June 30, 2015

To whom it may concern:

I am writing on behalf of my former colleague, Amy Dyckovsky. I worked with Amy for a period of 2 years
in several capacities - as charter members of a cooperative art gallery in Leesburg, VA, as a member of the
executive committee on the Board of Directors of the Loudoun Arts Council, and as a fellow artist and
photographer. Amy demonstrated leadership, management skills, creativity and an aptitude to effectively
train people. I believe these skills would make her an excellent teaching candidate for adults, adolescents
and children alike.
As two of 20 charter member artists of Arts in the Village Gallery, we were deeply involved in building the
gallery organization and infrastructure from the ground up. Amy's previous experience in retail sales and
technology made her a natural fit for being one of two people who took responsibility to setup and
configured our gallery sales software. Once setup, the challenge was to be able to explain how to use the
system to a group of artists, many of which were unfamiliar and uncomfortable working with computers.
Amy prepared operating procedures, manuals and training for the artists. Through her detailed written
documentation and her hands-on training Amy was able to explain the tasks they need to do in a
straightforward way that everyone could understand. Some of the artists we worked had difficult
personalities that frequently clashed with others. Amy showed great patience in dealing with those artists,
taking the time to talk with them to understand their issues, respect their point of view, and communicate in
such a way as to diffuse arguments and find agreeable compromises or issue resolutions.
About a year into our involvement in the gallery, the opportunity arose for us to take on additional
responsibilities. The gallery was run as a program of the non-profit 501(c)3 Loudoun Arts Council and the
Council had some Board of Directors vacancies that needed to be filled immediately. Amy and I both
volunteered to serve on the Board of Directors. Amy was elected to the position of President, and I was
elected to the position of Vice President. In the role of President, Amy was responsible for the overall
management of the gallery program as well as the general direction and management of the Arts Council.
Amy quickly realized that the Council's archaic approach to infrastructure was making it time consuming and
difficult to manage, as well as holding back the organization from having the resources to expand it's
membership and programs. As part of her approach to addressing this issue, she researched and suggested
moving from a distributed, multi-system approach to membership management to a single software
application specifically designed for member management. Amy was able to find a system that would work
for our smaller organization, could work within our limited budget, but most importantly had a user interface
that would enable non-technical people to use the system.
In her role of gallery oversight Amy understood the importance of teamwork and camaraderie among gallery
artists. In her monthly "All Artists" meetings she included activities to get the artists to know each other

better in terms of their artistic perspective as well as at a personal level. She actively worked to make the
gallery a fun, supportive environment to work in. For group shows in particular she encouraged artists to
collaborate and to work outside their main medium as a way to inspire new work and spark creativity. In this
capacity she would lead by example. While her main medium in the gallery was photography, she would
make fanciful items using quilling techniques. She could always be counted on to help with gallery events,
doing or bringing in whatever was needed because she felt it was the right thing to do, and volunteering to
staff shifts and events whenever help was needed.
In her combined capacity as gallery lead and Loudoun Arts Council President she worked with me to
orchestrate a multi-week juried art show. The art show was divided into an adult division and a high school
division. Award winners in the adult division received cash prizes while high school winners received a
grant for their high school arts program. Amy helped with several different aspects of the show organization
with the show promoters including the call for artists, art collection and installation, procedures for art sales,
artist payments for art sales, etc. Amy's involvement in all of these tasks was key to the success of the art
show.
As a fellow artist and photographer I saw Amy's love for all types of art. It was clear to me that art is an
integral part of her life. I enjoyed it when she would share with me her art journal where she would combine
colorful sketches with quotes and poetry, taking the good and bad of life and putting a positive spin on each
life experience. Not only was she well versed in photography, but she could explain the work of other gallery
artists in other mediums to the gallery visitors. She took a particular interest in engaging the children who
would visit. Starting conversations with them, learning what they liked and didn't like about different pieces
and introducing them to art and artists they may not have seen before.
Amy was dedicated to the mission of the Loudoun Arts Council and Arts in the Village Gallery. She was
enthusiastic about trying to make each organization better than when she started with them. She is highly
intelligent, creative and skilled in different art mediums. She has a warm personality, is thoughtful and
understanding. She engages all types of people and all ages. In summary, based on my various experiences
with Amy I think she would make a superb art teacher.
Mary Louise Ravese
Arts in the Village Gallery Manager
Loudoun Arts Council, Vice President
Professional Photographer
Loudoun Arts Council, Inc.
Post Office Box 4270
Leesburg, VA 20177
info@loudounarts.org
571-577-9367