By By Mary-Allison Lancaster Managing editor
Alabama State University Southern Normal Campus will celebrate Founder's Day on Feb. 27, and as the prelude to the day, a new art gallery will be dedicated in memory of former art teacher Eugene C Stallworth on Feb. 25.
The Eugene C. Stallworth Gallery of Art will be located in Dooley Hall on the Southern Normal Campus. The gallery is intended to educate through encouraging an appreciation of the visual arts.
Open to the public, the dedication ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. and last until 8 p.m. and will feature Sir James Randolph, a Southern Normal graduate and Brewton native.
Randolph, who has been featured in soap operas and movies, will fly in from New York and will sing at the dedication ceremony.
Stallworth, who also graduated from Alabama State College, was also a teacher at W.S. Neal once it became integrated. After teaching at W.S. Neal, Stallworth became an art teacher at Southern Normal. He was also considered a master at lettering, where most businesses would use him to do their lettering.
His daughters, Saundra Adams and Brenda Devrouax ,are spearheading and funding the art gallery.
Entrance into the art gallery will be free, and will feature Stallworth's artwork, as well as local artists and nationally recognized artists.
According to Breland-Bradly, Dooley actually lived in the hall and it was the first dormitory.
The art gallery will also display an interactive video where artists such as William Christenberry-a native Alabama artist and artist in residence at Auburn in Montgomery-will be featured. Christenberry now resides in Washington D.C. and donated his artwork titled "Red House" to the gallery.
One of the first emerging artists to be featured in the gallery is 19-year-old Jonathan Bell, who is a Brewton native. Seven to eight pieces of his artwork will be featured for a couple of months.
Sculptors, prints and drawings in the permanent collection, as well as prints from James Wells, a Harlem Renaissance artist, Joyce Wellman, a printmaker and Lou Stovall and Ed Dwight will highlight the gallery opening.
Dr. William Robert Harvey will be the keynote speaker on Founder's Day. Also part of the Founder's Day celebration, which is sponsored by the class of 1958, will be a gravesite ceremony under the oak tree where Dooley was buried, various activities will be performed and a ceremony of the historical marker placed at the entrance will be recognized.
The art gallery dedication is set for 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 25.