LOCAL ARTIST’S WORK FEATURED IN THE BAMA’S JUNIOR LEAGUE GALLERY

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

LOCAL ARTIST’S WORK FEATURED IN THE BAMA’S JUNIOR LEAGUE GALLERY

 The Arts Council will present an exhibit of paintings by local artist Deborah Hughes at the Bama Theatre’s Junior League Gallery on September 1-29, 2011.  Titled “Wanderings,” the display will open with a reception on Thursday, September 8 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. in the gallery.

The Bama Theatre is located at 600 Greensboro Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa with gallery hours of 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  The gallery is also open during Bama Theatre events.  For more information about the galleries visit tuscarts.org or follow the group on Facebook at “The Arts Council – Bama Theatre – Cultural Arts Center” and also on Twitter.  Call 205-758-5195 for further information. 

Deborah Hughes
Deborah Hughes is a lifetime artist who grew up in Meridian, Mississippi.  She considers it her good fortune that she came under the influence of Mississippi artist and abstract expressionist, Eloise McLellan during her childhood.  Her educational background includes the B.F.A. in Painting and Graphic Design from The University of Alabama – where she experienced the eclectic mix of UA professors, Al Sella, Howard Goodson, Art Oakes and Richard Brough – and the M.F.A in Painting and Sculpture from Florida State University.

While located in Florida she worked as an illustrator of children’s books and had a two-year residency as a visual artist with The Fine Arts Council of Florida.  She returned to Alabama to fill a position as assistant professor of art at the University of West Alabama and later became Art Director of Educational Media for The University of Alabama.  Her graphic design career with the university was rich and varied, including the creation of award-winning theatre and dance posters, magazines, web design and interactive media.  

Throughout these years, the artist has continued to create paintings and sculpture independently and has been featured in group and one-woman exhibitions throughout the Southeast.  Locally she has been featured in one-woman shows at The Kentuck Gallery, The Art Council’s Junior League Gallery, Ferguson Center and the University Medical Center.  Her 2003 show at the Kentuck Gallery entitled “Five Months in Carpinteria” represented her experience as a landscape painter during a sojourn to Southern California. While in California she became a founding member of SCAPE (Southern California Artists Painting the Environment) and participated in classes and workshops lead by prominent area artists including Michael Drury, John Comer and Marcia Burtt.  The Meisel Gallery in Santa Barbara featured her plein air landscapes in a group show of five artists, also in 2003.

Nine of the artist’s paintings have recently been selected to be reproduced as large giclee prints and installed into three new hospital systems in Santa Barbara, CA as a part of their Healing Arts initiative.  Hughes returns to California throughout the year to paint on location and participate in the arts community there.  The paintings represented in the upcoming exhibit are foremost about being there, direct observation and a visual dialog with her chosen environment.  To contact her about her work or if you are interested in purchasing a painting, call 205-752-2800 or 205-310-5939, or email the artist at art@deborahhughes.com.  More of her work can be seen on her website at deborahhughes.com or in her Facebook albums.

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