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Fine Arts

2022-2023 St. George’s Independent School Magazine

The Best isYet to Come!

By Allison Webb, Fine Arts Chair

A week ago, I was enjoying some quiet time at home. As a mom of two littles, quiet time is a fleeting concept in my life. I picked up my freshly delivered copy of Magnolia magazine and began to peruse its pages. I came across a collection of articles on Fortitude. As I read story after story, I began to think about all that has happened over the past two and a half years. Reflecting on how much flexing, bending, starting and stopping happened during that time.

Our jobs were certainly not spared by the “one step forward, two steps back” moment we were working through. And yet, the Fine Arts Department got creative so our artists, musicians, performers and singers did not miss out. When live performances were canceled, collaborative music videos were made. When indoor theatrical performances were not allowed, we performed En Pein Air. When we could not hang a student art show, we created an innovative digital art show. We decided our students were worth the fortitude it took to keep their work alive and in front of an audience. That grit created a stronger foundation for our four disciplines that form the St. George’s Fine Arts Collective. This year will, no doubt, be our best year yet.

Our programs are exploding in size, prowess and reputation. Our American Music Ensemble groups were nationally recognized by the world-renowned Downbeat Magazine as the nation’s “Best High School Blues/Pop/ Rock Group” of 2022. Our choral groups received top marks at state-level competitions and 14 Upper and Middle School students were accepted into the Southwest Tennessee Honors Choir. 100% of the SG Singers who auditioned were awarded a top seat. Both of these groups combined to pack the Germantown Campus PAC with their highly anticipated annual spring concert Cities.

Our theater department received awards in the Orpheum’s High School People’s Choice awards as well as the High School Musical Theatre awards for their performance of Frozen. Our theater department is expected to pack the house yet again with its fall season performance of CLUE (October 28-30) and the winter season performance of Beauty and the Beast (February 23-25).

Our visual artists were awarded regionally in several competitions, including the Delta Fair, West TN Regional Student Art Exhibition, Scholastic West TN Regional Art Competition and Southern Teachers Association Student Art Competition. In these, students were awarded several honors, including Best of the Best (WTRAC), four Gold Key Awards, including a portfolio (Scholastic), four Silver Key awards, including a portfolio (Scholastic), several first place, second place, and honorable mentions (Scholastic, WTRAC, Delta Fair), as well as a publication in the national calendar for STA and a gallery showing at Belmont College.

This year we plan to build upon our momentum, continuing to help every child discover the power of their own creativity. Our programs are growing and our sights are set on all of the potential that a new school year brings.

We have big plans to travel. Members of the Fine Arts Collective are spearheading two of the three “destination” trips that SGIS is offering this year. Karen Dean is putting together a trip to New York over fall break to tour Broadway and experience all that NYC has to offer. Nathan Dumser is planning a trip this summer to Austria/ Germany/Switzerland to perform and explore.

We have big plans to perform. The MS/US Choir and Band programs (jazz/classical band and the AME bands) are set to perform at the Germantown Campus PAC in September, February and March. They will also hold their annual spring concert in April. Our 2022-23 Theater bill is CLUE (Oct. 28-30) and Beauty and the Beast (Feb. 23-25), also at the Germantown Campus PAC.

We have big plans to get our work out there. The visual art students are diligently preparing for various local, regional and national competitions. They are working to create a Stars for Arts collection that will be available for auction during the St. George’s Annual Art Show. These artists are also working to create portfolios for Governors School, summer residencies and college portfolio panels. At this time, 34 Upper School students are considering some form of visual art as a major in college.

We have big plans to SHOW OUT! Back by popular demand, our second annual Student Art Show and Plaza Palooza will be held during St. George’s Day week, April 23-27. We are so excited to host our community for the 6th grade-12th grade Art Show throughout that week and on Friday for the Plaza Palooza event.

The Fine Arts Collective is so proud of the fortitude and grit our students displayed over the past couple of years. However, we are ready to set our sights toward the potential that the 2022-23 school year brings and we want to bring you along with us.

Wish to support the Fine Arts Collective? Contact Maggie Murff at mmurff@sgis.org. Opportunities include:

• Volunteer with the PA

• Become a Fine Arts sponsor

• Advocate with your presence at events

• Share your experience with others

The Arts in Lower School

By Morgan Pattison, Artist in Residence

At St. George’s, we are committed to providing the arts to every child at every age we serve. We know a child’s earliest expression is through the power of images and imagination. You can find our smallest hands in Little Georgies creating artwork that gives us a glimpse into their everyday lives and abilities.

Walking through the hallways of the Memphis and Germantown campuses you can hear children trying their hand at drums, xylophones and bells. We see students as young as eight standing on stage in front of an audience, bravely delivering their first solo at the Christmas concert.

A walk through either campus, one will see a constant rotation of artwork hanging in the hallways. A bright display of paintings, drawings and sculptures are all evidence of children stepping outside of their comfort zones to explore a side of themselves that they never knew existed. We see time and time again so many of our students flourishing in our arts programs not only because of our innovative curriculum and knowledge of content but also because of the culture of our community.

We encourage healthy risk taking and foster the belief that a St. George’s student is a lifelong learner who can have gifts that span the soccer field to the science lab all the way to standing at the front of a stage on the opening night of the fall performance.

2022-2023 Season

JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT

September 27 @ 6:30 p.m.

Collierville Campus

CLUE

October 28-30

7:00 p.m. (Fri., Sat.), 3:00 p.m. (Sun.)

Germantown Campus

SWTN HONOR CHOIR CONCERT

November 17-19

Cannon Center

ST. GEORGE’S ART SHOW

November 18-19

Collierville Campus

BAND AND CHOIR CHRISTMAS CONCERT

December 1 @ 6:30 p.m.

Germantown Campus

EARLY CHILDHOOD CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

December 1 @ 8:30 a.m.

Memphis Campus

SK & 1ST CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

December 9 @ 8:30 a.m.

Germantown Campus

LESSONS AND CAROLS

December 11 @ 1:00 p.m.

Germantown Campus

3RD & 5TH CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

December 14 @ 6:00 p.m.

Germantown Campus

DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST*

February 23-25

Germantown Campus

*Princess Party TBD

JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT

March 6 @ 6:30 p.m.

Collierville Campus

JUNIOR HIGH CHORAL FESTIVAL

April 5-6

TBD

MS/US SPRING CONCERT

April 13 @ 6:30 p.m.

Germantown Campus

FINE ARTS COLLECTIVE “PARKING LOT PALOOZA”

April 27

Collierville Campus

STEPPING UP/CHOIR PERFORMANCE

May 25 @ 6:00 p.m.

Collierville Campus

REBECCA’S LIGHT

Spring 2022

Bold and Inspiring

Meet Our Outstanding Faculty

DANNY BROADWAY, Artist in Residence Middle and Upper School Art Teacher

Danny Broadway has been inspiring student-artists at SGIS since 2006. Mr. Broadway has produced work for PBS, FedEx, Regional One, Memphis Grizzlies, Major League Baseball, National Civil Rights Museum, as well as galleries in Nashville, Little Rock, and San Francisco. His work portrays movement, light and emotion in colorfully expressive ways. With a love of experimentation, he uses different types of mediums and imagery to connect with the soul of humanity. A lifelong artist, Mr. Broadway graduated from the University of Memphis and is pursuing an MFA from Belmont University in Nashville.

GIA BROADWAY Germantown Campus Music Teacher

A performer at heart, Gia Broadway’s professional career has spanned a wide range of experiences.—from a principal ballerina with the River City Ballet Company and a dance captain/vocalist with the Blues City Cultural Center and Nubian Theater Company to choreographer/instructor in ballet, African, jazz, modern, and ballroom dance. She is a commercial and stage actress with Hattie Lou Theatre, CETA, Evening of Soul with Erma Clanton and Blues City Cultural Center, and has been in a choral ensemble with composer John Rutter at Carnegie Hall. Mrs. Broadway received a BFA in Communications/Film Production from the University of Memphis.

KAREN DEAN Director of Theater Arts

Karen Dean has taught “all things theater” at SGIS since 2017. Now in her 31st year of teaching, she enjoys helping students find their self-confidence and develop their talent. Mrs. Dean was awarded Best Direction by a Teacher at the 2017 Orpheum High School Musical Theater Awards.

She is a graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati with teaching certifications in theater, speech, and English. She received a masters degree in directing at Memphis State University.

NATE DUMSER Middle and Upper School Chorus

An accomplished conductor and teacher, Nate Dumser works with singers and instrumentalists in a broad spectrum of repertoire, bringing performances to life through movement and vibrant singing. He has conducted groups in Atlanta, Chicago, and Memphis, but most notably the University of Kentucky Men’s Chorus at the Lincoln Center in NYC and performing in the ACDA Southern Division Conference in 2018. Mr. Dumser served as the interim director of the Memphis Choral Arts Men’s Choir and assistant director of the Memphis Symphony Chorus. He also organizes the Southwest TN Jr. High Honor Choir. Mr. Dumser holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Music in Choral Music Education from the University of Memphis.

TOM LINK , Artist in Residence Middle and Upper School Music Teacher

Tom Link’s work focuses on the music of the Mid-South and the Mississippi Delta. His ensembles have garnered seven Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards, including best blues/pop/rock group in 2022. An in-demand saxophone player, Mr. Link has performed with Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Jason Isbell, Three 6 Mafia, and many others. He is also a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Mr. Link holds a master of arts in jazz composition and improvisation from the University of Memphis, where he is a member of the University of Memphis Faculty Birth of the Cool Ensemble.

MORGAN PATTISON, Artist in Residence Germantown Campus Art Teacher

Morgan Pattison has been teaching at St. George’s for six years. As a practicing artist, she works mainly with ink and watercolor and is inspired by leaves and nature. Her work is hanging in the Children’s Museum of Memphis and she shows her work in the St. George’s Art Show in the fall. Ms. Pattison’s art room is a no pressure environment where children are encouraged to try new things, explore their own abilities and feel safe enough to take healthy risks. Prior to St. George’s, Ms. Pattison taught elementary and high school art through Shelby County Schools and middle school art in Columbia, TN. She graduated from University of Memphis with a degree in Art Education.

KATY SIMMONS-CARROLL , Artist in Residence Middle School Art Teacher

As an artist in residence, Katy Simmons-Carroll has often joked that since becoming a teacher, her medium has become her students. However, over the past few years she has returned to her own artmaking practice, most recently with mixed media portraiture and experimentation with jewelry. She believes that finding balance is essential for a sustainable career as a teaching artist. Ms. Simmons-Carroll has taught K-12 visual art for over thirteen years—in public, private, and independent schools, in the museum setting, and at festivals in Tennessee and Louisiana. She holds a BFA from the University of Memphis and an MA from the University of New Orleans.

ALLISON WEBB, Artist in Residence Fine Arts Department Chair, MS/US Art Teacher

As a practicing artist, Mrs. Webb works primarily in oil paints and her colorful work focuses on the landscapes and great southern blues musicians like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. Her work has been shown in the Memphis Brooks Art Museum, Memphis Botanic Gardens, Salon Vela in Austin, TX, Memphis Heritage, Memphis Collage of Art, Kroc Center Memphis, Playhouse on the Square and other venues around Memphis. She earned a BFA at the University of Memphis, graduating magna cum laude, and studied Plein Air Painting at the Florence

Academy

of Art in Italy.

ADAM WOODRUFF, Artist in Residence Memphis Campus Music and Visual Arts Teacher

Mr. Woodruff was inspired by his parents, who are educators, and through his work as a peformer at the Playhouse on the Square in Midtown, to become a teacher. Trading bright lights for bright, young minds, Mr. Woodruff has served as the Lower School music and arts teacher at St. Georges since 2020. Building a collaborative, globally minded classroom culture is essential to Mr. Woodruff, who was trained in the Responsive Classroom methodology. This educational method seeks to teach students important critical thinking, emotional and social skills through creative thought processes.

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