Art Center

Rebecca Bafford of Washington has been named director of the Columbia Art Center in Long Reach.Ms. Bafford, who has a master's in fine arts from George Washington University, is the logistics coordinator there. She has taught ceramics to children at the Perception Art School in Washington.POLICE LOG* Oakland Mills: 9000 block of Red Branch Road: Someone pried open the rear door of Hazmat Training Services on Sunday and stole a computer, police said.

Attend a reception for exhibiting artists, Friday, June 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Road. Current art exhibitions include the 32nd annual Sculpture Exhibition, with DC GlassWorks through Aug. 18 in Main Gallery; Jonathan West Installation/Sculpture through Aug. 18 in Library Gallery; and Judith Kornett's ceramics through June 26 in Resident Artist Gallery. For information, call 301-377-7800 or go to arts.pgparks.com .

Twenty students and instructors were forced to flee Peterson Hall at Western Maryland College when smoke filled the three-story art center about 1:15 p.m. Friday.Fire officials said an air-handling machine, part of the air-conditioning system, malfunctioned and emitted the smoke on the top level of the recently restored building, which houses the college's art gallery and art classrooms.No one was injured, and firefighters used a large portable fan to clear the building of smoke.Units from Westminster, Reese, Pleasant Valley, Manchester and Hampstead were dispatched, and all except those from Westminster were canceled after five minutes.

Art and poetry support a worthy cause in the group exhibit "Haiku for Hope," which is co-sponsored by the Columbia Art Center and Howard County Promotion and Tourism's Blossoms of Hope and Cherrybration. Proceeds go toward Howard County General Hospital's Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center. Each artwork has an accompanying short poem that reinforces its inspirational themes. That inspiration generally is found in nature and, more specifically, a number of the artists and poets respond to the cherry blossoms that cheerfully light up the landscape in April.

The Columbia Association Art Center in the Village of Long Reach recently opened a new children's gallery.The gallery, MontAGE: Young People's Gallery of Columbia, features rotating exhibitions and installations by area school systems, home schooling groups, after-school programs, day care facilities and other children's organizations.The gallery also will present exhibitions by internationally recognized artists to educate youngsters on multicultural and historical themes, puppet shows, storytellers, tile projects and art workshops.

Walking into Columbia Art Center's newest gallery is like standing in front of a giant refrigerator door.From colorful scrawls to hand-painted tiles of African elephants, the room's walls, tables and floors shimmer with children's artwork."

Staff members at the Columbia Art Center have installed many works of art for the gallery's changing exhibits, but director Liz Henzey said the latest show offered unique challenges. "It's the first time we've had to comb an artwork," she said. Along with more traditional paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures, Hair: A Juried Exhibition inspired conceptual pieces with real and artificial hair attached. Two sculptures used long, straight locks of black hair flowing from wax bases.

The three-line haikus took only a few seconds to read out loud, but as people read the poems off index cards at the Columbia Art Center Monday evening, they elicited thoughtful nods, a few "ahhh's" and some appreciative laughs. Haiku might seem easy, and it is often one of the first types of poetry taught in elementary school, said the discussion leader, Tim Singleton. But it can be very expressive, he said. "It is very little, but it does big things," he said. The evening, which combined Singleton's talking about the history of the Japanese poetry form with audience comments and questions, was the first of what organizers from Little Patuxent Review magazine and the art center hope will be a series of monthly art-themed salons.

Now that Thomasine Spore of Ellicott City is retired from being a full-time teacher, she can spend more time being a student - and an artist. Spore was an art teacher for many years, retiring from Owings Mills Elementary in 2000 after 22 years in the Baltimore County school system. During summers and other free time, she enjoyed switching roles to take art classes and workshops, as well as exhibiting her work in the Baltimore area. "You learn new things all the time," Spore said. "I like that."

We sit and rock and lounge on chairs. We recline and kneel and doze. Now, dozens of Columbia artists are taking chairs beyond the sedentary: They are using chairs for art.Best of all, the chairs are cardboard.In an unusual project designed to attract creative folks of all ages and types, the Columbia Art Center in east Columbia's Long Reach village has invited artists to decorate cardboard chairs any way they see fit.The project is called "Reserved Seating," and more than 40 people -- collage artists, finger-painters, sculptors and crayon masters -- have signed up.The artists say they are inspired by the functional cardboard, designed to support up to 250 pounds.

There was plenty to celebrate when the Howard County Arts Council held its 16th annual Celebration of the Arts. Besides the awards handed out in various categories, there was an announcement that wasn't on the scheduled program for this festive event held Saturday, March 23 at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. Addressing the well-dressed crowd of arts advocates, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said: "It's time to have a wonderful, state of the art, 21st-century arts center here in Howard County.

You can make a case that the vases in "Triple Vision" are meant to be admired as much as used. The three artists showcased in this Columbia Art Center exhibit make vases, platters and other ceramic objects that often have whimsical shapes or surface decoration. Although Pam Hannasch and Dick Roepke generally make functional pieces, they also have playful tendencies. As for Scott McNabb, well, his nonfunctional ceramic art can be used to generate a smile. It's nice to walk around the gallery and see how these three distinctive artistic identities are shaped; however, some of their pieces are displayed on such low pedestals that it's rather awkward to try looking at them.

As a member of the arts community, I find it to be very exciting that Harford County will get a new arts center funded by a major contribution from Emily Bayless Graham ("Designs are unveiled for Harford arts center," Oct. 24). What bothers me however is the hiring of a New York firm to design it. Maryland, and particularly Baltimore and it's surrounding counties, have several extremely talented architectural firms, some of which have excellent reputations for this type of project.

It will be an evening full of drama, music and comedy when the Carroll County Arts Council, in Westminster, presents its first-ever Carroll County Theater Showcase on Friday, Oct. 19. Featuring community theater groups from across the county, the showcase will highlight the groups doing what they do best, whether singing and dancing, a comedy routine or presenting Shakespeare's works with a flourish. "It's a really exciting opportunity to try and create a sense of community for all of them.

The Laurel Boys and Girls Club's mission is to work in partnership with the greater Laurel area community in providing educational and recreational activities for youths and families. Our mission cannot be realized without the tremendous amount of support extended to us from dedicated volunteers, grantors, businesses and the community who believe in our programming, service to families and youths and realize the positive impact the club has on the greater Laurel area. Just recently, such a supporter, Laurel Art Center, who recently closed its business on Main Street after over 40 years of providing a service to Laurel, contacted the club expressing a wish to give a last tribute to the club by conducting a fundraiser at the Laurel Art Center.

Editor:  It has been said (most notably by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and later in an address by President John F. Kennedy) that some people look at things as they are and ask "why?" while others dream of things that never were, and ask "why not?" Sallee Filkins, her colleagues, and everyone in our county who recognize the potential value of a Center for the Arts fall into the latter category of visionary individuals.  They should be commended and supported by government and private citizens alike so that their dream for our region can be realized.

`To Life' -- Columbia Art Center Galleries is presenting To Life: Celebrating Jewish Life Cycle Events, a juried exhibition sponsored by the art center and the Columbia Jewish Congregation of Columbia, through Nov. 19. The show includes more than 30 works by American and British artists representing birth, brit milah, marriage and other milestones in Jewish life. A reception is planned from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow. 410-730- 0075.

Editor: How interesting that The Aegis chose to publish Allan Vought's Aug. 3, commentary, "My string quartet salon vs. your turf field" in the Sports section, pitting the arts against athletics. As the Executive Director of the Center for the Arts and a former Harford County Public Schools physical education teacher and former coach of both field and individual sports, it is very shortsighted that a community as vibrant and educated as Harford County has to choose between the two. Or perhaps, since their earlier objections to the arts center have proven false, The Aegis was just trying another tactic to defeat the arts center by raising the ire of sports fans and parents by inventing a battle.

For years, one group of arts lovers has dreamed of building a "world-class" performance hall in Annapolis. And for just as long, a second group has wanted to renovate and expand the performing arts center the city already has. The future of those dreams may depend on the findings of a feasibility study that the Maryland Stadium Authority is launching this summer. Seeking the best way to support a thriving arts community in Annapolis, state officials have asked Crossroads Consulting Services LLC of Tampa, Fla., to look at options for accommodating local performing groups and their patrons.