Lake Anne GRACE Art students with a group project inspired by sculptor Louise Nevelson. GRACE will be recognized for their work with GRACE Art at Arts Council of Fairfax County’s Art Awards. Picasa
Two Reston art organizations will be recognized by the Arts Council of Fairfax County next month.
The council will present their annual Art Awards to Patricia and Steve Macintyre - owners of Reston Art Gallery and Studios - and Greater Reston Arts Center on Oct. 24 for their work with the community.
“This year’s Arts Awards celebrate leadership and innovation with a strong focus on arts education,” said Linda S. Sullivan, President and CEO of the ACFC in a press release. “The arts are a powerful tool, central to human development, a global language everyone can connect to and critical in shaping strong communities.”
Six awardees are recipients of the four awards that ACFC is awarding this year.
GRACE was nominated for the Arts Impact Award based on the generations old program GRACE Arts. The program takes place in 40 different schools in the county, D.C. and Loudoun County and serves about 20,000 students.
“We are enormously honored at GRACE to receive this award,” said GRACE Executive Director Holly McCullough. “Especially in our 40th year, this is a real validation to our efforts in this community.”
THE PROGRAM, she said, promotes art education in elementary schools. Volunteers teach elements of design, cultural periods and artists to the young students through stories, and hands on projects. Every year, the studio has a GRACE Arts gallery to hang up the children’s masterpieces.
“GRACE Art fosters a fundamental appreciation of art, encouraging students to develop cultural awareness and seek out aesthetic experiences and allows parents who love art to share that passion with their children as volunteers for the program,” according to ACFC’s press release.
Steve and Patricia Macintyre will be awarded the Arts Philanthropy award for their support for local galleries and local artists for many years.
Patricia said that after she graduated from the Corcoran School of Art in 1971, she helped to found the League of Reston Artists, Herndon Old Town Gallery and Reston Art Gallery and Studios.
“I started climbing on tabletops and ladders to hang art for other people’s shows,” she said, talking about her early days as a patron and supporter of the arts.
She also is on the Council of the Arts - Herndon board of directors and a founder and board member of ArtSpace Herndon.
ACCORDING TO HER RESUME, she helped to select art for the Silver Line and was recently commissioned to paint two murals for the Reston Hospital Center.
Patricia said her interests in the arts were sparked before she was even a decade old.
“When I was 9, my mom was sick in the hospital,” she said. “I didn’t have enough money for a get well gift, so I made her a card with Woody Woodpecker in it. All the doctors and nurses said, ‘Wow, that’s really good!’”
Her husband, Steve, is a scientist. The two of them also do manufacturing and testing for the satellite industry in their company MEDA Inc.
“I always wanted to be an astronaut, so it’s nice that some of the things I’ve touched are outside of the solar system,” she said.
The awards will be presented at 2 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Fairview Park Marriott. For more information or to buy tickets for the event, contact Business Manager Janay Turner at artsawards@artsfairfax.org or 703-642-0862.