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By Penny Fletcher
penny@observernews.net
RUSKIN - At first, it looked like a typical family reunion with people pouring over photographs, pointing and laughing and then suddenly turning serious.
But it didn’t sound like the conversation that takes place in families.
“What does this mean?”
“What does that represent?”
“Does anyone see more than green and blue landscapes? What do you think is the meaning behind these photos?” asked Ruskin artist Michael Parker, who has been hired to work with teens as part of a month-long mural project sponsored by a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center.
The night I observed the class, about 20 teens examined- and then arranged- photographs taken by long-time Ruskin residents Sandy Council and Nina Tatlock.
The adults are board members of the South Shore Arts Council, and were eager to spread their love of art to the younger generation.
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| Teens taking the mural classes examine photographs taken by long-time Ruskin residents Sandy Council and Nina Tatlock and arrange them in a sequence that can be used later when they paint a mural. |
“It (the lessons) matched beautifully with our purpose this year,” said Community Foundation Chairwoman Evelyn Lunsford. “This is exciting for us because so many youth are being brought into it. The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, which we are a part of, is focusing on children at risk this year, and what better way to increase a child’s view of the world than through the arts?”
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| Evelyn Lunsford is chairman of the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center.
Penny Fletcher Photo |
The Community Foundation was approached by Steve Stancil and Suzanne Prach of the South Shore Arts Council, and its board agreed to give $12,045 for the mural and $2,100 for the art classes, totaling $14,145, Evelyn said.
“This grant came from the John and Elizabeth Crawford Arts Fund,” she said, recalling the memory of two now-deceased Sun City Center residents who were known for their patronage of the arts. John Crawford was also an internationally-recognized artist and many of his paintings may be viewed at the South Shore Library in a gallery named for him two years ago when the library was built.
The $2,100 for classes will extend into Wimauma as well, with some of that money going to art classes at the Wimauma Child Development Center, Evelyn said.
As previously reported in The Observer News and Riverview Current, many other events for all ages are taking place as part of the art appreciation events called The Big Draw, which is only one piece in a multi-faceted series of events planned during Ruskin’s year-long Centennial celebration.
In a recent interview, Ruskin historians Fred Jacobsen and Mac Miller pointed out that the original Ruskin college, built in the early 1900s, was the first opportunity for the working class in this area to take part in art and literary pursuits. That is why the new South County campus of Hillsborough Community College and the Arts Council are so involved with the Centennial, Jacobsen pointed out.
The mural lessons will culminate in the painting of a 100-foot by 20-foot-tall mural along the south wall of Clark’s furniture store in Thriftway Plaza on U.S. 41 which will become an incentive for further revitalization of the downtown area that is currently under way.
A storefront in that plaza has been donated for one month for the classes, which take place once a week on Thursdays at 6 p.m. in the front strip near Dollar General.
Now that the teens – all between the ages of 11 and 17 – have seen what the adults from the Arts Council did with the disposable cameras they were given as part of the lessons, they are taking their own photos of places and things that “say Ruskin” to them.
Sandy and Nina’s photos were as varied as the storefront of Castillo’s Body Shop- one of Ruskin’s oldest businesses- and shots of naturally-preserved areas along the Little Manatee River, fields, orange groves and Tampa Bay.
“First we need to decide what we’re trying to express,” Michael said. “There is much more to this than meets the eye. That’s why taking photographs first is so important.”
Sandy said she was delighted to be a part of the project. “This is a wonderful project,” she said as she watched the teens rearrange the photographs. “Ruskin is so many different things to me. So many things are changing. Somehow we need to preserve the present and the past. And as the treasurer of the Arts Council, I love to see youth show a love for the arts.”
Anyone who wants to learn more about it can find several information sheets taped to the window of the storefront under the large sign for The Big Draw in Thriftway Plaza’s front strip.
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