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Published: April 8th 2011
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Wiley College Administration Bldg
This building was used in the movie "The Great Deb.aters" Feb. 7-18 I spent this time just resting at Danette's. Also did some cleaning, laundry, etc. The writing mood struck, so wrote several articles for my favorite web site. Wednesday the 9th brought the promised snow to Dallas. It was only about ½ inch, though, so was not as bad as expected.
Feb 18: Visited eye doctor complaining of strained eyes. He prescribed new glasses with slight change of Rx, a second pair to correct bad astigmatism and told me I had dry eyes. Special drops helped.
Feb 19: Left Dallas and arrived in Marshall, TX, on the campus of Wiley College. Wiley is a predominately Black school linked to the Methodist Church. I will spend the next three weeks here working with the NOMADs. I met Jim and Esther who are the leaders of the project.
Feb 20: The NOMAD team all went to church together. Right now the team consists of Jim, Esther, myself and Betty and Hazel (two other ladies who travel by themselves) We tease Jim about his “harem”. Another couple with join us later in the week.
Feb 21: We opened our day as usual with a morning devotional. Just as we
Wiley Campus
Part of the campus of Wiley College with plum trees in bloom started, we were pleasantly surprised by a small class of students and their professor joining us. What a great way to start the week! Everyone told their names and a little about themselves. Most of the students were freshmen and/or sophomores. After ward we got a tour of the small campus by one of the college staff. The school was established in 1873 making it one of the earliest colleges for Blacks. They are known for their debate team, which beat Harvard for the National Championship in 1939. Denzel Washington produced and starred in a movie about the event, called “The Great Debaters”. Part of the movie was filmed on campus. Their debate team still ranks very high among the colleges.
While touring, we got a look at some of the work we will be doing, which includes painting the concession area in the gym and the bathrooms there. We will also paint the lounge in the boys dorm and a kitchen and lounge area in one of the girl's dorms. The staff would also like a backdrop used for special occasions redone. Looks like enough work to keep us busy!
Feb. 22: We took a break from
Shopping for Pottery
Looking at the pottery made at the pottery shop in Marshall, TX Left to right: Esther, Gary, Jim and Hazel with her back to the camera painting in the gym to attend the weekly chapel services. This week featured a special service called “Men of Strength.” This is an organization of Black students and college staff dedicated to maintaining high Christian standard in their life. The speaker was excellent and inspiring. We were especially impressed, however, with the men's choir which sang several songs accapella.
Feb 23: The group celebrated my birthday after devotions with a cupcake for everyone. Mine had a candle on it. I blew it out, but I have so many blessings I didn't know what to wish for!!
The other team members came in during the afternoon. Gary and Linda, together with Jim and I took a look at the “backdrop” the college wants redone. Oh my!
This evening we went to an original play that the college featured. The subject was the progress (and sometimes the lack of progress) made in overcoming segregation. I was fascinated by the Black point of view presented and some of their mental shifts in adjusting. The performers included not only actors, but also dancers and singers. The were wonderfully talented. The team talked about the presentation for days.
Feb 24: Leaving
Potter at Work
This guy gave us a demonstration while we toured the pottery market near Marshall, TX the gym bathrooms to the others, I did not feel the least bit guilty starting work on the backdrop. While Gary and Linda were beginning on the sawing and building, I started looking at what was needed in the way of artwork and lettering. Our team is awed at the way God brought all our unique talents and gifts to this project.
Feb 25-26: NOMADS get Fridays off, so the group decided to visit a local pottery factory. The gift shop had many items made right there at the factory, so I did some
Christmas and gift shopping. We watched a potter making some of the vases for a little while. There were several exhibits of artsy/craftsy things the factory staff had done with clay pots. It was a fascinating visit.
About noon, I left the group and headed to visit my cousin and his wife in Ashdown, AR. (Yep, another one. This is my only cousin on my Dad's side, however.) We lived in Ashdown until I was four or five, so my earliest memories are there. After we moved to northern Oklahoma, I traveled by train many a summer to stay with my aunt and uncle.
Nativity Scene
All the figures in this scene were made of clay pots of various sizes. My cousin, called “Skeeter” is several years older than I, so I didn't always see a lot of him. His wife, Phyllis is quite a talented painter in abstract watercolor. She has won several awards.
What fun to revisit the old town and rekindle many memories. The river we used to fish on is now a lake due to a local dam. Skeeter drove all around the area, but I recognized nothing. The old downtown has not changed much, except to go downhill. Such a shame so many of these little towns are dying. We visited my aunt's old house which Phyllis had made into a working studio for her. It is a place every artist dreams of having! Every room is a gallery of her pictures. Three rooms are working rooms for painting, storing, matting and framing. I just drooled over everything.
The sad thing is, Phyllis has macular degeneration and doesn't know how much longer she can paint. She has to use extra bright lights and magnifying glasses to see much at all now. I loved many of her paintings due to her use of a lot of bright color. I am gaining more appreciation of
abstract, but still don't really know what makes it good! Phyllis gave me some good suggestions, advice and loaded me down with some watercolor supplies and one of her paintings! I felt like a queen!
Feb 27: Arrived back at the campus in time to join the team for supper. One of the perks of this project is that all our meals are included! We eat breakfast and supper in the student cafeteria and lunch in the faculty dining room. The meals are delicious! (And I hoped to lose weight while working with NOMADS!!!) Supper can get awfully noisy, however, as the students are letting off steam after classes all day!
Feb 28-April 3: Back to work, week two. I cleaned and refurbished one of the medallions that goes onto the back-drop. Gary got all the big pieces cut and we are also painting them. The school bought wooden letters for the other medallion and we are trying to figure out how to get them all on the space we have to work with. The others are slaving away in the bathrooms in the gym!!
Tuesday night, we attended still another superb show by the students. The
Phylis at her Files
Her studio was so organized. presented Black music from the Gospels to the modern/current times. Much was done accapella. What a group. They groaned and jived, sang and crooned and were outstanding. My favorite was one girl who sang an old song “At Last” in Etta James style. I had to stand and clap on that one. (You young ones reading this will just have to try and find the song and the singer on line somewhere. Otherwise, you just won't understand!!)
April 4: Today the team ladies visited downtown Marshall, while the two guys went to the college baseball game. The beautiful old courthouse downtown is in the process of being refurbished. I am so glad the town decided to keep it, because it is just beautiful. We got to tour the whole thing. The staff there even let me go up to the top floor to take pictures. Most of the time the area is off limited due to offices there. The old courtroom is also restored and they do hear some civil suits there.
After leaving the courthouse we visited two art museums. One place is an active gallery where the artists have studios and work as well as display there.
Phylis
My cousin-in-law. We got to talk to some of them.
Downtown Marshall is working at coming back to life. They have murals in several places and several specialty shops. On “department store” of antiques, art, curios and souvenirs was three storied. They also offered ice cream and coffee, along with places to rest tired tourist feet!
Feb 7-10: Final week at Marshall and Wiley College. We finished up the backdrop and I think it looks great. Gary figured out a way to hang the two medallions onto the backdrop so they could be changed more easily and stored with less damage. I wound up doing some lettering because some of the wooden letters were just too big to fit. Putting all this together was quite a challenge, but everyone feels we did a good job. I know the staff really liked it. Now Gary, Linda and I are back to the others cleaning and painting.
Monday night four of us attended a class on The Hebrew Bible. The whole team had been invited the week before, so some of us decided to go. The professor dressed liked Esther of the Bible and did a one person performance of the
Skeeter
My cousin, Frank, who has always gone by "Skeeter". story of the book. What an innovative way to keep the students (not to mention us) interested! The students shared info about themselves and did we. They asked a lot of questions about NOMADs and some were surprised to learn we were entirely volunteer.
On Thursday, the college gave us a farewell reception and gifts. They have been so appreciative. I have really enjoyed meeting and working with them.
Mar 11: I said good-bye to the team and headed south to my next project in LeBlanc, LA.
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Olan Halbert
non-member comment
Marty, Enjoyed your "blog" - great pictures. Looks like you had a good project at Wiley College. Hopefully you are the Circle of Care Girls Home in OK. You will really enjoy working there. We just left the Boys Ranch in Gore, OK - another great project.