Carol Creswell-Betsch: A guardian angel comes forward quietly

Ellen Pryor making sure her dear friend is flawless on the day of the shoot!

Now that the world knows what I knew back then, I can blog about it! Tennessee’s attorney general, Bob Cooper, announced on Friday, October 22, 2010 that Fisk Alumna, Dr. Carol Creswell-Betsch, stepped forward with funds to keep the Stieglitz collection at Fisk University. To the shouts of many on the outside of the Fisk bubble, a Fisk alumnus was doing what alumni around the country do daily, support their school.

Let me give you a few behind the scenes snippet of what I have permission to share. On Monday I discovered, after much thought and prayer, Dr. Carol Creswell-Betsch decided to establish a fund at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help maintain the collection on the campus at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery. She did not announce it with a ticker tape parade or send press releases to shout it to mountain top. She did it Carol’s way that I have come to admire so deeply, with quiet elegance. After seeking counsel from others, she informed the Attorney General of her plans. I got a call from her to share with me her decision to establish the fund that would provide for the upkeep of the art at no cost to the school. She asked for my support which I gave immediately. I was flabbergasted that I was entrusted with such precious information. She was seeking input from others about her decision and building a pool of donors who believed in her mission. I thought the idea was extremely bold and courageous.

Dr. Carol Creswell-Betsch had thought long and hard about her convictions. She is deeply connected to the collection. Her mother, Pearl Creswell, was the first curator of the Stieglitz collection at Fisk University. Pear Creswell met and corresponded with Georgia O’Keeffe for many years. “This art has been a part of my life since I was young girl,” she told me once. Dr. Carol Creswell-Betsch is a 1955 graduate of Fisk University and she cares profoundly about the future of the school. Visit her home and it is evident that she has been raised around Fisk’s Art Collection which includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Marsden Hartley and Diego Rivera as well as O'Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz all her life. The influences are in every nook and cranny. As she points to what knots here and there, her sentences usually start with two enduring words, “My mother”. Her love for her mother and art is everywhere. Whenever I have come to “sit for spell”, I have been taken aback about the lessons in culture and life I have received on each visit. Her love of family and art is matched by her love of teaching even though she cries,” I am in retirement” often. My visits are lead by a teacher with much compassion and I am not allowed to leave until my teacher-friend has finished my life lessons for that day.

Our paths crossed through mutual groups, organizations and our passion for art. I am learning to temper my spirit as I read from her quiet grace filled book on diplomacy. When she senses I am ready to give a quick witted response to mayhem, I am given a stern look to behave or a reminder to keep my words to a minimal. This past summer, I asked her to be part of My Very Special Frist Center Adventures. She allowed me to pull her in various directions as I stumped the hallways of the Frist Center. We share a mutual love for the museum as well as volunteer at the Frist. She has volunteered for many years while I am still in my infancy stages by comparison. She graciously modeled for The Golden Age of Couture brochure that depicted clothing styles inspired by widely popular exhibit. She was excited to volunteer for the project,an idea I wanted to create for visitors and several media outlets. Her response when I asked her to be one of my "role" models was a simple, “Just tell me my time, I don’t need all the details,” was said with a smile. How refreshing! At one point during the day long shoot, she was surrounded by young women who also participated in the photo shoot along Joyce Searcy and Gloria McKissack. They were in awe as the camera captured the inner beauty of a woman who was made to be in front of the camera.

The time I have spent with her is always positive and encouraging. Our conversations stay with me long after we have departed. We have gone on quiet outings to hear Nashville's Symphony together and we spent a day at Lipscomb last week soaking up the vision and wisdom of Dr. Norma Burgess long awaited Women’s Conference.

Her quite strength and determination to do what is right is at the heart of trying to keep the Georgia O’Keefe’s Gift, the Stieglitz Collection, to Fisk, Nashville and the South on Fisk’s campus. She lives a quite life enjoying her grandchildren and volunteering where she sees various needs in the community. Her only public statement regarding the collection is:

In an effort to support my belief that the Alfred Stieglitz Collection should remain on the campus at Fisk University continuing to be housed at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery I have formed the Pearl Creswell Fund for the Alfred Stieglitz Collection at Fisk University at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. This fund will provide for the care, upkeep and display for the gift of Georgia O'Keeffe as directed by the donor. The fund will allow Fisk University financial relief.

I am asking those who share my concerns, regarding this unique treasure and who respect its historic value to Fisk University, to join with me and others who have generously agreed to step forward and underwrite this endeavor. If and when you are able please join with us to preserve our heritage and make a contribution at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to the Pearl Creswell Fund for the Alfred Stieglitz Collection at Fisk University.

To my classmates, to Fiskites everywhere, and to friends of Fisk University thank you for your help and consideration. Thank you for listening to me and for your support in this heartfelt effort.

Don't you love it when a guardian angel steps forward quietly? Knowing her personally has me cheering for her endeavors very loudly!

Photo credits www.aaroncrisler.com for the Frist Center For the Visual Arts
Makeup Skot Williams
Stylist Genma Holmes

My Very Special Frist Center Adventure

In May, I contacted Emily Harper Beard at the Frist Center to plan my summer of “Genma’s Frist Center Adventures”. I started my conversation with an enthusiastic, “Hey, you need me, and here’s what I need you to do!” I rattled off a list of upcoming events that I wanted to host at the museum because I wanted to make sure it was the Frist Center’s “best year yet.” Never mind the crazy phone introduction, we would work through all of that later, I thought to myself. After what seemed an eternity of silence on the other end, Emily finally said, “How do you say your name again?”

That was the start of a summer to remember for me. The museum has several wonderful exhibits that I believe everyone in Nashville and beyond must see. I decided this would be one of the best and most diverse years at the museum and I nominated myself to be the Chairperson of the “Committee of One” to make it happen. I have always loved art; it’s my other therapy! When I homeschooled, the museum was our art class every week. And my fashion background and love of fashion are not secrets in this town. To have an exhibition that features couture gowns was more than this girl from the country could bear. I have spent nearly every day at the museum drooling over the gowns or hosting tours.

By June, I had several events planned to bring young and old, ladies and gentlemen, art collectors and Crayola doodlers, church folks and heathens, as well as the fashionably challenged and ultra chic to visit the Frist Center. I called the Oasis Center, home school, private, and public school families to schedule tour dates; no one was left out. Of course, everyone is a friend or customer and had heard me talk non-stop about the exhibits, especially The Golden Age of Couture exhibit. This year, graduation and birthday gifts were tickets or family memberships to the Frist Center.

I got to know every staff member and volunteer by name. We all worked together to make each outing special and exciting for the various groups of friends I brought to see the exhibits. The staff adopted me as their official pesty ambassador. After several group tours, I expressed my desire to Emily and Ellen Pryor, Director of Communications, to do a fashion shoot at the museum that would depict looks from the exhibit with a modern twist. They thought the idea was wonderful and allowed me to set up the arrangements.

I was elated by my new project and would go to bed with the dresses and suits in my head. After bringing in several groups of women to see the exhibit, I heard firsthand what looks were everyone’s favorite styles from the exhibit. By the beginning of July, I had a similar copy of every suit, gown, or dress from the exhibit. Between my closet and Joyce Searcy’s closets, Gloria McKissack’s hats and gloves, and a few extra items I picked up here and there, I believed I had dresses that were worthy of being photographed at the Frist Center. The clothes and accessories were easy, but nailing down models and finding photographers to shoot for a day or two would be more challenging. I met with several photographers who stared at me as if I was a psycho talking when I told them of my vision. But after meeting with several, who were non-believers of my idea, Roland’s Photography agreed to shoot the fall suits at his studio and Aaron Crisler agreed to shoot the evening gowns at the Frist Center. After securing the photographers, the next item on my list was to contact my girlfriends who were models. Someone who modeled for years should not have a problem finding models right? Wrong. Never ask a professional model to do a job for the good of the community. One by one, I was asked “How much?” Or I was given their agents number! “Are you kidding me?”, I shouted, “How quickly we forget when you had roaches,” I said to a few. Anyway, God provides. I asked Joyce Searcy, Gloria McKissack, and Carol Creswell-Betsch to be my “role” models and had a mom, Pam Ward, to recruit her daughters and younger girls for me. Emily even recruited a friend of hers as well, Richelle Desire’. Hell or high water we were going to have a glamorous fashion photo shoot on Thursday, August 5.

Well folks, hell and high water came on Thursday. The rain reminded me of the day before the May flood. What a mess! The rain was so blinding, I drove two miles per hours it seemed. I had a vehicle packed with clothing and props while taking calls from Joyce and Gloria. Did I mention that the makeup artist cancelled ten minutes before I got to the Frist Center? I wanted to die. Wait, I mean I wanted to kill her! By the time I made it to the Frist Center, I ditched looking dignified. I pulled my pest control truck on the sidewalk on the Frist Center’s Broadway entrance with sponge rollers in my hair and started unloading in the rain. The looks on some folks faces were worthy of a masterpiece painting.

Once inside, things started to turn around and flowed in ways that were unexpected and welcomed. One of the security guards (Louis) knew a makeup artist, Skot Wilson, who I booked sight unseen. To my amazement, he was there in less than twenty minutes. Aaron Crisler came in all his glory and Ellen and Emily pulled interns from God knows where who spent the day helping. By the time the models started to arrive, we had lights and cameras ready to roll. Gloria, Carol and Joyce were photographed first. The young ladies, ages 15-22, sat without pouting or puffing. Their lovely personalities and gentle spirits made me so grateful I was not dealing with professional models with bad attitudes. They were in awe of watching the makeup artist and photographer work effortlessly. I gave each one an exhibition guide so they would know where their dress fit into the lineup. Many of them had seen the exhibit and were aware of the “look” we were recreating. When it was their turn in front of the camera, you would have thought I had pros from Milan. We actually started on time. Can you believe it? While we were in the fashion world’s hurry up and wait mode, I shared with my entourage the contributions that the Espy and Searcy, the McKissack, and the Creswell-Betsch families made during the Civil Rights era and the many firsts of our true “role” models that they were watching. Hmm, something magically was happening on my adventure. There we were on a photo shoot in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable, and I was giving history lessons. God is good.

I could not have planned a more perfect day. Young ladies who were eager to learn were being taught history; culturally, civic, and art. Mature women were teaching young ladies by their actions: volunteering, being leaders with their lives, and giving the girls memories that they would never forget. I had the opportunity to work with one of our country’s best non-profits that showed me they were open to new ideas and love to have fun at the same time while investing time and resources into young people. What an adventure! I can’t wait to share with you the photos from my very special day at the Frist Center.

Photo credits:
Top image: The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 by Claire Wilcox
Richelle Desire' by Aaron Crisler for the Frist Center
Joyce Searcy by Cassidy Teague @ Frist Center's Cocktails and Couture

Article first published as My Summer at the Frist Center on Blogcritics.

Tweet