STREET Magazine ONLINE

M A Y O R ’ S A W A R D S
I N T H E A R T S 2 0 0 3

HONOREES
photographed by
Thomas Szalay
of Artstop:Ogden

MARGARET ROSTKOWSKI Literary	BROCK PORTER Design	BRAD WHEELER Folk	JIM ALVEY Media
JOANNE LAWRENCE Dance	VALERIE TAYLOR Visual Art	CARRIE MAXSON Music	DR. ROBERT J. ARWAY Humanities

On Oct. 4, several local residents were honored during the 2003 Mayor’s Awards Ceremony in the Ogden Amphigheater. They were given awards in several areas including the arts and humanities, home and business beautification, and mother of the year. A twohour concert and recital included performances from Mariachi Zavala, the Ogden High School Chamber Group, The McKay School of Ballet and The Ogden City Concert Band. The annual Mayor’s Awards In The Arts awards honor individuals living or working in Ogden City for excellence within their discipline, and for their community service and advocacy efforts for the arts within the Northern Utah community. The Ogden City Arts Committee selects and recommends the arts award nominees from the pool of nominations they receive from the community-at-large. These recommendations are presented to the Mayor’s office for approval.

MARGARET ROSTKOWSKI
Literary
In the literary category, Margaret Rostkowski was honored. She is the senior English and creative writing teacher at Ogden High School. She has been advisor to the staff of the Literary Harvest, the oldest high school literary magazine in the state of Utah. During her years of teaching, Rostkowski has influenced many young people, including Ogden native singersongwriter Brenn Hill and novelist Robert Van Wagoner. She has also volunteered as an advisor to Rough Draft, produced by Friends of the Weber County Library, and has served on the Library board, Ogden City Arts Committee, and many review panels in the field of literary arts. Rostkowski is also a published author with three titles in print: The Best of Friends, Moon Dancer and After The Dancing Days, which has received national honors.

BROCK PORTER
Design
In the design category, Brock Porter was honored. He is an artist who further developed his skills at Weber State University, culminating in a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in 1998. Porter began working in the Marketing Dept of Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College in May 1999, shaping the direction of the department and establishing a recognizable identity which has attracted positive attention to the institution. He has been responsible for the overall identity for the college including all publications, logos, signage, advertising, development of the Web site, creation of the campus mascot and costume, bringing ATC more directly into the community, concept for the electronic marquee on Washington Boulevard, and the re-design of the student services lobby with an interactive computer kiosk, art banners and a 3- D aluminum logo.

BRAD WHEELER
Folk
In the folk category, Brad Wheeler and his Blues in the Schools program was honored. For the last three years, the Blues in the Schools program co-created with Peery’s Egyptian theater has impacted more than 3,200 children living in Weber County. It is taught by Brad Wheeler, with assistance from local musician Dan Weldon. The program provides a one-onone opportunity to integrate this original American folk art form into their lives through a functional, interactive classroom experience. Each student receives his/her own harmonica to keep, a “hands-on” lesson in Blues history, instrumentation and evolution, and, most importantly, an invitation for them to participate and develop a passion for music that can provide a positive outlet for negative emotions. The program teaches core curriculum standards in math, music, reading and physical education. In addition, the history of the United States is re-examined through the history and symbolism of the blues. Brad has participated in numerous community fund-raisers and assisted with grant writing to help fund this pilot program, and has recently been approved by the Utah Arts Council in their Artist-in-Residence program, thereby making Blues in the Schools available to any school district within the state. This unique partnership with Peery’s Egyptian Theater culminates with students attending a free matinee performance by internationally renowned blues artists including Eric Bibb, John Hammond and Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir.

JIM ALVEY
Media
In the media category, Jim Alvey was honored. Jim Alvey and the Alvey Media Group conceived, developed and executed the strategic video designed to recognize and give special thanks to the community donors for their generous support of the new Ethel Wattis Kimball Visual Arts Center at Weber State University. Alvey Media Group captured the elements of the ground-breaking ceremony, donors reception and representation of the various art disciplines offered by Weber State University to the community at large. The oral interviews of the donors were visually appealing, respectful and graciously edited to provide informative and emotionally impactful stories about the community’s need for this art center and their support for the project. The student interviews provided a sense of appreciation and anticipation for the new educational opportunities available in the new facility with state-of-the-art technology and adequate workroom and lighting. The overall graphic image of the art center Alvey Media created was compelling and exciting, and provided a focal point and window of access for the community’s involvement and an invitation to participate in the center’s scheduled activities and programs.

JOANNE LAWRENCE
Dance
In the dance category, Joanne Lawrence was honored. She has been expanding the dance area at Weber State University since 1990. When Lawrence first arrived at WSU, dance was only offered as a minor. She vigorously campaigned for—and achieved— the creation of dance as a major in its own right more than four years ago. She oversees Orchesis Dance Theatre’s semester performances, from choreography to general production. She also advocates for dance education by volunteering on several state-wide dance organizations. She makes a point of giving her students extracurricular educational dance experiences through community master classes and by helping them secure funds necessary to attend regional and national conferences. She recently accomplished a long-held dream of recreating a modern dance classic by internationally renowned choreographer/ dancer Jose Limon. Her students have appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts representing WSU, and last spring she mentored a student performance at the National Undergraduate Research Conference. Lawrence is currently pursuing the development of a dance education degree at WSU.

VALERIE TAYLOR
Visual Art
In the visual art category, Valerie Taylor was honored. For more than a decade, Taylor has been quietly photographing the natural rural beauty and urban life of Northern Utah, specifically Ogden City and Weber County. From Snowbasin’s icy fortress to Pioneer’s Day parades, her photos tell the story of an evolving community with rich legacies. She has volunteered her skills for numerous community events, including Ogden’s Olympic Festivities, Pioneer Days, and the Ogden City Time capsule. Taylor was honored as the 2002 Pioneer Days Historian and has self-published her own calendars, books, postcards and prints that promote Ogden’s unique scenic attractions. She recently championed the arts in our community by establishing the Valerie Taylor Foundation for the Visual Arts, a program conceived to provide Ogden’s inner-city school children with more participatory visual arts experiences.

CARRIE MAXSON
Music
In the music category, Carrie Maxson was honored. Several years ago, Weber State University graduate Carrie Maxson took a position at Ben Lomond High School as the director of a modest string program. With hard work and dedication, she expanded that small core into a thriving curriculum and was subsequently offered the position of director of instrumental music, which includes the school's marching band, the Ben Lomond Pipers and the jazz band. Under her tutelage, the Pipers have been traveling around the country and will tour Scotland next year. Maxson is known as a teacher with boundless energy and commitment to her students and work. Four years ago, she began a summer string program with a handful of students. This program now has an enrollment of over 100 students with a final recital attended by the community at the Ogden Amphitheater. Maxson also serves as the master teacher for the WSU String Project, part of a national initiative by the American String Teachers Association to foster the development of string music educators for elementary school grades. She oversees nine education students and the 120 school-age students annually enrolled in the program.

DR. ROBERT J. ARWAY
Humanities
With assistance from the Mayor’s office, The Utah Humanities Council selects the nominee for the Mayor’s Awards in the Humanities for outstanding contributions and work within humanities organizations such as libraries, museums and historical societies that foster cultural awareness and educational opportunities within the community. Dr. Robert J. Arway is the 2003 Mayor’s Award in the Humanities from Ogden City. He received his M.A. (philosophy) from Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., and a Ph.D (philosophy) from Institut Superieure de Philosophie in Louvain Belgium. His post-graduate study was done at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. For 37 years, Arway taught all the philosophical disciplines (logic, metaphysics, ethics, history of philosophy, etc.) as well as related disciplines such as sociology and psychology at the several universities. He also spent one year on the staff of the Menninger Foundation in the Division of Religion and Psychiatry. During his last five years at Weber State University, he served as director of the honors and general studies program. Since retiring from WSU in 1987, he has devoted himself to a variety of humanities-related community activities. He served four years as a member and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Weber County Library. During this time, he delivered several series of public lectures on religion, history, art and philosophy for a WSU-sponsored program for seniors called Academy for Life-long Learning. Currently, Arway is devoting his life-long interest in art to developing his abilities in painting. He has exhibited his work in numerous galleries in Ogden and neighboring communities. He is a member and past president of the Palette Club of Ogden and a member of the Eccles Community Art Center, where he has taught art classes to adults and children. He has participated in the center’s docent program to local elementary schools, exhibited in its galleries, donated paintings regularly to its annual auction, and donated financially to furnish its art studio and fountain/sculpture for its grounds. He has donated many paintings to auctions for various local civic groups and is a co-organizer and member of a cooperative art gallery called the Gallery 25 located on Historic 25th Street in Ogden.

The Mayor’s Awards ceremony was the focal point of the two-day Celebrate, The Arts! Festival held Oct. 3 and 4, centered in Ogden’s Historic Arts District. This is the first year for the new event held in conjunction with the national celebration of October as Arts & Humanities Month. Celebrate The Arts! is a partnership between Ogden City Arts, Downtown Ogden, Inc. and Ogden City Corporation.