performing Company students. And they get it. Svetlana Kimbrough working with a student.

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ART CAMP FOR KIDS IN TALLADEGA

by Laura Nation

here was a void in the com- hang on a bulletin board, several “swim time,” since the recreation cen- munity, and former art relating Arts Camp activities from ter offers a pool. Children bring their T teacher, Tommy Moorehead, year to year. It was really a duty, lunch and snacks, and can buy drinks felt a responsibility to fill it. Children Moorehead says, for the museum to at the center. in Talladega Schools, like many others find a way to provide the opportunity Each year, in addition to the in Alabama, didn’t get much profes- for children. artists hired to teach the various ses- sional art training in school, and sions, professional artists in dance, Moorehead knew it mattered. Since music, drawing or painting and in starting Arts Camp for kids in other areas are brought in to give Talladega in 1990, more than 2,000 demonstrations and conduct work- youngsters between the ages of 6 and shops for Arts Camp. This adds to the 14 have learned to draw and paint, to overall exposure the children receive, make pottery and sculpture and have Moorehead said. Birmingham percus- learned how dance and music com- sionist Jesse Frazier has visited Arts bine to become expression. The city Camp, and constructed an outdoor of about 18,000 supports its own art hanging assortment of things that can and history museum, Heritage Hall. make sounds-be it the muffler from an Hired by the museum in 1990 as edu- old motorcycle or a plain metal buck- cation director and now serving as et. Frazier also had standing drums of Director, Moorehead saw an opportu- various types, along with an array of nity to reach out to the children. objects that can be used as “drum- “We wanted to provide a new sticks.” The children experimented

educational opportunity in the com- Photo courtesy of Heritage Hall, Talladega with gentle and strong strikes, and munity,” Moorehead said, sitting in A visual art project by Heritage Hall Art Camp then took part in performing an his basement office at the museum. students. improvisational piece of music. Found object sculptures of wire and Moorehead said he likes to other bits of material hang from the Heritage Hall’s Arts Camp has include both a creative approach to office ceiling, twisted into human-like been self-supporting since is began, teaching art and the more tradition- shapes, a reminder of the year self- Moorehead said, largely due to con- al approach of teaching art history taught artist Lonnie Holley led a tinued high enrollment. For the past and traditional art techniques. “This workshop for Arts Camp. There’s a six years, Arts Camp has been struc- is because children learn in different sculpture by Birmingham artist Frank tured into two sessions, averaging ways,” he said. “Half the kids will be Fleming sitting on a windowsill, and about 90 children per session. “We more receptive to distinct direction paintings by assorted Alabama artists didn’t want the classes to be so large it and instruction. Others will be more hang here and there. The museum took away from the quality we responsive to freedom of expression keeps a focus on Alabama artists, offered,” Moorehead said. Children and exploration.” From the begin- which is maintained through its Arts are organized into four groups, and ning, the concept of Arts Camp in Camp approach as well. Newspaper rotate through the instruction areas Talladega has been designed to clippings from various museum events during camp. There’s also a built in include both philosophies, he said.

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ALABAMA’S Art Camps FOR CHILDREN

“We try and combine both Arts Camp is also an outlet so the children are allowed for professional artists to to be creative, but also work and have impact in learn technique,” young people’s lives, Moorehead said. “And this Moorehead said, basing his not only goes for the visu- belief in the importance of al, but for dance and the artistic expression for chil- other areas.” dren in research. “For many Photo courtesy of Heritage Hall, Talladega In addition to the Visual art created by students at Heritage Hall Children’s Art Camp. years now, it has been activities designed for small accepted that learning to group instruction, Arts put abstract thought on Camp has a larger overall project each columns bear an iron archway above paper is critical to the process of year that in which the children have a them, designed to reflect vines and learning, whether it’s reading, math, hand. Since 1995, Artist Russell foliage found in the forest. Children or learning to play a musical instru- Everett has led the children in pro- in Arts Camp imprinted clay tiles ment,” he said. Usually, between the ducing large assemblages, and when with the foliage of the area, and the ages of 4 and 5 to 6 years old, children they’re completed, are given to the tiles are inlaid alongside the stones on make the connection. Many children community to enhance public build- the two columns, as well as on two never get that, not being exposed to ings. There are projects in place in the stone walls that emerge from the drawing or just coloring with crayons city’s five elementary schools, along columns. Thousands who visit the before going to school. Drawing and with the Spring Street Recreation national forest each year will see the painting encourage the development Center. All the projects have a theme, children’s work. of the process of putting abstract Moorehead said. The first year, the Children enrolled in the Arts thoughts on paper. There are also children produced a montage of all Camp have also been part of a fully decision-making skills used in drawing the activities that take place at the staged play. Children tried out in and painting that carry over to other recreation center. It hangs in the two- rehearsals, were assigned parts, and in areas of learning. “Every time they story foyer. The second year, “we had just two weeks time, gave a public decide on a color, even what to draw, a very ambitious project,” Moorehead performance of Cinderella at they’re gaining experience in making says. The result was a 40-foot long Talladega’s historic Ritz Theater. “It decisions,” Moorehead said. “These visual history of Talladega County, really was over the top,” Moorehead activities add up for later learning sit- showing the original Creek Indians said. “They did a great job.” There uations they face.” Just as important is who inhabited the area, the city of were three fairly complicated dance the concept of having a fuller life from Talladega’s Historic District, Cheaha numbers, songs to learn along with exposure and experience in the arts. State Park, DeSoto Caverns and stage directions and cues. “But they “Appreciation of beauty is a learned other elements. pulled it off, it was pretty amazing,” concept. It even carries over into Children in Arts Camp became Moorehead said. Johnny and environmental beauty, and all the part of a national arts effort in 2002. Catherine Brewer of Guntersville led things that make life richer. We like A design had been approved by the the theater segment of camp, arriving to hope we’re encouraging these Arts Project on Millennium Trails for with everything the children needed qualities for the children, as well.” a sculptured archway to be placed at to stage the show. Having use of The the beginning of the Pinhoti Trail in Ritz as a proper facility made all the Laura Nation is Features Editor Talladega National Forest. Two stone difference, Moorehead said. for The Daily Home in Talladega.

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NURTURING THE ART PATRONS OF THE FUTURE

by Terry Schrimscher

f you grew up in Birmingham, state and the nation. In recent years, Plays at Birmingham Children’s there is a good chance that you Theatre-in-Motion, the touring divi- Theatre are based on classic litera- Ihave enjoyed a play at sion of BCT, has performed to nearly ture found on current school reading Birmingham Children’s Theatre. In 100,000 people a season, bringing a lists. Some selections are more con- fact, many current audience members bit of Alabama to cities like temporary, but all are evaluated experience their first live theatre in Louisville, Tampa, and Ft. based on script quality and a positive the same manner as their parents and Lauderdale on a regular basis. BCT message. BCT seeks to promote lit- grandparents. BCT, as it is known, has performed as far north as Boston eracy through each play as the actors and traveled as far west as bring the stories to life - making Houston in previous sea- cumbersome stories easier to under- sons. In the 1980’s, BCT stand. By selecting plays that are was invited to perform an both educational and entertaining, original production, children from a variety of back- Backstage Baby!, at the grounds are exposed to an opportu- prestigious Kennedy nity to develop a life-long interest in Center in Washington the arts. Audiences at BCT are com- DC. However, the goal of prised of home school students, day Birmingham Children’s care classes, private and public Theatre is to reach every schools, and families. county in Alabama, even Birmingham Children’s as out-of-state tours con- Theatre began its 58th season in July Photo by Terry Schrimscher Photo by Terry tinue to expand. Last sea- with an eye on new audiences. For Birmingham Children’s Theatre’s Mainstage production of Heidi. son, BCT reached 56 of the first time, the theatre added a was founded in 1947 as a service pro- the state’s 67 counties through summer production aimed at day ject of the Junior League of Theatre-in-Motion or school field care and family audiences. To cele- Birmingham as a way to introduce trips to one of the BCT theatres in brate Black History Month, BCT arts education through live theatre to Birmingham. In the past, var- students in the city. Originally, actors ious organizations have spon- would visit schools to perform sketch- sored tours to areas of the es for students. Since then, BCT has state that might not have grown to manage a three-theatre been able to see professional complex in Birmingham where it per- live theatre otherwise. forms more than 300 performances a Expansion into new areas season for more than 200,000 peo- takes much time and plan- ple—making BCT one of America’s ning. Theatre-in-Motion largest theatres for youth. tours are booked as much as a Despite having a home theatre, year in advance and each set the organization has expanded upon must be adaptable to fit a its original mission by reaching variety of venues from local beyond Birmingham through tour theatres and community cen- Photo by Terry Schrimscher Photo by Terry performances to cities around the ters to school gymnasiums. Dorothy and friends set out to see the Wizard.

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will host guest artists from New related funding is used to provide per- York, The Ishangi Family African formances for audiences who could Dancers, to introduce students of all not attend without assistance. Thus, ages to African folk dance and the BCT is always seeking new sources of story telling tradition. To close the revenue and innovative ways to reach season, BCT will spotlight the new audiences. Thanks to school Spanish-speaking community with a audiences in Alabama, most of the Mainstage adaptation of Munro income for Birmingham Children’s Leaf’s classic tale of Ferdinand the Theatre is earned through ticket sales,

Bull. Theatre-in-Motion has tenta- Schrimscher Photo by Terry as it has been for 58 years. Each sum- tive dates set for a first appearance in Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket and an Oompa Loompa mer, as part of its mission to serve New Jersey as well. on the Birmingham Children’s Theatre’s Mainstage education, BCT conducts a series of The remainder of the 2004- acting workshops known as The 2005 season will feature adaptations Best Christmas Pageant Ever for audi- Academy of Performing Arts. of three classic tales for pre-school ences of all ages. Designed for students between the The schedule for each ages of seven and fourteen, the work- production features a shops teach all aspects of theatre for Saturday matinee in the beginner to the aspiring profes- Birmingham for family sional. The courses have been such a audiences. Generally, success that the organization hopes to each play runs twice a begin workshops and acting classes as day for several weeks, part of its schedule all year. but many schools do Birmingham Children’s Theatre is not attend every pro- more than a destination in duction. By scheduling Birmingham. It is one of the only full family days throughout time professional theatres in the state the season, students and one of the few professional the- can still see any play atres in the entire country dedicated that interests them and to youth audiences. Although BCT is parents have an afford- not unique, it is rare. Most cities in Photo by Terry Schrimscher Photo by Terry Holiday festivities in the Birmingham Children’s Theatre’s Wee Folks able option for enter- America do not have a professional theatre. tainment that is more theatre for youth at all. If you ask any family-friendly than a member of the BCT staff, they will through first grade audiences written day at the movies. tell you that they are proud to serve exclusively for BCT. The Mainstage BCT sets aside one day of each Alabama. Most importantly, they are will feature a Russian tale that mixes production for a sign language inter- proud to represent Alabama to the theatre and ballet, and a classic fable preter. Whenever possible, BCT pro- rest of the country. from Denmark for students from vides free performances to Children’s kindergarten to sixth grade. In Hospital, local shelters, and other Terry Schrimscher is Director of December, BCT will present the organizations that serve the communi- Public Relations for Birmingham contemporary holiday favorite The ty. In fact, much of the theatre’s grant- Children’s Theatre.

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PERFORMING ARTS VENUES FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES

ETOWAH COUNTY developmentally and physically appropriate dance training for students ages four through adult. MARY G. HARDIN CENTER FOR CULTURAL ARTS Corner of 5th and Broad Street Downtown Gadsden, AL Contact: Bobby Welch PO Box 1507 Gadsden, AL 35902-1507 Voice: 256/543-2787 ext 26 Fax: 256/546-7435 [email protected] www.culturalarts.org Photo courtesy of the Alys Stephens Center

Over 5,000 square feet of changing exhibit space, features a dozen art exhibits annually. Hands-on activities and ALABAMA JAZZ HALL OF FAME interactive exhibits are featured in Imagination Place, locat- Contact: Dr. Frank E. Adams, Sr. ed adjacent to the Hardin Center for Cultural Arts. The 1631 4th Ave. North Center is home to the Gadsden Community School for the Birmingham, AL 35203 Arts which offers private instruction in visual arts, dance Voice: 205/254-2731 and music to more than 300 students each week. The Fax: 205/254-2785 Center offers a series of concerts and live music every [email protected] Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May through www.jazzhall.com\jazz\ October. The nationally acclaimed Etowah Youth Orchestras is also based out of the Hardin Center. The EYO The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame makes its home in the also operates a three-week summer string camp that takes historic Carver Theatre for the Performing Arts. The muse- place during June each year. um honors great jazz artists with ties to the state of Alabama. Exhibits convey the accomplishments of the likes of Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and JEFFERSON COUNTY Erskine Hawkins and the music that made them famous. Visitors travel from the beginnings of boogie woogie with ALABAMA BALLET Clarence "Pinetop" Smith to the jazz space journeys of Sun Contact: Alice Cox Ra and His Intergalactic Space Arkestra. 2726 1st Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35233 Voice: 205/322-4300 Fax: 205/322-4444 [email protected] www.alabamaballet.org

Under the artistic direction of Wes Chapman, this company of 41 professional dancers presents four full-length productions each year. Outreach and education include CityDance, Chance to Dance and Dance Discovery

Workshops. Alabama Ballet School provides artistically, Photo courtesy of the Alys Stephens Center

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ALABAMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHILDREN'S DANCE FOUNDATION Contact: Dr. Frank Blanton Contact: Diane Litsey 3621 6th Avenue S 1715 27th Court South Birmingham, AL 35222 Birmingham, AL 35209 Voice: 205/251-6929 Voice: 205/870-0073 Fax: 205/251-6840 Fax: 205/870-1301 [email protected] [email protected] www.alabamasymphony.com www.mindspring.com\mcdf\home.htm (Click on Young People’s Concerts) CDF’s work includes a studio program, an extensive Young People’s Concerts are presented at the educational outreach program which serves typical, special Briarwood Presbyterian Church and the BJCC Concert Hall needs and at-risk children, two school performance programs and are tailored for specific age groups. Teachers are encour- which tour state-wide, creative workspace for community aged to bring their classes, and parents their children. artists and arts organizations, and creative educator and par- Concerts are offered Fall, Winter and Spring. ent resources.

ALYS ROBINSON STEPHENS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Contact: Melvia Walton 1530 3rd Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35294 Voice: (205) 975-9540 Fax: (205) 975-2341 [email protected] www.alysstephens.org

The Arts Education program offers optimal s Theatre benefits to students and educators alike. The ’ ARTS IN ACTION education and outreach program includes: Preludes; ASC Kids’ Club Series; Meet the Artist Series; Martin Hames Arts Mentoring Program; and Teacher Workshops.

BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S THEATRE Contact: Vivian Lyle

2130 Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd, Photo courtesy of the Birmingham Children North Birmingham, AL 35203 OPERA BIRMINGHAM Voice: 205/458-8196 Contact: Yvonne Henderson Fax: 205/458-8895 1807 Third Avenue North [email protected] Birmingham, AL 35203 www.bct123.org Voice: 205-322-6737 Fax: 205-322-6206 As one of the premiere theatres for youth and family [email protected] audiences in the United States, Birmingham Children’s www.operabirmingham.org Theatre prides itself on setting the standard for quality professional productions that are enjoyed by more than 300,000 Sets, costumes, professional singers and an accompa- patrons each season. Performances take place at the nist will come to your school as part of Opera Birmingham's Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center. rapidly expanding education program in our community.

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They will tell a story through music MOBILE COUNTY and introduce children to the magic of opera. Study guides related to class- MOBILE SYMPHONY room subjects are provided to teachers Contact: Sarah Wright in advance of the performance and 257 Dauphin Street may be copied for student use. Mobile, AL 36652-3127 Voice: 251/432-2064 Fax: 251/432-6618 MADISON COUNTY [email protected] www.mobilesymphony.org FANTASY PLAYHOUSE Contact: Karen Alexander Mobile Symphony offers five instructional 3312 Long Ave programs for children, including the Huntsville, AL 35805 Youth Orchestra and Bay Area String Voice: 256/539-6829 Community Orchestra. In-School Fax: 256/539-6835 Chamber Concerts provide a quartet of [email protected] Photo courtesy of the Alys Stephens Center Symphony musicians to area schools and http://www.letthemagicbegin.org/ Young People’s Concerts are performed four times per year especially for K-5 students. Sneak Preview Dress Rehearsals Fantasy Playhouse has provided live theatre for chil- make the final rehearsal for each MSO concert open to the dren for 43 years. Three productions plus A Christmas Carol public so families can enjoy the symphony together. are performed annually at the Von Braun Center. A professional staff of teachers and administrators offer affordable, MOBILE BALLET INC. year-round, personalized instruction in the dramatic arts for Contact: Winthrop Corey preschool children, K-12 and adults. The Fantasy Playhouse 4351 Downtowner Loop N Academy of Theatre offers a safe and nurturing environ- Mobile, AL 36609 ment for students to come, to learn, to be exposed to live Voice: 251/342-2241 theater, to be challenged to perform and to expand their Fax: 251/343-8289 horizons. [email protected] www.mobileballet.org HUNTSVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Contact: Dorcas Harris Mobile Ballet offers dance education for students age PO Box 2400 three and older and serves more than 10,000 school students Huntsville, AL 35804 annually through the Discover Dance Series. Several special Voice: 256/539-4818 student performances of The Nutcracker and at least one Fax: 256/539-4819 other production are presented each season. Mobile Ballet [email protected] will also introduce in spring 2005 a special Carnival of www.hso.org Dance for children, showcasing shorter, child-friendly ballets and orts-oriented activities. The Huntsville Symphony Orchestra performs four youth concerts each year at the Von Braun Center Concert MOBILE OPERA Hall for fourth grade field trips. The Symphony School pro- Contact: Michele Kitson vides professional quality music instruction in orchestral 257 Dauphin Street strings. It strives to remove obstacles to learning and Mobile, AL 36602 encourages the public and private schools in North Voice: 251-432-6772 Alabama to establish music instruction programs. Programs Fax: 251-431-7613 include semi-private and private lessons and after-school [email protected] classes in orchestral strings, and class instruction in the www.mobileopera.org pubic schools. Students may be as young as three.

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Mobile Opera offers educational opportunities from Montgomery, AL 36117 scholarships to school performances each year. From provid- Voice: 334/409-0522 ing docent programs to Teen Night at theOpera and the Fax: 334/409-2311 Young popel’s Student Matinee performances, to free [email protected] InSchool Arts Educaiton Programs celebrating Black www.montgomeryballet.com History Month and our Annual Spring tour that serves 50,000 students a year within Mobile and Baldwin Counties. The Montgomery Ballet offers over 1500 classes annually for students age 2 through adult. As many as five MONTGOMERY COUNTY Linking Education and Arts Productions (LEAP) are offered for students K-college at greatly discounted ticket prices. ALABAMA DANCE THEATRE Other offerings include “Premiere Performances” each Contact: Kitty Seale February, annual holiday production of The Nutcracker, and Armory Learning Arts Center “Ballet and the Beasts” at the Montgomery Zoo. 1018 Madison Ave. Montgomery, AL 36104 Voice: 334/241-2590 Fax: (334) 241-2504 [email protected] www.alabamadancetheatre.com

ADT’s school performances include intermission chats with the Artistic Director and guest artists as well as education packets to help teachers prepare their classes for their performance experience. Additional components of ADT’s Education Outreach Program include teaching after school dance classes for educationally at risk students, a badge program for South Central Alabama Girl Scouts and a ticket endowment program providing tickets for many deserving community groups. Over the past 17 years, 60,000 students have attended ADT’s school performances.

MONTGOMERY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Contact: Helen Steineker PO Box 1864 Montgomery, AL 36102 Voice: 334/240-4004 Fax: 334/240-4034 Photo courtesy of the Alabama Dance Theatre www.montgomerysymphony.org ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL MSO provides two free annual Children's Concerts for Contact: Linda Dean sixth graders at the Davis Theatre in downtown Montgomery. 1 Festival Drive Broadway under the Stars and their performances at Jubilee Montgomery, AL 36117-4605 CityFest are family events. The Symphony League hosts the Voice: 334/271-5337 Montgomery Youth Orchestra. MSO also mounts Fax: 334/271-5438 Stringfellows, a music camp for junior high string players and [email protected] free string lessons through the Trawick Players. www.asf.net

THE MONTGOMERY BALLET “Serving as an educational resource” has been part of Contact: Priscilla Crommelin-Ball ASF’s mission statement since 1985. Programs supporting this 6009 East Shirley Lane mission include the following: Camp Shakespeare (grades 4-

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6) a multi-arts summer daycamp which culminates in a perfor- school curriculum and expand students' understanding and mance of a Shakespearean play on an ASF stage; the Summer appreciation of the arts. Programs include a Young Audience Shakespeare Intensive for High School Students (grades 9- Professional Series for elementary schools, school matinees, 12), text interpretation and performance of famous scenes artists residency activities, on-site classroom visits by artists, from selected Shakespearean plays; ASF Academy (grades 3- and discount tickets for students and teachers. Teachers adult), weekly classes which include scene and monologue have opportunities to broaden their teaching skills and study, improvisation, vocal and movement exercises, technical learn how to use the arts in the classroom. The Princess theatre instruction. Camps and classes are taught by ASF Theatre also provides outreach programs in arts education actors and production technicians, professional dancers and to youth organizations. vocalists, and certified stage combat instructors.

MORGAN COUNTY TUSCALOOSA COUNTY

TUSCALOOSA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Contact: Leslie Poss PO Box 20001 Tuscaloosa, AL 35402-0001 Voice: 205/752-5515 Fax: 205/345-2787 [email protected] www.tsoonline.org

TSO offers a free concert to all Tuscaloosa County 5th graders. The Symphony Petting Zoo and brass and wood- wind ensembles are available for school presentations.

Photo courtesy of the Alabama Dance Theatre ALABAMA BLUES PROJECT INC. Contact: Debbie Bond PRINCESS THEATRE 2620 2nd St E Contact: Lindy Ashwander Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 112 Second Avenue NE Voice: 205/554-1795 Decatur, AL 35601 Fax: 205/554-1915 Voice: 256/350-1745 [email protected] Fax: 256/350-1712 www.alabamablues.org [email protected] www.princesstheatre.org The Alabama Blues Project offers a wide range of innovative blues education programs featuring well-known The Princess Theatre serves as an arts in education Alabama blues musicians like Willie King, Little Lee, Little resource for schools in north Alabama. In partnership with Jimmy Reed and more. Programs range from one time, one various schools including Decatur City Schools, Hartselle hour interactive performances to long-term school residen- City Schools and Morgan County Schools, the Princess cies and after-school programs targeting elementary through offers many opportunities in arts education that enrich the high school students as well as at-risk students.

When planning art activities for your children and family, we encourage you to visit the Department of Tourism and Travel’s website at www.800alabama.com ”2007 - Year of the Arts“

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PLAY ENVIRONMENTS: FERTILE GROUND FOR FUN AND FANTASY

by Jessica Armstrong

liding and spinning, running and hiding, skipping and jumping, throwing Sa ball or splashing on a hot day. Children need a place that stimulates their young minds and bodies. Play is a funda- mental joy of childhood that involves contemplation as well as action; children also welcome a serene place to daydream and imagine. Research has found that playgrounds are vital to physical and mental strength, allowing youngsters to develop social, emotional and cognitive skills. Children need different play opportunities to complete their social, intellectual and Photo by Linda Ruth physical needs, experts believe. The ideal The centrally located observation gazebo provides views for supervision to all areas of the play environ- play area addresses all aspects of development. A manufactured composite play structure is shown in the background. ment, says Tom Jambor, who taught early childhood development at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a leader in outdoor play Moveable environment design. Children need a safe and stimulating parts such as old environment to burn off excess energy, and to balance tires, railroad ties, their mental and physical selves, he notes. crates and other Safety is the first factor to consider when determin- materials are char- ing the quality of a playground, he explains. Safety fea- acteristic of the tures should include a resilient fall zone to soften tumbles. adventure/cre- The play environment should also be free of barriers and ative type play- protrusions, and provide open space to run and a place ground. Children where adults can supervise. Fear of litigation and stricter enjoy manipulat- safety codes have hindered the imagination of playground ing things and designers, admits Jambor. His idea of the perfect play- seeing how they ground is free of equipment—a place where children must work, and this rely solely on the wonders of nature. need is satisfied in Generations of children have enjoyed the tradition- such a setting. al playground that features a slide, swing, see-saw and Designer’s say other basic equipment. Some environmental designers playgrounds believe that this traditional type of playground—while should be created effective for burning off energy and stimulating physical to give children

growth—doesn’t provide for cognitive and social play. A the opportunity to Photo by Linda Ruth popular alternative today is the contemporary type play- create their own View from handicap accessible sandbox to Bankshot ground, designed by connecting different pieces that form environment. Basketball goals. a continuous piece known as the superstructure or multi- That’s what functional structure. Linda Ruth, assis-

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tant professor of building science at Auburn University and author of Design Standards for Children’s Environments, A FEW OF THE STATES believes should be the goal when planning a play envi- TOP PLAYGROUNDS ronment. The ideal playground, she says, contains different zones for dramatic play, sand play, water play and hard surface play with balls. Additionally, it should offer Homewood Central Park, Central Avenue a natural element, along with quiet places and social and Oxmoor Road, Homewood. Features a skate- spaces to share with friends. board area, amphitheater, a re-routed creek and a “The challenge is that each time a child comes to common green for games. the playground, they get a different experience,” explains Ruth. “They bring with them their own sense of play.” Hickory Dickory Park, 1400 Hickory Lane, A different type of playground is being constructed Auburn. A focal point of this large wooden multi- nationwide and in Alabama. The Boundless Playgrounds structure is a replica of the town’s landmark project was started to provide the opportunity to children Toomer’s Corner. with and without disabilities to play side-by-side. More than five million children in the United States have Wilson Morgan Park, Beltline Road, some type of disability that makes it difficult or impossi- Decatur. This adventure type playground offers a ble for them to enjoy conventional playgrounds. The pri- variety of interactive activities, including sand and mary aim is to remove all architectural barriers and allow water play. children to play without having to abandon their special A. L. Freeman Park, 3001 18th Street, equipment and crawl onto the play area. In Montgomery, Tuscaloosa. In addition to traditional equipment, a boundless playground in Vaughn Road Park was funded children can scale rock walls, explore the inside of by a grant from Alabama District Kiwanis International. tubes and climb loop ladders. The organization has also funded a boundless playground in Sheffield and at Langan Park in Mobile. Boundless Tom Bradford Park, Edwards Lake Road, playgrounds offer greater accessibility than the minimal Birmingham. Three large multi-structure play areas requirements set by the ADA. and climbing nets, overlooking a lake. At a time when children are increasingly sedentary —a result in part to the ever-expanding array of electron- Pratt Park, Doster Street and Doster Road, ic games—playgrounds provide an antidote to virtual and Prattville. Features “A Child’s Place” playground passive play. Ruth designed a playground at Auburn’s with colorful towers that resemble a fairy-tale Cary Woods Elementary School that beckons children medieval village. with its playhouses and replica of Alabama’s state Bowers Park, 2101 Bowers Park Drive, capitol rotunda. Tuscaloosa. Three large multi-structure play units, “It has columns and one of their favorite games is to a tree climber and giant board games. pretend it’s a jail,” adds Ruth, clearly pleased that the playground is fueling their imagination. Undoubtedly for Delano Park, Decatur. The town’s oldest a play environment designer, there’s no greater endorse- city park, with a playground in a picturesque set- ment than a group of delighted children. ting that includes a rose garden and a tree canopy of mature hardwoods.

Vaughn Road Park, 3620 Vaughn Road, Montgomery. Features one of the state’s first Jessica Armstrong is a freelance writer living in Auburn, Boundless playgrounds that offer full access to who has written for a number of newspapers children with disabilities. and magazines nationwide. In addition to her writing, Brahan Spring Park, 500 Drake Avenue, she teaches journalism at Auburn University, Huntsville. Large, fully equipped playground over- where she is also working on a master's degree looks a spring where children can fish. in communication.

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ALABAMA AUTHORS FOR CHILDREN

by Joan Nist and Judith Lechner

ooks are the means by which acters whose actions and thoughts children not only develop help children gain understanding of B the most basic human skill of human motivations and the possibil- communication but also see the ities for thought and action. world open to them beyond their Alabama has many writers who immediate surroundings. Too often have created works for young audi- in our modern noisy blurred-hurried ences. As children grow, they prefer Forum lives, these surroundings include the to read about protagonists their own ’ stereotyped commercial sources of age. This does not mean that books TV-film, video-DVD, and Internet. about children are always for chil- Authors for children create dren. Alabama’s most celebrated poems, stories, and nonfiction which author, for instance, created To Kill a give readers—or in the earliest ages, Mockingbird for an adult audience. listeners—pleasurable and well- In United States high schools, developed tales rather than simplis- according to the National Council of Photo courtesy of The Alabama Writers tic or didactic “examples”. Through Teachers of English, this work by Kathryn Tucker Windham entertaining children at the good books, from nursery to adoles- Harper Lee is one of the novels most Homewood Public Library. often assigned to young adults. On the preschoolers’ level, par- while her artwork focuses on main ents and nurseries often begin with features; especially yellow-orange Mother Goose, those rollicking rhyth- Marmelade (the only complicated mic rhymes which are a centuries-old word) while the background is sug- heritage from Britain to all English- gested by simple black lines. speaking children. Alabama now has Both Ghigna’s and Wheeler’s Father Goose, aka Charles Ghigna. works are in the format of picture A recognized serious poet for adults, books. By definition, these books “Pa Goose” (his e-mail moniker) has present the story through both the also created books of humorous poems words of the text and the accompa- for children. One of these, Riddle nying pictures. Author and artist Rhymes, is like a game to be played are storytellers, each developing the between reader and listener: the lines tale in their medium. The writer of each verse lead up to the riddle’s recounts a simple plot with appeal- answer at the end. ing characters, while the illustrator

Photo courtesy of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library Other preschool books have complements the text with visual Already enjoying a book before it is checked out. been both written and illustrated by creativity within the narrative con- Cindy Wheeler. She created her straints. cence, we develop the ability to adventurous mischievous cat Often artists speak of the understand and appreciate oral and Marmelade while an art student at process as similar to staging a play or written language, for these books Auburn University. The large-letter, portraying events like a film. Others serve as models for language growth. brief-sentence text acquaints the have said that picture book art func- They also provide memorable char- pre-reader with the look of words, tions like the cave paintings of pre-

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literate man or the stained glass win- exchanged family vis- dows of cathedrals, visual narratives its. Thus in their next for illiterate medieval folk. For chil- book, Mama and Me

dren, picture books are a sensory and the Model T, Rand Photo courtesy of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library synthesis of sight, sound, and story depicts glimpses of the Story reading at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library. read aloud to and with them. Gibbons’ Deatsville One of the prominent artists homestead and even for children’s books who has an includes the family dogs. brotherly squabbling, his magic Alabama connection is Barry Moser, These two humorous books are realism is effectively and appropri- who has used woodcuts and water- examples of how a simple story can ately used. colors to portray figures and charac- also convey to youngsters a sense of Like other fantasy picture ters in works from the Bible and Brer other times and places. A recent books, Henry Bobbity…stretches Rabbit to Jules Verne and Truman study has compared students’ children’s imaginations and helps Capote’s acclaimed holiday memoirs. response to history accounts in text- them grown beyond here-and-now The publisher rather than the books with historical fiction, includ- bounds. It may spark creative abili- author selects most of the artists for ing picture books. The stories, hav- ty, which, if nourished, is important picture books. In one instance, this ing characters with whom readers not only for future artists and writers impersonal decision has led to cross- can identify, showed better retention but also for scientists, seeking to country friendship, as Faye Gibbons, of background historical information solve problems. Imagination a prominent Alabama writer for than the generic textbooks. breaks through the bounds and Even celebrities have bonds of paradigms. tried their skill at pic- An Alabama author of both ture books. Jimmy picture books and chapter books (for Buffett created the readers from the early grades on) has Caribbean-folkloric received one of the country’s presti- The Jolly Mon with the gious prizes. Angela Johnson has help of his young been given a MacArthur Fellowship. daughter co-author. Among her picture books are When I Of course a guitar plays Am Old with You, ideal for grandpar- a prominent role, and ents to read to children, and Tell Me there’s a song score at a Story, Mama, a favorite with litera- the end. cy organizations. Several of her Another prominent chapter books refer to Alabama, Alabamian, best including the Coretta Scott King known for adult novels Award novel Toning the Sweep, where Photo courtesy of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library and a “Crazy” film, is the Southern setting includes an Just for fun, a program at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library. Mark Childress. After explanation of the title’s meaning. two Joshua books, he Like other regions of the young people, found. Ted Rand, an wrote in humorous verse that Henry South, Alabama is rich in folklore. artist from the Northwest, after illus- Bobbity Is Missing and It’s All Billy An author who has provided numer- trating Gibbons’ Mountain Wedding, Bobbity’s Fault. In this classic about ous picture book folktales is Nancy

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Van Laan. One favored by story- A prolific author of over one hun- tain standards of accuracy and verifi- tellers is her cumulative, foot- dred titles is James Haskins, born in able information. While the sub- stompin’, audience-joinin’ Possum Alabama. His works are nonfiction, jects are often role models, writers Come a-Knockin’. Her With a and topics range from Snow Sculpture present an authentic picture (with Whoop an’ a Holler is a lively collec- and Ice Carving to Werewolves. Most of maybe a few warts) rather than a tion of folktales, rhymes, and say- his chapter books are about fellow sanitized ideal. ings, accompanied by illustrations by African Americans, either singly—Bill As young people move into the another Southerner, Scott Cook. Cosby—or in groups: Outward Dreams: silent self-reading of chapter books William Miller, not African- Black Inventors and Their Inventions. from the picture book level, Alabama American himself, has written sever- The last-named book introduces, among has given them writers whose presen- al picture books about incidents in other creative people, “the real tations are as effective in person as in the lives of leading African- McCoy”, an older contemporary of print. The multitalented Kathryn Americans like Zora Neale Hurston George Washington Carver. Tucker Windham—storyteller, pho- and Richard Wright. One of his fic- Nonfiction informational books tographer, ghost-biographer— tion books, which happened to coin- present a topic in more depth than thought that she wrote about her res- cide with the fame of Tiger Woods, mass-market textbooks can, and they ident ghost Jeffrey and other spirits is Night Golf, which depicts previous treat specialized subjects omitted in for adults. But children have taken segregation—and also hope—in general texts because of space. him and the others for their own, this sport. Biographies for children, too, main- learning some history, regional geog-

A PARTIAL LISTING OF LIBRARIES WITH SPECIAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN

Ashland City Library Huntsville Madison County Rainbow City Public Library 11 Second Avenue, North Public Library 3702 Rainbow Drive Ashland, Alabama 36251 915 Monroe Street Rainbow City, Alabama 35906 Contact: Tina Nolen Huntsville, Alabama 35801 www.rbclibrary.org 256-354-3427 (All library branches in Contact: Tina Brooks Huntsville offer programs) 256-442-8477 www.hpl.lib.al.us B. B. Comer Memorial Library Selma Dallas County Contact: Kathryn Dilworth 314 North Broadway Avenue Public Library 256-532-5950 Sylacauga, Alabama 35150 1103 Selma Avenue www.sylacauga.net\library Selma, Alabama 36701 Contact: Tracey Thomas Montgomery City www.selmalibrary.org 256-249-0961 County Public Library Contact: Becky Nichols 245 High Street 334-874-1725 Homewood Public Library Montgomery, Alabama 36104 Tuscaloosa Public Library 1721 Oxmoor Road (All library branches in 1801 Jack Warner Parkway Birmingham, Alabama 35209 Montgomery offer programs) Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401 www.homewood.lib.al.us www.mccpl.lib.al.us Contact: Nancy Pack Contact: Edith Harwell Contact: Joan Means 205-345-5820, ext. 204 205-332-6637 334-240-4300 or 334-240-4984 www.tuscaloosa-library.org

ART TRAILS IN ALABAMA CHILDREN’S ART ACTIVITIES 2004 • ALABAMAARTS • 39 ALARTS.Children's2004.Issue 11/18/04 1:02 PM Page 40

Some object to any their visual and verbal sensibility. movie, which is not From nursery to high school, this visually faithful to brief account has noted only a few of the book. these writers. Other recent books Teens are moving include those by Tony Earley,

Photo courtesy of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library toward adulthood, Deborah Wiles, and Betsy Hearne. Seeing and hearing Rumplestiltskin come to life. developing concerns There is continued appreciation for for their own future earlier stories of Alabama’s Native raphy, and folklore along with a few roles and responsibilities and show- American heritage by Margaret supernatural shivers. ing interest in broader social issues. Searcy and Virginia Pounds Brown. Aileen Kilgore Henderson, like .Books for them reinforce societal One of the best places to find Kathryn Windham, has written values without being didactic. all these works is in our public throughout a lifetime of varied expe- Themes of novels give readers sup- libraries. Children often make up a riences, in Henderson’s case from port for qualities of courage and majority of library patrons. From World War II WAC to Texas kindness, patience and perseverance small towns to major cities, programs Tenderfoot Teacher. Her first work without moralizing. We remember for young people are varied and full for mid-grade children was Summer stories better than admonitions. of creative activities: drawing pic- of the Bonepile Monster, which draws Two Alabama authors have tures, story acting, writing, and from her Alabama childhood, and earned national recognition writing exploring sciences. her latest, Hard Times for Jake Smith, for young adults. Dennis Covington From the books they meet in is set in Depression-era Alabama. wrote the novel Lizard drawing from their local library, children will go Faye Gibbons has written fic- his own teaching experience. into a larger environment, of talking tional chapter books as well as pic- Developing the novel into a play toys, personified machines, children ture books, and she recently inaugu- was a challenge, Covington has said, of other times and places, problems rated a series of biographies pub- creating it anew in dramatic form. and possibilities. And many of those lished in Alabama. These are stud- The play was featured not only at books, which open doors to a wider ies of explorer Hernando De Soto the Alabama Shakespeare Festival world, have been given to them by and of Horace King, the freed slave but also at the Atlanta Olympics. Alabama authors. who built many of Alabama’s lattice Han Nolan is recipient of the covered bridges in the mid-19th cen- National Book Award, a most presti- tury. Both biographies have support- gious U.S. literary prize. Her Send Joan Nist is Professor Emerita ing illustrations. Me Down a Miracle was a finalist in of Children’s Literature at Henderson’s Summer includes 1996. Dothan, with her family con- Auburn University. some black and white illustrations, a nections there, served as model for Judith Lechner is Associate rarity in fiction chapter books, as the town in the book. In 1997, Professor in the Department of publishers seek to cut costs. Many Dancing on the Edge received the Educational Foundations, Leadership readers, however, especially those Award. In it, Nolan uses her own and Technology at Auburn University who have enjoyed the variety of an background in dance education. where she teaches art portfolio of picture books in their Alabama authors have given Children’s Literature and younger years, say that they now children in the state and nation a other information science courses. want to "think” their own pictures. fine variety of works to enhance

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