- April 24, 2024
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CFOB Chair Bill Denny, Sang Roberson and CFOB board member Pam Novy. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
CFOB Chair Bill Denny opens the ceremony on Wednesday, April 6, at the Ormond Beach Regional Public Library. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington presents Sang Roberson with a proclamation. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington presents Sang Roberson with a key to the city. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Akiko Sugiyama speaks about Sang Roberson during the ceremony on Wednesday, April 6, at the Ormond Beach Regional Public Library. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Linda Armour, president of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country speaks about Roberson's accomplishments during the ceremony on Wednesday, April 6, at the Ormond Beach Regional Public Library. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
CFOB board member Pam Novy presents Sang Roberson with the 2022 Citizen of the Year award. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Sang Roberson has lived in Ormond Beach for almost five decades, and has been a crusader for the arts, historic preservation and the environment. Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Sang Roberson is a renaissance woman.
That is the description that comes to Citizens for Ormond Beach board member Pam Novy's mind when she thinks of Roberson, who on Wednesday, April 6, was named the local civic organization's "Citizen of the Year" during a ceremony at the Ormond Beach Regional Public Library.
"A renaissance person is defined as a person who has wide interests and an expert in several areas," Novy said. "This certainly epitomizes Sang."
Roberson's accomplishments and contributions to the community have been many, among them being her work as an artist, advocacy for the preservation of Ormond Beach's history, and enthusiasm for the importance of native plants.
Upon receiving her award, Roberson was visibly moved.
"Those of you who know me well know that I'm rarely at a loss for words," she said. "But tonight is one of those times. ... I'm humbled and grateful and slightly stunned to hear so many accolades."
Roberson, originally from Mississippi, has lived in Ormond Beach for 49 years.
Her love of art begun as a child when she used to make mud pies, according to a city proclamation. And her work has certainly come a long way from that. A ceramic artist, Roberson's art has been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the U.S., Europe and South America, including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. Locally, her pieces have been displayed at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Stetson University and the Ocean Center.
In 1994, Roberson was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship and as well as a 1992-1993 Visual Arts Grant from the Florida Department of State.
Additionally, as "a proponent of art in public places" according to the proclamation, Roberson took part in the design and creation of the mosaic wall of children's art in Sandy Garden at the OMAM gardens. The garden was done in memory of Garden Club of the Halifax Country member Sandra Baird, who died in 2005.
"Her work is really different from any other that I've seen," said Laura Stewart, former fine arts writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "It is so simple, but it's sort of deceptively simple, because it's extremely sophisticated and very elegant."
Stewart said she has admired Roberson's art for over 30 years. She thinks Roberson's art is mysterious, though instantly recognizable.
Present at the ceremony was also one of Roberson's fellow artists and friends, Akiko Sugiyama. The pair met on the porches of the Ormond Hotel, back when it was the home of the Halifax Art Festival about 38 years ago. Sugiyama said that during shows, Roberson's booth was usually blocked by a wall of people.
"Not only because people admire her work, but I think people are drawn into her personality," Sugiyama said. "Some people liked to go to talk to Sang because she had this ability to communicate."
Roberson also has a history of helping to preserve historic places.
After the Ormond Hotel was demolished in 1992, and rumblings in the community spoke of razing the MacDonald House next, Roberson and other members of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country, who at the time were part of the Casements Park Steering Committee, led a charge to ensure the MacDonald House remained for future generations. The committee raised money and lobbied in Tallahassee for a grant to aid renovations.
It worked, and the MacDonald House was restored by the city in 1997. Then 20 years later, Roberson and other fellow garden club members went to work again the future of the MacDonald House was uncertain.
"I think that's important in historic preservation to remember — A job done once in historic preservation doesn't mean that it's over because people and times change," said Linda Armour, president of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country. "So we must all be ever present of how to preserve things, and Sang leads the way in that."
Roberson is also the reason the Emmons Cottage is still standing today. The blue 1885 cottage once sat on a riverfront lot on the west side of the Halifax River, according to OMAM, and in 2000, it was slated to be demolished.
So Roberson bought it.
"Never underestimate the power of visionaries and talented people who can turn dreams into reality. This is who Sang Roberson is. She's a visionary and a talented woman who turns many dreams into reality for a lot of people."
Linda Armour, president of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country
She, with the help of her fellow garden club members, were able to raise enough money to move it to the OMAM gardens, where it is now used for environmental and art projects.
Other historic properties which Roberson has helped preserve over the years include the Joseph Price Carrage House, Rockefeller's Upper Staff House, the Nathan Cobb Cottage and Talahloko, the only remaining two-story palm log structure still standing in state, and the place Roberson calls home. Talahloko was built around 1900 by Ormond pioneers John Anderson and Joseph Price, and was built as a hunting lodge.
Soon, Roberson will see one more accomplishment come to fruition: Vadner Park.
In 2019, Roberson and fellow garden club member Katherine Wing decided that the small park next to the historic Hillside Cemetery needed a transformation. It was overgrown and a "tangle of invasive plants," Armour said. You couldn't tell it was a park.
"For over a year, the two of them went back and forth and worked on ideas and wonderful plans, and then they secretly got a small cadre of garden club members to make a plan," Armour said. "... Then they presented it to the garden club at large. We said yes, and then we took the project to the city of Ormond Beach and they said yes."
Afters months of fundraising and labor, Vadner Park will be the city's first all-native plant park. It's grand opening will be celebrated on April 26.
"Never underestimate the power of visionaries and talented people who can turn dreams into reality," Armour said. "This is who Sang Roberson is. She's a visionary and a talented woman who turns many dreams into reality for a lot of people."
After accepting her award, Roberson said everything she's ever done has been with the help of others — particularly her fellow members of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
"It's a great vehicle for advocacy for the environment, and then of course for the beautiful houses that helped give the sense of place in Ormond, which has always been so important to be," she said.
She thanked all for attending, and said the award was "beyond gratifying."
"I'm not a real teary person in public, but I'm close," she said. "... This is quite possibly the most memorable day, or one of the most memorable days, of my life certainly since I've moved to Ormond Beach, and gosh I'm glad I did."
