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A Forest City watercolor artist and calligrapher, Donna Savolovic, was honored recently as a piece of her work, "Strange Fruit" now hangs in the Andrew Carnegie Library at Livingstone College in Salisbury.
The road to the acceptance of "Strange Fruit" at Livingston College has an amazing story.
Donna belongs to the Carolina Lettering Arts Society (CLAS), a calligraphy group with members from both North and South Carolina. In 2019-20 CLAS held an exhibit in Asheville with the "racial inequity" theme.
"This interested me," she began. "As I was searching for the correct words, I came upon a poem by Abel Meeropol written in 1937 called 'Strange Fruit' about the injustices committed against the black people. He also wrote the music for these words.
Donna chose to write the powerful poem on canvas.
"I chose to do the art on canvas in bold black and red acrylic using a profile of Billie Holliday and the words rising to the top depicting souls of the black suffering rising to heaven," Donna said. (Holliday recorded the song in 1939.)
The art was in the Asheville exhibit and later stored in CLAS possessions, Donna explained.
"Covid came right after the exhibit, so meetings and workshops were on hold. I forgot about my art," Donna said.
Later she received a box in the mail. It was the same box she had mailed to the exhibit chairman in Asheville years earlier.
"I opened it and to my surprise it contained this 'Strange Fruit' art. I immediately sent an email to the person who returned it, thanking them," she said.
Donna and her husband Chuck, who moved to Rutherford in 2012, are friends of John and Frankie McWhorter, formerly of Rutherfordton. John and Donna often painted together at the Rutherford Visual Artist Guild.
During a visit to the McWhorters recently, Donna showed the art to them and they were quite impressed. Through Frankie's tenacity she was able to find someone who knew someone associated with Livingstone College.
"I had mentioned that I wanted to donate this art to someplace that would like to have it," Donna said. "Thanks to Frankie it was directed to Laura Johnson, the administrator of the Andrew Carnegie Library in the Livingstone library."
An appointment was set for Donna to take the art - a banner with image and calligraphy on canvas - to Johnson and it was accepted.
A dedication and reception was held at the Andrew Carnegie Library at Livingstone College as Donna presented her art to Livingstone to become a part of the W.J. Walls Heritage Hall Archives and Museum.
The art work is in the central part of the Carnegie Library near the circulation desk. In addition, other books and materials related to the song and Billie Holiday are on display.
Guests included the community at large, Trinity Oaks Senior Living Community, including the McWhorters, John Calvin Presbyterian Church, and the Rowan Racial Equity. In addition, attending were the entire library staff, a representative of Historically Black Colleges and the NAACP, and two classes of Honor Class students who have come to Livingstone from all across the United States. Their instructor gave the art a historical perspective.
Library Services Director Johnson welcomed those attending, thanked Sabolovic on behalf of Livingstone and herself. Upon request she read aloud the lyrics to the song "Strange Fruit".
Livingstone President Dr. Anthony Davis also provided comments and reminded all "if you do not know history, it is bound to repeat itself."
Sabolovic spoke about her inspiration for the art and explained that as an appropriate hanger for the banner, she commissioned Ornaments to create a branch on which the art hangs.
The dedication ended with a reception hosted by Livingstone. Sabolovic remained for autographs of the event program and the numerous requests of students and staff for photographs with her.
"We were part of a wonderful event today when a dear friend donated her art to Livingstone College...We met such gracious people including the College's President, Director of Library Services, a former interim president, staff, and a group of such wonderful Honors students from all over the country. It was a very meaningful day," said Frankie McWhorter.
