Triumph & Disaster, and other Art Events

SOUTH SPECIFIC

September 4 - 30, 2014

Curated by New York-based Y&S, South Specific brings together the work of eight emerging artists. Hailing from the American North, West and South, each of the artists’ explorations of material and process ultimately results in works that supersede their own components to speak in the conceptual language driving contemporary art practice today. 

Featuring the work of some of the most of-the-moment (read: collectible) artists in the US, this show is a don’t miss as it brings artists never before shown in Montgomery .Featured artists include: Dean Levin (b. 1988, South Africa/Los Angeles), New Orleans-based Julian Wellisz, Evn Robarts’ (b. Miami, FL), Henry Levy, a Los Angeles based artist, and three of the eight artists on the Still House Group’s permanent roster - Isaac Brest, Jack Greer and Dylan Lynch who work in the group’s shared Red Hook, Brooklyn studio. 

Y&S is a New York City based non-profit dedicated to the support of emerging and unrepresented artists. Founded and driven by a group of art enthusiasts, Y&S strives to give young artists a platform on which an ever-broadening audience celebrates the works of their own generation. Y&S creates a bridge between young artists and a young audience, through group shows, lectures, studio visits and publications. 

Visit www.youngandstarving.com

Triumph & Disaster Gallery is located at the Courtyard of The A&P in Old Cloverdale. Follow it @triumphdisastergallery and visit www.triumphdisastergallery.com

Commonplace

October 9 - 31, 2014

Featuring William Christenberry, William Eggleston, William Greiner, and Birney Imes, this exhibition brings together four photographers, native to the South, who pioneered and mastered the use of color photography as a fine art. Commonplace presents the rare opportunity to view in public internationally acclaimed works in the landscape from which they were made. 

Triumph & Disaster Gallery is located at the Courtyard of The A&P in Old Cloverdale. Follow it @triumphdisastergallery and visit www.triumphdisastergallery.com

New Alabama Art: Native Daughter, Native Son 

September 11 - October 3, 2014

Presenting new work by Margo Russell and Michael Vaughn Sims, Stonehenge Gallery is hosting a reception on  September 11 at 5:30pm. Margo Russell received the Emily B. Gassenheimer Award for “Woods Behind the Fort” at the 2011 Montgomery Art Guild Museum Exhibition. She received she BFA from the University of Alabama and her MS in Art Education from Florida State University.  

Michael Vaughn Sims is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship in Visual Arts, awarded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts for 2014-2015. He received his BFA in Theatre from Auburn in 1989 and his MFA from Yale School of Drama in 1992.  After sixteen years in New York as a theatrical designer, he returned to Lowndes County in 2008 to pursue a career as an independent fine artist. 

Stonehenge Gallery is located at 1041 East Fairview Ave. Call 334 262 8256 for more details.

Meet Your Makers: At Design Week Birmingham

WORDS  Tiffany Bell 

The first ever Design Week Birmingham (October 21-28) is being hailed as a weeklong celebration of great design to promote communication, collaboration and lasting relationships among the design community.

From pop-up shops to a letterpress and screen printers fair (and a packed schedule in between), the event first caught our attention when we learned Jared Fulton of Plenty Design Co-op was at the helm. You may remember seeing Plenty’s modern furnishings at Southern Makers or in an earlier issue of MADE.

Naturally, we sat down in one of our favorite handcrafted pieces to get the Design Week Birmingham scoop in a recent interview.

How did the idea for Birmingham Design Week come about?  A group of designers have been talking about it for years. It finally felt like the right time to try it. Birmingham has a wonderful design community and we want to celebrate that.
 
Who is behind it all? Local design professionals in different disciplines. In May we started spreading the word about organizing it. By word of mouth and reaching out to design organizations we formed a team dedicated and passionate about the idea. We are all volunteers, doing this in our free time. It is pretty amazing to have 20 to 30 people from difference design backgrounds working together.

Who are some of the designers featured and where are they coming from?  Featured designers include Charles Spencer Anderson and John Peterson, as well as several other thoughtful and innovative designers. They come from San Francisco, Charleston, Atlanta, across Alabama, and many from right here in Birmingham.

What shouldn’t we leave the house without when we come to DWB? A sketchbook for taking notes? Nope, leave that behind, come ready to have a good time and meet other likeminded people interested in good design.

This is clearly not your average craft fair. What are some of the highlights of your multi-faceted event? Monday night is going to be a blast with a kick-off party at Bottletree Café and the viewing of the documentary Sign Painters. Friday night’s Rapid Fire powered by Pecha Kucha is a must see – 12 presenters have 7 minutes to rapidly show their work and what inspires them. The closing lecture is going to be amazing with two nationally known speakers, graphic designer Charles Spencer Anderson and citizen architect John Peterson, and an after party at Good People Brewing Company. Really, it’s hard to choose – they all are so great in their own way.

The bar seems to be set pretty high for vendors. How have you maintained the level of quality? It comes down to wanting to promote great designers making things regionally and locally. We want to include things that we as designers would find interesting and want to purchase.

What’s the cost for admission to any DWB events? The way it works is Design Week Birmingham curates a few events including The Design and Thinking documentary viewing, Rapid Fire powered by Pecha Kucha, Saturday’s Printer’s Fair and the closing lecture ceremony with two great speakers. These are the events included in the premium pass for $35. Then, other organizations that want to host events around the theme of design awareness and why design matters can get placed on the schedule. These are either free, have their own tickets, or reservations are required due to limited space.

Bring the kids or leave them at home for this one? Definitely bring the kids to the Printer’s Fair on Saturday, highlighting screen printers, letter-press artists, book makers, digital printers and anyone using printed media. The screen printers will be doing live demos which can be a very hands on experience for kids. For the most part though, DWB will include events geared toward an adult crowd. 

Any strange requests from vendors/designers so far?
The agent of someone we considered for our keynote said he would require 25K and a certified personal driver to escort him around town.

Any plans yet to make this an annual fall event?
 Definitely. This year we will see what’s good and what isn’t, and tweak it to be even better next year. We have talked about home tours, open houses, and more interactive design events for next year.
 

For tickets and details, visit dwbhm.com

Make The Trek to Art Trek

WORDS Elliot Knight  ARTWORK Spencer Herr (Autumn)

September is an important month for visual arts in Montgomery. A number of events and exhibitions take place this month and will provide opportunities to view artwork from Alabama artists and learn more about visual arts in the River Region. These opportunities culminate Sunday, September 15 with the annual ArtTREK and Montgomery Art Guild Regions Bank exhibition. ArtTREK is organized by the River Region Art Gallery Association and participating galleries will be open from 1-5pm on Sunday afternoon. Kick off the afternoon at the RSA Tower downtown with the opening reception of the 47th annual Montgomery Art Guild and Regions Bank exhibition. Awards will be presented to winning artists at 1:30pm. The Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery, located at the Alabama State Council on the Arts office on the first floor of the RSA Tower, will also be open and will feature an exhibition of winning artworks from the Bluff Park Art Association from the past 50 years. Beginning at 2pm, a trolley will begin taking people from the RSA Tower to all of the other participating galleries, and will make a loop throughout the afternoon.

Take the ArtTREK to experience a wide variety of artwork from paintings, photography and printmaking, to folk arts and fine crafts and learn more about the artists in the River Region. This event and the addition of the trolley tour offer a great way to support local artists and experience all of the galleries in the area. 

ArtTREK at The Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery
RSA Tower, First Floor, 201 Monroe Street, Suite 110
Montgomery, AL 36104, Phone 334 242 4076, www.arts.alabama.gov, Hours:  Monday-Friday 8am-5pm

The Alabama State Council on the Arts is proud to showcase the work of Alabama artists in our downtown Montgomery gallery.  The gallery exhibits six to eight shows a year showcasing visual art ranging from painting, photography and printmaking to folk art and fine craft.
 
Galleries participating in ArtTREK and exhibitions that will be on display during this event:

Marcia Weber Art Objects, 1050 Woodley Road, Montgomery, AL  36106, Phone 334 262 5349, www.marciaweberartobjects.com
“Just Us Folks”
September 15 - October 30, 2013
Self-Taught art by Anne Buffum, Spencer Herr, Woodie Long, Sarah Rakes and others

Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery, 201 Monroe Street, Suite 110, Montgomery, AL 36104
“50 Years of Bluff Park Art”
October 30, 2013
Selections from Alabama artists who are part of the permanent collection of the Bluff Park Art Association in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bluff Park Art Festival.

Stonehenge Gallery, 1041 East Fairview, Montgomery, AL 36106, Phone 334 262 82560, stonehengeinc.com
New Works by:  Mary Lynn Levy, Emily Gassenheimer and Melissa B. Tubbs
Thru October 5, 2013
Gallery hours: 10-5 Tuesday - Friday, 10-4 Saturday

Montgomery Visitor Center in the Train Depot
300 Water Street, Montgomery, AL 36104
The 34th Annual Waterfront Show and Competition.Featuring artists throughout the state of Alabama. In honor of the region’s river roots, art in this show has either a water or downtown Montgomery theme.

SAC’s Gallery, 529 S. Perry St., Ste. 14, Montgomery, AL 36104, Phone 334 265 993, www.SACsGallery.org
SAC’s Gallery will be featuring art and fine crafts from throughout the region. SAC’s Gallery is a not-for-profit, cooperative gallery with art in all styles and price ranges.  
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday 12 pm - 5 pm

The Gallery at the Prattville Creative Arts Center, 342 Chestnut Street, Prattville, AL 36067, Phone 334 358 0297
Dimensions featuring the works of Ed George, Kellie Newsome and Barbara Simpson will be on display through September 30.  Textural abstracts, vibrant acrylics and exciting watercolors, along with multimedia relief and sculptural pieces will fill the Prattville Gallery with a truly artistically dimensional show with the works of these three very diverse artists.  Also on exhibit will be works by members of the Prattauga Art Guild. 

Gallery hours: 2-5pm September 15 during ARTrek, and normal gallery hours Friday-Saturday 10am-2pm and Sunday 1pm-4pm

Anita P. Folmar Youth Art Gallery, Armory Learning Arts Center, 1018 Madison Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104
“Rivers, Trails and Cotton Bales” featuring works in an array of colorful styles and multifaceted media depicting sites and scenes of the River Region.
Thru September 30, 2013
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 10am-5pm