TROY News Center

TROY – A Troy University design professor has been awarded the FATE Distinguished Service Award.

The national arts organization Foundations in Art: Theory and Education presented its award to Jerry Johnson for his strong commitment and increasing contribution to the organization, dedication to foundation teaching and administration, his capacity for innovating and a willingness to share knowledge with colleagues.

Termed an “impassioned teacher and leader in the arts,” Johnson has been the voice of FATE as its three-term Vice President for Communications.

“For seven years, Jerry has worked closely with FATE leaders and members to create consistent, relevant communications, delivery methods for which have evolved to keep pace with technology and the needs of FATE members,” said Greg Skaggs, also a TROY art professor and its new communications vice president. “His redesign of FATE communications, including the organization’s website and newsletter, has ensured leaders, members and the general public access to available research and opportunities.”

Johnson introduced the media-rich “FATE Updater” email, which currently has a circulation of 4,200, and brought social media into play for the organization, extending FATE’s community outreach.

Since his third term as a vice president, which began in 2011, Johnson has collaborated with FATE leaders and board members to transition to a new web-content management system called “MemberClicks.” The shift streamlined how educators access information, become FATE members, register for events and receive official communications.

In addition to his role at FATE, he also directs the International Center for Collaboration and Creativity, iC3, headquartered at TROY. He is also an associate with the Center for Design, Technology and Innovation and is currently developing an online graduate program in Arts and Design Management.

MONTGOMERY—Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum will host an exhibit this month featuring a selection of paintings by local artist Pamela Boggs of Montgomery.

Exploring a wide range of themes and subject matters with a unique visual style, “Truth & Spirit: The Paintings of Pamela Boggs,” will be on display inside the exhibit hall from May 6 to June 28.

Part of the long and honored tradition of self-taught artists in Alabama, Boggs’ paintings draw viewers into a greater understanding of life’s joys, struggles and mysteries through the representation of dreams, visions and events from everyday life, said Daniel Neil, curator of the Rosa Parks Museum.

“Ms. Boggs’ compositions draw on her deep personal spiritual convictions and the role that ancestors play in shaping our contemporary lives,” Neil said. “The descendant of spiritual teachers from both Saint Kitts B.V.I in the West Indies and the Muskogee peoples (Creek Nation) from Alabama, Ms. Boggs’ work resonates with a profound respect for the role that forbearers play in the lives of their children.”

The exhibit hall at the Rosa Parks Museum is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
 
For more information on this exhibit or other upcoming contact Daniel Neil at (334) 241-8701.

The painting “Jubilee” is among several works by local artist Pamela Boggs of Montgomery on display in May at the Rosa Parks Museum. “Truth & Spirit: The Paintings of Pamela Boggs,” will be on display inside the exhibit hall from May 6 to June 28.

DOTHAN—An exhibit collecting the stories of Holocaust survivors now living in Alabama opened this week at the Dothan Campus as part of Troy University’s ongoing Year of Holocaust Remembrance.

“Darkness Into Life: Alabama Holocaust Survivors Through Photography and Art,” an exhibit on loan from the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center, will be on display inside the exhibit hall on the first floor of the Library/Technology Building through April 26.

Featuring the stories of 20 Holocaust survivors, the exhibit consists of photos, paintings and narratives by the survivors that teach the history of the Holocaust and offer a rich understanding of its impact on these individuals and their families.

“Darkness Into Life” is part of a Year of Holocaust Remembrance at TROY, which has included a number of special events, exhibits and lectures designed to explore the history and lasting effects of the Holocaust.

For more information about the Year of Holocaust Remembrance, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs at (334) 670-3102.

The “Darkness Into Life” exhibit is sponsored by TROY, Temple Emanu-El, the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center, the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center.

MONTGOMERY--Author Jeanne Theoharis will read from and discuss her new book, "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks," during an appearance at Troy University's Rosa Parks Museum on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 6 p.m.
 
Theoharis, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, will speak inside the museum auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.
 
"The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks" examines Parks’ six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement.
 
Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress who, with a single act, birthed the modern civil rights movement, Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks' politics and years of activism. She shows readers how this civil rights movement radical sought--for more than a half a century--to expose and eradicate the American racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public services, and criminal justice.
 
Theoharis received an AB in Afro-American studies from Harvard College and a PhD in American culture from the University of Michigan. She is the author or co-author of four books and articles on the black freedom struggle.
 
For more information about this or other museum events, contact Museum Director Georgette Norman at (334) 241-8608, or  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

MONTGOMERY—Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum will host a public art project in downtown Montgomery on Saturday, Jan. 19, that will bring to life the “wishes” of local students.

The museum will host a Mobile Studio event from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Court Square where artist Daniel Neil, curator of the Rosa Parks Museum, and Jocelyn Zanzot, co-director of the Mobile Studio and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Auburn University, will lead students and members of the public in the creation of silkscreen posters inspired by “birthday wishes” for Parks’ upcoming 100th birthday.

Admission to the event is free and members of the public are invited to observe and take part in the creation of the posters, which will be displayed as part of the museum’s 100th Birthday Celebration for Rosa Parks on Feb. 4.

The event will also feature live music from the bands Potluck Drum Choir, Less Than Heroes and Monsoon.

The Mobile Studio event is among those listed on the National Day of Service website by the President’s Inauguration Committee. Attendees can learn more about the event and RSVP at http://action.2013pic.org/page/event/detail/4vxv3.

The creation of the posters is the part of the museum’s ongoing “Birthday Wishes Project,” in which students from around the city reflected on Rosa Parks’ life and vision and submitted their own “wishes” for how their communities could be improved today.

“This event is an opportunity to engage children and young people in civic life and responsibility, by making their voices heard and recorded,” Neil said. “In short, the project is really about seriously listening to young people and giving power to their words.”

More than 1000 wishes for the future of the city inspired by Parks’ life work have poured in from local school children and people around the world.

“The Mobile Studio has worked with Ambassadors of the Rosa Parks Museum, Jerry Johnson and his graphic design students at Troy University and Landscape Architecture students from Auburn University to translate these wishes into visual messages that will be returned to schools and neighborhoods across the city and presented to district representatives on the evening of Rosa Parks’ Birthday Gala,” Neil said.

Neil, who joined the Rosa Parks Museum as curator in December, is also co-director of the Mobile Studio project. The Mobile Studio is an intermedia collective that studies, re-presents and re-imagines contemporary Alabama landscapes through co-creative art making and events in the field.

For more information about the Mobile Studio event, contact Neil at (334) 241-8701.

Contact:     Matt Clower or Andy Ellis
                    (334) 670-3196