October Issue 2000
Associated Artists of Winston-Salem Exhibit Works by Life Members
Associated Artists Of Winston-Salem is pleased to celebrate an exhibition of fine art by Life Members of Associated Artists: Marguerite C. Brown, Agnes David and Harold D. Simons, on view in the Arts Council Boardroom Gallery in Winston-Salem, NC, through Oct. 27.
Marguerite C. Brown, Agnes David and Harold D. Simons have given such considerable time and talent to AAWS, the Board of Directors has recognized them to hold the distinction of Life Member - members who have demonstrated unprecedented leadership commitments to the organization.
"I enjoyed every minute of it." Agnes David said about her work with Associated Artists. "It's sort of infectious. One thing leads to another." David was the first president of Associated Artists, in 1956-57, and served a second term as president in 1987-88. She has been a moving force in the organization, also filling the job of board member many times and serving as chair of the exhibitions committee for several years. David and her late husband, Andrew, who was also a life member, used to hang shows. "We did whatever was needed," she said. One project on which she worked diligently was Associated Artists' 30th anniversary show.
David remembers when Associated Artists met in the Arts and Crafts building and didn't have a room to call its own, "only the walls." The very capable Vonda Blackburn was the executive director when the organization moved into the Sawtooth Building, she recalls.
David continues to paint in watercolor and mixed media and last year, oversaw a large art project about diversity for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. She is going to handle the project again this year.
David took up art at age l6 but lost touch with it after she became a kindergarten teacher. "But I produced nice bulletin boards in my classroom, she said. After she retired, she took workshops, refreshed her skills and became a full-fledged artist. "I work in periods," she said. "Sometimes I'll do a lot of mixed media, sometimes I do bold colors, sometimes I do pale colors. Something motivates me to do that. I don't know what. I do some flowers and some landscapes but never the way they are exactly in nature. I need movement in my work. I don't work from photos. I work from residue of memory."
Associated Artists gave Harold D. Simons an outlet for meeting people, developing his art and marketing it. Simons has been a scrimshaw artist for more than 25 years, primarily creating images of clipper ships. His work is available in about 15 shops along the NC coast, and he has shipped his work all over the world.
Simons has held every office with Associated Artists, serving twice as president. He first joined the organization to be around artists but didn't think of himself as one, he said. Then he came to realize that he was an artist. Bill Wall, his mentor, taught him pen-and-ink drawing and suggested he try scrimshaw. He taught himself scrimshaw, stuck with it and took part in craft shows all over the Southeast. "I'm not a trained artist, just a lucky artist," he said.
Simons retired from Western Electric as a computer systems engineer shortly before its name changed to AT&T. He said he is grateful that his employer gave him the time off to do the work of Associated Artists the many times he was an officer. When he was president, membership was down to about 100 members and climbed to 500 or 600. Also under his presidency, the organization obtained its gallery space in the Sawtooth Building, developed several national shows and received its first computer. But Simons credits other hard-working people for these accomplishments, including Vonda Blackburn, the executive director at the time.
"I was able to accomplish these things with the help of Vonda Blackburn and Agnes David and Norma Rogers, people like that," he said. "They made Associated Artists what it is today."
Marguerite Brown was president of Associated Artists in 1972-73. "Before that time," she said, "all of the records of anything belonging to the Associated Artists was kept in a cardboard box." She had just moved back to Winston-Salem from New Mexico and recalls that the previous president had moved out of town. "I was having such a hard time trying to find the box and to collect the box." she said.
"Back then, we had a hard time keeping up with our records until my stepfather built a cabinet underneath the steps at the Arts Council Building and we could finally lock up our records."
The organization had monthly meetings, and she recalls having programs presented by artists Joe King, Bob Timberlake, Boyce Kendrick and others. Associated Artists also held open-air shows at such places as Sherwood Forest Shopping Center, Reynolda Village and the grounds of the Arts Council building. "The artists - exhibiting and associate members - put up their easels and just painted."
The organization grew during her presidency and seemed to grow with every president after her, she said, but she gives everyone else the credit. "We had good people on the yearbook, and we had good people on the committees. Associated Artists was really something," she said. "I just put my heart and soul into it when I came back."
Brown taught art at Cray High School and has worked in many media, including ceramics. "Throughout the years," she said, "I dabbled in the art that I had been doing in college." She first took Arts and Crafts Association classes after her first child was born and worked in oils. "That was my relaxation." she says. In recent years, Brown has been concentrating on seascapes and watercolors.
Associated Artists of Winston-Salem is a non-profit organization of over 500 members created more than 40 years ago by a group of local artists who wanted to exhibit their work in the community. Supported by membership dues and individual donations, AAWS also receives operating assistance from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem / Forsyth County. Through its programs and exhibitions, AAWS encourages the creative talent of the artists, from novice to professional.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the Associated Artists at 336/722-0340
or at (http://www.associatedartists.org).
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