Macon talent in bloom

The arts department of Wesleyan College and the Goodwill store on Forsyth Road unveiled their new partnership March 23, with a reception celebrating the opening of an exhibition of textile art, “The Art of Weaving,” in a dedicated gallery space in the store.

The woven creations of Wesleyan student Jessica Pitts will be on display through the end of April, after which another artist and genre will be featured.

The initiative, presented to Goodwill’s president Jim Stiff by Ruth Knox, president of Wesleyan and a member of the Goodwill board of directors, is a natural fit. The store has been well received in the neighborhood and is a repository for clothes and other items that can be re-used and re-purposed. The materials, used by the art students in the weaving process, are taken from the Goodwill inventory that is worn and not suitable for resale, but good for recycling as textile art.

Pitts helped students develop patterns for other woven items on display, during the 3-D design course taught by assistant art professor Alexis Gregg, supporting the trend toward sustainability and recycling of natural products. In addition to the woven designs hanging in the gallery, samples of pottery from Wesleyan ceramicists were on sale, arranged on shelves over the racks of clothes.

Susan McDuffie’s Influence Spans Generations

Speaking of Wesleyan, one of the college’s most accomplished and graduates, Susan McDuffie, returned from Baltimore, Maryland, on March 23 after receiving the prestigious Music Teachers National Association’s Teacher of the Year award, and being named a foundation fellow at the organization’s annual conference. McDuffie was recently the recipient of the same award from the Georgia Music Teachers Association.

From her studio, McDuffie has launched the careers of pianists whose paths she follows, knowing and expecting them to succeed as professional musicians. However, two performers who know she is always honorary president of their fan clubs are Robert McDuffie, for whom the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University is named, and Marjory McDuffie Whatley, a renowned pianist.

Their mother continues to imbue her students with a boundless curiosity about their own talents and how to stretch beyond the norm to reach the pinnacle of performing arts. McDuffie’s enthusiasm and support for local organizations has been acknowledged with her election to president of the board of the Macon Symphony Orchestra, the Morning Music Club and the Macon Music Teachers Association, among others.

In addition to her private teaching, McDuffie enjoys performing with other musicians. One thing many of her admirers may not know is that she loves to play jazz!

Macon Arts Honors Japanese Guests

Preparation for the Tea Garden reception in the gallery at Macon Arts Alliance on March 24, to herald the opening day of the 35th Cherry Blossom Festival, included authentic sushi, hibiscus tea and other native Japanese hors d’oeuvres served amidst colorful fans, blossoming in cherry pink. Jan Beeland, executive director of Macon Arts, hosted the reception in a delicately hand painted kimono, which she found in an old trunk that once belonged to her mother.

The handiwork of new curator for Macon Arts, Megan McNaught, is evidenced by the arrangement of the permanent collections, the display of items for sale and the symbiosis between various art genres in texture, color and subject matter. During the few months in her position, McNaught has addressed the arrangement of the gallery with organization that appeals to the shopper and to the collector.

Lantern-Led Lessons at Ocmulgee National Monument

On March 25 at dusk, the parking lot was filled with cars and eager hikers were queuing up to take the Lantern Light Tours, one of the many sanctioned Cherry Blossom Festival events, through the grounds of Ocmulgee National Monument with rangers and other staff members serving as docents at significant stops on the trail.

The first tour guide dressed the part of William Bartram, the son of John Bartram, the botanist appointed by King George III to explore and record the fauna and flora of the colonies in 1775. The junior Bartram, so impressed by his father’s search, left his Quaker life in Pennsylvania and further explored the Southeast, leaving for future generations a record primarily dedicated to regional flora.

Taking his guests back to the end of the Pleistocene period, one tour guide described the savagery of the saber tooth tiger and the imposing size of the Columbia mammoth, two mammals for which documentation supports their existence in this region of Georgia more than 10,000 years ago.

The tour wound through the paths to the last mound — one that resembles a steppe or mesa in the west, with its flat top surface. The view from the top of nighttime lights in downtown Macon makes the trek worth the time and energy needed to get there.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 8:17 AM with the headline "Macon talent in bloom."