The Forsyth County news. (Cumming, Ga.) 19??-current, April 12, 1998, Image 14

The Forsyth County news., April 12, 1998, Page PAGE 2B, Image 14

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 2B - FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, April 12, IMt April artist of the month By Sheri Toomey Lifestyle Editor You are suited to working as a phetographer/joumalist who trav eU-the world meeting different p4»ple. These were the words Owen Jones heard after taking an aptitude test before starting his course work at Georgia Tech. Twenty years later after first dis regarding the test, Jones finally began his personal odyssey captur ing people of different cultures on film. Since he was a young child, Jones often took snapshots but it wasn’t until he created his own business as an environmental contractor, that he go back into photography. While advising building contrac tors constructing big projects like airports, dams and power plants, Jones began taking photographs again as part of the work. Restoring construction sites and preventing erosion and siltation were included in the job, he said. He and his wife, Jane, also trav eled out west and she encouraged him to take off on his own to fol low the advice that had been given to him so many years before. For ten years now, Jones has combined his concern for the envi ronment and different cultures by preservation through photographs. As an expedition photographer for Earthwatch, Jones has traveled to Easter Island and met the Rapanui. “Earthwatch puts you in place you couldn’t see as a tourist,” said Jones. Solo trips are also part of Jones’ goals as he pursues different cul tures that are not easily reached. Jones travels many miles in his pursuit of a photograph that tells a story about the people he meets. He has been to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Alaska, South America and the Alto Plano. At one point, he decided to go back and trace the ancestry of American Indians back to their ori gins in Mongolia. This quest took KEARNEY from IB patients’ records. Bernie would recommend the experience and said more volun teers will be needed at the new facility. Before volunteering at the hospital, he served on the board of directors at Habitat for Humanity for 13 years. He also helps with blood drives at the Red Cross. The Kearneys moved to Forsyth STEINHOFF from IB Despite many physical problems he had because of the war, they were married for almost 40 years and were able to raise their five children and four are still alive today. “My children are great, but I want everyone to know that I have nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren too.” > Because of her late husband’s military service, she is a very active member of the American Legion Auxiliary. As president of the local auxil ijary, Steinhofif works with the other 52 volunteers. ■ “Most of us work more than the four hours. We work in the gift shop, in data processing, with the nurses, or anywhere we are need ed,” she said. •"Last year volunteers put in almost 10,000 hours at the hospi- 'I mHS Ka9II Ta I iflß Ml ■aS 1 *J WMI ffi ■ I* Home Medical Equipment • • Respiratory Seirvices • Lift Chairs . a- - Motorized Wheelchairs him back to Nepal, since Mongolia wasn’t open to foreign travel at the time, to an old salt caravan trail in the Himalayas. Salt and grain traders had been using the trail for close to 3,000 years, said Jones. Yak caravans with salt and Indians loaded with grain traveled many miles to trade their meager but essential goods. Jones doesn’t travel just to cap ture a moment, but instead learns all he can about each culture he visits. In a future trip, Jones said he wanted to go to Copper Canyon in New Mexico, which is deeper than the Grand Canyon, where the Tara Tamara Indians live. “It is one of the most inaccessible MB B mSb}w / BM Li* W' /A -a. y / Photo/Tom Brooks Photographer and adventurer Owen Jones in his darkroom. places,” he said. Just getting there would take at least 2-3 days of hik ing. In September, Jones will have his chance to travel to Mongolia with Earthwatch. In the vast desserts there, the wind and sand continually shift, temporarily erasing the existence County from Dunwoody in 1988. They are originally from Troy, N.Y., where they met as employees at AT & T. Bernie was a planning engineer for the company, and Lola retired to become a “domestic engineer.” They have seven daughters including two sets of twins. Lola, said Bernie helped coached girls tai.” Recently the volunteers held a health fair at Tyson’s and will soon have one at the First Baptist Church for senior citizens. “The work of the volunteers helps the hospital have a lower payroll,” said Steinhoff. BIG A AUTO PARTS The one place to shop for auto parts, tools & accessories. LMpJHHbvwJ Domestic & Foreign dh £■■!!■* J A-l AUTO PARTS Manager ■ Roy Christopher (770) 877-7111 IRA's Roth or Regular? Should you convert your current IRA to a Roth IRA? The right answer can mean thousands of dollars. We Can Help. Wilkins Financial Services Darrel M. Wilkins, CLU CULTURAL EVENTS of an ancient city, said Jones. Jones only photographs in black and white, freezing moments which he said allow personal char acteristics to dominate the photo. He also processes all his own work in his darkroom. “When you do them by hand they all look different,” he said. Sometimes, depending on his mood and feel for a photograph, he will add color oil pigments to certain parts of the photo which creates a painting like photo graph. As artist of the month for the Sawnee Art Association, Jones’ work will be displayed there throughout the month of April at the Sawnee Community Center on Tribble Gap Road. Jones has been a member of the SAA for 13 years and a past presi dent for two. This is the fifth time his work has been displayed through the organization. For more information about viewing his work at the Sawnee Center, call (770) 889-4977. softball for forever. “Most of the girls on the team were mine,” he said. When asked what it was like rais ing seven girls, Bernie responded. “It was interesting.” “People ask why [Bernie] is so quiet, said Lola. “I tell them, ‘How could he be anything else? He never could get a word in edge wise.’” “But for the volunteers, it is an opportunity to meet some wonder ful people who really need helping. Helping people is very rewarding and I would recommend working in a hospital to anyone who really wants to contribute to the commu nity.” M B B x. I Photo/Submitted Pastel landscape artist Douglas Williams in his studio. Douglas Williams Artist statement I am a contemporary Realist pas tel landscape artist. My work is based on traditional painting and working methods of the Nineteenth Century Plein-Air and Luininist Landscape painters. The imagery in my work has been mostly coastal landscapes and sky scapes. having spent a great deal of time on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. It is there that I ALICE from IB people who work for the hospital and who want to better them selves by furthering their educa tion.” Applications are reviewed by auxiliary members and selected based on their qualifications. Several recipients have been nurse’s aids who wanted to pursue degrees and become registered nurses. The volunteers are trying to increase the amount of interaction with patients, something which has lessened over recent years due to overcrowding in the current building, she said. The new hospital will have three new volunteer stations, including the front desk, an ER station and one in the Intensive Care Unit. Richardson said the current 52- member status of the auxiliary may not be enough to support these resources. “We’re all the time looking for new members,” Richardson said. “We're really looking for men - a lot of them do the computer work and some work in the lab. Age doesn’t matter - 21 and up.” "V. Vina Si \ Quick Care Old Quick (Nqw Location) Care Bldg. I hA ■ |Hamitton Northeast Georgia Medical Center __ Medical FZ - ] . ER Office » / Bldg. a S | / Outpatients a z / Services \ ~<y b. _ / Bldg. \ f ( m I I Jesse Jewell_gl 1— For Minor Illnesses & Injuries a service of 295 WISTERIA DRIVE -silt fas- Northeast Georgia (770) 538-7777 Health System Inc.™ www.NGHS.COM tation of the subject. By representing both the sublime and the thought provoking through the intense study of a particular unspoiled place and time, I am able to introduce elements in nature that are often overlooked or destroyed by avarice and greed. The low country and all natural unspoiled landscape overwhelms me with a passion to render it in all its natural and dramatic splen dor. Therefore you will see no GORDON from IB changed forever. Trying to cope, he attendee?a few grieving sessions, but said they just weren’t for him. Then he thought of another way to stave off depres sion and, perhaps, to honor his wife’s memory. In 1981, Gordon’s career as a mechanical engineer at American Boa brought them from New Jersey to Forsyth. Before long, his wife tired of staying home alone while he worked. She discovered the hospital’s volunteer auxiliary, and it became her outlet. Dorothy lead the auxil iary as its president for two years before she died, and in doing so introduced her husband to volun teering. As it had been for his wife, the auxiliary helped him go on with life when he found himself alone. Now in his 11th year wearing the red coat of honor and service, Gordon freely admits that the hours walking the hospital halls have brought as much to his own life as he has given to the lives of others. “You get to know how well-off you are that you’re even able to Guest speaker at Sawnee Art Association indication of man’s presence in my work. The Realism in my art deals with nature on one level and with more thematic revelations on another. Imagination, on the other hand, is used as a means to create an idea that translates into a workable sub ject within the confines of a partic ular theme or allegory. I feel that a work of art should be able to stand on it’s own and pro voke an emotional response with out explanation. I hope that my work brings attention to man’s tragic mistakes in the abuse of nature which destroy for future generations those things most taken for granted. On a more personal level, having had death’s hand touch my heart, each time I go out to do plein-air painting or sketching, that place becomes my church. Williams is the guest speaker for the Sawnee Art Association's meeting, Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m. at the Sawnee Community Center. For more information about the event, call (770) 889- 4977. have observed and med itated on vistas that have not been violated by the presence of man. The main ideals in my work are truth ful and natural represen- volunteer,f he said. Gordon k one of only four men auxiliary#olunteers, and he said, the hosp il can always use more in the otherhood. As with women, e talents and skills men develope in their careers can be put to gn t use. Some the men work at the emergen! room information desk. Others h p with filing and com puter wc t. Male volunteers also help trar >ort patients from their rooms foresting. Volunteering, no matter what form it takes, “helps solidify a group of people together” with a kind of spirit not as readily seen in today’s rushed and hurried world,” he said. When Gordon was a boy, neigh bors visited with one another. Now, that’s not the norm in most com munities these days. And even for retirees, Gordon said, “It’s just too easy to sit in the chair and watch the tube.” That’s why it’s so important that people make an extra effort to get out of the house and do something to help themselves and someone else, he said.