A Video Tribute and Photos From the Dorothy Gillespie 100th Birthday Celebration in Wilmington NC.

Dear Friends,

On June 29th (my mother's 100th birthday) Wilmington North Carolina kicked off their nine-month Dorothy Gillespie Centennial Celebration with a Zoom Celebration Event. I want to personally thank Frances Hawk, Lloyd Singleton and Tony Rivenbark for making the June 29th event so successful.

For those who were not able to attend the Zoom Celebration Event you can see the edited version by clicking the link below the Zoom photo:

As many of you know my mother had a special connection to Wilmington. Her massive, 42-foot tall sculpture “Colorfalls” is on permanent display in the lobby of historic Thalian Hall downtown; her work is in the collection of the Cameron Art Museum; and her pieces are on display at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cultural Arts Building and Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center.

To continue to honor that special connection to Wilmington, the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation has established the Dorothy M. Gillespie Scholarship in Art and Art History at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The scholarship is intended to further the mission of the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation, which is, “to support, develop and encourage the talents of young and emerging female artists in the United States.”

During the Wilmington Centennial Celebration the DMG Foundation will be donating sculptures to the GLOW Academy, a school for girls in Wilmington, Cape Fear Community College and to New Hanover Regional Medical Center. In addition, the Foundation will support the DREAMS of Wilmington Mural Project.

As Tony Rivenbark Executive Director Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts and one of my mother's former assistants said of her involvement in Wilmington, “she had friends all over the place, and lots of Wilmingtonians got to know her," including former Wilmington mayor and current N.C. State Sen. Harper Peterson.

Dorothy Gillespie Centennial Celebration

A timeline

June 29: Private event celebrating Gillespie’s birthday. Will be streamed via Zoom Live.

June 29-March 2021: Sculptures from Gillespie’s exhibit at Rockefeller Center in New York displayed at Cameron Art Museum and the New Hanover County Arboretum

Fall 2020: UNCW’s Department of Art and Art History will host a juried exhibition coordinated by art professor Andi Steele featuring art by women and honoring the achievements of women artists.

January-March 2021: Dorothy Gillespie traveling show at CFCC’s Wilma W. Daniels Gallery. Closing reception for this comprehensive retrospective exhibit will be the finale of Wilmington’s Dorothy Gillespie Centennial Celebration.

click the link below to view the edited Zoom Celebration.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XLIPwIEKTeOxmkpD1CEIIevwGtAJIAPv/view?usp=sharing

Centennial Celebration of Dorothy Gillespie at Arboretum

The Arboretum Gatehouse displays panels by artist Dorothy Gillespie

By Lloyd Singleton

Posted Jul 3, 2020

On Monday of this week was the kickoff for a local celebration of this famed New York City artist with strong ties to the Wilmington community.

Dorothy Gillespie was a remarkable person; I wish I had met her while she was alive. I first learned of her and her art through a theme park horticulture colleague and friend from Orlando, Katy Moss Warner. Katy now serves as President of America in Bloom and President Emeritus of the American Horticultural Society. Previously, during Katy’s tenure as Director of Disney’s Horticulture from 1976-2000, she brought Dorothy Gillespie’s work to Epcot Center grounds in a big way. Last year, Katy reached out to me about the planned celebration to bring more of Gillespie’s work to her beloved Wilmington. Distinctive, bright and made for the outdoors, this garden art would make a great addition to the grounds of the Arboretum. So the work began with the local committee for our Friends of the Arboretum to support and participate.

On Monday of this week was the kickoff for a local celebration of this famed New York City artist with strong ties to the Wilmington community. Dorothy would have been 100 years old, and over fifty people gathered virtually to hear stories of her life from Thalian Hall Center’s Tony Rivenbark and words of admiration from City of Wilmington’s Mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover County Commissioner Rob Zapple. Frances Hawk serves as the celebration’s organizer working with the artist’s son, Gary Gillespie Israel and others of our local arts community.

The Arboretum is honored to join the Cameron Art Museum in hosting some of the collection originally displayed in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. Our Gatehouse walls are decorated with six brightly colored enamel on aluminum panels, and the Welcome Garden is cheery with the colorful addition of tumbleweeds. The Cameron Art Museum is showcasing much of the beautiful vertical art in totems and wall hangings. This traveling exhibit joins permanent local installations at the Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts, University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Cultural Arts Building and the Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College.

Artist Dorothy Gillespie

Dorothy Gillespie Flower and Garden Epcot Center, FL

In Rob Zapple’s words, Dorothy Gillespie was, and still is, an American icon in the art world. A native of Roanoke, Virginia, she traveled the world with her husband and children and these life experiences surely had an influence on the way she created her works of art whether it be a painting, sculpture, or installation work. She never wanted to be treated like a woman artist; she always wanted to be recognized as just an artist. However, her influence on the women’s art movement is immeasurable. She led the way to have art displayed in public institutions and centers nationwide.

Incorporating art in a public garden is a good way to engage visitors and contribute to the overall sensory experience. We, the N.C. Cooperative Extension, New Hanover County Center at the Arboretum are proud to be a part of this local celebration of the artist Dorothy Gillespie and to display some of her beautiful works. This installation will be in place through March of 2021; we invite you to come visit to experience for yourself.

Lloyd Singleton is director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Center for New Hanover County. Reach him at lsingleton@nhcgov.com or 910-798-7660. The Arboretum is free and open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. everyday at 6206 Oleander Drive, Wilmington.