Mayor to award art's finest
By Roger McBain (Contact)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Howard S. Abrams, a longtime Evansville business owner and community
leader, has won the 2008 Mayor's Arts Award for his work as "an
exemplary citizen for the arts."
Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel will announce the award today at a news
conference where the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana will name a
dozen other arts awards recipients.
STORY TOOLS
Abrams, who owned deJong's, a clothing retailer with several Evansville
locations, will receive the award for his decades of support for area
arts, serving on boards and volunteering for a number of organizations
and institutions, including the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, the
University of Evansville Theatre Society, the Evansville Museum, The
Victory and the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana.
Abrams spent 18 years as chairman of Evansville's Redevelopment
Commission and led the capital campaign to get the Arts Council into
its new offices behind the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery, at
318 Main St.
Mary McNamee Bower, the Evansville Museum's curator of collections, is
winner of the Arts Advocate of the Year award for her three decades of
commitment not only to the museum, but also to arts organizations
including the Evansville Commission for Public Art, Historic New
Harmony's Collection Review Committee, the Reitz Home Preservation
Society and St. Mary Church.
Matthew Graham, a published poet and University of Southern Indiana
English professor, won the Artist of the Year award for his verse and
for his work in the classroom. The author of three published poetry
collections, Graham also cofounded the RopeWalk Writer's Retreat, the
Southern Indiana Review and the RopeWalk Reading Series.
Christopher and Justin Swader, identical twins and recent Memorial High
School graduates, share the Young Artist of the Year award for their
efforts in theater. The pair have been involved in more than 18
productions in community and high school theater.
Lenny Dowhie, a ceramicist and USI art professor, is this year's Arts
Educator of the Year. Dowhie has played a national leadership role for
professional ceramics artists.
Acclaim Graphics, an Evansville company that has provided high-quality
printing and graphic design for nonprofit arts organizations, is this
year's Corporate Art Award winner.
Phyllis Grimm and her late husband, Bill Grimm, received the
Vanderburgh County Arts Award for the couple's decades of involvement
in the arts. They have volunteered for and served on boards for several
organizations, most notably the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, helping establish charitable
trusts for both.
Sue Freudenberg has won the Gibson County Arts Award for nearly 50
years of work as an artist, teacher, county fair juror and member of
the Gibson County Arts Guild.
The Knox County Arts Award goes to the Old Towne Players, a theater
troupe that has provided training and staged productions for more than
three decades.
This year's Pike County Arts Award winner is the Pike County Commission
for Art Promotion and Education, a new organization that has produced
several projects to promote the arts.
David Rodenberg, a North Posey High School teacher and artist who has
exhibited his ceramics locally, nationally and internationally, has won
the Posey County Arts Award.
Curt Uebelhor, a Boonville Junior High School art teacher has shown his
art in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, won the Warrick
County Arts Award.
And Misty Stutzman Mosby has won the Spencer County Arts Award for her
work as music teacher and choral director at Heritage Hills High
School, where, in eight years, she's built a program with more than 188
singers in eight high school ensembles and two middle school choirs.
All the winners will receive their awards Sept. 4 at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana's annual Arts Award Banquet.
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