For the fourth year, the Cultural Arts Foundation will honor six Anne Arundel County residents with Annie awards for their contributions to the arts, with a reception scheduled today at Historic London Town House and Gardens in Edgewater.
Award categories are lifetime achievement, education, arts patronage, literary arts, visual arts and performing arts.
The honorees are:
Eloise Vaughan, lifetime achievement award. A longtime Linthicum Heights resident, Vaughan founded the Performing Arts Association of Linthicum in 1981, and for nine years served as its president. Vaughan is a founding and current board member of the Chesapeake Arts Center. She has served on the County Commission on Culture and Arts and as a board member of Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis.
Cindy Bauchspies of Annapolis, arts educator. The president of the Maryland/D.C. American Choral Directors' Association, Bauchspies is the founder and director of choral programs at Annapolis Area Christian School, which include the men's and women's chorales and the Madrigal Singers. Established in 1992, the Madrigal Singers have sung at the White House, the Washington National Cathedral, and at the International Church Music Festival in Bern, Switzerland, this summer.
William A. Smith, arts patron. Smith, of Annapolis, is an architect who has donated his talents to creating theater sets for such local groups as Annapolis Summer Garden Theater, Broadneck High School, the Talent Machine and St. Mary's High School. For the past decade, Smith has served on the Children's Theatre of Annapolis board of directors, and recently created the preliminary design for the CTA theater facility to be built next year on county land.
Eric Linwood Conklin, visual arts. The Davidsonville resident is nationally recognized for his trompe l'oeil paintings. A traditional realist, Conklin recently has exhibited at galleries in New York; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Phoenix. Conklin will be the featured artist at an exhibit at McBride Gallery in Annapolis from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9.
Priscilla Cummings, literary arts. The Annapolis resident is the author of 14 children's books. Her stories about Chadwick the Crab and his Chesapeake Bay friends teach children about ecology and nature.
Sharie Valerio, performing arts. A playwright, actress and director, Valerio is a teacher at Severn School and at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. She is a resident of Annapolis.
