Marshall Downtown -- Vol. 1, Issue 5

Marshall University College of Arts and Media

arshall owntown M D

Volume 1 • Issue No. 5 • Winter 2013

Decking the streets of Huntington MU art students, faculty adorn downtown storefronts with classic Christmas scenes Students and faculty from Marshall’s College of Arts and Media and members of Downtown Live hit the streets in November to spread holiday cheer via a “12 Days of Christmas” depiction on storefront windows downtown.

Downtown Live, a Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce committee, was created to attract more customer traffic to Huntington’s urban core. Marshall’s new state-of-the-art Visual Arts Center, slated for May 2014 completion, aims to do the same but with a bit of Big Green flair.

Above: Art graduate student Nikos Karabetsos and volunteers paint 10 lords-a-leaping. Below: Karabetsos (center) takes a break from painting the “eight maids-a-milking” scene with Shelby Spence, art education student and National Art Education Association student chapter president; Maribea Barnes, associate professor of art education and School of Art and Design interim director; Jillian Smallwood, fine arts student and art and design ambassador; and fine arts students Jacqueline Gentner and Zoey Myers.

“Our mission is to create and foster a Marshall University presence downtown,” said Nikos Karabetsos, the Marshall graduate student who coordinates the alliance with Downtown Live.

“This partnership is something we want to continue, especially with the Visual Arts Center in development.” ( co n t i n u e d o n s i d e 2 )

For more information about the College of Arts and Media, the Visual Arts Center or our partnerships, call (304) 696-6433, email cam@marshall.edu or visit www.marshall.edu/cam

D E C K I N G T H E S T R E E T S co n t i n u e d f r o m s i d e 1

“It’s kind of neat when you see a child’s eyes light up at the sight of the paintings.

Building those relationships between the Huntington community and Marshall University is what these partnerships are all about.”

- Nikos Karabetsos School of Art and Design Graduate Student

Children’s Art Festival Extravaganza (CAFÉ) event. CAFÉ has been exposing Huntington’s

Building partnerships

youth to a range of art materials since 2009.

“We hope to continue and grow this holiday event as we have with CAFÉ,” said Barnes.

“Assisting the committee has broadened our outreach initiatives and provided an opportunity for both our fine arts students and art education students to work collaboratively within the downtown community.”

To create the “12 Days of Christmas” window paintings, Karabetsos gathered students and faculty, including art education student Shelby Spence, fine arts students Jillian Smallwood, Jacqueline Gentner and Zoey

Cathy Burns, president/CEO of the

Myers, and Maribea Barnes, associate

Huntington Regional Chamber of

professor of art education and School of

Commerce, said working with Marshall

Art and Design interim director. Then they

University’s College of Arts and Media has

and community volunteers all headed

been invaluable to Downtown Live and the

downtown to consenting businesses

Huntington community.

between Tenth and Eighth streets.

“The collaboration between our business

Using paints and brushes donated by Latta’s

community and the School of Art and

School Supply, the volunteers painted the

Design allows us to enhance the look

windows, following outlines drawn by

of downtown and offer more events for

Karabetsos. He said the art, positioned along

people to attend,” said Burns. “With the new

the Christmas Parade route, was whimsical

Visual Art Center, this partnership is just the

specifically for the community’s children.

beginning — that’s the way we look at it.”

“It’s kind of neat when you see a child’s Maribea Barnes, associate professor of art

eyes light up at the sight of the paintings,”

education and School of Art and Design

Karabetsos said. “Building those

interim director, said she and her students

relationships between the Huntington

will again work with the Downtown Live

community and Marshall University is what

committee on its annual springtime

these partnerships are all about.”

“Unless we make Christmas an occasion to

share our blessings,

all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white.’”

- Bing Crosby American singer and actor

Our lives are marked by partnerships. We have partners at work and play, in business, community and in our relationships. The Marshall University Visual Arts Center is creating opportunities for exciting new partnerships between Huntington’s downtown and the arts.

As we anticipate an influx of more than 300 students and faculty members into the heart of the city, university and business interests are working together as partners to make this happen seamlessly.

Our partners in the design and construction of the building itself include bond holders, architects, the construction company and trades people, who are transforming a vast space for a bold new purpose. The donors whose gifts and pledges are making this dream a reality are partners, too, as are the civic leaders and government officials who have worked together with the university since the project’s inception.

The Visual Arts Center’s completion next summer will be followed by the arrival of hundreds of new faces to downtown, opening the way for partnerships that have been greatly anticipated and that hold promise for a more vibrant, creative downtown Huntington.

To the many partners engaged in this amazing transformation of our city and university we say, “thank you.”