Heres the Key Sponsor Interview from the newsletter.
It's with Wessel Foundation Founder Helen Wessel.
Interview continued from All About ArtHaus Volume 4 Issue 2, 2012.

ArtHaus Director Laurie Gomon Ring recently interviewed Helen Wessel to find out about her life as an art educator and advocate for the visual arts.

Tell me about what inspired you to become an art educator?
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio where they had very good art teachers in the public schools. Although I always loved making art, it was during my year in Kindergarten that one of my artworks was singled out to be shown to the 2nd graders. This was a turning point for me which was also reinforced by the art teachers that followed. In High School, I majored in art, where those of us with excellent grades could also attend the Cincinnati Art Academy every afternoon. With encouragement from my New York uncle, I enrolled in the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture and Art to get college degrees in Art and Education. After graduation, in the midst of World War II, I landed my first job which was creating unusual Papier Mache sculptures for window displays in a fancy downtown store. I later went on to teach art in the Cincinnati public schools for 10 years. Here I found that the support of a smart principal and parents made all the difference in the quality of the education of each school. While teaching in Swamscott, Massachusetts, I applied to Harvard University to get a Master's degree. I was fortunate to be one of the first to study in the Art Education program there rather than Art History. With this degree, I was able to teach art teachers for the next 20 years at the University of Cincinnati.

What would be your advice to improve the educational quality of the nations' school system?
I believe that there needs to be National guidelines for the educational curriculum, not separate State guidelines. I strongly recommend that every child receive education in art, music, drama and physical movement by trained teachers in these areas. I have seen the difference when these important cultural experiences are left out of the curriculum and it is not good.

Your home is filled with wonderful paintings and sculptures displaying a tremendous love of art, tell me how this came about?
Although I have always loved art, my husband's parents, Herman & Bessie Wessel were amazing painters. They were founding artists in the Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester, Mass. Herman was famous for his WPA murals in courthouses, banks, and other public places after World War II. I am fortunate to have many paintings by each of them. They were a great inspiration for me to continue to create art and inspire others to do so. Since 1997, your Foundation has been a sponsor for the Student Art Awards at the annual Halifax Art Festival. What message are you conveying to the young artists? I would like them to know that their artwork is important and valuable. Their experiences in creating art will enrich their lives and those around them. An award early on in my life was such a powerful motivator that I wanted to give as many young artists the same inspiration. We all know how a money award can clearly communicate this.

What advice would you like to share with the young artists reading this?
Learn to draw realistically with real art supplies; a computer can not do this for you. A computer cannot teach you creativity, only the real art making process can unlock that door.

What advice do you have for the art teachers during these tough times in education?
Hang in there. Try to get the support of the parents who are willing to speak up for the arts. Make the effort to keep the principal and other community leaders informed, show off your students' artwork, give your students a variety of media to help them look at the beauty of the world and respond to it.

Over the last few years, your Foundation has also been a benefactor to ArtHaus, what advice do you have for us?
Keep doing what you are doing, it is so important that the visual arts are encouraged and honored and your student exhibits fill this void. Someday ArtHaus will receive national support like it should be.

How did you come to live in South Daytona in such a fabulous and unique home?
My students at the University of Cincinnati discovered the beauty of this area during their Spring Breaks. My husband and I traveled here on our own school breaks since he was a professor of Economics at the same university. We always brought our dear bulldog pets. We later bought this property, eventually tearing down the original house that flooded during weather like we just had. We had the new house designed with an oriental flair and a feeling of a large sailing vessel. It is a joy to live here and enjoy the beauty around me.

Not only has your foundation supported the young artists in the community through the cash award prizes at the HAF Student Exhibit and been recent benefactor to ArtHaus, tell us what you have given the students of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach?
My father in law, Herman Wessel was quite famous for his great mural paintings in public places so I continued this tradition by having some large artworks commissioned to be given and displayed at our Embry Riddle campus. Working with Embry Riddle administrators, Wessel Family Foundation built a large group of color lighted fountains that are on the grounds of the main campus, a large indoor mobile that graces the lobby of the flight building and a recent large glass sculpture of an eagle, Pathways to the Sky by Peter Forster. The final commissioned gift will also be a large sculpture but this one will be fused glass to express the beauty of flight. It is also has seating on the base and will be placed in the new building with a large arched window that overlooks the runway. I am so fortunate that I can through the Wessel Family Foundation give these creative gifts for the students, faculty and community to enjoy and be inspired by.