Pecan GroveJULY 2019 monthly Nina StruThers continues to illustrate sights around Fort Bend One family's drive PLUSto find a cure for the rare GNAO1 mutation A publication of the WCJC19 FTBctyfairAd7.75x10Fo.indd 1 5/16/19 3:02 PM To advertise, call 281-342-4474 • 3 Contents and Staff Pecan Grove JULY 2019 monthly™ GENERAL MANAGER Lee Hartman [email protected] 6 FEATURE STORY ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Richmond artist Nina Struthers continues to Marquita Griffin [email protected] showcase her illustrations inspired by local ADVERTISING John Oliver architect and history. [email protected] Stefanie Bartlett [email protected] Ruby Polichino 10 ANNABELLE VAN DEURSEN [email protected] Mother Shelley van Deursen shares the harrowing COMPOSITION & GRAPHICS MANAGER 6 Alfred H. Dubé [email protected] journey of her daughter’s diagnosis of a rare GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Melinda Maya disorder and the how her family is trying to [email protected] find a cure. Rachel Cavazos [email protected] WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS Averil Gleason 14 TALK OF THE TOWN Scott Reese Willey Successful golf tournaments, businessmen TO ADVERTISE If you are interested in advertising in the Pecan Grove Monthly, please call 281-342-4474 for rates, information 10 honored and fun moments from around Fort and deadlines. PHOTO & ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS Bend County. We are looking for fresh story ideas and enjoy publishing your articles in the Pecan Grove Monthly. If you have an story idea or photo to publish please send your information to [email protected] with “Pecan Grove Monthly” in the subject line. 22 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ©2019 Pecan Grove Monthly. All Rights Reserved. Pecan Grove A Moon Landing 50th Anniversary Festival Monthly has 30,000 print circulation and is a sister publication of Fulshear Living Monthly, Greatwood Monthly, West Fort and Inspiration Stage presents Mamma Bend Living and is a Publication of the Fort Bend Herald. Our publishing headquarters is 1902 S. Fourth Street, Rosenberg Texas 77471 33 Mia! 27 SCHOLASTIC SPOTLIGHTS JUNE 2019 Longtime educator Maxine Phelan given key Pecan Grovemonthly to the city. BROOKE KOCHER A power player on the green Summer Fun 36 HEALTH in Fort Bend Like Us On Introducing Troop PLUS 100 for Girls Facebook New 3D technology helps doctors identify @fortbendherald A publication of the early-stage lung tumors. 36 Tell us how we’re doing! 4 • Pecan Grove Monthly Email: [email protected] Expanding our team of leaders in RHEUMATOLOGY Houston Methodist Welcomes Dr. Mohammed Bari Mohammed Bari, MD, joins Houston Methodist Rheumatology Associates at Sugar Land as a fellowship-trained rheumatologist offering diagnosis and treatment of the most common — and most complex — rheumatic diseases, including: • Ankylosing spondylitis • Rheumatoid arthritis • Gout • Sjogren’s syndrome • Inflammatory muscle disease • Systemic lupus erythematosus • Osteoporosis • Ultrasound-guided procedures • Polymyalgia rheumatica • Vasculitis • Psoriatic arthritis 59 . D LV B Y N O SUGAR LAND L O C VD. T 6 S R BL R I F NTE VD. WN CE N BL TO HOUSTON METHODIST TO SUGAR LAND HOSPITAL NG LEXI MEDICAL OFFICE BUILDING VD. E BL S W E ET LLIAMS TRAC W WI AT ER B 59 LV D. 16659 Southwest Fwy. Medical Office Building 2, Suite 461 Sugar Land, TX 77479 Latifa Fakoya, DO Mohammed Bari, MD Angela McCain, MD Rheumatology Rheumatology Rheumatology houstonmethodist.org/spg 281.201.5938 F e at u r e Story Being an artist was never a question for Richmond illustrator Nina Struthers by MARQUITA GRIFFIN | [email protected] aving moved around quite a bit as a child, Nina on many walls around Fort Bend County as well, displayed and Struthers may not personally know the feeling of being for sale throughout the community including at the Fort Bend bonded to a hometown artifact or landmark, where Museum, the Rosenberg Railroad Museum and the George Ranch upon seeing it memories of childhood surface. Historical Park. “I’m from New Jersey, but I was raised in England. I moved Struthers has also completed commission work for Fort Bend there when I was five and had my formal education there. Then I County Precinct 1 Commissioner Vincent Morales and the Fort Hcame back to New Jersey, got my degree in art and then I lived in Bend Chamber of Commerce. Just last year the chamber used Canada for 12 years.” Struthers' drawing of the courthouse to create a collectible She, pauses, considering how her upbringing influences her Christmas decoration. perspectives. “I moved around so much that I didn’t really get the So when a native to the area sees her local work and gushes chance to attached to anything.” over it, that reaction brings Struthers Still, 60-year-old Struthers a sound satisfaction. understands the emotional “Artists record things. An event, a connection that often exists between building, a person,” she said. “We put art and its viewer. The strength of a love into our work and bring it to work to spark memories and everyone’s eyes. [The art] comes from emotions in a person. our heart. It reveals things or places, Artists document life, said Struthers people may take for granted or don’t who has lived in Richmond for the consciously think about, so when past 16 years. Since moving to the they like my work, [those remarks] downtown Richmond area, Struthers are a true compliment.” has illustrated local sights around Richmond, Rosenberg and Sugar Land, DESTINED TO BE AN ARTIST from the old Richmond courthouse, Since she was a little girl, Struthers trains and the Brazos River bridge to has been an artist — “There was no local churches like Sacred Heart and question I would go to art school,” she St. John’s Methodist Church in said. Richmond or Holy Rosary in In the 80s she earned her fine arts Rosenberg. degree from the Mason Gross School “I like things with character, with of Fine Arts, the flagship public arts charm and even a little age,” Struthers conservatory of Rutgers, The State said. “Being raised in England I was University of New Jersey. Following surrounded by structures, barns and graduation, Struthers started her so much scenery, so I’m drawn to career in newspaper layout and that. Wherever I have lived, I have freelance magazine work, but she also drawn what was around me, what I designed woven labels and developed loved.” Illustrator and printmaker, Nina Struthers-Macejewski, creates a gig of her own making. Understandably, much of her work artwork capturing images around Fort Bend County, namely “I had this side business when I decorates the walls and small studio in Richmond, Rosenberg and Sugar Land. Nina — who has a was 19 or 20 years old where I would in her home, but her art is also found grown daughter, Sarah, who is a doctor — lives in Richmond with her husband Larry Macejewski. draw people’s homes,” Struthers said. 6 • Pecan Grove Monthly Downtown Rosenberg Right now I’m compiling my Fort Bend illustrations into a book.” Already Struthers has eight coloring books for sale at the Fort Bend Art Center in Rosenberg. “[The coloring books] are filled with old trucks, houses, dogs, cats, churches and all different kinds of subjects,” she said, adding that a lot of her artwork is sold in the form of greeting cards. All eight coloring books are also available on amazon.com and range from $8 to $12.50. “My work is here and there,” Struthers said. Sometimes it’s hanging on a wall in a gallery or a displayed on the front of a greeting card. And sometimes her influence is found within the community itself. Last year Struthers, along with local artists Suzanne Sylverston, Kimberley Clelland and Allehseya Hawk, assisted Jane Long Elementary School’s Art Club students paint a mural on the sidewalk of Clay Park, a Richmond city park in the Edgewood community. Allehseya Hawk had suggested to the Keep Richmond Beautiful organization that painting a new mural with children who enjoy the park would transform the painting into a community centric project. The painting began Memorial Day weekend 2018 and was complete Labor Day weekend. “What I love about Richmond is there are a lot of artists Nina has a collection of coloring books available for sale on amazon.com supporting each other,” Struthers said. and locally. “A neighbor saw one [portrait] and it just went from there. And that’s what got me into drawing architecture.” ‘I JUST NEED TO DO IT’ While art has always been a career for Struthers, upon moving From 1984-86, she served as a teaching assistant in the to Richmond she also worked at Home Depot, as a substitute and printmaking department at Glassell School of Fine Arts - Houston at Lamar Consolidated ISD’s Alternative Learning Center for five and while living in Canada in the late 90s she sustained a years. Currently Struthers is a paraprofessional at Jackson printmaking studio — picking up intaglio printmaking while Elementary where she works with special needs students. living in Alberta— and participated in Canadian festivals and Struthers is also a member of The Art League of Fort Bend galleries. where a collection of her local work is on display for the summer Struthers even sold hand-knit designs in boutiques until she and she is leading a printmaking workshop at the 310 Gallery in returned to the US in 1997 to care for her parents who were Richmond, where she has also shown her work. living in Houston, Texas. Most of Struthers' art is primarily historic buildings —”my About three years following the move, Struthers started illustrations started with history because I love history,” she siad drawing in the style of pointillism, a neo-impressionist technique — so it’s fitting that is she currently working on a collection of of using small, distinct and pure dots of color in patterns to form historical churches in Texas, which she hopes will be her next an image in the viewer’s eye.