Program
designed to
provide enriched
monthly art
classesfor
approximately
90Pre-KHead
Start students
Combines talents
of art majors,
Chowan faculty,
local artists and
parents
Tom Xenakis
defines the finer
points of his work
during a reception
in Green Hall
Gallery.
“Day at College” grant enhances Head Start program
The North Carohna Arts Council recently
awarded an $8,000 grant to the Chowan College
Department of Visual Art and CADA (Choa-
noke Area Development Association) for a
program designed to provide enriched monthly
art classes for approximately 90 Pre-K Head
Start students of Hertford County Titled “A
Day at College.” the grant provides fiinding for
students, from ages 3-5, to participate in a
program designed to accomplish multiple goals
through the process of creating art. The pro
gram will rotate between Green Hall on the
Chowan campus and the Murfreesboro Head
Start School.
Young students are e.xposed to total en
vironment experiences in art which may include
coordinated music for each project, the ability
to work with materials otherwise unavailable
and an opportunity to focus on the process
rather than the product as the end result. The
program promotes children's understanding of
self, assists with the development of ethnic
pride and provides opportunities for accep
tance and success.
Designed to develop positive community
relations, “A Day at College” combines the
talents of college art majors. Chowan faculty,
local artists and parents all working closely
with Head Start students
Chris Rupsch. head of the art division at
Chowan, calls the program, “an innovative
introduction to art for young students.”
Rupsch continues, “We hope to open up the
Chowan College campus in terms of art
activities to all members of the Murfreesboro
community By engaging Head Start students
and their families in the project, we also hope
to expose them to other cultural activities such
as concerts, plays, field trips, art openings and
social events. By addressing some of the
North Carolina art education competencies
required in K-12 public schools, this program
will better prepare the Head Start students for
Kindergarten.”
Michael's work in international show
Elizabeth Michael, assistant professor of art.
recently exhibited her painting. Keep Quiet.
Keep Still in the international jured exhibition.
Body Language, at Soho Gallery in Pensacola.
FL. Michael's work was one of 31 pieces
accepted out of 444.
n
-"*'*301
Murfreesboro Head
Start students
(above) enjoy an
introduction to violin
styles.
A young Head Start
student (left) tries
her hand(s) at
“fingerprinting” with
leaves.
Gilded work of Xenakis illuminates gallery
The visual art division proudly featured the work of
Fulbright Scholar Thomas Xenakis October 11 through
November 1. The varied collection, titled Secu/ar and
Sacred, included drawings, tempera on paper, wax encaustic
on gilded paper and constructions of mi.xed media.
Xenakis describes his collection by stating. “Historically,
these two genres, secular and sacred, have been separate
and immiscible ... I search for the enviromnent. the mo
ment, the state of being, when the duality is unified.”
A visual artist. Xenakis expresses his personal identity
through his work. His present concentration involves
spirituality derived from the sacred viewpoint of the Eastern
Orthodox Christian spiritual tradition.
He states. “My work in this exhibition addresses spiritual
identity important to my theosis and my identities. These
identities, whether creative, ethnic, gender-related, sexual or
spiritual are integral to my being.”
Xenakis was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship and
traveled to Greece during 1994-95 where he studied Byzan
tine wall paintings and ichnography. A former artist-in-
residence at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington.
D.C. and a former faculty member of the Governors Magnet
School for the arts in Norfolk, Xenakis is currently pursuing
a second master’s degree in fine art at the HoHberger
School of Paintings associated with the Mar\land Institute
College of Art in Baltimore.
Page 14 — CHOWAN TODAY, December 1996