The Averitt Center for the Arts kicked off a three day celebration last Thursday with the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the Roxie Remley Center for the Arts in honor of Statesboro native Roxie Remley.

Remley was thrilled that the Averitt Center had given her this building to showcase her work, as well as others.

“I am delighted to have been a part of this experience,” Remley said. “The time I have spent here [in Statesboro] has been delightful, revolutionary and exciting and I am glad to be honored in this way.”

A native of Indiana, Remley came into the Statesboro scene in the early 1950s, where she introduced and opened an arts department for the then Georgia Teacher’s College.

After her retirement in 1976, Remley continued to teach locals on the different types of art and create new pieces of art work. These days, the 97-year-old continues to serve the Statesboro community as a volunteer for the Averitt Center.

The new building consists of two floors. The first floor includes two instructional classrooms, each dedicated specifically to teach kids and adults the different forms of art, including ceramics and drawing. Beyond the classrooms are art pieces created in honor of Remley.

The second floor contains eight individual studios, where artists can come and rent out a space to work on their art craft as well as begin to develop their own art business. Beyond the studio, each wall on the second floor will be a collage of art work created by Remley, each showcasing a representation of Remley’s arts in decade format.

Kimberly Riner, Visual Arts Director for the Averitt Center, is grateful the art center came together in time for the grand opening.

“She is one of our legends of the arts. A phenomenal woman,” Riner said. “When we first came up with the idea of this building, we hit a few roadblocks financially and then we noticed that we had a lot of artists who needed work space. So when we collaborated with those people and added different elements of art, it worked out perfectly and we are grateful to honor Roxie with this building.”

Elisabeth Waters, sophomore graphic design is glad Remley was honored with the arts building.

“I think that it’s great that someone from the arts department is getting recognized,” Waters said. “Statesboro is continuing to grow year after year and its nice to see that we have art resources outside of campus.”

For more information on upcoming events for the Roxie Remley Center for the Arts or the Averitt Center for Arts, log on to http://www.averittcenterforthearts.org/.