Art class is often a favorite time of the day for most school-age children, and a good art teacher can make a lifelong impact on students who excel in a world of color and creativity.
Yazoo County native Sunnye McGraw made a great impression on her students at Jackson Preparatory School for over 25 years, promoting a diversified art curriculum that is still in operation to this day.
Sunnye Kaye Berry grew up in the heart of Benton as one of the five children of David and Rubye Berry. She attended school at Benton Academy and developed a love for art from a local teacher in the area named Ms. Francis.
After high school, Sunnye attended Hinds Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi to pursue an art degree. She even began teaching her own art class as a graduate student at Southern Miss while working on her master's degree.
Soon after she finished college, Sunnye married Yazoo City native Patrick McGraw, and they had two daughters, Casey and Shelley.
In 1984, Sunnye started working at Jackson Preparatory School, teaching art alongside her friend Addie Louis. For nearly 30 years, Sunnye McGraw helped fuel the Jackson Prep Art Program, adding pottery to the Fine-Arts curriculum as well as after-school art and art summer camps which are still happening on a regular basis.
Throughout her art career, Sunnye specialized in sculptures, pottery, all mediums of painting such as water colors, oils, and acrylics, and linoleum screen printing.
Sunnye rose to the positions of Art Department chair and AP Art Teacher while at Jackson Prep and won several awards, including the Scholastics Art Association Award, the Savannah College of Art Award, and was elected as the Mississippi Private Schools Association Art Chairman.
Many of Sunnye's former art students attribute their successful careers to her influence as a teacher at Jackson Prep. Some of them stated to Sunnye that because of her creative encouragement, they have become plastic surgeons, film makers, designers, carpenters, graphic designers, musicians, architects, and much more.
Sadly, in 2010, at the age of 52, Sunnye started to develop the symptoms of Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease. One year later, Sunnye and her family received a full diagnosis, resulting in her early retirement from Jackson Prep. Though the disease has robbed Sunnye of her ability to express herself through paint, she still retains her creative mind and sight. These days, Sunnye enjoys listening to music, which unlocks her mind and brings back stories from her past.
To honor Sunnye and the mark she left on the art community, Jackson Prep is hosting an Art Show to display the works of Sunnye and many of her students.
The show will take place during the entire month of October, starting with an opening reception on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. inside the Mary Katharine Loyacono McCravey Art Gallery on Jackson Prep's campus.
The show is free and open to the public. For more information please contact Jackson Prep at 601-939-9611.
