“God’s blessings have grown this program and the love He has given us for others is what keeps us going to put it on year after year,” said Johnnie Maberry, chair of Tougaloo College’s Fine Arts Department and the Tougaloo Art Colony.
The Hot Art Exhibit and Raw Kids Art Camp are two recent events that Maberry feels she has been blessed to be a part of since working with Tougaloo College, a historically black institution built with the assistance of the American Missionary Associat-ion of New York.
The exhibit was a culmination of a weeklong indulgence of the Arts for Art educators and Art students. A new addition to the 2009 Art Colony was the 3-day RAW KIDS Art Camp, an exciting, hands-on children’s art camp (ages 6-14) led by Ann “Sole Sister” Johnson of Houston, Texas.
RAW KIDS’ goal is to nurture creative minds by allowing children to produce exciting art projects. “These kids, they really wanted to get their hands on this stuff. They wanted to do it,” said Maberry. “It’s important for us to provide an outlet to encourage children to develop their gifts and talents.”
The 2009 Art Colony marks the 13th year for this event. “Tougaloo is known for the first in a lot of things,” Maberry said. “The Art Colony was the first of its kind on the campus of a historically black college or university. It offers a way and a means for teachers, within the state itself and even other areas, to be able to come in and grow in the field of art.” “Now, with the addition of the Kids camp, we are enriching the Arts for years to come.”
Tougaloo College is a private, coeducational, historically black four-year liberal arts, church related, but not church controlled institution. It sets on 500 acres of land located on West County Line Road on the northern edge of Jackson, Mississippi.
Founded in the late 1800s, Tougaloo College was later joined by another area institution, The Southern Christian Institute (SCI) in Edwards, Miss., with the approval of the Mississippi State Legislature.
Because it was later determined that Tougaloo College and SCI had similar missions and goals, supporting churches merged the two institutions in 1954 and named the new institution Tougaloo Southern Christ-ian College.
Combining the resources of the two supporting bodies, the new institution renewed its commitment to educational advancement and the improvement of race relations in Mississippi. The alumni bodies united to become the National Alumni Association of Tougaloo Southern Christian College. In 1962, by vote of the Board of Trustees and with the agreement of the supporting bodies, the name was changed again to Tougaloo College.
“This institution has been the catalyst for so many positives changes not only throughout our state, but our country and now through the Grace of God we are able to offer another factor that can help to improve the social and educational fabric of the young artists who may not have this opportunity at any other time. Tougaloo always has and will continue to make a difference to people of every age,” said Maberry.
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