Wake Forest celebrates the life of Dr. Maya Angelou
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Earlier this week Dr.
Maya Angelou would have
turned 88, and . while the
civil rights activist, author,
and educator is no longer
with us, her words continue
to live on and inspire.
Last Friday, the words
of the champion of civil
rights echoed through the
halls of the Southeastern
Center for Contemporary
Art as a number of students
and faculty members from
Wake Forest University
performed selections of Dr.
Angelou's poetry during a
celebration of her life.
Throughout the event,
faculty members, students,
and a number of Angelou's
family members talked
about how she impacted
their lives.
"I feel like I am a part
of her lineage and what she
represented," said poet and
performance artist Nina
Foster.
"Her words are living
. on through me. I am able to
feel myself and understand
myself through her words."
One close relative.
Matema said her great aunt
inspired her to start writing.
She also noted that
Angelou often encouraged
her to read as much poetry
as she could out loud, so
that it would continue to
live and resonate through
her mind. As she battled to
hold back tears, Matema
said she will always cany
her great aunt with her. ?
"There's so much of her
that I hold in my heart," she
continued. "She will
always be with us."
Angelou's niece Rosa
Johnson said after the death
of her son, Angelou per
suaded her to move from
California to Winston
Salem. Johnson noted, if it
wasn't for the love and
compassion that Angelou
showed her during her time
of grief, she never would
have made it through.
"My aunt saved my life
many times. It was truly a
blessing to be around her,"
Johnson said.
One of Angelou's for
mer students, Rogan Kersh,
who now serves as the
provost of the university
said students were always
eager to attend Angelou's
lessons. Kersh noted Dr.
Angelou pushed her stu
dents to think more cre
atively, read more thor
oughly, and dream more
magically.
"We learned so many
things from Maya
Angelou," said Kersh.
"Perhaps the most impor
tant thing we learned is that
respect should be bestowed
freely."
Photo by Tfvin Stinsoo
Rosa Johnson, a relative of the late Dr. Maya Angelou talks about how the civil
rights activist saved her life during a celebration at SECCA on Thursday,
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Photo by Tevia Straws W
) Now until April 8, the Sawtooth School for Visual Arts will feature a
gallery with work done by students from Carter G. Woodson School. The
, exhibit is inspired by the students' cultural heritage.
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Over the years, the
Sawtooth School for
Visual Arts gallery in the
heart of downtown has
been known to feature
works from artists from all
around the globe. Now the
gallery located on Spruce
Street has opened an
exhibit featuring the artis
tic genius of up and com
ing artists from right here
in Winston-Salem.
The gallery is filled
with African work masks,
Aztec and African textile
designs and self-portraits,
all created by the young
talent at Carter G.
Woodson School.
With the help of a grant
from the Reynolds
American Foundation,
Sawtooth was able to pro
vide 18 weeks of art class
es for 350 students. The
curriculum, developed by
Sawtooth's youth program
director Nannette Davis,
focused on art inspired by
the students' cultural her
itage.
Arter speaking with
administrators from the
school, we found out that
90 percent of the student
populations' ancestors
traced back to West Africa
or the Costa Chica region
of Mexico," Davis said.
Every week throughout
the semester, students took
bus trips to Sawtooth
Center to work on their
projects. In addition to
painting and drawing in the
youth studios, the students .
also had access to all of
Sawtooth's other
resources, such as the met
als and fiber studios.
Sawtooth decided to
use the grant funds to help
the students at Carter G.
Woodson because,
although the school does a
remarkable job with their
resources, the school does
not have funding to offer
any visual art classes.
Davis said although the
students had never taken
an art course before, they
were eager to learn.
"By looking at the
gallery, its hard to believe
many of the students have
never taken art before. The
students have been fantas
l
tic," she continued.
The majority of the
works featured in the
gallery are from students in
the sixth, seventh and
eighth grades. Pieces from
the fourth and fifth grades
are included as well.
According to Carter G.
Woodson Director Ruth
Hopkins, they decided to
focus on the middle school
age students because that is
when children tend to
struggle the most with their
identity and self worth.
"Middle school is an
important time for our stu
dents. We thought it was
important to focus on that
age group to show students
that there are alternate
ways of expressing them
selves," Hopkins said.
"Visual art has a way of
getting what's inside out.
That's what we wanted our
students to get from this
experience."
Hopkins said that as the
weeks passed, students
started to look forward to
their weekly trips to the
gallery. Hopkins men
tioned students rarely
missed school on days they
had art lessons.
un the aays they went
to the Sawtooth Center, we
had perfect attendance,"
said Hopkins. "That shows
us the type of impact the
classes had on our stu
dents. They really got into
it."
Next year if awarded
the grant from Reynolds
American Foundation,
Sawtooth School plans to
introduce the rest of the
elementary grade levels at
Carter G. Woodson to the
world of art and the impor
tance of self expression.
Hopkins and other
administrators at Carter G.
Woodson said they would
love to continue their rela
tionship with the Sawtooth
School.
The show, which
opened on March 18, will
be on display at the
Sawtooth School for
Visual Arts until Friday,
April 8. For more informa
tion and a list of other
exhibits, visit Sawtooth's
official website, www.saw
tooth.org.
i.
LS
Chronicle j*SHK %
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and organizations who have shown excellence in community relations. Join us
for our Annual Awards Banquet on April 23, 6:00 p.m. at the Dr. Donald Reaves
Cultural Center on the campus of Winston-Salem State University.
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