committee
Sige Burden, chair Jeffrey Goodwin, co-chair Monica W. Parker, Links liaison Lacy Middlebrooks Camp Deborah Gonzalez Bree Hayes
Shanell McGoy Sarah Peterson
sponsors
Interim museum director Annelies Mondi (fourth from right) and Annie Greene, Lynch Award recipient (5th from right), with the Athens Chapter of the Links, Inc.
$10,000 – PRESENTING SPONSOR Anonymous $5,000 Lacy Middlebrooks Camp & Thomas G. Camp The Todd Emily Community Foundation $2,500 Kathy B. Prescott & H. Grady Thrasher III UGA School of Law $1,000 Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley, P.C. Sige Burden Jr. Mae & Louis A. Castenell Jr. Bree & Richard Hayes Anne & William R. Newton UGA Development & Alumni Relations UGA Office of the President UGA Willson Center for Humanities & Arts $500 The Athens (GA) Chapter of the Links, Inc. Missy & Wes Cochran Teresa & Charlie Friedlander Freda Scott Giles Mary & Jeffrey Goodwin Lillian Kincey & Steve C. Jones Jacki Macker & Cash Morris Sherrie & Stephen Olejnik Sylvia Hilliard Pannell & Clifton W. Pannell Monica & Sylvester Parker
UGA President Jere W. Morehead and Larry and Brenda Thompson at this year's celebration.
African American woman artist she’d ever met, inspired her, and as she put it, upon meeting her, “I started to dream.” Seeing her own work, a painting entitled “Little Girl Blue,” on the wall of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which was donated by the Thompsons, was a heavily weighted memory and moment of significance in her career. With welled eyes, Jackson spoke about being able to bring her parents to see her work on display there. “They took me to that same museum, 50 years prior, for the art classes in the basement,” she said. “They weren’t art people, but they believed in me and I’m so grateful to have won the parent lottery.” Alongside diligent work, she added, exposure to other artists is often what “takes an artist from doodling in their sketchbook to making real paintings.” Brenda Thompson spoke about the importance of this event and the power of Black history as well as her own appreciation for Jackson’s work. She quoted the renowned Black painter Charles White, who said, “paint is the only weap- on I have with which to fight what I resent” and said that Jackson embodies that sentiment in her own work. When her painting “The Bluest Eye,” which is in the museum’s collection and was a gift from the Thompsons, was on tour, museums had to put a rope in front of it because people were always trying to get closer and closer to it, to see the details and figure out the story Jackson was communicating. It was a hard work for the Thompsons to give up because it was one of their favorites, but “it needed to be seen by more than just us.” We remain appreciative of the Thompsons’ gift, which you can see selections of in the long-term exhibition “Decade of Tradition: Highlights from the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Collection.” We thank all who contributed to, spon- sored or attended and look forward to next year’s event.
Jinx & Gordhan Patel Janet & Alex Patterson Sarah & Chris Peterson Shanell McGoy & Terry Powers Cleophus & Carla Thomas Mary Lillie Watson & Ray Watson Peg Wood
event partners
The Athens Printing Company Guide2Athens Perryander Studio
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