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Women’s art at heart of fundraising success

Posted on February 25, 2010March 18, 2010 by Staff

RECENTLY . . .

Valarie Schwartz

Good ideas, like art and wine, improve with time.

In 1983, when Moreton Neal attended a fundraiser for the fledgling Women’s Center, she spent her time at the ice cream social held at Pyewacket (a popular quasi-vegetarian restaurant in The Courtyard from 1977-2002) envisioning a better way to raise money.

“Quite frankly, I was a little jealous of Pyewacket,” Neal said recently during a lunch of sandwiches from Neal’s Deli (owned by son Matt and his wife, Sheila Neal) at her Greenwood neighborhood home.

Twenty-six years ago, Neal was adjusting to life as a single mom while running La Résidence, the restaurant she had started with her ex – Bill Neal, whom she had met in French class during their senior year at Duke. The former art major thought of her female employees, many of whom were struggling artists with few options for exhibits, and she visualized a gathering at La Res, with walls adorned with art by women, in her woman-owned-and-run restaurant.

“I knew that just the art of the people who worked for me would fill the restaurant,” Neal said, realizing a show there would further uphold women and, thus, the mission of the center.

She offered the suggestion, and in 1984 an art show was inaugurated with ice cream replaced by hors d’oeuvres and wine.

It was a hit.

“They raised $5,000,” Neal said. It was much better than the $500 scooped from ice cream.

The late Didi Dunphey, a dedicated feminist, artist and huge supporter of the center, named the annual exhibit “Through Women’s Eyes,” and a few years later, when crafts by women were included, “By Women’s Hands” was added to the title.

In 1989, the Women’s Center opened in its present location at 210 Henderson St. and the show moved there, with Neal and Dunphey continuing to hang the art, in an event so popular that it became a juried show with artists donating a portion of sales to the center.

A new hanging partner entered the picture for the 1994 show, after Perry Deane Young moved into the basement of the Women’s Center in. He proves that the organization that impacts more than 4,000 women, girls and their families each year also helps men.

An author and journalist, Young returned to Chapel Hill to complete his degree. “I put an ad in the paper saying, ‘Expert gardener and handyman will exchange work for place to live.’ One of the carpenters of the remodel when the Women’s Center moved in had put an apartment down there,” Young explained.

Raised on his family’s plant nursery, Young (who is an uncle of the beleaguered Andrew Young, the former aide to John Edwards) has made it his business to always have something blooming on the grounds of the center, where financial and legal education are provided, adolescent-empowerment programs are held and support groups meet, among other services.

The annual fundraiser grew into a weeklong series of events held at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center, then later at the Chapel Hill Sheraton. Last year, with the need to increase profits during a slow economy, the art show returned to its home base with a tent erected in the parking lot.

“It was magical,” Young said. “There was a disc jockey and dancing until 2 a.m.! It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a fundraiser.”

But it wasn’t Young’s first time experiencing magic from the organization.

“The Women’s Center for me was a lifesaver,” he said. Last year when Young underwent eight weeks of radiation for prostate cancer, he was well cared for by the staff. “They were like family,” Young said. “They were there when I needed them. Anne Gerhardt, the executive director, is really wonderful, and we became very close.”

This year, the main event of Through Women’s Eyes, By Women’s Hands will be a cocktail reception held on March 5 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Women’s Center, that will feautre signature dishes prepared by local women chefs. The art, which will be hung in the house (and may be previewed at womenspace.org), will be exhibited through April 9. Tickets are $75.

Neal and Young look forward to the parts they play in the show, and Neal looks forward to the opportunity to add another piece of art to her wonderful collection.

“Almost all of the art in my home has been bought at the Orange County Women’s Center shows,” she said. “These pictures bring back happy memories of the show over the years, and their beauty blesses my home.”

Call 968-4610 for more information.

Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valeriekays@mac.com

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