PAINTINGS AS PERSONAL THEATER : Surrealist paintings by Guy Robinson

“I enjoy playing on traditional subjects (still life, landscape, the figure, mythology, religious images) and the expectations that have grown up around them – as around how we see reality in general. The nature of life is that appearances are changeable and deceptive. So, paradox is always the subject.”

gallery talk: sunday, december 15th at 2pm

Kennedy- Douglass Center for the Arts is pleased to present Paintings as Personal Theater : Surrealist paintings by Guy Robinson. A gallery talk is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, December 15 at 2PM and the exhibit will remain open from December 15th – January 10th. Mr. Robinson will display his original oil paintings in the Kennedy-Douglass Main Gallery, and is offering an Abstract Painting workshop on Saturday, January 11th from 9AM – Noon. For information on the workshop, call 256-760-6379 between 9am-4pm.

Time to Apply for KD Art Education Grants!

KD Arts Education Form 2019

Exquisite Miniatures by Wes and Rachelle Siegrist

Skin & Ink: The Art of Tattoo

Allegory Arts and Kennedy- Douglass Center for the Arts is pleased to present Skin and Ink: The Art of Tattoo from September 26-October 14. A gallery talk is scheduled for Thursday night, October 3 at 6PM. Artists Ulysses Blair, Daniel Evers, Eva Huber, Victor Thompson, and Cammeron Donnelley will display their original drawings and photographs of tattoos in the Kennedy-Douglass annex galleries. 

Tattoo by Victor Thompson

“Tattoo is one of the earliest forms of art for our species,” owner partner, Eva Huber, shares. “Now people are collecting works of art directly on their bodies, artworks that express exactly what they wish.” Each custom design and tattoo has a personal story and meaning to the client, which is where Allegory Tattoos gets its name. 

This prominent group of local tattoo artists are specifically known for their custom work and individual styles nation-wide. They create original designs tailored to each client; in fact, these artists do not copy other works. “We are here to build something just for you, so let the other fellow keep theirs!  This is our guarantee. What you are getting is just for you!” This is unique look at the personal art collections of Allegory clients in the medium of skin and ink. 

A Cast of Blues

Blues music was born in Mississippi, came of age in Chicago, and went on to inspire generations of rock and rollers, ranging from the British invasion of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to contemporary groups, such as The Black Keys. As one of America’s contributions to the world of music, the blues took root in the fertile soil of the Mississippi Delta, a flood plain covering 7,000 square miles between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Early blues greats in the Delta pioneered the strong rhythmic style of music, accenting the raw emotions of the lyrics by squeezing chords out of a guitar with a bottleneck or metal slide. 

A celebration of Mississippi’s rich musical heritage, The exhibition A Cast of Blues features 15 resin-cast masks of blues legends created by artist Sharon McConnell-Dickerson, as well as 15 color photographs of performers and of juke joints by acclaimed photographer Ken Murphy. Now visitors to Kennedy- Douglass Center for the Arts can experience the exhibition, A Cast of Blues, opening June 26 and running through August 1. 

A Cast of Blues artist Sharon McConnell-Dickerson has said, “a life cast is like a 3-D photograph to someone who is blind.” McConnell-Dickerson, who is visually impaired, continues, “It captures the flesh, muscle, bone, hair, and subtle expressions of emotion. I wanted to discover the faces behind the music I love, so I went to Mississippi to map out the visages of the real Delta blues men and women.” 

Ken Murphy’s photographs are selected from the groundbreaking book Mississippi: State of Blues (published 2010 by Proteus/Ken Murphy Publishing). A longtime Mississippi resident, Murphy captures the essence of the blues through highly detailed, panoramic color pictures. The exhibition’s compilation of casts and photos create a compelling portrait of the men and women who defined—and continue to shape—the tradition of Mississippi blues. 

During the 1920s and 1930s, Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, and scores of other bluesmen and women barnstormed across the Delta, playing plantations, juke joints, and levee camps scattered throughout the area. It was the next generation of Mississippi music artists led by Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf, who brought the Delta blues north to Chicago. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and other rock and rollers picked up on the Delta sound and introduced it to the world. The musicians who stayed behind in Mississippi kept the tradition alive, passing it from one generation to another. Since the 1990s, Delta blues music has undergone a revival, with the rediscovery of overlooked artists—R.L. Burnside, T Model Ford, and Bobby Rush—and the rise of contemporary blues acts like the North Mississippi Allstars and the Homemade Jamz Blues Band.  

The exhibition is fully accessible to all visitors, featuring braille labels and educational materials, as well as a music playlist for gallery use and a closed-captioned film about the Cast of Blues project. In addition, visitors are encouraged to touch the resin-cast masks. Says McConnell-Dickerson, “As a sculptural and visual art experience, feeling the life-made casts of these individuals and their facial expressions transfers their experiences directly to our fingertips.” The exhibition is also accompanied by the 2008 documentary film, M for Mississippi: A Roadtrip through the Birthplace of the Blues

(94 minutes) that will feature at the Florence Indian Mound Museum July 11 at 6PM. 

Organized and toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national part of Mid-America Arts Alliance, the exhibition was curated by Chuck Haddix, music historian, author, radio personality, and director of the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. ExhibitsUSA sends more than 25 exhibitions on tour to more than 100 small- and mid-sized communities every year. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Mid-America is the oldest nonprofit regional arts organization in the United States. More information is available at www.maaa.org and www.eusa.org.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Florence of Arts and Museums Membership and the City of Florence Department of Arts and Museums. 

Arts Alive 2019

Arts Alive’s 2019 Exhibition runs through June 21,2019 at Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. The Arts Alive Exhibit displays artworks in various mediums and disciplines from artists and craftspeople from all over the country. This year’s exhibition judge Kay Jacoby, community arts coordinator for the Alabama State Council on the Arts selected the winners of nearly $5,000 in artistic awards. 

The Arts Alive exhibition is one of two fund raisers for the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts Volunteers. Arts Alive supports Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts Volunteers Endowments to school art programs in Lauderdale and Colbert counties. Last year’s Arts Alive Festival endowed nearly $10,000 to local schools for art programs and projects.

Arts Alive Award Winners 2019

Gallery

First Place – Tim Stevenson, “Just Looking”

Second Place – Dale Lewis, “Miro Does Egypt”

Third Place – Sue Leatherman, “Wash Day”

Merit Award – Kelly Morton, “A Night in Paris”

Merit Award – Amita Bhakta “Whispering at the Base of Almighty”

Merit Award – Spears McCalister, “Sossusvlei: Dunes and Grass”

Merit Award – Robin Matthews, “Mathew’s Treehouse”

Merit Award – Dennis Leatherman, “Reaching Out” 

Special Gallery Awards

Jack Opler Award – Spears McAllister, “Gray Galley”

Betty Hairston Award – Martha Beadle, “Shoals Theatre”

Donald G. Waterman Award – Vanessa Bowser “Sunrise over the Fields”

Mhairi Frank Award – Helen Fielder, “Tea Pot”

Park

1st Place – Guadalupe Lanning Robinson, ceramics

2nd Place – Jim Goshorn, Metal Sculpture

3rd Place – Amy Lansburg, driftwood art

Best Display – Anne Moore, jewelry 

Merit Award – Eve Styles, fabric design

Merit Award – Cracker Harris, folk art

Merit Award – George Jones, brooms

Merit Award – Martha Beadle, fiber art

Merit Award – Leslie Bennett, painting

Bernard Wright: Painting with Mud and Natural Elements

Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts presents the works of Fayette, Alabama folk artist Bernard Wright from April 10 through May 3. A gallery talk is scheduled for Friday night, May 3 at 6PM. Wright is a student of acclaimed Alabama artist, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and will be teaching a workshop using Sudduth’s methods in painting with mud Saturday, May 4 at Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. The workshop lasts from 9AM – 4PM and includes lunch.

Painting with mud and natural elements is Wright’s specialty. His work has been featured recently at the Arts Council Gallery in Tuscaloosa. Wright was also a featured artist at Arts Alive 2018. “When I paint, I use the technique that Jimmy Lee taught me. I teach that same method to keep the tradition of painting with Alabama mud alive,” Wright says.  

Wright is listed in Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collectors Guide as the only apprentice of Jimmy Lee Sudduth the founding father of “Alabama Mud Painting.” He is a member of the Sipsey Arts Alliance and his work can be seen in museums in South Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington D.C., and his hometown of Fayette. 

Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is located at 217 E. Tuscaloosa St. Florence, AL and is open, Monday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and select hours on the weekends. Call 256-760-6379 or go to kdartcenter.org for more information or to sign up for the workshop. 

Artistic Renderings of Youth 2019

THIS EVENT’S RECEPTION HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO MARCH 21 at 5:30-8:00 due to severe weather!!

Artistic Renderings of Youth, a juried exhibit of work by 7^th through 12^th grade artists from Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties, will be on display at Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts in Florence from March 6 through April 5. Celebrating its 28^th year in existence, this exhibit has developed into an outstanding showcase of youth art. A reception will take place on Thursday, March 14, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.  The public is invited to attend and meet these young artists and their teachers. 

March is nationally recognized as Youth Art Month.  This exhibit provides an opportunity for the community to discover the young artistic talent in our area. The competition is coordinated by a group of junior high and high school art teachers to give students a chance to exhibit their art work and receive recognition for their talent.  There are 358 pieces in the show. Ribbons are awarded in three grade divisions.

To Seal My Mouth with Dirt: Nathan Harper

Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts presents To Seal My Mouth with Dirt, an exhibition by Nathan Harper February 27 – April 03, 2019. The installation explores primitive and modern relationships with iconography and technology. These paintings meditate on pattern with foraged materials, some with overt text. Harper will give a gallery talk Sunday, March 3 at 1PM at the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. 

“In my work, I explore post-internet imagery in relationship to prehistoric processes and materials.  Hand-foraged materials often command a kind of value reserved for images of the sacred such as European red ocher being for paintings of martyrs blood or Japanese indigo being for fabrics of spiritual importance.  I hower use dirt as the pigment for my paintings that explore the images of the internet age through the techniques of cave drawings.  The result is a certain kind of absurdity that I seek out and labor over like religious iconography.”

Nathan Harper is an artist and educator originally from Florence Alabama.  He received his BFA in Drawing and New Media from the University of Montevallo in 2017.  After graduation he began teaching visual art in Huntsville Alabama at New Century Technology high school. His work has been exhibited in galleries in Alabama and Ohio. He currently teaches on the topic of foraging artist materials from nature.