- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Arkansas teachers learn new skills at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graphic design workshop

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:24:20 +0000

Stacy Owens, an art teacher at Pinnacle View Middle School, found the opportunity to take a free graphic design workshop for teachers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock this summer serendipitous, considering she will begin teaching graphic design again this fall after many years of not teaching the course. “I was a graphic designer for 10 years before I was a teacher,” Owens said. “I decided this was a kismet (destiny or fate) thing that right before I was supposed to teach design again, this workshop became available.” Kevin Cates, associate professor of graphic design at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, taught a free week-long graphic design teacher workshop in June in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art and Design. Participants learned principles and practices that are helpful in building a foundation for innovative graphic design trends. The workshops are funded by a $754,108 gift from the Windgate Foundation in January 2019 that enabled the university’s Department of Art and Design to establish a series of free educational art workshops for art teachers and high school students in Arkansas and surrounding states. “These sessions will be designed not only to instruct or train participants in a particular technique or process, but also to introduce them to our highly skilled Department of Art and Design faculty and the up-to-date equipment and facilities of the Windgate Center of Art and Design,” said Thomas Clifton, chair of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Department of Art and Design. Owens found the workshop a good way to reboot her skills and to come up with some lessons for her students in the fall. “It’s been the reboot I’ve needed,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s good to get a clean start and see what others are doing in the field before you get too comfortable. I’ve really enjoyed the program, and I’m making sure I’m first on the list for next year when the new classes and workshops are posted. I’m going to modify the exercises we’ve learned to a middle school concept for my students.” In the upper right photo, art educators from around the state participate in a free professional development summer workshop for graphic design at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Photo by Ben Krain.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock receives more than $750,000 to expand art offerings

Janea Snyder — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 17:11:11 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Department of Art and Design will expand its art outreach with a $754,108 gift from the Windgate Foundation. Part of the gift will enable the university’s Department of Art and Design to establish a series of educational art workshops for high school students and art teachers around the state and in contiguous states. “The Windgate gift will help us promote excellence in the visual arts by exposing students to both traditional and contemporary arts and bringing students and art educators to experience our program and our facilities,” said Joseph Lampo, director of development and external relations. “Ultimately, we want to help those students who show promising talent become well-trained artists and makers.” New outreach activities will take place during the school year and during the summer at the Windgate Center of Art and Design on the campus of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Beginning this summer, the university will offer workshops for junior and senior high school students and art teachers. “These sessions will be designed not only to instruct or train participants in a particular technique or process, but also to introduce them to our highly skilled Department of Art and Design faculty and the up-to-date equipment and facilities of the Windgate Center of Art and Design,” said Thomas Clifton, chair of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Department of Art and Design. A $20.3 million gift from in 2015 enabled ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to construct the Windgate Center of Art and Design, which opened in 2018. The center houses a fine arts foundry and specialized areas for ceramics, digital fabrication, graphic design, jewelry making, illustration, metal fabrication, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpting, woodworking and space for art history and art education. The state’s only programs in furniture design and metalsmithing also are housed in the center. “The Windgate Center of Art and Design is a state-of-the-art facility with an accomplished and passionate faculty, and we are pleased to continue our partnership with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock for their art outreach program,” said Pat Forgy, executive director of the Windgate Foundation. “We encourage high school students and art teachers in Arkansas and beyond to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to visit campus and explore workshops in areas such as woodworking, metal and digital fabrication, ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing and more. Through these workshops, art teachers will learn the latest techniques and students will be able to discover the numerous possibilities available in pursuing a visual arts education.” During the academic school year, high school art students and their art teachers will be able to spend a day in the department’s studios. Participants will work with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty and have a day of college-level classes. The sessions will begin in fall 2019 and be offered on select Fridays during the semester. Art teachers will have their own summer workshop in which they receive instruction in current art techniques. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art and Design Department is partnering with the , which will assist in recruiting teachers for the workshops. Teachers who participate in the summer workshops will receive support from Thea Foundation for the following school year. Beginning in summer 2021, the university will offer on-campus housing at no charge to students and teachers attending the summer camps. All workshops, including supplies and instructional materials, will be free for students and teachers. Transportation costs will not be covered. “We want this opportunity to be accessible to students and teachers in central Arkansas and beyond,” Lampo said. “By offering residential opportunities, we hope to encourage students and teachers who may not be able to participate otherwise. This is just one way we are expanding our collaboration with the arts community and helping nurture promising careers in the visual arts.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock alum pens first children’s book

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 13:42:22 +0000

When Sharon Jones-Scaife lost her husband, Albert, of more than three decades in 2015, she was devastated by not only her loss, but the effect it had on her 4- and 7-year-old grandchildren. “I was with him for 33 years, and I saw the effect it had on me, and I saw the effect it had on my grandkids as well,” Jones-Scaife said. “Both of them enjoyed spending weekends with their grandfather. He would do a lot of stuff with them like watch cartoons and ride bikes. We talked to them about him having cancer, but when he passed, kids at that age don’t really understand.” Jones-Scaife, who graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design/illustration, was inspired by the experience to write and illustrate her first children’s book. was recently released by Coffee Creek Media Group and is available on Amazon, Apple iTunes, and Barnes and Noble. The inspirational story of love and loss follows Rihanna, who spends every other weekend visiting Mema and Papa with her little brother, Deshawn. Then one day Rihanna’s mom pulls Rihanna and Deshawn to tell them, “Papa is gone. Papa died from lung cancer. Papa is in heaven, no longer with us.” Rihanna realizes that she will never hear Papa call her “baby girl” again, and she will never be able to do any of the fun things with Papa again. Small-town roots in Arkansas Jones-Scaife grew up in Marvell, Arkansas, the fourth of 15 children. As one can imagine, she spent a great deal of time reading to her younger siblings. “My dad was a mechanic, and my mom had a clothing store,” she said. “Neither of my parents had a college degree, but that was the first thing they told us we had to do, get a college degree, and every one of my siblings has a college degree.” She also began her life as an artist and entrepreneur young. “I have always drawn,” she recalled. “I drew the cartoons out of the newspaper during my study hall period and in my free time. When I was 9 or 10, I started doing self-portraits. I took pictures and then drew them as portraits. That is how I made money during the summer time.” When she was 18, the decision to enroll at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock was a family affair.

“I Miss You, Papa”

“I had three siblings above me that went to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and I followed them there,” Jones-Scaife said. “I was the quiet one, so I was a little scared and decided to go with them. I knew I was going to major in art. I always wanted to be an art major.” Jones-Scaife said her time at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock helped her to become more independent and get a good start in her career. “I had a good time. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock gave me an opportunity to learn to be responsible,” she said. “It taught me a lot about life, how to be on my own, and it gave me a solid start to my career.” After graduating in 1989, Jones-Scaife’s first job after college was as a temporary position as a graphic artist at a label crafters filling in for a woman who broke her arm. After three months, they helped her find a job as a graphic artist at Jones Custom Products, Inc., where she worked for more than a decade. Since 1994, she has worked as a graphic design at SJS Graphic Arts. She and Albert were high school sweethearts, and the couple married in 1992 when they were both 24. They have two sons, Cedric and Christopher. In addition to her work as an author and graphic artist, in 1999, she founded Teens Reaching Teens, a nonprofit organization for teens. She next published Teen Graffiti, a magazine that serves as a voice for teens and as an avenue of communication, allowing teens to express their opinions, concerns, and ideas through poetry, essays, articles, and photography. “As a child, I was the quiet one and never really spoke out a lot. I just kept things to myself,” she said. “If I went through this, other teens are going through it as well.” Every year, Teens Reaching Teens has held a youth empowerment summit where local teens hear guest speakers and attend workshops on issues teenagers face, like applying for college, and are given backpacks and school supplies. The event started in 2004 with about 75 kids, and the last conference had more than 400 attendees. “We do it on a college campus now, which is perfect since a lot of kids have never set foot on a college campus,” Jones-Scaife said. “We have a lot of kids who came back and said they are going to college because of that experience.” Jones-Scaife has plans to write and illustrate a series of children’s books. She has currently written six, but has not illustrated them yet. Her second children’s book, “Mrs. Hughes is Missing,” will come out next year. “It’s a story of the teacher who is not there, and its months that she is not in class,” she said. “Finally, she comes back with a surprise. She went on maternity leave because she was adopting a child. A lot of my books are based on stuff that my grandkids and other kids are doing as well.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host art exhibit featuring faculty work

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 15:35:16 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Gallery will host its Faculty Biennial Show from Oct. 15 to Nov. 16 in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The group exhibition features studio art and design created by the faculty members in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Art and Design. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, in the Windgate Center. The studio disciplines featured in the exhibit include drawing, printmaking, photography, painting, graphic design, metals, ceramics and various sculptural processes. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The galleries in the Windgate Center of Art and Design are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103. In the upper right photo, Joli Livaudais’s 2018 photograph, “Nesting Instincts,” will be one of the pieces in the Faculty Biennial Show.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Arkansas teachers learn new skills at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock graphic design workshop

����Vlog��ý Little Rock receives more than $750,000 to expand art offerings

����Vlog��ý Little Rock alum pens first children’s book

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host art exhibit featuring faculty work

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Arkansas teachers learn new skills at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graphic design workshop

��Vlog��ý Little Rock receives more than $750,000 to expand art offerings

��Vlog��ý Little Rock alum pens first children’s book

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host art exhibit featuring faculty work