Reflections - Meet the Judges
Wendy Camilla Blackwell is the Director of Education for the National Children's Museum overseeing the development of education initiatives especially for local and regional school systems. Blackwell was the Director of Education at Port Discovery, the Children's Museum in Baltimore where she led the education program team in the development of school and special public programs. After a nine-year career with the Baltimore City Public School System, Blackwell facilitated the implementation and operation of the Transition Academy, an alternative education pilot program for underachieving ninth graders. She began her teaching career 1990 and served as a school improvement coordinator, and specialist in the Office of High School Reform. In 1994 Blackwell and her eighth grade students were awarded the 1016th Point of Light by former President George Bush. Before beginning a career in education, Blackwell served as General Station Master at Metro-North Commuter Railroad, Grand Central Terminal New York. In her spare time she is a textile artist.
Colette Veasey-Cullors currently serves as the Photography Area Coordinator within the Department of Art at Howard University. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the University of Houston in 1992 and her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Photography from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1996.
Veasey-Cullors has exhibited her work at museums and galleries, including:
- California African American Museum – “Through the Gates: Brown v Board of Education”
- The African American Museum in Philadelphia – “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: An Exhibition
- The Museum of Fine Arts Houston / Glassell School of Art - “Fresh Visions New Voices: Emerging African American Artist in Texas”
- O’Kane Gallery - “FotoFest - Artwired International”
- Wellington B. Art Gallery - “International Photography & Digital Image Exhibition.”
Her work is included in two current books and one upcoming book. Currently included in:
Black: A Celebration of a Culture and African-American Sociopolitical Philosophy: Imagining Black Communities.
The upcoming book, due summer 2006, is Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: the Work.
Marty Rhodes Figley is the author of eight children’s books. She has a keen interest in our country's history and enjoys writing about children from America's past and the stories they have to tell. Her most recent books are The Schoolchildren's Blizzard, Saving the Liberty Bell, and Washington is Burning.
Michelle Y. Green is a graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism and the Johns Hopkins University Masters Program in Writing. She teaches “The Art of Writing for Children” and other courses at The George Washington University School of Continuing Education and The Writers’ Center.
Ms. Green is the author of A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie Peanut Johnson, the true story of the first woman to pitch professional baseball in a men’s league. She is also the author of the award-winning children’s book series, Willie Pearl, a book about her mother set in a Depression-era coal mining town. Her forthcoming title is Oscar Invincible: The Life of Film Pioneer Oscar Micheaux (Dial Books for Young Readers, Spring 2007).
A staff writer for the National Education Association, Ms. Green lives with her two sons, Bryan and Evan, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Fred Irby, III is a graduate of Grambling State University (Louisiana) and Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville). As Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC, Irby is the Coordinator of Instrumental music, trumpet instructor, and Director of the internationally acclaimed Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE). He is also Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Opera House Show Orchestra and has recorded several films for the History Channel. He can be heard playing principal trumpet on the cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's latest musical BOUNCE. The HUJE has 30 recordings to its credit, given concerts in China, Japan, Romania, Haiti, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guatemala, Colombia, US Virgin Islands, Martinique and was featured on the 1992, 1996 and 2005 Kennedy Center Honors Gala (CBS-TV). Irby served as Music Director for the Washington Ballet during its visit in 2002 to Havana, Cuba for the 17th International Ballet Festival, he visited Caracas, Venezuela (2/3-7/04) with the Howard University Jazztet giving lectures at several universities and recently he took the HUJE to Japan to give benefit concerts for the children and families that were afflicted by the Tsunami. He holds active membership in the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, IAJE: The International Association for Jazz Education, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, The American Federation of Musicians and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Women's Brass Conference.
Frances Thompson McKay: Presently full time core faculty at Levine. Chair, Composition and Theory Departments, Coordinator, Honors Program. McKay’s awards/fellowships include:
- DC Commission (including 11 Individual Artist Fellowships)
- Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
- MacDowell Colony
- Meet the Composer
Works commissioned:
- Premiered by Contemporary Music Forum
- Alexandria Choral Society
- Levine School
- Music at St. Mark’s
- Dance Place (DMA, Peabody Conservatory.
Solo recitals of works at the Corcoran Gallery by the Contemporary Music Forum, Strathmore’s American Composer Series, and presented by the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.
April 16th her work will be included in the Waging Peace series at Catholic University. Also in April, two of her works, “Creek Bells Frozen in Mourning” and “There is Only the Dance” were performed on the American Audacity concert presented by the Encore Series at Levine.
Carole J. Wysocki is the Manager of the National Symphony Orchestra Education Program. During her 24-year tenure at the Kennedy Center, Wysocki has built the NSO Education Program into a vibrant force to further classical music education for young people. In addition to a multitude of specially-designed NSO Young People’s Concerts for elementary school children, the program includes Kinderkonzerts for young children and Teddy Bear Concerts for tiny children presented by small ensembles of NSO musicians, multimedia presentations for middle school audiences, and the In-School Ensemble program. She has increased elementary school children attendance at the NSO Young People’s Concerts and initiated the use of Image Magnification in the Concert Hall at these concerts; inaugurated and implemented special low-cost concerts for secondary school students and families; and revitalized orchestral training programs for high school students, a high percentage of whom are from ethnic minority groups. Each year since 1992, the NSO presents an extended Residency in a selected state that include upwards of 125 events such as youth concerts, in-school music presentations, student and teacher workshops, coaching for local young musicians, and related opportunities to interact with NSO musicians. Wysocki received her bachelor of music degree from Smith College and a master of music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. She has also studied at the University of Hamburg and the Hochschüle für Musik in Hamburg, Germany.
Stevie Engelke is Director of Programs at the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, the Smithsonian’s central office of education. She has a Batchelor of Arts degree in Anthropology (cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Teaching and Museum Education from The George Washington University and has completed graduate programs at Columbia University, the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), and Maryland Institute College of Art. With fourteen years of experience as a classroom teacher and eight years as a museum educator, Engelke brings both perspectives to her work. She has created exhibitions and museum learning centers and written and published museum-based education materials in science, social studies, and the arts. Publications for the Smithsonian include Chi’s Adventures in Ancient China, Experiments with Plants, and Bottlecaps to Brushes: Art Activities for Kids, sections from which are now featured on the museum’s website. Honors and awards include Phi Beta Kappa, The American Association of Museums Media and Technology MUSE Award, and the Maryland Peabody Award. For the past several years, Engelke has managed education grants and school district partnerships and has developed and led professional development institutes designed to build museum-school ties, support curricula, and demonstrate teaching practices that strengthen critical thinking and other essential skills. Prior to her current position, Engelke was Acting Head of Education for the Freer and Sackler Galleries, which together form the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art.
Jean Gralley was Cricket magazine's Staff Artist, writing and drawing their popular "Cricket and the Gang" stories for 14 years. A student of Maurice Sendak, she left Cricket to write and illustrate picture books full time. Among her books are Hogula, Dread Pig of Night and Very Boring Alligator, a CBC "Best Book." Her latest, The Moon Came Down on Milk Street was praised as "perhaps the best 'crisis book' for children ever published." Besides creating picture books, she's also been an on-air commentator for NPR's “Loose Leaf” program and an Art Commissioner in Michigan. Most recently, she has become a champion for the digital future of the picture book.
Susan Smith is Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic magazine. In that capacity she co-manages the photography and photo editing operation. A 35-year veteran at the magazine, she started as an entry-level assistant in the film review section of the photography department and quickly found out that it was a good place to learn and develop her editing and management skills. In the years since she has worked with some of the best in the business but takes special pride in mentoring young photographers who have made names of their own.
Jay Talbott is the Photo Editor and Photographer for Scripps Media Center where he covers the photography needs for the HGTV Ideas and Food Network magazines while being the Washington bureau photographer for the 20 Scripps Howard newspapers and news service. Talbott is also a wedding photographer on the weekends. Prior to working in the same building as NPTA, Jay worked at National Geographic Kids magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Times Herald-Record newspaper in New York and The St. Albans Messenger in Vermont. He is married to Kate Bannon and they have two children Cecelia and John.
Reflections - Meet the Judges
Wendy Camilla Blackwell is the Director of Education for the National Children's Museum overseeing the development of education initiatives especially for local and regional school systems. Blackwell was the Director of Education at Port Discovery, the Children's Museum in Baltimore where she led the education program team in the development of school and special public programs. After a nine-year career with the Baltimore City Public School System, Blackwell facilitated the implementation and operation of the Transition Academy, an alternative education pilot program for underachieving ninth graders. She began her teaching career 1990 and served as a school improvement coordinator, and specialist in the Office of High School Reform. In 1994 Blackwell and her eighth grade students were awarded the 1016th Point of Light by former President George Bush. Before beginning a career in education, Blackwell served as General Station Master at Metro-North Commuter Railroad, Grand Central Terminal New York. In her spare time she is a textile artist.
Colette Veasey-Cullors currently serves as the Photography Area Coordinator within the Department of Art at Howard University. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the University of Houston in 1992 and her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Photography from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1996.
Veasey-Cullors has exhibited her work at museums and galleries, including:
- California African American Museum – “Through the Gates: Brown v Board of Education”
- The African American Museum in Philadelphia – “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: An Exhibition
- The Museum of Fine Arts Houston / Glassell School of Art - “Fresh Visions New Voices: Emerging African American Artist in Texas”
- O’Kane Gallery - “FotoFest - Artwired International”
- Wellington B. Art Gallery - “International Photography & Digital Image Exhibition.”
Her work is included in two current books and one upcoming book. Currently included in:
Black: A Celebration of a Culture and African-American Sociopolitical Philosophy: Imagining Black Communities.
The upcoming book, due summer 2006, is Saturday Night/Sunday Morning: the Work.
Marty Rhodes Figley is the author of eight children’s books. She has a keen interest in our country's history and enjoys writing about children from America's past and the stories they have to tell. Her most recent books are The Schoolchildren's Blizzard, Saving the Liberty Bell, and Washington is Burning.
Michelle Y. Green is a graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism and the Johns Hopkins University Masters Program in Writing. She teaches “The Art of Writing for Children” and other courses at The George Washington University School of Continuing Education and The Writers’ Center.
Ms. Green is the author of A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie Peanut Johnson, the true story of the first woman to pitch professional baseball in a men’s league. She is also the author of the award-winning children’s book series, Willie Pearl, a book about her mother set in a Depression-era coal mining town. Her forthcoming title is Oscar Invincible: The Life of Film Pioneer Oscar Micheaux (Dial Books for Young Readers, Spring 2007).
A staff writer for the National Education Association, Ms. Green lives with her two sons, Bryan and Evan, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Fred Irby, III is a graduate of Grambling State University (Louisiana) and Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville). As Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC, Irby is the Coordinator of Instrumental music, trumpet instructor, and Director of the internationally acclaimed Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE). He is also Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Opera House Show Orchestra and has recorded several films for the History Channel. He can be heard playing principal trumpet on the cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's latest musical BOUNCE. The HUJE has 30 recordings to its credit, given concerts in China, Japan, Romania, Haiti, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guatemala, Colombia, US Virgin Islands, Martinique and was featured on the 1992, 1996 and 2005 Kennedy Center Honors Gala (CBS-TV). Irby served as Music Director for the Washington Ballet during its visit in 2002 to Havana, Cuba for the 17th International Ballet Festival, he visited Caracas, Venezuela (2/3-7/04) with the Howard University Jazztet giving lectures at several universities and recently he took the HUJE to Japan to give benefit concerts for the children and families that were afflicted by the Tsunami. He holds active membership in the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, IAJE: The International Association for Jazz Education, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, The American Federation of Musicians and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Women's Brass Conference.
Frances Thompson McKay: Presently full time core faculty at Levine. Chair, Composition and Theory Departments, Coordinator, Honors Program. McKay’s awards/fellowships include:
- DC Commission (including 11 Individual Artist Fellowships)
- Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
- MacDowell Colony
- Meet the Composer
Works commissioned:
- Premiered by Contemporary Music Forum
- Alexandria Choral Society
- Levine School
- Music at St. Mark’s
- Dance Place (DMA, Peabody Conservatory.
Solo recitals of works at the Corcoran Gallery by the Contemporary Music Forum, Strathmore’s American Composer Series, and presented by the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.
April 16th her work will be included in the Waging Peace series at Catholic University. Also in April, two of her works, “Creek Bells Frozen in Mourning” and “There is Only the Dance” were performed on the American Audacity concert presented by the Encore Series at Levine.
Carole J. Wysocki is the Manager of the National Symphony Orchestra Education Program. During her 24-year tenure at the Kennedy Center, Wysocki has built the NSO Education Program into a vibrant force to further classical music education for young people. In addition to a multitude of specially-designed NSO Young People’s Concerts for elementary school children, the program includes Kinderkonzerts for young children and Teddy Bear Concerts for tiny children presented by small ensembles of NSO musicians, multimedia presentations for middle school audiences, and the In-School Ensemble program. She has increased elementary school children attendance at the NSO Young People’s Concerts and initiated the use of Image Magnification in the Concert Hall at these concerts; inaugurated and implemented special low-cost concerts for secondary school students and families; and revitalized orchestral training programs for high school students, a high percentage of whom are from ethnic minority groups. Each year since 1992, the NSO presents an extended Residency in a selected state that include upwards of 125 events such as youth concerts, in-school music presentations, student and teacher workshops, coaching for local young musicians, and related opportunities to interact with NSO musicians. Wysocki received her bachelor of music degree from Smith College and a master of music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. She has also studied at the University of Hamburg and the Hochschüle für Musik in Hamburg, Germany.
Stevie Engelke is Director of Programs at the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, the Smithsonian’s central office of education. She has a Batchelor of Arts degree in Anthropology (cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Teaching and Museum Education from The George Washington University and has completed graduate programs at Columbia University, the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), and Maryland Institute College of Art. With fourteen years of experience as a classroom teacher and eight years as a museum educator, Engelke brings both perspectives to her work. She has created exhibitions and museum learning centers and written and published museum-based education materials in science, social studies, and the arts. Publications for the Smithsonian include Chi’s Adventures in Ancient China, Experiments with Plants, and Bottlecaps to Brushes: Art Activities for Kids, sections from which are now featured on the museum’s website. Honors and awards include Phi Beta Kappa, The American Association of Museums Media and Technology MUSE Award, and the Maryland Peabody Award. For the past several years, Engelke has managed education grants and school district partnerships and has developed and led professional development institutes designed to build museum-school ties, support curricula, and demonstrate teaching practices that strengthen critical thinking and other essential skills. Prior to her current position, Engelke was Acting Head of Education for the Freer and Sackler Galleries, which together form the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art.
Jean Gralley was Cricket magazine's Staff Artist, writing and drawing their popular "Cricket and the Gang" stories for 14 years. A student of Maurice Sendak, she left Cricket to write and illustrate picture books full time. Among her books are Hogula, Dread Pig of Night and Very Boring Alligator, a CBC "Best Book." Her latest, The Moon Came Down on Milk Street was praised as "perhaps the best 'crisis book' for children ever published." Besides creating picture books, she's also been an on-air commentator for NPR's “Loose Leaf” program and an Art Commissioner in Michigan. Most recently, she has become a champion for the digital future of the picture book.
Susan Smith is Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic magazine. In that capacity she co-manages the photography and photo editing operation. A 35-year veteran at the magazine, she started as an entry-level assistant in the film review section of the photography department and quickly found out that it was a good place to learn and develop her editing and management skills. In the years since she has worked with some of the best in the business but takes special pride in mentoring young photographers who have made names of their own.
Jay Talbott is the Photo Editor and Photographer for Scripps Media Center where he covers the photography needs for the HGTV Ideas and Food Network magazines while being the Washington bureau photographer for the 20 Scripps Howard newspapers and news service. Talbott is also a wedding photographer on the weekends. Prior to working in the same building as NPTA, Jay worked at National Geographic Kids magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Times Herald-Record newspaper in New York and The St. Albans Messenger in Vermont. He is married to Kate Bannon and they have two children Cecelia and John.
