Author: Marty Morrison

Anna Billingsley, director of publications and design, will be honored by the Girl Scout Commonwealth Council of Virginia at the 10th annual Women of Distinction awards program at Jepson Alumni Executive Center September 16.  Billingsley is among 11 women recognized for their professional achievements and volunteer service in the greater Fredericksburg region.  She is honored in the communications category for her ability to effectively convey information.

She serves as chair of Hope House, a nonprofit agency that provides safe transitional housing for homeless mothers and their children. In addition, she is a board member of the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation and an active member of  Fredericksburg United Methodist Church. A former Girl Scout and local troop leader, she has been involved in planning and promoting the Women of Distinction awards program for 10 years.  Read the news release.

Art professor Carole Garmon found inspiration for her latest exhibit “Study for a Perfect Day” from two billboards that she spotted while driving through Tennessee last spring. Read more.

The fifth edition of “Searching and Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web,” co-authored by Ernest Ackermann, professor of computer science, and Karen Hartman, a former UMW staff member, has been published recently. The first edition of “Searching and Researching” was published in 1997, when Hartman was a reference librarian in the Simpson Library. She currently holds a position in the U.S. State Department. This edition extends the focus on formulating search strategies, understanding how to form search expressions, evaluating information, and citing resources to the social and other technologies often associated with the term Web 2.0.

Michael McCarthy, a visiting instructor in the English department, has had his first poems accepted for publication. Poetry East, described by the American Library Association as “one of the best current journals of poetry,” will publish four of his poems in its fall issue. They are titled “On My Birth Certificate,” “Etch a Sketch,” “Enchanted,” and “Spiral Staircase.”

UMW Galleries will launch the 2010-2011 season with two new shows that open on Friday, September 3 and run through Friday, October 8. On Thursday, Sept. 2, don’t miss the joint opening reception that will take place in both galleries from 5 to 7 p.m.

“Study for a Perfect Day” will take place in the duPont Gallery.  Working with local businesses and thrift stores to secure recycled materials, Carole Garmon has created a body of work that speaks to notions of artifice and artifact. Using the landscape as her backdrop, her “vistas” address the art historical through references to the sublime aesthetic; the political with a nod to manifest destiny; and contemporary western culture through a DIY approach to her building methods.

Carole Garmon,  professor of art, holds an MFA (1996) and a BFA (1993) in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University.  She has taught at UMW since 1998 and is a recipient of UMW’s Outstanding Young Faculty Member Award.  Garmon’s research acknowledgements include the accessioning of select images and research materials on Rembrandt into the Rijks Museum Library in Amsterdam, Holland and participating in a BBC 2 documentary on Rembrandt’s painting, The Night Watch.  The segment is part of the larger series, The Private Life of the Masterpiece.  She was one of two Americans chosen to participate in the international exhibition, Inspired By Rembrandt, commemorating Rembrandt’s 400th birthday.  In addition to numerous private collections, her work has been exhibited at the Main Art Gallery and 1708 Gallery in Richmond, the WPA/Corcoran Museum in Washington, D.C., the Arlington Arts Center, as well as Lima, Peru and Berlin, Germany.

“REPEAT: Exploring Pattern and Texture” will take place in the Ridderhof Martin Gallery.  It will feature the work of seven artists from Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia. Come see how these artists explore pattern and texture using a broad range of techniques and a variety of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, and mixed media.

Admission to the University of Mary Washington Galleries is free.  The UMW Galleries is located on the University of Mary Washington campus at 1301 College Avenue and is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 to 4 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 pm.

For directions and more information, call (540) 654-1013 or visit the gallery website at www.galleries.umw.edu.