In the past few months, Jeffrey Hoone, executive director of Light Work/Community Darkrooms, has worked with Syracuse University to set up an endowment fund to support artist projects and exhibitions. As a result, he will be able to name the gallery after someone very special: his mom. “Right from the beginning, I thought about naming the gallery after my mother, just because she’s been such a terrific supporter of the organization,” said Hoone.
Since he took over managing the organization more than 20 years ago, Kathleen “Kay” Ellis has attended all of the events and exhibitions, and she steers photographers to Light Work and the Community Darkrooms, housed in Syracuse University’s Watson Hall, to work on projects. She also often meets the artists visiting Syracuse through the artist-in-residence program.
“She’s had artists over to her house for dinners and Thanksgiving,” Hoone said. “I just thought this was a great way to honor her contributions and also for me to help move the organization forward around the idea of supporting artists.”
In a ceremony to be held Tuesday, May 29, from 5 to 7 p.m., the main gallery at Light Work will officially be renamed the Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery. The event is open to the public; please preregister at 443-2450. Watson Hall is located at 316 Waverly Ave.
“I’m very, very honored, surprised and thrilled {about the naming of the gallery},” said Ellis, who maintains she was just being a supportive mother. “I just think I did, and have done all my life, what any other mother would do when her children are interested in particular things,” she said. “You bring brownies to school and you make sure they do their homework and all that sort of stuff. And then when they get into sports, you go and do sports things, and when they choose a career, you support it.”
Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to supporting artists working in photography and digital imaging through residencies, publications, a community-access digital lab facility, exhibitions and more. Community Darkrooms offers a digital lab, a lighting studio, a black-and-white darkroom and more for public use.
Each year, Light Work invites a dozen or so visiting international artists to the galleries to work and stay for about six weeks at a time. “If they’re here at the holidays, they usually don’t have family here, no place to go,” Ellis said. “So I started having them come out to the house, and we’ve had some really interesting guests who have lots of fun with our family.”
Cindy Sherman, for example, an influential photographer with an exhibition running through June 11 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, was a visiting artist at Light Work in 1982, when she had Thanksgiving dinner at Ellis’ home, Hoone remembered. “She wasn’t as well known then as she is now.”
The announcement also lightens the blows of a rough year for their family, said Ellis. A grandson was diagnosed in November with a cancerous brain tumor and she was seriously injured after falling in her home last December.
“Now, we have a lot of good things to look forward to,” she said. Ellis is also currently writing a book, a compilation of stories she penned while she was a reporter at The Post-Standard in the 1970s. Proceeds from the book, Write What You Know: A Reporter’s Portfolio, will go to the endowment fund at Light Work. She is unsure of a release date, but is hoping for this fall or next spring.
Many in the community will likely recognize Ellis for her loyal involvement in the Syracuse St. Patrick’s Parade. Every year she has made the arrangements for the Mummers, from Philadelphia, to march here; in fact, parade founder Nancy Duffy called Ellis “Mummer Mama.” She serves on the parade planning committee, has organized the Mass before the parade, and has a hand in devising the parade’s theme year after year.
The endowment fund will be set up by Hoone as a way to honor his mother and to support future and ongoing exhibitions at the galleries. “I just thought about the idea of trying to move the organization forward and leave something behind in the same way,” he noted.
According to Hoone, he received an email several days ago from Robert Menschel, for whom the Robert B. Menschel Media Center, which houses Light Work, is named, expressing admiration for what Hoone is doing for his mother. In it, Menschel announced he is making a contribution of $200,000 to the fund. Those who want to contribute to the endowment are welcome to do so by mail to: Light Work Gallery, 316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse 13244; be sure to specify that the donation is to be directed toward the endowment.
Hoone believes the level of quality and quantity of the arts in Syracuse has risen exponentially in the past few years. “Places like Syracuse have tremendous potential in the arts,” said Hoone, “Creativity and imagination keeps places interesting.”
“They have it {imagination} in spades here,” added Ellis, about Light Work. “Naturally, I’m proud to be part of it, in a very small way.”
