Riverside Art Museum’s Top Dog celebration is back!
After a five-year hiatus, the Riverside Art Museum is celebrating three “Top Dogs” who have helped the museum through the roughest economic patch since the Great Depression. 2016 Award Honorees Katie Grigsby, Sue Mitchell, and Doug Shackelton join an esteemed cohort of 40 previous winners who have gone above and beyond to contribute their “time, talent, and treasure” to the museum.
The celebration will take place on Monday, April 4, 2016, at the Riverside Art Museum. Cocktail reception begins at 5:45 p.m. followed by the dinner and program at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $80 per person.
Started in 1999, the Top Dog celebration honors individuals who continue the vision and dedication which transformed a small art center located in the old city dog pound into a dynamic cultural center in a historic Julia Morgan-designed architectural gem. In 2017, RAM will celebrate 50 years of continued mission-driven programming at our present location.
Award recipient Katie Grigsby is a Founding Member of the Riverside Art Alliance, an auxiliary group that raised millions for the Riverside Art Museum and helped secure the purchase of the Julia Morgan building. A RAM Life member and former trustee, she was a driving force behind major building renovations and the placement of the museum’s Julia Morgan building on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and designation as a Historic Landmark by the City of Riverside.
“My volunteer work with the museum has given me great satisfaction,” says Grigsby. “From friendships with some amazingly talented and interesting people, to watching the growth and increasing health of both the Art Alliance and the Riverside Art Museum, my years of service have been a joy. If my efforts were to the museum’s benefit, they were to my greater benefit as well.”
Recipient Sue Mitchell has raised well over $52,000 for the museum through her innovative art exhibition and programs that encourage people in any stage of their journey to pursue a life-long dream of art. Her exhibition, which chronicled her self-directed year of art study, was seen by over 10,000 visitors and captured in a documentary, Something Like a Sabbatical. As so many people were inspired by her endeavors, she created “The 52 Project” with 140 members committed to their own 52-week art journeys. Sue recently spoke at the California Association of Museum’s conference about this promising adult art education model.
Long-time Building and Grounds Committee Chairman and trustee Doug Shackelton is receiving this award in honor of his visionary outlook and building stewardship. Shackelton has been the driving force behind over $250,000 of building improvements and helped to secure much of these funds. From an award-winning window restoration project to refreshments of the atrium with new paint, plants, and pots – no detail is too small to be overlooked by Shackelton. He was also the driving force behind the Lois Sloan exhibition and catalog, a “come back” project for RAM and a highly successful fundraiser.
Full list of previous award winners include:
2016—Katie Grigsby, Sue Mitchell, Doug Shackelton
2011—Suzy Clem, Marty Tobias, Kathy Smith
2010—Helen L. Bell, Leonard & Betty Dixon, Barbara Wallace
2009—Agatha Jane Baxter, Craig G. Blunden, Susan Simonin
2008—Francisca & Eric Johnson, Kathy Yeager Allavie
2007—Peggy & Arthur Littleworth, Jim Reed
2006—James Antoyan, Mary Alice Cline, Tom Powell & Camille Sanders
2005—Tim Burgess, Betty & Walter Parks
2004—Don & Charlotte Dye, Bobbie Powell
2003—Henry Coil, Jr., Richard Frick, Jackie Smith
2002—Emmie Lou Chandler, Mr. and Mrs. James Wortz
2001—Thelma & Harold Borgert, Sue & Chuck Stiles
Special Award to Jeff Garcia
2000—Jackie Cardelucci, Evie Guin, Ray Miller
1999—Patsy O’Toole, Dottie Smith
Full house! Please call 951.684.7111 to check for cancellations if you are still interested in attending.