Martha Brooks McKee Education Annex
On Friday, September 10th, we gathered to honor the incredible legacy of the late Martha Brooks McKee, and celebrate her passion for, and dedication to the arts.
We unveiled the new mural and signage for the Martha Brooks McKee Education Annex, and you may notice on the bottom right corner of the sign, there is a face of a cocker spaniel – this represents the McKee’s dog, Jolie, who greets students & visitors as they enter the classroom.
This building, formerly known as the Yellow Classroom due to its previous paint color, has been given a new vitality and creative energy thanks to the ongoing support of Martha and Bill McKee. With their most recent donation of $50,000 we have created a fund in Martha’s name, to support our educational initiatives and FCAC’s mission to provide affordable community access to the visual arts for all ages and abilities.
In Martha’s words, “You never know, when you throw that seed out there, exactly where it’s going to go and what it’s going to grow. You might see a young child’s painting, and you have no way of knowing who that child will become in 40 years.
But, if you don’t give them the opportunity to express themselves and to love what they do, you will never know how good that child can be in what he or she wants to do in the future.
That’s what FCAC does – it gives children and people of all ages the ability to start on the road to whatever they want to explore. There are not many places in this area or anywhere that are so in tune to what each student wants to create.”
We’d also like to acknowledge the amazingly talented Daniela deCastro Sucre, the local artist who created this exceptionally unique and gorgeous mural. And thanks to the volunteers who helped fill in the background colors!
Daniela used her incredible imagination and her own hands as a model for the colorful hands that you see, and she worked tirelessly through the heat and humidity, dodging thunderstorms and rain showers to ensure that this mural would be completed in time for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Thank you, Daniela.
On behalf of the First City Art Center’s Board of Directors and staff, we would like to express our immense gratitude to Bill McKee, and all the donors who’ve contributed to the Martha Brooks McKee Education Annex fund. We’re very thankful for the opportunity to continue to inspire the next generation of artists in Martha’s name.
