JEAN PERKINS has arrived at the Guilford Art Center as the new Executive Director, bringing with her great experience and a hands-on enthusiasm for the arts. Perkins succeeds Mary O'Connor, who retired following an extensive career in marketing and three years as the Guilford Art Center's Executive Director.

Perkins comes to the Guilford Art Center from the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, where she served as General Manager. She has also held positions in the private and nonprofit sectors, including as the Manager of Marketing, Public Relations and Development at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago. She also worked in marketing and advertising for firms in Witchita, Boston and New York. She holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Communication Arts from Michigan State University.

Perkins is a fine art photographer who exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Her images are often deliberately out of focus and abstracted, allowing her to, as she describes it, "reinscribe the basic experience of seeing objects, shapes and forms and let color play a new role."

Her enthusiasm for art is infectious. "Art is such a wonderful thing. It has the capacity to enhance lives stirring the soul, firing-up imagination and igniting intellectual curiosity," she says. "Best of all everyone has the capacity to create, imagine and engage one's senses throughout their lives when it comes to art."

Perkins' arrival coincides with an exciting milestone for the Guilford Art Center-the 50th anniversary of Craft Expo on the Guilford Green, which served as the genesis of the original Handcraft Center's founding ten years later. "Any arts organization celebrating 50 years has served its constituencies well," Perkins says. "Congratulations belong to the organization but also to the community, which has offered support, enjoyed the classes, exhibitions, and shopping opportunities provided by the Center's Gallery, Shop and Expo."

Beyond Guilford's natural beauty, Perkins says she is most impressed by its strong sense of community. "Everyone's well being is important. I'm eager to begin and looking forward to getting to know everyone. Please," she exhorts, "stop by and say hello!

"The Guilford Art Center has been asking how it can serve the community through art for a long time now," she continues. "I have exactly the same question. With the School, Gallery, Shop and Expo there are endless opportunities." Perkins encourages everyone to keep an eye out for new developments: "I'd say stay tuned."