Morris Fleisher Scholarship
What is the Morris Fleisher Scholarship?
Established in 2014 by David Fleisher (Morris' son) and his wife Susan, and Carol Kent (Morris' daughter) and her husband Peter, the Morris Fleisher Scholarship for the Visual Arts will be awarded each year in perpetuity to one or more deserving students. Each year, the Creative Arts Guild will select art students who have shown great promise, but are challenged by the cost of tuition to our classes and/or lessons.
Morris Fleisher lived in Dalton for 30 years and was actively involved in the Creative Arts Guild. In addition to being a successful businessman, Morris embraced life with a wide range of interests that included world travel, life-long education, photography, music, and art. After retirement, he became an accomplished painter and was also quite proficient at taking photographs of nature, especially birds. A musician, Morris started his own dance band while at Auburn University and he continued to enjoy playing music, both piano and violin, throughout his life.
The endowment was envisioned to honor Morris' work ethic, talent, love of the arts, and most of all, his generosity. The family also hopes this scholarship will inspire others to make the arts an integral part of their lives. The Morris Fleisher Scholarship for the Visual Arts takes its place beside a similar scholarship endowment, the Rebecca Fleisher Scholarship for Dance, which is awarded each year in perpetuity to one or more deserving students. As with the Morris Fleisher Visual Arts Scholarship, the Creative Arts Guild selects students (in this case, dancers) who have shown great promise, but are challenged by the cost of tuition.
Morris and his wife, Rebecca, were childhood sweethearts, so it seemed fitting to his family to set up a perpetual fund of this nature in Morris' name along with its companion endowment for dance scholarships in Rebecca's name.
If you are interested in applying for the Morris Fleisher Scholarship, email our Arts in Education Director, Christen Napp, at christenn@creativeartsguild.org
Learn more about the Rebecca Fleisher Dance Scholarship.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ELLISSA MCHENRY, THE RECIPIENT OF THE MORRIS FLEISHER SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2025-2026
…Just a small-town girl…
I am proud to be from what some call the Carpet Capital of the World. After graduating from Dalton High School, I attended the grandiose Berry College. You know the one where the deer outnumber the students 8 to 1?
Initially, I chose to pursue a degree in music performance. For most of my life, I focused on purely performance-based art. I reveled in choral performances, theatre, and live band performances. However, having learned multiple instruments, performed live as both a soloist and group member, and developed the skills of both reading and writing music, I was seeking a new challenge, both as an artist and a socially conscious young woman.
During my sophomore year, I became increasingly involved in various progressive organizations on campus. These organizations included the Black Student Alliance, EMPOWER (a group focused on women’s rights), the Sociology & Anthropology Club (which I became president of during my senior year), and Listen (an unofficial LGBT organization which celebrated receiving a long-awaited official status in 2012). As a result of my on-campus involvement, my passion for social issues began to flourish. It was also during this time that I began “doodling” with various types of beads and string. Having never taken a course in fashion, design, or jewelry making, I taught myself different techniques by analyzing some of my own store-bought jewelry. Through trial and error, I began to discover the dos and don’ts of basic jewelry making. In the summer of 2006, I also began creating stencils and spray-painting canvases.
After receiving my Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, I spent the summer of 2008 as an intern at the High Rocks Educational Corporation in Hillsboro, West Virginia. High Rocks is a leadership organization for young girls in rural West Virginia, specializing in providing a range of programs and services, including mentoring, college preparation, and career counseling. While at High Rocks, I served on the planning committee for the first annual fundraiser, Nettle Fest, and taught a creative arts class.
In the fall of 2008, I returned to Georgia, and I began exploring different stringing techniques and beading materials. In February of 2009, {beadOnya} was born. Now, by strictly working with materials such as jasper, metal, glass, and wood, I have also discovered the fun in working with found, repurposed, or recycled materials. Having received many pounds of broken or outdated pieces of jewelry bought in various department and jewelry stores, my recycled jewelry pieces are becoming a new source of pride for me. These particular pieces represent our efforts to find beauty in everything we use and create. I love the concept of creating jewelry from familiar items.
I am currently pursuing my Master’s in Public Health; however, painting has become a true passion of mine. In March 2024, I began taking a beginner’s acrylic painting and drawing class at the Creative Arts Guild in Dalton, Georgia. Over the past year, I have learned a great deal, and thanks to an exceptional instructor, I have grown significantly as an artist. In the Fall of 2024, I sold my first paintings in the Guild’s annual art festival. I was fortunate to sell another painting at this year’s festival.
As an artist with disabilities, painting gives me an outlet to ease my anxieties and frustrations about my physical and mental stresses. I’m grateful for the peace it provides me, knowing I’ve created something beautiful where nothing was before. I have also found a sincere interest in the diverse world of drawing. Through the Creative Arts Guild, I have also found great joy in experimenting with charcoal, pastels, watercolors, ink, and a variety of other media. I find it cathartic to create, and it provides an outlet for me to express my emotions about what is happening to me physically and mentally. I am inspired by everything that surrounds me, and I hope to inspire others in return.
"Every artist was first an amateur." Ralph Waldo Emerson