Bringing the arts, artists and Atlantic City together!
Atlantic City Arts Commission Board


Lorenzo T. Langford

Mayor

Council Members

Craig Callaway, President
Ramone Rosario, Vice President
Gibbs Jones
Marty Small
Craig Callaway
William "Speedy" Marsh
Dennis Mason
Timothy Mancuso
Cassandra McCall
Eugene Robinson
Ramone Rosario

Appointed Commission Members

Lennox Warner, Chairman
Joanna LaSane, Vice Chair
Jessica Devlin, Treasurer
Blondell Spellman, 1 ward
Valeria Jones, 2 Ward
Pattie Harris, 3 ward
Winona Robinson, 5 Ward
Cynthia Hammond, At-Large
Ralph Hunter

Members
 
Associate
Members
 

LENNOX WARNER

Chairman Sculptor
Term: 2004-2008

Lennox started sculpting on his own in 1998, and later took painting classes at the Ocean City Arts Center, New Jersey in 2001, under the watchful eye of Patty Ray Guckus. His first three sculptures were from a Maple tree that he found on a Street in Brooklyn, New York. At that time, He did not know how to cure or treat wood. The tools that he used were regular carpenter chisels and a wooden mallet.

Today, He has carving gouges and modeling tools worth hundreds of dollars. His Sculptures and Paintings have been exhibited in many galleries and museums.
Lennox, has exhibited his art at the Ernest Rubenstein Gallery in Manhattan, New York, the Atlantic City Public Library, the Atlantic City Arts Center and the African American Heritage Museum in Newtonville, New Jersey. He spent the summer of 2003 in Antigua, West Indies, where he collaborated with well-known artist Anthony Hopkins on a sculpture called the Pineapple Lady. Also, Lennox was one of forty artist selected to participate in the Lighthouse Art project sponsored by the Atlantic County Community College, New Jersey. A local architect purchased his Lighthouse. Lennox is a graduate of Baruch College, New York City and is currently employed in Casino Gaming Industry.



ILONA SOCHYNSKY
Visual Arts
www.ilonasochysnky.com

Ilona Sochynsky is an award winning artist and designer. Her graphic design firm specializes in graphic identity and corporate communications programs, promotional campaigns and signage.

A resident of Margate, Sochynsky has earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a master’s degree from Yale University. She has recently completed a collaboration with the Noyes Museum of Art as Artist-in-Residence on a multi-component community art project. She has also been commissioned to create the impressive 46 foot by 22 foot work of art entitled The Fishing Pier. This mural pays tribute to Atlantic City’s Italian community and is located on Arctic and Mississippi Avenues.

Since 1998 Sochynsky has been making an in-depth study of South Jersey’s beautiful resort areas, and has published a series of limited edition prints featuring Margate, Atlantic City, Ocean City and Stone Harbor. Between 1981 – 2003 her works have been shown in dozens of exhibits in the United States, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlantic City, Rhode Island.



JOANNA LASANE

Vice Chairperson
A
rts Education
Term: 2004-2008
Joanna La Sane is the Director of the Atlantic City Children's Theatre and
Drama Consultant for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Complex, the Center for Early Childhood Education and the Atlantic City Board of Education.

Her theatrical training has come from the eminent and prestigious director,
Mr. Lloyd Richards, former Dean of the Yale University School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut, Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neil Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.

She has attended the Uta Hagen-Herbert Berghof Studio for the theatre in New York, New York and Montclair State College for theatre and speech.

Renown schools for dance include Ballet Arts, American School of Ballet, New York; International School of Dance, Carnegie hall, New York. She has studied dance with such great teachers as Martha Graham, Katherine Dunham, George
Ballenchine, Benjamin Harkavy, Talley Beatty, Pearl Primus, Jamie Rodgers and Arthur Mitchell.

Mrs. LaSane is a board member of numerous organizations, including the
Atlantic County Cultural & Heritage. She is Vice Chairman of the Atlantic City Fine Arts Commission and Atlantic County Womens Hall of Fame Inductee.

Mrs. LaSane is also the first African American woman appointed to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.



RALPH HUNTER
www.aahmsnj.org
Ralph E Hunter, Sr., founded the African American Heritage Museum. Hunter began a personal collection African American cultural, artistic, and media images that inspired the museum. His dream was to display it in an effort to preserve history and transform his treasures into an exhibit. After more than three decades of acquiring pieces, the collection now numbers in the thousands, and Mr. Hunter is committed to sharing it with others.

LEONARD WILKINSON

 Leonard was born in Orange, New Jersey were he attended school there and gratuated from East Orange High School in 1962. Upon graduation Leonard, worked for an advertising agency in Montclair, New Jersey, until his induction into the Armed Forces. His separation from the Air Force in 1970, lead him back to his hometown where he join the police department. After serving seven years on the police department , he decided that he would continue his education and returned to art school. After one year of partime study Leonard was asked by one of his instructors to apply for fulltime acceptance.

Leonard was accepted to Parson School of Design as an illustration major. From there he studied at the Art Students League and the Newark School of Design and Industrial Arts.

Leonard, worked in the casino industry and left to pursue his art on a full-time basis. Currently he is doing custom framing at a local craft store.

Leonard works in pen and ink, pastel and acrylics as well as watercolor. He has shown his work throughout the North and South Jersey area, in Chicago and at the Philadelphia Black Art Expo, A member of the Atlantic City art center, the Ocaen City Art Leaque. In March of 2002, he completed a one man show at the Ocean City Art Center. He has painted several murals in Brigantine and completed a restoration of the Kentucky Ave Jazz Mural. He was also commissioned to Paint the official Portrait of the late and former Mayor Mr. James Usry for the new Day Care Center name in his honor. In association with the Minority Board of Atlantic Cape Community College, Leonard was commissioned to paint one of the lighthouses in their Beacons of Light Program.

Mr. Wilkinson is available for murals, pastel portraits and his beautiful “Heritage Portraits” which are done in pen and ink from old photos a great way to restore and preserve the heritage and history found in old family photos.


 

WINONA ROBINSON

Visual Design
Term: 2002-2006
Visual Arts 5th Ward Representative
35 years of costume and hair design. I share my creative talents with friends and clients. A proponent for Arts Education. I've also been involved with the Martin S. Wilson, Jr. Center for the Arts including their Mural Arts Program.

 
PATTIE HARRIS
Performing Arts
Term: 2004-2008

 

 


 

SHARONE E. BROWN-JACKSON
Arts Education
Former Chair ACAC

 


 

 

Dr. PHOEBE FARRIS
Friend of ACAC

A summer resident and homeowner in Atlantic City, Dr. Phoebe Farris is a Full Professor of Art and Design/Women’s Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

As an independent curator, photographer, professor, author, and art therapist, Dr. Farris explores issues involving race, gender, indigenous sovereignty, Native American Studies, the environment, peace, and social justice from an interdisciplinary perspective. Her books, Voices of Color; Art and Society in the Americas and Women Artists of Color: A Bio-critical Sourcebook to 20th Century Artists in the Americas, create a dialogue about the intersections of social activism and the arts. Dr. Farris has been inspired in her research by fellow Powhatan intellectual, Dr. Jack D. Forbes, Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis.

A member of the Powhatan-Renape Nation, here in NJ, Dr. Farris is involved in local, national, and international Native American issues. She is frequently sought as a consultant on Native American art and culture.

Active in the contemporary art world, Dr. Farris has exhibited in national and international venues including the 1996 Women of Color video production at the Beijing, China International Women’s Conference and at the Parish Gallery in Washington, D.C. as part of the Smithsonian’s opening celebration of its National Museum of the American Indian.
She has also served as a consultant and guest curator for museums, galleries, and the U. S. Department of State.

Dr. Farris received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from City College of the City University in New York, a Master’s degree in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute, New York, and a Ph.D. in Art Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.


 

 


 

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