Of Interest ...
NCSA students, departments
awarded Semans funds
Students and arts schools of the North Carolina
School of the Arts have received grants totaling
$121 ,700 from The Semans Art Fund, Inc., a nonprof
it corporation created for the benefit of the School and
its students, faculty and staff. Grants totaling $90,000
were awarded to the deans of the arts schools - Dance,
Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking and
Music - for discretionary purposes. In addition, the
School of Filmmaking received a grant of $5 XXX) to
assist in underwriting the senior filmmakers trip to
Los Angeles to introduce their student films to indus
try professionals.
Twenty students received grants totaling $26,700
for projects including participating in or attending per
forming, arts industry workshops, seminars and intern
ships.
, The Semans Art Fund, Inc., was endowed through
the generosity offfr. and Mrs. James H. Semans of
Durham, co-founders of the North Carolina School of
the Arts. Since its inception, the Fund has awarded
more than $2 million to NCSA projects and students.
SciWorks' reopening
PhysicsWorks Gallery
SciWorks' PhysicsWorks Gallery will reopen on
May 31 with all new exhibits.
Funds from SciWorks SciVision" capital cam
paign have been used to transform the gallery into a
unique laboratory with several stations of hands-on
exhibits, each explaining a concept of physics.
The gallery is designed to allow families to learn
physics, which is the interaction of matter and ener
gy, together, as they manipulate simple machines that
make work easier. There will be a special area for
very young children.'Tot Spot," with a tricycle gener
ator and other components specially designed with the
preschool-age child in mind.
SciWorks is located on Hanes Mill Road just off
University Parkway or Highway 52. Admission is $10
for adults, seniors and students (ages 6-19) pay $7 and
$5 is the charge for children (ages 2-5).
For more information, call 336-767-6730, or go to
www.sci works .org .
RibFest returning to
downtoWn Winston-Salem
The fourth annual Texas Pete Twin City RibFest
will return to downtown June 12 - 14. AKA
Entertainment & Media is presenting the event,
which attracts about 30,000 people a year and was
Grandinetti
featured in the June 2007 issue
of Bon Appetit magazine and
also on Martha Stewart.com.
The festival will run from 11
a.m. - midnight daily.
Admission at the gate is $6 for
Adults and children free.
Advance $4 discount ticket s
can be purchased at any area
Lowes Foods store.
The 2008 RibFest will
once again be located in the
parking lot at 200 North
Cherry St. There will be seven
nationally known "ribbers," or renowned rib sellers,
at the event. For the first time, this year's RibFest will
have a local contender: Chef Tim Grandinetti,
Executive Chef of Winston-Salem's Twin City
Quarter, will head a team of ribbers. Grandinetti is
known in the barbecue world as "Dr. Brownstone."
The festival will also include two performance
stages. The main stage will showcase regional and
national music acts including "The Everybodyfields,"
"Yo Momma's Big Fat Booty Band" and "Key West
Band."
The other stage will offer a smorgasbord of musi
cal, cabaret and performance art acts, including the
nationally known "Sideshow Benny." The event will
also feature a Fun Zone areas and marketplace.
Reynolda House showing
classic American portraits
Reynolda House Museum of American Art is
showing a new exhibition, "Early American
Portraits," through Aug. 31 in the West Bedroom
Gallery of the historic house.
Works in the exhibition date from the 18th and
early- 19th centuries, including portraits by John
Singleton Copley and Charles Willson Peale.
"For artists in early America, portraits were the
surest source of income and the backbone of their
business," according to Allison Slaby, Reynolda
House assistant curator. "Early Americans were
eager to establish their legitimacy as prosperous and
genteel citizens, and having a portrait made served
that goal."
The exhibition encourages visitors to observe
the portraits for clues as to who the sitter really is.
For example, attire and setting may reflect a person
of privilege. An expansive lawn in the background
may hint at the sitter's large landholdings, and a
serene expression or a classic pose may reflect the
sitter's stature, refinement, and nobility of purpose.
"Early American Portraits" is dne of three exhi
bitions currently on view at the museum. Visitors
can also enjoy the expanding global view of
American art over the last thirty years in "New
World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and
Robert Hobbs" and the anniversary exhibition,
"Forty Artful Years," displays six works which rep
resent the vigor and diversity of the Museum's col
lection.
For more information, visit reynoldahouse.org
or call 336-758-5150.
Chris Rock's mom at Special Occasions Saturday
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Rose Rock, the mother of actor/comedian
Chris Rock, will sign copies of her new book
Saturday, May 31, at Special Occasions, the
well-known book and gift shop on Martin Luther
King Jr., Drive.
"Mama Rock's Rules: Ten Lessons for
Raising a Houseful of Successful Children,"
gives Mama Rock, as she is known, the opportu
nity to give readers her no-nonsense child-rear
ing tips. Viewers of the hit show "Everybody
Hates Chris" already know a little bit about
Mama Rock's personality. Rochelle, the show's
sassy mom who always knows when her kids
mess up, is based on Rose Rock, a native of
South Carolina.
Rose is a real life supermom. She and her late
husband, Julius, rasied 10 children, putting a
strong emphasis on respect, common courtesy,
and common sense, backed by a lot of love. She
also opened her home to 17 foster children and
touched the lives of scores of youngsters through
her work as a school teacher. For 17 years. Mama
Rock, who specializes in preschool and special
m
education, taught and operated a preschool and
daycare center, first in New York and then in
South Carolina.
A sought-after speaker, Rock founded Rock
This 619, a nonprofit youth empowerment organ
ization. She is also the host of the weekly radio
program "The Mom Show," broadcast from
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
HarperCollins f\jblishers released Mama
Rock's book earlier this year, and Rose Rock has
been promoting the book at sites across the coun
try. "Mama Rock's Rules," which retails for
$22.95, draws on her wealth of child rearing
experiences and demonstrates why parents need
to be consistent, even when it means being
unpopular, for their children's own good.
She also urges moms, dads, and other care
takers to talk and listen to their kids, to pick their
battles, to give themselves time-outs, and, some
times to just let kids be kids.
Special Occasions is located at 112 N Martin
Luther King Jr., Dr. Those who will not be able to
attend, can reserve a book to be signed by call
ing the store at 336-724-0334.
Delta to open photo show featuring Haitians
Attendees at opening
reception asked to
bring donations for
the island nation
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
The Delta Arts Center will
open "Strength, Spirit & Dignity:
Portraits of Haiti on June 8 at 3
p.m.
Members of the Haitian com
munity will be on hand for the
opening and attendees are asked
to bring donations of rice, dried
beans, oats and cornmeal to be
sent to Haiti to relieve the dire
food shortage that has recently
led to riots in the island nation.
The portraits in the show are
by Tom Plaut, who accompanied
a medical team to the nation in
2006. The team conducted clinics
for children in the small commu
nity of Montrouis, on the western
coast of Haiti. When Plaut
returned home and began comb
ing through the hundreds of pho
tographs that he had taken, he
realized the beauty of the land
scape and the people and how
they spoke so powerfully through
the photos. In this sense, the peo
racxo oy loaa uick
Delta Arts Executive Director Dianne Caesar stands by some of the portraits.
pie of Montrouis are the true
authors of this exhibition, Plaut
believes. The 30 color images
faithfully portray the people's
strength, spirit and dignity.
Plaut is a photographer and
sociologist who recently retired
from Mars Hill College in
Ashevilje after 34 years of teach
ing. In Haiti, Plaut worked with
a medical team from Asheville
that treated 1 ,035 children in five
days of clinics organized by
Haitian counterparts in three
coastal and two mountain com
munities. In between measuring
kids' heights and weights, he
photographed the clinics and the
communities that hosted them.
The portraits will be on view
until June 14.
For more information, call
336- 722-2625.
FTCC Photo
FTCC President Gary Green, left, presents the award to Dempsey Essick.
Renowned artist wins
FTCC alumni award
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
A self-taught realist watercolor
painter has won the Forsyth Technical
Community College's 2008
Distinguished Alumni Award.
Dempsey Essick, a 1973 mechani
cal drawing graduate of Forsyth Tech,
owns and operates the Dempsey
Essick Gallery in Welcome, N.C. His
wife, Shelley, manages the gallery. The
Essicks live in the house where he was
bom in Davidson County. They are the
parents of two grown children.
He began his career as a project
engineer with Leggett & Piatt. At age
33, he embarked on a full-time career
as an artist. Essick has exhibited at
The National Academy of Design in
New York City, the National
Watercolor Exhibition in California
and the Rocky Mountain Water Media
Exhibition in Colorado. Two of his
paintings were featured in the 2007
anniversary edition of the North
Carolina Wildlife Commission calen
dar.
Essick was nominated for the
award by Judi Holcomb-Pack of Crisis
Control Ministry. In addition to the art
work he donated to that organization,
Essick has used his talent to support
many charitable causes. His communi
ty service work includes membership
on the board of Davidson County's
Senior Services, a term as president of
the NC Bluebird Society, aind teaching
a weekly community Bible study.
Forsyth Tech President Dr. Gary
Green presented the award to Essick at
a recent luncheon.
Symphony hires
asst. conductor
Matthew Troy picked from pool of 60
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Matthew Troy has been pegged as the Winston-Salem
Symphony's assistant conductor and education director.
He was one of four finalists, chosen from among 60 appli
cants, who auditioned for the newly-created position. In this
new role, Troy will be the conductor of the Youth Symphony
and serve as
Winston
Salem
Symphony
assistant con
ductor. In
addition, he
will coordi
nate educa
tion and com
m u n i t y
engagement
programs for
the sympho
ny.
"This
community is
so very rich
in culture and
music and has
such a great
foundation in
the arts I am iympnooy rnoto
. ' . Greensboro native Matthew Troy has worked
a part of it ^or symP^ony for sever?l years.
and look for
ward to sharing music with the next generation of musicians
through my work as conductor of the Youth Symphony," said
Troy. "Being named assistant conductor of the Winston-Salem
Symphony is a truly outstanding opportunity, and I am thrilled
to be able to work with such an accomplished orchestra."
Since August 2006, Troy has been the education and com
munity engagement director of the Winston-Salem Symphony.
He has also served as assistant conductor of the Youth
Symphony, and general manager of youth orchestra programs.
In 2006, he founded the Fibonacci Chamber Orchestra of
Greensboro, of which he is music director. From 2003 - 2006,
Troy was conductor of the Salisbury Youth Orchestra, and
assistant conductor of the Salisbury Symphony from 2004 -
2006.
A Greensboro native, he received both a Bachelor of Music
in Viola and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from
UNCG.