"Artist-in-Residence" Jody Servon Begins Work

Clayton's new "Artist-in-Residence" Jody Servon has started her work, meeting with town officials and arts groups to get a feel for what it will take to help the town earn a reputation as an arts community.

Servon, who has already led public art projects in Canada and China as well as in this country, will get to know the area better over the next few weeks, then begin putting together a plan.

"It's an exciting project," she said. "I'm happy to be getting started, and I look forward to the next few weeks."

Servon said she wants to get a good understanding of the "ideas and desires" of residents here and then use the information "to form a workable plan for a thriving arts community."

She hopes to have a plan together sometime in April.

An associate professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, Servon is on sabbatical while working here. She is also director of the Catherine J. Smith Gallery at the school. She has a degree in Visual Art from Rutgers and a master's degree in fine art in New Genre from the University of Arizona. She has been awarded several grants and fellowships over the years and her projects include installations, drawings, photographs, sculptures and video.

She was recommended for the job by the Public Art Advisory Board after a lengthy search.

"This Artist-in-Residency will go a long way toward helping to build a solid footing for the future," Suzette Rodriguez of the Advisory Board told the Town Council in making the recommendation. "Because of your commitment to the public art program, Clayton is becoming known as an arts community."

The Artist-in-Residence will provide vision for a collaboration of art and space in new town projects, as well as finding ways to bring out more of the beauty that's already here. But, perhaps the position's greatest responsibility will center on working with residents, organizations and town officials to promote the arts in step with the community's unique values and identity, Mayor Jody McLeod said.

The budget for the position is $15,000.

Town officials have put more and more effort in recent years into building the town's reputation for the arts. The town's first public art pieces--murals at Town Hall and the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library--were unveiled over the last couple of years, and the new Cultural Arts Grant Committee, formed four years ago, has already awarded $76,000 in arts grants to local arts groups.

Town officials have said they intend to increase spending for the arts as the economy improves.