Building strong community connections has always been at the forefront of Joseph Moore’s talent and expertise.
Through passion and determination during his nine-year tenure as Lesley’s president, Moore was able to accomplish a great deal, perhaps most notably steering the vision and ultimately the creation of the Lunder Arts Center. For this and his many other distinguished accomplishments, Dr. Moore was honored on Sunday night by the Maud Morgan Arts Center at their Spirit Awards ceremony as one of the 2016 “Visionaries in the Arts”, alongside artist and Maud Morgan architect Wendy Prellwitz.
The night was a festive celebration of community arts and neighborhood connections, attended by Maud Morgan patrons and supporters, Lesley colleagues and residents of the surrounding Cambridge area. Attendees were adorned in bright, artistic colors, highlighted by the sparkling twinkle lights and lanterns strung throughout the spaces, like walking works of art themselves.
Maud Morgan, a community arts center known for its innovative community programming, put on a spectacular event, complete with food, drink, live music, exhibits and print-making demonstrations led by Lesley art students. Rocky Cotard (’18), Isabelle Olsen(’17), Joanna Garmon(’19) and Jisun Lee demonstrated their art and enthusiasm for the Maud Morgan space, speaking about the many media in which they work, as well as the time it took to collaborate on the Spirit Awards exhibit. The students worked with Prellwitz to realize and execute the evening’s exhibit, collaborating since early this year and over the summer, often remotely from countries such as Cotard’s native Haiti, to create a memorable experience for viewers.
In addition to the work shown by the Lesley students, an exhibit by Prellwitz, “Here/There,” was on view at Chandler Gallery in the Agassiz Baldwin Community’s main building. The night of exhibits and spirited conversation about the Lesley and Maud Morgan connection, and the potential of these two organizations as a Cambridge visual arts hub, also included media presentations of the evening’s honorees, as well as a retail store where attendees could purchase some of Prellwitz’s work on display.
Amid the art demonstrations, media, music and congratulations, retired President Moore paused to reflect on the meaning of being named a “Visionary in the Arts,” and his pride in being connected to the Maud Morgan Arts Center.
“This is a phenomenal organization, Maud Morgan,” said Moore, who was Lesley president from 2007 to 2016. “They’ve really accomplished a huge amount, making art accessible to people of all ages in the neighborhood and beyond. So any association with that is a wonderful honor. And specifically with Wendy Prellwitz, who has been a moving force behind the arts this area. You’ve got these two organizations, the Lunder Arts Center and Maud Morgan Arts, that are just beginning to realize the potential for partnerships between them. So it’s a very positive, optimistic, future-oriented relationship.”
Guests later made their way to the tent where the evening’s musicians, Tom Hall, Joe Mulholland and Bob Nieske, paused for several heartfelt speeches in praise of Moore and Prellwitz as legacy-making neighborhood touchstones who’ve set the bar high when it comes to arts and community access.
“I just want to thank you for making it happen,” state Rep. Marjorie Decker said to the honorees, after Moore spoke about the years of hurdles and challenges to to be able to finally break ground on the Lunder Arts Center, which opened in 2015. “You and Wendy have left the community with gifts that will go on and on long after all of us here are gone, but your work and your dedication will be remembered and will continue to touch the lives of people in ways that we don’t even know.”
Dean Emeritus Stan Trecker, who led the Lesley University College of Art and Design until 2014, offered unique insight into President Moore’s thoughts on how Lesley fits into its neighborhood.
“From the start of his and his wife, Beth’s, tenure at Lesley, he envisioned and espoused to all of us who worked there, the faculty, staff and the students, that Lesley’s campus was not limited to the buildings that we had or the grounds that we owned, but rather that the surrounding community was an essential part of the university,” Trecker recalled. “He encouraged people to walk around the neighborhood, he encouraged people to patronize the businesses there and he respected the neighborhood greatly.”
As Moore took to the stage to accept the honor, he once again emphasized the importance of the arts, and the artists themselves.
“It’s not just the institutions, but it’s the people in the institutions that make this work,” Moore noted. “What the institutions do is provide a framework where people are actually influenced by people, and as much as we like the buildings, it’s the people in them that have the impact.
“Whether it’s a senior citizen, myself, who’s getting involved in art, or a 3- or 4-year-old, it’s the people in the buildings. Certainly the kids don’t see the buildings. They see the people that are there. And as grand as it is that we both got these things accomplished, it’s really important to move on from that and think about, Who are the people that are in there making art? Making the art, creating the art, studying the art, exhibiting the art and debating the art is what drives us, what makes us greater humans."