Life briefs: Girls Create Camp, Chautauqua workshops, Mansfield engineer honored

Buckeye Imagination Museum hosts its first art-themed summer program

Buckeye Imagination Museum hosted its very first summer program June 26-30, and it was designed specifically for local girls in Richland County interested in art.

Throughout the five-day camp, named “Girls Create Camp,” the 11 young artists learned about Alma Thomas, Mary Blair, Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama and local muralist Allison Pence. After each artist lesson, the girls would create their own work in the artist’s preferred art style.

On Friday, the girls were taken on a field trip through downtown Mansfield to see the various murals and art on the buildings, finishing the trip at Element of Art, where they were able to contribute to the gallery’s Art Wall, a monthly collage-style mural. That evening, the museum held an art show and silent auction for the girls, hosting family members and representatives from Richland County Foundation and the Women’s Fund. The young artists presented a large piece of art to these representatives to show their appreciation for the funding provided for the program.

Each camp participant selected one of their art pieces to sell during the silent auction. Each piece sold for at least $40, which the girls received.

'Action Figures' theme creates lively Chautauqua workshops

ASHLAND — Ashland Chautauqua’s visiting scholars are known for their evening performances at Brookside Park. They also offer free daytime workshops — for youth and for adults — which will be especially lively this year, thanks to the action-packed 2023 theme: “History’s Real Action Figures.”

Ashland Chautauqua begins this year on Tuesday and finishes on Saturday. The “action figure” characters to be portrayed this year are: Meriwether Lewis, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; Jackie Cochran, a record-setting pilot in the early days of aviation; Pauli Murray, an activist seeking racial and gender equality; Samuel Bellamy, a pirate captain, and Harry Houdini, perhaps the greatest magician and escape artist of all time.

At 2:30 p.m. Tuesday an adult workshop titled "Jim Crow: Its History, Our Heritage" will be presented at the Ashland Public Library. Scholar Becky Stone, who will portray human rights activist Pauli Murray Thursday evening, leads the workshop.

Scholar Larry Bounds will present an adult workshop at the Loudonville library at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It is titled "Houdini's Scrapbook - A Life of Illusion." The Houdini performance will be Saturday evening.

“The Golden Age of Piracy: Fact, Fiction, and Fantasy” is an adult workshop scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Ashland County Council on Aging. Joey Madia, who will portray Samuel Bellamy on Friday evening, is the workshop leader.

Scholar Karen Vuranch will also lead a workshop on Wednesday. “Fly Girls: Women of WW II” will be presented at 2:30 p.m. at Ashland Public Library. Vuranch will portray 1930s and '40s pilot Jackie Cochran on Wednesday evening.

“The Magical World of Harry Houdini” will introduce area youth to the fantastical tricks of the world’s most renowned magician, with magician and scholar Bounds mystifying the audience. The location is the Salvation Army Kroc Center Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

Scholar Brian “Fox” Ellis will present an adult workshop at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ashland County Senior Citizen Center. Its intriguing title is “Lewis and Clark His-Story and Natural His-Story, too.” Meriwether Lewis is the first evening performance this year, opening the five-day Chautauqua event on Tuesday.

Scholar “Fox” continues his entertaining storytelling Friday with a youth workshop entitled “Tribal Tales from the River’s Edge” at 10 a.m. at the Myers Memorial Band Shell in Brookside Park. The rain site location would be the Ashland YMCA.

Scholar Vuranch will lead a workshop entitled “Women of NASA” at Mill Run Place, at 1 p.m. Friday. This workshop will illuminate the considerable contributions women have made to aerospace science and technology.

“Join a Pirate Crew!” is the invitation to scholar Madia’s youth workshop Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Ashland Public Library.

The final workshop of the week is scholar Stone’s teen and adult program titled “State Laws on Race and Color — Ohio.” It takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Ronk Lecture Hall in the Schar College of Education on the Ashland University campus.

All evening performances are at 8 p.m. in the Guy C. Myers Memorial Band Shell. An Opening Act begins each evening at 7 p.m. More information can be found at ashlandchautauqua.org.

Mansfielder wins statewide award

COLUMBUS — Jeffrey S. Kennedy has won the Citation Award from the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE-Ohio) at the organization's 145th Annual Meeting. The Citation Award is NSPE-Ohio's highest honor, and it was given to Kennedy in recognition of his distinguished leadership in the engineering profession and in appreciation of selfless devotion to the highest ideals of service to society and to fellow man, and for sustained contributions to the technical and professional aspects of the engineering profession.

Previously, Kennedy was the recipient of NSPE-Ohio's Professional Engineering Management Award in 2007 and its Uncommon Engineer Award in 2013.

Kennedy, the son and grandson of construction engineers, is the president of Shaffer, Johnston, Lichtenwalter & Associates in Mansfield, where he has been employed since 1993. Kennedy is also a past president of NSPE-Ohio, as well as a past president of two NSPE-Ohio Chapters: the Canton Regional Chapter and the former North Central Chapter.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Buckeye Imagination Museum girls camp, Ashland Chautauqua workshops