‘Art on the Up and Up’

The creative fiction books she has written are available on Smashwords.com and Amazon. One is titled “Beckoned,” written after a nursing experience of unusual circumstances, and after participating in a study of psychokinesis. “All Kilts Are Off” is a romantic comedy. “Ada of the Angels,” she explained, is a true story of alternative intervention therapy, which she was involved in at the time. She is currently working on others.

The two children’s books Scales has written are “Max and Jax – The Haunted Pumpkin Patch,” and “Wally the Whale with the Crazy, Wavy Hair,” which she wrote as a bedtime story for her grandson. Her books are self-published.

The Scales’ have one daughter, Margaret (Maggie) Korycinski, and a grandson, Alan, 16, who live in Marcellus, New York. She has siblings in Alaska, Virginia, Arizona, Indiana and New York.

“My sister Sandy has been a huge influence on me,” Scales shared. “She taught me what it means to believe in God. She has a ‘can do’ attitude.”

At the Lion’s Club at OTOW, Scales initiated the Shoebox Express program, to help provide essentials for local school children.

“Some children go to school without shoes or underwear,” she reports.

Scales said she goes to second-hand stores and gets clothing items, then washes and repairs them, and takes them to schools to be given to children who need them. Some of the items are taken to the Ocala Sexual Assault Center, where there are women with children.

“The reason I do what I do today is that I love to help people,” she said. “My mom and dad always helped everyone, and others helped them in return.”

Scales hopes to organize a public movie night this summer at OTOW to benefit the Shoebox Express program. Admission will be a donation of money or canned goods, boxed goods, clothing items … “whatever someone can donate,” she explained. Those interested in donating, or learning the date of the event, may reach Scales by email at barbarascales58@hotmail.com or by text at (315) 440-0142.

The Appleton Museum of Art has unveiled a new lobby mural project featuring local artists and oversized vinyl graphics.

Staff report

The Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, has announced an initiative to bring new perspectives to the museum’s iconic lobby and add opportunities for contemporary artists through the display of dynamic large-scale works of art.

“Art on the Up and Up” is an innovative project series that allows invited Florida artists to develop original artworks that will become oversized vinyl graphics installed in the museum’s lobby, according to the news release.

“You’ll have to look up to see these unique works—the gravity-defying vinyls are secured to the underside of both the eastern and western marble staircases leading to the second-floor galleries,” note the release.

“The museum’s striking travertine façade and reflecting pools have welcomed nearly 2 million visitors since opening in 1987,” said museum director Jason Steuber, in the release. “We’re delighted to present this fresh opportunity to reimagine the lobby and how we engage and welcome visitors, through the installation of contemporary art in unexpected places.”

CF Professor Tyrus Clutter is the inaugural “Art on the Up and Up” featured artist. His vinyls, inspired by WilliamAdolphe Bouguereau’s “The Shepherdess” and Elizabeth Jane Gardner’s “Daphnis and Chloe,” are on display through the fall. Clutter noted that these two works are frequently chosen by his students for writing assignments when they visit the museum.

“They are iconic images from Arthur I. Appleton’s collection,” Clutter said in the news release. “I think many visitors are often attracted to them on their first visit to the museum and frequent visitors enjoy returning to them again and again.”

The Appleton Museum is at 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. To learn more, call (352) 291-4455 or visit AppletonMuseum.org.