CROSSROADS ARTS ALLIANCE EXHIBIT AT THE BAMA THEATRE

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release                                             
The Arts Council
Contact:  Kevin Ledgewood
205-758-5195, x6

CROSSROADS ARTS ALLIANCE EXHIBIT AT THE BAMA THEATRE
(Tuscaloosa) The Arts Council is hosting an exhibit of visual art by the Crossroads Arts Alliance from Gordo, AL.  On display in the Greensboro Room through June 29, 2012, the exhibit represents the wide range of creativity and talent present among artists in West Alabama.

The Crossroads Arts Alliance of the Town of Gordo is an eclectic and multi-generational group of artists and craftspeople who live and work in and around Gordo, AL (population 1,600), therefore the use of the word crossroads in their name.  The organization’s work represents art and artistic craft, from photography to letterpress printing and metal work to mosaics.   Actively dedicated to the town’s growth as a center for art, their mission is to increase art awareness and education in Pickens County, while enhancing positive partnerships and economic and cultural development. 

Located at 600 Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa, the galleries at the Bama Theatre are open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. – noon and 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. and also during Bama Theatre events.  Enter the gallery through the PARA Building, located adjacent to the theatre, during daytime hours.

Artists represented in the show are:

Barbara Pennington, abstract artist, currently shows her work in the galleries of New York.

Melba Hollingsworth, a retiree from Tuscaloosa High School as art teacher, produces ceramic sculpture and two-dimensional art, is a native of Pickens County and has served as both the Gordo Elementary School visual artist resident and librarian for the Town of Gordo.

Rhys Greene, mosaic artist and photographer, works from her rural studio in Pickens County.  Recent mosaic projects can be seen throughout the Town of Gordo.  These include “Bloom Where You Are Planted” benches,  “100 Lenses” mosaic camera, and a tiled quilt mosaic at Gordo Elementary School.  She has created numerous religious themed mosaics as a gift to St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Fayette, AL.  The iconic Kentuck Tree mosaic in Historic Northport was a collaborative project with Linda Muñoz.  Rhys and Linda are now working on a commissioned mosaic for the new Caring Days facility in Tuscaloosa.  Rhys’ photos have been purchased for display at the DCH Cancer Treatment Center in Tuscaloosa.

Lisa Stamps, Ed Eychner, and Lisa Livingston, all photographers, are members of the Crossroads Arts Alliance Camera Club. This will be Ed’s and Lisa Livingston’s first gallery showing of their work. Thanks to Lisa, the Camera Club is beginning to flourish.

Suzanne Gray was the art designer for the recent Black Belt Arts Initiative Grant “Bloom Where You Are Planted Mosaic Benches” Project.  She is active in all of our community art programs and last year she conducted a three-day bookmaking workshop with kindergarten students at the Gordo Elementary School. She has been the designer of the wonderful Mule Day/ChickenFest t-shirts from 2009 to 2011.

Jessica Peterson, a letterpress printer and book artist, is the recipient of CAA’s Book Arts Residency for 2009 / 2010.  She has received funding from the Alabama State Council on the Arts for work on an artist’s book about Ma’Cille’s Museum of Miscellanea.  Her previous prize-winning book projects unearth and highlight under-appreciated local histories, such as the effect of Hurricane Katrina on Biloxi, MS, and a 1969 race riot in Rochester, NY.  She has been a faculty member at Mississippi University for Women, Purchase College, The University of Bridgeport and teaches in the highly acclaimed University of Alabama MFA Book Arts Program.  She operates The Southern Letterpress and Job Printing in downtown Northport, Alabama.

Barbara Lee Black, a recipient of the Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, operates a studio/gallery in a rehabilitated building on Main Street in Gordo. Black has achieved a Master of Fine Art degree in studio art with an emphasis in photography at The University of Alabama. Her current work is on display at her gallery.

Glenn House, Sr., former co-chair of CAA, retired after 13 years as a commercial artist in Tuscaloosa and 23 years at The University of Alabama, where he assisted in developing the acclaimed Book Arts Program in the College of Communication and Information Sciences.  Assistant professor emeritus House established the program’s paper mill and made the discovery that the plant used in Japan for making their exquisite Kozo paper also grows abundantly in Gordo and West Alabama.  House is perhaps best known for designing Tuscaloosa’s famous MoonWinx sign. 

Kathleen Fetters, creates black and white silver gelatin photographs and pigment inkjet photographs, many hand-colored.  She is also a recipient of the Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship and has shown her work at many festivals and competitive shows.  This month she printed two MuleDay/ChickenFest posters on the House Family Vandercook printing presses in Studio 150 in Gordo.

The Bama Theatre is located at 600 Greensboro Avenue is downtown Tuscaloosa.  For more information about The Arts Council or Bama Theatre, patrons should LIKE the Facebook page “The Arts Council – Bama Theatre – Cultural Arts Center” and follow tuscarts on Twitter.  Call 205-758-5195 or visit tuscarts.org for further information.

 

###