Community Gallery

This month we will be featuring two exhibitions: Art For All and Nancy Goodman’s Quilts. These pieces will hang through the end of January in the Mobile Arts Council’s Gallery @ Room 1927. The gallery is open to the public Wednesday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Mobile Arts Council, The Central Arts Collective, Full Life Ahead Foundation, and L’Arche Mobile are pleased to announce Art for All, an inclusive arts education program for adults. The goal of the program is to bring people of all abilities together to express their creativity and develop their skills in a variety of arts media including acrylics, graphics, watercolors, and more. This January, 58 framed works from Art for All, all created by students with developmental disabilities over a number of years, will be featured in our gallery. 100% of proceeds from these art sales will go toward purchasing supplies for Art For All‘s classes, so stop by and purchase a special piece for your home while supporting a great cause! If you are interested in volunteering or making a financial donation towards this program, please contact Lucy Gafford at director@mobilearts.org.

Nancy Goodman makes art quilts – quilts meant for the wall, rather than the bed. While firmly grounded in the craft of quilting, Goodman’s quilt style is improvisational, made without patterns or templates. She creates her designs using vibrant colors and complicated piecing. A final layer of intricate quilting (stitching that holds all the layers together) fills every inch of the quilt. Goodman exhibits her quilts in national and international shows and has won many awards. She lives and works in Mobile, AL. Within the artist’s featured works, she has included a Peace and Freedom Series. According to Goodman, “All over the world people are struggling for peace and freedom. These quilts commemorate some of those struggles.”

The Gallery in Room 1927 is open to the public Wednesday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Our November exhibitions include the works from the Mobile Art Association and the Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society. The exhibitions will hang from November 6th to December 17th. We will remain closed November 25th – 27th for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mobile Art Association is the ideal organization for amateur and professional artists. With over 100 members, MAA provides numerous opportunities to network with and learn from fellow artists.

As a non-profit organization, the object of the Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society is to create, through education, more interest in the media of watercolor and graphic arts, and to promote finer watercolor and graphic arts exhibitions by Alabama artists. The Society holds a minimum of two exhibitions annually, at least one of which is always juried. 

See the Mobile Art Association Fall Open Show and 2020 winners in our Virtual Gallery here! The Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society photos will be added later this month. See all the works in this video tour below.

The Mobile Art Association show includes: Yuko Takushige Jordan, Marnée Wiley, Clara Brunk, Fan Murray, Gina McGee, Melissa Munger, Helen Thurber, Dare’ Radcliff, Mary Rodning, Stephanie Bromley, Anne Rose, Karen D. McGahagin, Gail Bramer ,Corky Goldman, Judy Campbell, Tamara Jordan Lindsay, Nikki Shaw, Nola Powell, Jerry Fair, Melissa M. Root, Joanne Brandt, Juli Day, Philippe Oszuscik, Carol Wiggins, Judy Aronson, Michelle Jones, Mike Carmichael, Rudolph C. Villarreal, Suzanne Fox, Lynn Amedy, Nancy Hora, Benjamin Kaiser, Barbara Rettig, and Jeremy Sigle.

The Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society participants include: Ben Kaiser, Vanessa Quintana, Carolyn Greene, Lynda Smith Touart, Corky Goldman, Karen D. McGahagin, Barbara Rettig, Carol Wiggins, Marcy Matherne, Anne Festorazzi, Martha Ann Rowan, Deborah Guy, Philippe Oszuscik, Judy Aronson, Gail Bramer, Kate Seawell, Mayssam Iskandar, Barbara Cline, Mary Anne Trovato, Mary Rodning , Juli Day, Barbara Davis, Melissa Root, Rudolph C. Villarreal, Laura Becker, JoAnn Cox, and Amanda Youngblood.

The Gallery in Room 1927 is open to the public Wednesday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The July exhibitions, “Quarantine Walks,” “Nature’s Lens,” and “Quilts from Quarantine” will hang from July 3rd to August 27th. View the complete exhibitions in our Virtual Gallery online here!

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Micah Mermilliod presents Fujifilm Instax photographs in the exhibition titled, “Quarantine Walks.” Mermilliod has been working on documenting his daily walks during the quarantine. These pieces were created to reflect changes that he noticed in the community throughout the quarantine.

“Nature’s Lens,'” is the collection of oil paintings of Reagan Barnett. She strives to capture detail, while still maintaining an element of fantasy in her works. Barnett has been oil painting since she was 9 years old, but it is a part-time venture for her. She earned her Ph.D. in biomedical science from the University of South Alabama and now teaches in the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Mobile.

Taylor Shaw exhibits “Quilts from Quarantine,” featuring a series of wooden “quilts” that the artist created collaboratively. Shaw says, “This project became a way to connect with friends, family, and complete strangers through the act of creativity. The United States Postal Service became the backbone by which these quilts were transported from my hands to others and back again.

Each piece speaks to the individual and what was deemed important for that person to convey during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was my hope that this project would provide a creative respite from the constant bombardment of bad news coming out and we could rely on each other, even if it was for one simple act of creating.

Quilts from Quarantine became “productivity” with no ties to money. A group effort to create something larger than the individual. I hope this project provides a sense of a distant community and gives a small break from worries. Take care of each other.”

The Mobile Arts Council will feature artists Ben Kaiser and Cat Pope in their new show, “Home and Heritage,” and Sahar Alford’s exhibition, “Universal Beauty,” during the month of March in MAC’s Gallery at the Saenger’s Room 1927.

According to Kaiser and Pope, artists often look back on their childhoods for inspiration. They think of loved ones. They think of the places where they grew up; places that mean or meant something. They think about where they came from and the people that matter most.

“Home and Heritage,” is a show of growth. It is a depiction of pasts and beginnings; of hometowns and explorations; and of colors that take us back to a place we remember. Kaiser and Pope hope that in seeing their work you not only see a part of them, but connect to a piece that resonates with you, too.

Like painting, Alford’s love and passion for dance came at a very early age. Her March exhibition is a series of realistic paintings with the theme of “Universal Beauty.” The purpose is to capture beauty, strength and dreams of females from around the world through different dance styles and cultures.

Gallery hours at Room 1927 are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays. The exhibitions will hang from March 6th through the 30th, with a special reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 13th, LoDa ArtWalk night.

Artists Jerry Roldan, Hunter Cobb, and others will be exhibiting January 6th to the 31st in MAC’s Gallery at the Saenger’s Room 1927.

Jerry Roldan’s exhibition, “Doodles from a Clutter Reality,” consists of arbitrary shapes and layers of various art styles. His spatial designs and vibrant use of colors draw in the viewer to interpret the narrative aspects of his paintings.

Roldan explores time as an element in his painting by the dividing the picture into sections, using the edges of the canvas, and by creating numerous accent areas. This encourages the viewer to spend time looking at the work from different distances, angles, and levels of detail. If they look for 3 minutes or 10 minutes, the work thereby exists as a 3 minute or 10 minute “film”.

Roldan encourages the viewer to spend “creative time” thinking of the meaning of the work. As many of the arbitrary shapes occur by chance, it leaves aspects of the work open for loose interpretation.

 “Vanishing Point,” organized by Hunter Cobb, is a group show featuring artists from Innova Arts, Dauphin Island Heritage and Arts Council, and other area artists. The underlying theme of this group exhibition is utilizing vanishing point perspective.

Gallery hours at Room 1927 will be 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Tuesdays – Fridays. The exhibitions will hang from January 6th through the 31st, with a special reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on January 10th, LoDa ArtWalk night.

Artists Erin Revere, Benita McNider, and Leslie Baumhower will be exhibiting December 5th to the 20th in MAC’s Gallery at the Saenger’s Room 1927.

Erin takes inspiration from the ever-present contrasts of dark verses light and up verses down that fills the world. She finds balance on a canvas and creates the feeling of being whole again. Creating makes the chaos in life make sense, allowing her to surrender to the unpredictable messy composition and make a way back to an organized vision that presents itself in a collection of paintings titled, “The Contrast.”

Together, artists Benita McNider and Leslie Baumhower will exhibit “Eclectic.” Eclectic includes a collection of abstracts, atmospheric seascapes, and paintings of musicians in abstracts and portrait form.

Gallery hours at Room 1927 will be 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Tuesdays – Fridays. The exhibitions will hang from December 5th through the 20th, with a special reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 13th, LoDa ArtWalk night. The gallery will be closed for the Holidays, December 23rd through January 1st.

Open November 5th to the 28th, Gallery Room 1927 will feature the exhibitions of Paul Gray, Sahar Alford, and the Mississippi Art Colony Traveling Show.

Paul Gray shares a collection of his nature photography, titled “God’s World as I See It.” Paul enjoys a variety of subjects: landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, architecture, children, still life, nature, flora, birds, and wildlife. To him, what he photographs has never been as important as how he approaches the subject. Each image entails different technical, artistic, and emotional considerations, but he always tries to leave room for serendipity. Using light patterns, form, and personal perception, Paul’s goal is to capture God’s beauty and the magic he sees.

Artist Sahar Alford presents “Splash,” a series of realistic oil paintings that examine different objects and their refraction in liquids such as water, milk, oil, and more. One of Sahar’s favorite subjects of study in physics was refraction and the water ripple effect. Refraction of light is a commonly seen phenomenon in our everyday lives, and is utilized in optical lenses- allowing for instruments such as glasses, cameras, binoculars, microscopes, and the human eye to function. Refraction is also responsible for some optical illusions in nature, including rainbows and mirages. “Splash” combines Sahar’s love of art and physics together in her newest painting series.

The Mississippi Art Colony features their Fall Traveling Show. Twice a year, the Mississippi Art Colony asks a guest artist to jury a show that will travel the state and beyond, representing the artists who attended their most recent artist session. This show was selected by guest artist Stan Kurth, and represents the artists who attended their fall session.

Gallery hours at Room 1927 will be 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Tuesdays – Fridays. The exhibitions will hang from November 5th through the 28th, with a special reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on November 8th, LoDa ArtWalk night.

This October, see Mobile Art Association Annual Fall Show, Guy Marcinkowski’s environmental abstractions exhibition titled Super Natural, and a collection of paintings by SOMI Club members.

Mobile Art Association is an organization of working artists, students, and supporters of the visual arts. Annually, they exhibit a juried and judged Annual Fall Show. The show is open to both their members and non-members. The 2019 judge will be Bill Thompson. There are multiple cash prizes including $500 for Best in Show, $250 for second place, and $100 for the third place winner. The Exhibit Chair is Nancy Barry. The Exhibit Co-Chairs are Trey Oliver and Roxann Dyess.

Super Nature, the Environmental Abstractions exhibition, is a 2 year personal journey of Guy Marcinkowski reinventing the conventional ideas of landscape and seascape art. For this exhibit, Guy worked with different substrates, such as tin, drift wood, ply wood, cotton sheets, and canvas. Each substrate reacted differently to the applied mediums seeming to paint themselves.

Guy has never been a landscape fan. He was always attracted to stylized figurative portraits and graphic abstract art. Wanting to push himself, he poured over books of artists whom he perceived to be the best at the craft of landscape painting. Ultimately, this endeavor changed the way he views the environment.

SOMI stands for Survivors of Mental Illness. The club consists of a diverse group of people who live with mental illness. They come together to socialize, relax and participate in activities such painting and adult coloring. Sixteen members will be showing an eclectic collection of painting this October.

Gallery hours at Room 1927 are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays – Fridays. The exhibitions will hang from October 3^rd through the 29^th , with a special reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, October 11^th, LoDa ArtWalk night.