CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (September 2009) – Ivy Publications is delighted to sponsor a new, uniquely aesthetic project that celebrates the artistic talents of our youth and brings together our local community, business and the arts. A Charlottesville High School art teacher and a group of committed local business owners have joined together to create an interactive photography exhibit in storefront windows from September 1 through the end of October.

Rachel Zahumensky, known as “Ms. Z” to her students, is a photography and art teacher at Charlottesville High School who set her students loose with cameras on the Mall last December from dawn to dusk. Impressed with the results and hoping to make the most of her students’ work, she approached the Downtown Business Association, which quickly recognized a wonderful opportunity. Morgan MacKenzie-Perkins, director of Sage Moon Gallery and a member of the board of directors of the DBAC, had the vision to beautify and make use of empty storefront windows on the Mall to display the students’ work and to encourage people to stroll downtown and take a fresh look around.

At the start of September, the students’ photographs will be displayed in vacant storefront windows as well as in the windows of certain occupied businesses. The public is invited to stroll the Mall in September and October to find and enjoy the photographs and all the Downtown Mall has to offer. The students’ names will be attached to the photographs, which are all different sizes and subjects, some in color and others in black and white, along with an identification question for passersby to answer. In October, answers will be displayed with each photo. Ivy Publications’ co-sponsors of this event include the Downtown Business Association and Sage Moon Gallery.

About us… Ivy Publications is the parent company of AlbemarleFamily, a monthly publication dedicated to serving families in Charlottesville-Albemarle with useful comprehensive community resources designed to help “Make Parenting Easier & Growing Up Fun”. Each month over 60,000 visitors make use of their extensive web site and its companion print publications: 12 magazines and an annual Directory of Family Services. Ivy Publications also publishes the quarterly Charlottesville Welcome Book and the annual AlbemarleFamily’s Let’s Go! Guide to Charlottesville and More. IvyPublications.com