Ex-corporate attorney Jim Lively drawn to art world

Visitors to Lumin-Arte Gallery in the Design District might be surprised to learn that the artist behind all those paintings and photographs is a former corporate executive—who got laid off.

Lively, 58, the younger brother of rainmaker Bill Lively, who raised most of the $354 million needed to build the AT&T Performing Arts Center, is a former legal counsel for Electronic Data Systems, where he worked for almost 20 years. He left the company, albeit involuntarily, in 2009, when he underwent a metamorphosis.

Goodbye corporate world, hello art world.

The Dallas Morning News reports Lively is the general counsel for LuminArte Gallery, but he's drawn to the place mainly because it helped facilitate his budding career as an artist.

He's also a writer.

He recently self-published a novel based on his experience at EDS. It's called The Puzzle Aesthetic, which features not only his lively prose but also striking examples of a range of art forms.

Lively is one of several who will show their work in a new exhibition at LuminArte, where he's signing copies of his book from 7 to 10 Saturday night. The show, called “Fantastic Realism,” celebrates surrealism, dream motifs and postmodern juxtapositions by a collection of artists who are part of Lively's new circle of friends.

“I miss the salary and some of the friendships,” he says of his years in the corporate world. “But that's all I miss. I'm so happy doing what I'm doing.”

Lively grew up the youngest of four brothers in Oak Cliff, Texas, where he graduated from Carter High School. He spent his college years at UT Austin before getting a law degree from SMU. He joined EDS in 1989, when the company was still the juggernaut created by its founder, Ross Perot.

The culture, he contends, changed soon after Perot left.

He no longer has the corporate salary, “but I work harder,” he says, “and I'm happier doing what I'm doing. The art world is a completely different animal than the corporate world. Rewarding, refreshing. I love working with artists who have never before shown their work in a gallery.”

He wanted to use fiction, as well as paintings and photographs, to show “that the corporate world has changed over the years and not for the better. I also wanted people to know that, if you're in that environment, there's hope—but only by getting out of that environment.''

As for Lively, “I'm in a great place. I love it.”

___

Information from: The Dallas Morning News, www.dallasnews.com

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-20-13 1756GMT

German accused of smuggling art allowed to leave China

Guido Westerwelle said in a statement that Nils Jennrich had departed China on Tuesday and voiced relief that "many months of uncertainty and concern" for his family was "over for the present."

The foreign ministry declined to give information about his current whereabouts.

Westerwelle said the proceedings in China against Jennrich were still under way.

Jennrich was taken into custody on March 29 last year and formally detained on May 7 for allegedly underreporting the value of imported art to evade 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in taxes, his lawyer said in July.

He was released on bail in August.

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has in the past called Jennrich's detention conditions "unacceptable" and "not in accordance with international minimum standards."

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang is due to begin a visit to Germany from Sunday when he will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The sentence for evading more than 500,000 yuan in duties ranges from 10 years to life, though courts may issue a lighter punishment.

Jennrich worked in Beijing as general manager for Hong Kong-based Integrated Fine Arts Solutions.

The company imports a small amount of art, while focusing on providing storage for mainly Chinese pieces for clients, its managing director Torsten Hendricks has said.

James Jackson addresses ISA conference on appraising art

His lively and informative presentation was designed specifically for those who are currently working or desire to work in the field of fine art appraisals and seek to increase their proficiency and understanding of this ever-changing arena. The popular workshop is based on the current front-line experiences of Jackson, touching on many topics including online research tools, making accurate comparables and fakes and forgeries.

With headquarters in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jackson’s sells and appraises millions of dollars’ worth of fine art and antiques each year since it was founded in 1969, and Jackson’s holds numerous auction world records on a variety items and artists in a multitude of categories. Jackson has written widely and lectured coast-to-coast on the subject of fine art and antiques and is recognized internationally in the area of Russian Art including icons, paintings and decorative arts with an emphasis on ecclesiastical and European works.

Jackson has traveled extensively buying, selling, and appraising fine art, visiting over 25 countries including over a dozen trips alone to Russia doing research on Russian art. James was the author of the icon section for the International Society of Appraisers Fine Arts Course and has been guest curator at numerous museums throughout the U.S. in conjunction with various Russian art exhibitions.

Besides running the day-to-day operations at Jackson’s International, Jackson also manages the paintings and prints department, which appraises, inspects, and sells over 3,000 works on canvas and paper yearly, maintaining a keen interest in European works circa 1500-1930. Jackson has been recognized for his contribution to the field of fine art appraisers by both the ISA as well as the International Auctioneers Association.

Jacksonis married to Russian artist Tatiana Anatolievna Jackson, and together with their four children ages 6-17, they make their home in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where they are both active volunteers in local, state, national and international civic and philanthropic endeavors.

Winnie Mandela's items to be sold to pay off debts

The sale will happen at the home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a polarizing figure who was beloved by many for her role in the anti-apartheid struggle but was also involved in legal troubles over the years, including a kidnapping conviction in the early 1990s.

Madikizela-Mandela collects a salary as a member of parliament, and she is also a member of the national executive committee of the ruling African National Congress, the liberation movement that has led successive governments since the end of white racist rule in 1994.

She defaulted on a $2,150 payment to Abbotts College, which has several high school campuses in South Africa, according to South African media. A relative of Madikizela-Mandela had been studying at Abbotts.

A court ruled against Madikizela-Mandela in 2011. Alan Levy Attorneys, a law firm representing the school system, said the auction will be held Tuesday at her home in the Soweto township of Johannesburg. Items for sale also include tables and chairs, a roomful of books and sculptures.

Her lawyer declined to comment.

Madikizela-Mandela married Nelson Mandela in 1958 but then the couple was separated for 27 years while Mandela was imprisoned by South Africa's racist white government. He and Winnie divorced in 1997, during his term as the country's first black president.

Madikizela-Mandela was an anti-apartheid leader in her own right. However, her behavior grew increasingly erratic in the 1980s as crackdowns against her and the ANC grew increasingly intense. She and her former bodyguard unit, known as the Mandela United Football Club, were accused of committing 18 killings and other crimes during this period.

She was convicted of charges including kidnapping in 1991. Initially sentenced to six years in jail, she was ordered to pay a $3,200 fine on appeal.

In March, forensic experts exhumed two skeletons believed to belong to two young activists last seen at her home 24 years ago. No charges have been filed.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-15-13 1555GMT

Museum of the Confederacy honors Dr. James I. Robertson Jr

Dr. Robertson is a Distinguished Alumni Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech. He was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission and worked with Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson in marking the war’s 100th anniversary. Prior to his retirement, Robertson’s Civil War Era course at Virginia Tech, which attracted 300 students per semester, was the largest of its kind in the nation.

The Danville, VA, native is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as Civil War! America Becomes One Nation, General A.P. Hill, and Soldiers Blue and Gray. His biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the basis for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. movie, “Gods and Generals”. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.

The recipient of every major award given in the Civil War field, and a lecturer of national acclaim, Dr. Robertson received his Ph.D. from Emory University as well as honorary doctorates from Randolph-Macon College and Shenandoah University. He was the Executive Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, which he created at Virginia Tech in 1999.

Robertson is also a charter member (by Senate appointment) of Virginia’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission.

In his presentation, Waite Rawls, President of the Museum, said Dr. Robertson, “… has devoted his life to helping all of us know more and understand better the events of 150 years ago and their importance to us today.”

The Museum of the Confederacy is located at 1201 East Clay Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Tel. 855-649-1861. Visit them online at www.moc.org.

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In Memoriam: Ottavio Missoni, fashion designer, 92

A statement issued by Missoni SpA said he “passed away serenely” in his home in the town of Sumirago on Thursday. The town, near the city of Varese, is also home to the company headquarters.

It was a second sorrow for the family in a matter of months. Earlier this year, Ottavio's eldest child, company CEO Vittorio Missoni, 58, disappeared with his wife and four others while flying in a small plane during a vacation to a Venezuelan island. They were never found, and the cause of the disappearance remains a mystery.

Ottavio Missoni founded the company in 1953, along with his wife, Rosita Jelmini, who survives him. They went on to create a fashion dynasty, with the couple's three children and their offspring involved in expanding the brand.

The company's creative director is the couple's daughter, Angela, while a third child, Luca, works in a technical role in the company. Family-run companies are a hallmark of Italian businesses, commonly beginning with a small company and slowly expanding with the help of often fiercely loyal employees.

Born on Feb. 11, 1921, in what is now Dubrovnik, a picturesque Adriatic coastal city in Croatia, Missoni was fond of saying he came into the fashion business practically by accident. His wife's family owned a textile factory and produced shawls. The couple started their own business with an artisan's shop producing knitwear in Gallarate, near Milan.

At the beginning, they produced athletic wear, likely inspired by Missoni himself, who had been a track-and-field star, specializing in 400-meter races and hurdles. He won several national medals, and competed in the 1948 Olympics.

The company expanded, eventually constructing its main factory in Sumirago. But the philosophy of applying an artisan's eye to detail and precision continued to shape its fashion output, on the runways of Milan and in stores worldwide as their brand went global.

The Missonis, who often wore their own creations in everyday life, first showed their collection in Milan in 1966. The next year, a show in Florence of transparent tops sparked outrage, but they were ahead of a fashion trend that would later sprout in Europe.

Their signature fashions have a reputation for wearability and for surviving many seasons of changing fashion whims. Among the exhibits honoring them was one by the Whitney Museum in New York. New York's Metropolitan Museum has also showcased their creations.

The Missoni fashion house has also created costumes for La Scala, the Milan opera house.

Expanding the fashion dynasty, Ottavio and Rosita Missoni's granddaughter, Margherita, has promoted Missoni perfume and starred in advertising campaigns.

____

D'Emilio and AP Fashion Writer Daniela Petroff contributed from Rome.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-09-13 1350GMT

Restoring vending machines keeps NC man feeling young

The cries of “Hey, Alan!” and “What's up, Alan?” rise from nearly every cook, waitress and patron at the small, hometown restaurant in downtown Granite Falls.

Because in Granite Falls, Alan Huffman knows everyone.

Huffman's Antiquities Vending Co.—which is so close to Stephen's Main Street Grill that they almost share a parking lot—is home to the largest collection of antique soda machines in the world. He restores the machines for customers, both individual and commercial. Occasionally he gets calls from the History Channel and Discovery Channel.

Often, the customers are just people who found an old soda machine. Maybe it belonged to their grandparents, no one really took care of it, and it has stopped working.

They call Huffman and ask if he can fix it. He always can.

“It'll work again just like it worked in the ’40s,” he said. “It'll take a nickel and give you a drink.”

Most of Huffman's higher-profile customers find him online. Search “antique vending machines” on Google, and he's one of the first links that come up.

But what catches most of the drive-by attention is a sign on the side of the big, yawning building where all those old machines are housed: “Antique Vending Company's Soda Machine Museum.”

It's not really a museum, though, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. For one thing, no one expects you to pay. And there are no regular hours.

Just give Alan a call—that's 828-962-9783, if you're not from Granite Falls—and he'll set you up with a tour.

For Huffman, this all started in 1989, when he found his first vintage soda machine in Columbia, S.C.

The machine was on sale at an antique store for $350. He borrowed the money to buy it.

But as he worked to restore the machine, he quickly realized there weren't any examples for him to follow. There were no 1950s-era Coke maintenance manuals.

Some people would have given up. Huffman collected a roomful of examples.

Now, when someone brings him an antique machine with a missing piece, Huffman can walk into his showroom, find the machine's double and make an identical part.

And you walk out with your machine fixed.

Huffman bought that first vending machine because it reminded him of something.

He saw it and remembered something he hadn't thought of in years: The old soda machine at Galaxy Food Store in Granite Falls.

When Huffman was a kid, the machine was set up in the back, with refillable bottles and a glass door. He'd stand there and look at his favorite drink, the orange Sun Crest with the bumpy glass bottle.

He usually didn't have any money to buy anything, but he could look.

“It reminded me of a time when I was a child and when things seemed to be simpler,” Huffman said. “It always helps a person to, when they get older, take one thing from when they were young, and see that it stays young.”

So that's why Huffman owns a vending machine restoration company: because he loved his childhood, and he loved Granite Falls, and he loved staring through that soda-machine glass.

Huffman still loves Granite Falls. He knows everyone who has been there longer than a minute, and they look after him.

Years ago, Huffman decided it was time to trim down. He's single, though, and eats every meal out—which could've been a dieter's worst nightmare.

Instead, Huffman figured out what foods he could eat, and asked each of his local haunts to start making them. Sometimes he had to buy the food himself, but they made it for him.

At Stephen's, his meal of grilled tilapia and twice-roasted green beans has made it onto the menu as “The Alan.”

Huffman's business takes him all over the country—including back to South Carolina, where he found his first machine.

At the end of the day, he likes to come home to Granite Falls, where he and his business can both spread out and have a little room to breathe.

“In a small town, you have more freedom to move around,” he said. “That's really the main thing. I like visiting big cities—love it—but I like knowing I can get in my car and go back to Granite Falls.”

And besides, in Columbia who would know how he likes his tilapia?

___

Information from: News-Topic, http://www.newstopic.net

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-08-13 2149GMT

Rongde Zhang to head Sotheby's NY Classical Chinese Paintings dept

NEW YORK - Sotheby’s has announced the appointment of Rongde Zhang to the positions of Senior Vice President, Senior Specialist, and Head of Sale for the Classical Chinese Paintings department in New York.

Rongde joins Sotheby’s with decades of experience in the field of Classical Chinese Paintings, most recently at the Shanghai Dowmin (Daoming) auction house where he was Director and General Manager. He will strengthen Sotheby’s already successful team in the field which includes Arnold Chang, senior consultant, as well as Xian Fang, Lucy Li, and Christina Prescott-Walker. The appointment follows a particularly strong March auction and comes as the department is in the midst of property gathering for the next sale in September.

Rongde Zhang said “I am excited to be joining Sotheby’s New York at such a dynamic time for the Classical Chinese Paintings department. Having built the market for New York auctions in this category over the past two years, Sotheby’s has a formidable reputation as the market leader in the US for sourcing and selling the very finest examples of Chinese Paintings from the 14th through 20th centuries and I look forward to working with the team to put together the September sale.”

Henry Howard Sneyd, Vice Chairman, Asian Art at Sotheby’s commented: “I am delighted to welcome Rongde to Sotheby’s. He brings exceptional knowledge and experience, as well as significant links in the collecting community in the US, China, and Japan where he was based for 13 years. Since Sotheby’s pioneering reintroduction of dedicated Classical Chinese Paintings auctions in New York in 2011, Sotheby’s has been the clear leader in this field. Our sales have gone from strength to strength with the most recent March sale soaring over the estimate to bring $18.6 million.”

Visit Sotheby's online at www.sothebys.com.

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J.C. Vaughn promoted to VP Publishing at Gemstone

Vaughn joined the company in April 1995 as an Associate Editor. In June 1996, he switched gears and took on the role of Marketing Coordinator. He remained in that position until January 1999, when he returned to his passion for writing and was promoted to Executive Editor. In April 2007 he also assumed the additional responsibilities as Associate Publisher.

In his time with Gemstone, he has played an important role in contributing to and the promotion of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, long known as the Bible of comic collectors. He also developed The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comics and the forthcoming new book, The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comic & Animation Art.

In addition, he has worked on a variety of publications for the company over the years, such as Hake’s Price Guide to Character Toys, The Official Price Guide To Disney Collectibles, and The Official Price Guide To Mickey Mouse Collectibles, among others.

Vaughn currently produces the annual Free Comic Book Day, Comic Book Marketplace and the weekly email newsletter Scoop. He also writes about pop culture for Auction Central News and Toy Collector Magazine.

“This is an exciting time for Gemstone Publishing and for the comic book industry as a whole. As much as there are many challenges ahead, pop culture is also experiencing the greatest acceptance by the culture as a whole that it has ever enjoyed. J.C. shares my belief that this is something that must be capitalized on, and I’m excited to see his – and Gemstone’s – growth in this arena,” said Gemstone Publishing President and CEO Steve Geppi.

In his new position, Vaughn will continue reporting to Geppi, who is also President and CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors, and founder of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore’s historic Camden Yards sports complex.

“Working with Steve Geppi, Bob Overstreet, Mark Huesman, Mike Wilbur and all of our contributors at Gemstone has been and continues to be a great education in the history of popular culture, and comic books in particular. I look forward to building on what we’ve done already and continuing to find new ways to serve the collecting community,” Vaughn said.

To contact J.C. Vaughn, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Cynthia Round named VP Marketing at Met Museum

Round has served since 2002 as executive vice president of brand marketing and strategy for the nation’s largest privately supported nonprofit, United Way Worldwide, where she has been responsible for global brand stewardship, its national website, communications, marketing, research, and volunteer and online engagement for some 1800 United Way chapters in more than 40 countries. Previously, she held major advertising and marketing positions as senior partner and executive group director at Ogilvy & Mather and, earlier, as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble.

A graduate of Oklahoma State University, Round has lectured widely on global branding and social marketing on campuses throughout the country. She has also served on the boards of the Advertising Educational Foundation, the Advisory Committee of the Ad Council, and on charities and public sector arts organizations including Soho Repertory Theater, which she chaired for 10 years.

At the museum, Cynthia Round will oversee mark eting, market research, tourism and internal communications. Also reporting to her will be communications and advertising, which will remain under the direction of Elyse Topalian, Vice President for Communications.

Effective June 3, Harold Holzer will assume the new role of Senior Vice President for Public Affairs, in which he will continue to oversee government affairs, audience development, and visitor services. He will remain the chief spokesperson for the Museum on strategic issues.

Round lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.

Library puts F. Scott Fitzgerald's handwritten ledger online

Researchers from the University of South Carolina's Thomas Cooper Library put a digital version of the famed author's handwritten financial ledger on their website last week, making it available for the first time for all readers, students and scholars.

“This is a record of everything Fitzgerald wrote, and what he did with it, in his own hand,” said Elizabeth Sudduth, director of the Ernest F. Hollings Library and Rare Books Collection.

During a recent visit to the library's below-ground rare-book vault, Sudduth took the original 200-page book out of its clamshell protective cover. The ledger's yellowed pages—with Fitzgerald's elegant, measured cursive strokes—are a throwback to life before computer spreadsheets. The ledger shows Fitzgerald's tally of earnings from his works, the most famous of which is the novel The Great Gatsby. The ledger lists his many short stories, books, and adaptations for stage and screen.

With the May 10 release of a new “Gatsby” movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sudduth says library officials expect an upswing in interest in its Fitzgerald collection. The ledger will be on display at the library for about a month starting May 6, Sudduth said.

The library's Fitzgerald collection is considered the world's most comprehensive, with more than 3,000 publications, manuscripts, letters, book editions, screenplays and memorabilia. It also includes Fitzgerald's walking stick, briefcase and an engraved silver flask his wife gave him in 1918.

Some parts of the collection already are online. With the ledger's move to the website and the timing of the movie, Sudduth said, officials hope to call more attention to the collection.

In the ledger, Fitzgerald lists in carefully laid out columns his various pieces of writing, the location they were printed, and the income they produced. Fitzgerald's comments are sprinkled throughout. One describes the year 1919—when his first novel was accepted for publication and Zelda Sayre agreed to marry him, as—“The most important year of life. Every emotion and my life work decided. Miserable and ecstatic but a great success.”

By the time Fitzgerald started the ledger, Sudduth said, “he probably knew what he was doing. He left a space for his remarks, and then the final disposition.”

With a laugh, she noted: “We know he didn't spell very well. And his arithmetic wasn't much better.''

But the overall document, she said, “shows that he was far more on top of his affairs than people thought,” given a reputation in later life as a heavy drinker.

“He was keeping a record of his work for the future,” Suddeth said. “He kept it, he updated it.”

For the past 30 years, researchers have had to rely on a limited print facsimile of the ledger, which didn't catch the varied inks and scripts in Fitzgerald's hand.

Park Bucker, a USC associate English professor, said he's excited to discuss the new ledger with his students.

“It may be a unique artifact among American authors,” Bucker said. “This is going to be an amazing thing for students to pore over and dip into. He created his own database. We do it on computers now, but he did it for himself,”

Bucker also said students are fascinated by seeing something a well-known author penned in his own hand.

“Students always remark how much they love his handwriting,” he said. “They think his handwriting is just beautiful, and handwriting isn't valued today.”

Bucker pointed out that the ledger shows Fitzgerald made most of his income from short stories and that he was able to earn a living from his literary work. “It was the rarest of things, an author who made a living,” Bucker said.

In 1925, the ledger shows Fitzgerald earned less than $2,000 for the “Gatsby” book—the same amount he received for a single short story published in The Saturday Evening Post.

In later years, Fitzgerald added more earnings from The Great Gatsby. He sold the foreign motion picture rights for $16,666, as noted in the ledger. In another section, he lists about $5,000 in earnings from “Gatsby” when it ran as a play in New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

USC Professor Matthew Bruccoli began to acquire items for the Fitzgerald collection in the 1950s. He received some, including the ledger, from the author's only child, daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald, also known as Scottie. Bruccoli wanted the collection to be used as a teaching and research tool, and he gave it to the university in 1994.

Bruccoli has since died, but the collection has continued to grow. It is now is valued at more than $4 million, Sudduth said.

____

The ledger online:

http://library.sc.edu/digital/collections/fitzledger.html

___

Susanne M. Schafer can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/susannemarieap

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-28-13 2003GMT

In Memoriam: American-born architect Rick Mather, 75

“Rick Mather had a remarkable vision that made real our goal for an elegant, yet friendly and accessible art museum that also functions beautifully,” said Alex Nyerges, director of the VMFA. “A lifelong gardener, it was Rick’s idea to locate the sculpture garden atop the new parking deck, creating a new and dramatic outdoor space. Particularly talented at integrating the old and new, Rick brilliantly used existing windows in our 1985 building as doorways which now serve as bridges connecting the galleries. The expansion added 50 percent more gallery space for the museum’s permanent collections and doubled the space dedicated to changing exhibitions.”

Mather, whose office is based in London, was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2010. He completed expansions for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 2009 and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2010. In 2011, Mather’s design for the VMFA project garnered a prestigious International Award for architectural excellence from the Royal Institute of British Architects and was shortlisted for the RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize. The International Award jury commented, “This is Mather at his best: making sense of what is there but adding his own finely honed stamp. The museum, which used to turn its back on the city with its blind facades, now addresses the grand boulevard on which it is sited in a very civic manner with a 40-foot-high window of low-energy glass. Materially the building takes its cue from the old in its use of limestone. This is masterful city-making." For the VMFA project, Mather’s office teamed with the Richmond firm SMBW, forming the partnership Rick Mather + SMBW.

The Virginia Museum was his first U.S commission, and is one of the largest works of his career. The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., currently has a Mather expansion in progress, scheduled for completion in 2017. Among numerous other noteworthy projects, Mather worked on the master plan for London’s South Bank Centre and expansions to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Wallace Collection in London.

The American-born architect founded his practice in 1973. He came to the UK from Oregon to study urban design at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. Mather served on the RIBA and AA councils and is a former trustee of the V&A Museum. The University of Oregon awarded him the Ellis F. Lawrence Medal, its higher award for an alumnus.

Writer Eudora Welty memorabilia donated to university

The Clarion-Ledger reported that the donation by Ferrell Tadlock, a clerk with the state Court of Appeals, includes including books, photographs, magazines and monographs.

The collection, valued at more than $13,000, represents all of his first-edition Welty materials gathered over the last four decades.

“I have many signed first-editions,” he said, “but the Welty ones are most special to me.”

The announcement was made on Saturday during the university's homecoming convocation.

Tadlock presented the gift in honor of Jackson residents Barbara Austin and Lynda Wright, who this year became MUW Golden Girls, a milestone marking the 50th anniversary of their graduation from the university.

Tadlock said he met the women while volunteering for the New Stage Theater in Jackson. The friends later became neighbors in a Belhaven neighborhood not far from Welty's home.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author attended what was then known as Mississippi State College for Women from 1925-27. Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

University President Jim Borsig said the donation represents “a significant contribution to the W’s literary archives and the place of Miss Welty in the history of our institution. We are very appreciative of this very special honor for two of our graduates.''

___

Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-22-13 1202GMT

Milwaukee museum names Tanya Paul European art curator

The museum has appointed Tanya Paul and she will start in June.

She is currently the curator of European Art at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Okla.

In a statement, the Milwaukee museum's chief curator Brady Roberts said Paul brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the museum. He says she is an asset with her expertise in Dutch still life paintings and European printmaking.

Paul has previously worked at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the University of Virginia Art Museum (now the Fralin Museum of Art) in Charlottesville, Va. and the J. Paul Getty Museum in California.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-04-21-13 1104GMT

In Memoriam: Mouseketeer, doll designer Annette Funicello, 70

NEW YORK (AP) — She was the first crush for a generation of boys, the perfect playmate for a generation of girls.

Annette Funicello, who became a child star as a cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club" in the 1950s, ruled among baby boomers, who tuned in every weekday afternoon to watch her on their flickering black-and-white television sets.

Then they shed their mouse ears, as Annette did when she teamed up with Frankie Avalon during the '60s in a string of frothy, fun-in-the-sun movies with titles like "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini."

Decades later, she endeared herself to baby boomers all over again after she announced in 1992 that she had multiple sclerosis and began grappling with the slow, degenerative effects with remarkably good cheer and faith.

Funicello died on Monday at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from MS, the Walt Disney Co. said. She was 70 and had dropped from public view years ago.

"She really had a tough existence," Avalon told The Associated Press. "It's like losing a family member. I'm devastated but I'm not surprised."

Avalon said that when they were working together, she never realized how beloved she was. "She would say, 'Really?' She was so bashful about it. She was an amazing girl," he recalled.

The pretty, dark-haired Funicello was 13 when she gained fame on "The Mickey Mouse Club," a kids' variety show that consisted of stories, songs and dance routines. It ran on ABC from 1955 to 1959.

Cast after Walt Disney saw her at a dance recital, she appeared in the Mouseketeer uniform of mouse ears, a pleated skirt and a turtleneck sweater emblazoned with her first name, and captivated young viewers with her wholesome, girl-next-door appeal.

She became the most popular Mouseketeer, receiving 8,000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the 23 other young performers.

"It was a happy time. They were wonderful times," she recalled in a TV interview as an adult — and she might just as well have been speaking for her "Mickey Mouse Club" audience.

Singer and composer Paul Anka, the one-time teen idol who briefly dated Funicello when they were on the concert circuit in the late 1950s, said that like seemingly every young American male of the time, he was in love with her.

"She was just the girl next door and they were drawn just to her," Anka said. "She had that thing. She had the it, and there was just no stopping it."

They eventually drifted apart, but during the time they were together, he said, Disney tried to end their relationship, resulting in one of Anka's biggest hits, "Puppy Love."

"The Disney crowd, and understandably so, didn't want her too involved at too young an age," Anka told the AP. "We had our professional careers and what have you, and they continued to tell her it was a puppy love, and marriage should not be in question. And I wrote about it."

When "The Mickey Mouse Club" ended, Funicello was the only cast member to remain under contract to the studio. She appeared in such Disney movies as "Johnny Tremain," ''The Shaggy Dog," ''The Horsemasters," ''Babes in Toyland," ''The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle."

She also became a recording star, singing on 15 albums and hit singles such as "Tall Paul" and "Pineapple Princess."

Outgrowing the kid roles by the early '60s, Annette teamed with Avalon in a series of movies for American-International, the first film company to exploit the burgeoning teen market.

The filmmakers weren't aiming for art, and never stumbled across it. As Halliwell's Film Guide says of "Beach Party": "Quite tolerable in itself, it started an excruciating trend."

The films had songs, cameos by older stars and some laughs. The 1965 "Beach Blanket Bingo," for example, featured subplots involving a mermaid, a motorcycle gang and a skydiving school run by Don Rickles, and comic touches by silent film star Buster Keaton.

Among the other titles: "Muscle Beach Party," ''Bikini Beach," ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" and "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine."

The beach films featured ample youthful skin. But not Funicello's.

She remembered in 1987: "Mr. Disney said to me one day, 'Annette, I have a favor to ask of you. I know all the girls are wearing bikinis, but you have an image to uphold. I would appreciate it if you would wear a one-piece suit.' I did, and I never regretted it."

The shift in teen tastes begun by the Beatles in 1964 and Funicello's first marriage the following year pretty much killed off the beach-movie genre.

After that, she had no interest in edgier, more "adult" roles.

"People are more interested in changing my image than I am," she said in an interview. Scripts were sent to her, and "I read the first 10 pages and I'm a prostitute or a doper, and I fold them up and send them back."

In the 1970s, she made commercials for Skippy peanut butter, appearing with her real-life children.

She and Avalon were reunited in the 1987 movie "Back to the Beach," in which Lori Loughlin played their daughter.

Funicello was "kind and down-to-earth," Loughlin told the AP. "She was truly the embodiment of the friendly, all-American girl that we all loved to watch in the beach movies."

It was during the filming of "Back to the Beach" that Funicello noticed she had trouble walking — the first insidious sign of MS. She gradually lost control of her legs. Fearing people might think she was drunk, she went public with her condition in 1992.

She wrote of her triumphs and struggles in her 1994 autobiography, "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" — the title taken from a Disney song. In 1995, she appeared briefly in a television docudrama based on her book. And she spoke openly about the degenerative effects of MS.

"My equilibrium is no more; it's just progressively getting worse," she said. "But I thank God I just didn't wake up one morning and not be able to walk. You learn to live with it. You learn to live with anything, you really do."

Kathy Lennon, who was one of the singing Lennon Sisters and became friends with Funicello after appearing on "The Mickey Mouse Club," said she and Funicello stayed in touch until a few years ago, when Lennon made her usual call to wish the actress a happy birthday and learned that MS had robbed her of her ability to speak.

"Annie's just not talking now," Lennon recalled Funicello's husband saying.

Funicello was born Oct. 22, 1942, in Utica, N.Y., and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 4. She began taking dance lessons, and she won a beauty contest at 9. Then came her discovery by Disney.

Funicello's devotion to Walt Disney remained throughout her life.

"He was the dearest, kindest person, and truly was like a second father to me," she said. "He was a kid at heart."

Asked about revisionist biographies that have portrayed Disney in a negative light, she said: "I don't know what went on in the conference rooms. I know what I saw. And he was wonderful."

In 1965, Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi, and they had three children, Gina, Jack and Jason. The couple divorced 18 years later, and in 1986 she married Glen Holt, a harness racehorse trainer.

After her film career ended, she devoted herself to her family. She also designed a popular line of collectible dolls and teddy bears.

"We are so sorry to lose Mother," her children said in a statement. "She is no longer suffering anymore and is now dancing in heaven."

In lieu of flowers, Funicello’s family asks that donations be made in her honor to the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases at annetteconnection.com.

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Associated Press writers Bob Thomas, Greg Risling and John C. Rogers and AP Television Writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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