The Founders of the AWA
Anita Banks Ambrister
Anita first fell in love with art as a child sitting under the trees on a blanket with her crayons mixing and blending, drawing and imagining. In a world before 24/7 TV, she loved books, and paints, and stories. While sitting around the fireplace on the family dairy farm with her grandmother, she fell in love with stories of her heritage. With literature, imagination, and music, she began to develop a vision of how to capture the world that inspired her. As she started school she drew pictures of historical events, and stories she read. Her favorite book was Child Craft volume 9 about Art and artists and styles of art that formed her ideals of art.
While in elementary school, she felt a profound calling to become a teacher. Despite counselors and professors who told her that her life would be wasted in a classroom, she knew it was her life’s calling. In college she studied art and Elementary Education. After graduation her first job was at Trinity Christian Academy. She fell in love with teaching from a Christian perspective and curriculum. For 18 years she taught fourth and fifth grade and two years of World Culture and World Literature, Government and Economics. With her love of History, literature, and studying nature and the science of color, she enjoyed enlightening children.
Anita also taught art, judged state art competitions for ACEA, and did state workshops on teaching art. She began teaching private art lessons, and started her own art business. She worked with the Oxford Arts Council, where she photographed local landmarks and helped create the Historical Coloring Book for Oxford. She is also a member of the Martin-Lett Gallery Committee at the Oxford Performing Arts Center.
When Anita was given a chance to teach in Oxford City Schools ,she taught first grade at C.E.Hanna School and Oxford Elementary School for four years. She was one of the first teachers in Alabama trained in the Alabama Reading Initiative, and took those skills in how children learn to read as the basis for her method of teaching drawing. After 22 years, her dream job opened. She was offered a job teaching art full-time at Oxford Middle School.
Anita has studied Old Master’s Painting Secrets with Koo Schadler in New Hampshire, has taught at Ayers Kids College in Summer Camps, JSU Continuing Education classes for Adults, and private lessons. Along with doing work in color pencil, watercolor and pencil, she does portraits, free-lance work including illustrated books, and writes stories of her childhood. When not drawing and painting, she has a passion for capturing photographs and turning her photos into works of art.
Anita was blessed to have been able to teach every student that passed through the exploratory art classes in 5th and 6th grade for the last 17 years. She has developed a unique approach to teaching art to children using the thought process for how one learns to read and write. After suffering from a paralysis in the 1980’s and through physical therapy, she learned how to connect with thought processes in a different perspective and the connection between the brain and fine motor skills of the hand. She is compelled to help children with special needs feel comfortable and teaching them to express their emotions visually.
Anita’s latest project is working with students to learn about Oxford’s Past and Present. By helping students work through architectural renderings, and creating landscapes to enhance their photos, each child is also writing about what their drawing means to their family as a citizen of our city. She teaches elements and principles to all the children by creating sketchbooks and allowing them to work on skills. Every child in her class works with computer software, and learns to photograph, edit and post artwork on Artsonia.com. Their work is the beginning of a personal digital portfolio of their work that can follow them through life.
To help artists share their personal stories of how they create and process their ideas, is the driving force in helping start ArtWORKS Alliance. After a lifetime in Oxford, she desires to take her students to the next level and provide a platform for sharing their work in the community.
Randy Young
Randy started painting back in 1973, when he saw an art exhibit at the library in Anniston. He was so fascinated by the way the artist painted and wanted to create beautiful things. That Art Exhibit was by Marion Freeman of Weaver. He talked to her and she invited him to come to her studio. He began going once a week and started painting in oils. After becoming frustrated at the drying-time for oils, he tried Acrylic paint and never looked back. That became the medium of choice for him.
He left the library and began teaching at Trinity Christian Academy, of Oxford,and his first class had Tony Bolton of Bolton Chiropractic as one of his students. The principal asked him to move to the elementary school and he taught sixth grade, first and then moved to fifth grade, next to Anita Ambrister. They became fast friends and shared many years of working at the same school.
Randy taught Art in school for eighteen years. Many of his students went on to win State Competitions and competed and won Nationally. He was often called upon to judge Art for State Competitions.
Since that was not enough, he taught classes on weekends at the local Hobby Lobby. As you can see, a large portion of his life has been devoted to Art and Creativity.
He has also written and illustrated a children’s book, “Sleepytown.” That book is still available for purchase from Amazon.com. He created and wrote a craft book that was published by Plaid Enterprises. It was a very popular craft resource for a number of years. He continues to write and is coming out with a NEW book for teachers in April of 2017. That book features lessons that will bring that special something to any teacher’s classroom, especially creativity and writing. That book involves reading, writing, and drawing. His favorite artist include Vincent van Gogh, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci.
Randy has conducted Writer’s Workshops and has been a featured presenter at educational conventions in Alabama and Tennessee. He has taught Calligraphy and Painting at Oxfords’ own local Art Gallery. He was also an officer for the State of Alabama in the field of Public Libraries and Young Adult Books.
His television claim to fame is dedicated to the time he was selected for a cook-off in Birmingham, Alabama. He, along with nine other people prepared their special “Budget Dishes” on television and the winner received a special prize. Randy did not win, but he had a blast cooking on television. It is very different cooking while talking to viewers. He has also given cooking demonstrations at Saks High School for their Home Economics Classes.
Our Mission
We have a personal passion for the arts and know how meaningful artistic expression, engagement, and participation can be to an individual. This meaning creates a fulfillment and mindfulness that’s hard to replicate.
We know this passion is shared across many colleagues in Calhoun County and here in Oxford, which has the potential to grow beyond our dreams and wishes.
We believe in the value that the arts can bring to a school setting and students and realize that it is immeasurable.
We hope that the ArtWORKS Alliance creates a channel of engagement opportunities for all of those around us who have artistic abilities, passions or just curiosity. These engagements will drive stronger relationships and a sense of “giving back” to the community that supports us here in Oxford and surrounding people of Calhoun County. These could include art showcases, musician opportunities, writer recognitions, volunteer opportunities, local organization support, and so much more.
We believe that the arts are forever impactful and life-changing. It is a field that we can apply to almost every part of our lives, and without major arts efforts our lives would be less colorful, less vibrant, and lack serious amounts of diversity.
The opportunities are endless!
We know this passion is shared across many colleagues in Calhoun County and here in Oxford, which has the potential to grow beyond our dreams and wishes.
We believe in the value that the arts can bring to a school setting and students and realize that it is immeasurable.
We hope that the ArtWORKS Alliance creates a channel of engagement opportunities for all of those around us who have artistic abilities, passions or just curiosity. These engagements will drive stronger relationships and a sense of “giving back” to the community that supports us here in Oxford and surrounding people of Calhoun County. These could include art showcases, musician opportunities, writer recognitions, volunteer opportunities, local organization support, and so much more.
We believe that the arts are forever impactful and life-changing. It is a field that we can apply to almost every part of our lives, and without major arts efforts our lives would be less colorful, less vibrant, and lack serious amounts of diversity.
The opportunities are endless!