2013
The Art of Art Bacon, Artist and Activist
May 16-June 21
Art Bacon is known by many as an artist, educator, and scientist. However, art has always been his passion. He was born in West Palm Beach but lived in several places in and outside of Florida. Recognized early for his artistic talent, he won many prizes and awards long before he graduated from high school. Now retired from Talladega College where he was named Professor Emeritus of Natural Sciences and Humanities, he is painting more than ever and occasionally writes and recites poetry.
People are Bacon’s subjects of choice especially older and neglected people whose experiences show in their faces. In the early days, he worked almost exclusively with ink washes and lines—very little color. He was a minimalist and believed that color interfered with his expression of feelings. Bacon now uses more color and acrylics and a number of other media and techniques, often combining several. However, he still likes lines and his palette is still limited. A leading art critic describes Bacon’s work as “social commentary with a bold vitality.”
Works by Bacon can be found in many private collections including those owned by Bill Cosby, U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and Hank Thomas. Institutions owning pieces by the artist include Alabama State University, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Mobile Museum of Art, Heritage Hall Museum, University of Maryland, Comer Museum, and Opryland. He has been featured in
Southern Living and Lakeside magazines, Black Art in America, an online journal, and other publications.
Artist website:
http://www.artbaconartist.com/
Reception: Sunday, May 19, 3-5 p.m., The Gallery
Fusion: Sculpture by Jamey Grimes and Charles Clary
June 24-August 2
Artist websites:
http://www.jameygrimes.com/,
http://charlesclary.wordpress.com/
Paintings by Sky Shineman
August 12-September 20
Reception: Saturday, August 17
Watercolor Society of Alabama Annual Showcase
September 23-October 31
Reception: Sunday, September 29
Exhibit curated by Dr. William Colvin
November 4-December 27
Reception: Saturday, November 9, 3 p.m.
2013
Afri-Spiritus Sembler: Diasporic Art Work
The Paintings of Mero'e Rei
April 2-May 10
The exhibit is located in the 4th Floor Gallery of the Central
Library during regular business hours.
Mero’e Rei had an interest in art from an early age and began producing works of art as a teenager. His love for jazz, blues and gospel serves as the inspiration for many of his pieces. His interest in African cave and rock art has inspired his later works. Rei has shown extensively in both solo and group exhibitions.
Rei is a native of the southern region of Alabama near Mobile. He graduated from high school in Birmingham, Alabama then attended the University of Alabama where he studied ceramics, sculpture, and print-making. He later received his B.A. at the State University of New York. Rei retired from the Office of Personnel Management of the United States Federal Government. He also served in the United States Navy as a medical corpsman. He gave many years as a clergyman in the Alabama West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. In his spare time, he studied art in galleries and museums in Spain and the Middle East.
Artist Statement:
“My art is a visual study of Jazz music (expressions of life) inspired by the African spiritual diaspora transmuted with connection to ancient and modern elders. These inclinations are visualized in intrinsic colors, organic forms and spontaneous rhythmic patterns, utilizing fresco and a mixture of mediums as ebbing tides and flowing waves of colors emanating from my life force and internal representations.
My style of work contains Color Field, Gestural and Lyrical Abstract Expressions.”
Visit the artist’s website for more information:
www.meroerei.com
To purchase prints of the artist’s paintings, go to:
2-meroe-rei.fineartamerica.com.
Reception: Saturday, April 6, 3-5 p.m., The Gallery
Unseen...Unforgotten: Civil Rights Photographs from The Birmingham News
February 2 - March 28
The exhibit is located in the 4th Floor Gallery of the Central
Library during regular business hours.
This exhibit
features 41 pictures that capture the suspense, drama, tension,
struggle and triumph of the civil rights movement in Birmingham
during the 1950s and 1960s. Photographers with
The Birmingham News took the photos, which highlight freedom riders,
sit-ins, the Children's Crusade of 1963, the impact of the bombing
of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and more. Courageous leaders such
as the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
others are featured in the exhibit. "You may have seen some of these
photos in the past but the detailed captions next to each photo help
you understand the full story and the achievements of the Birmingham
movement,'' said Marjorie White, president of the Birmingham
Historical Society.
The
Birmingham Historical Society organized the exhibition.
Event
Opening Reception February 2, 2013, 2:00-4:00 p.m., The Gallery
Press
"
Unseen...Unforgotten
photo exhibit installed at the Birmingham Public Library (slideshow
and video)"
The Birmingham News 28 January 2012
2012
Attorney Shores' Scrapbook- The
Life and Times of Birmingham's Civil Rights Lawyer and Civic Leader, 1939-1975
November 4 - December 28
The exhibit is located in the 4th Floor Gallery of the Central Library during
regular business hours.
From left, Autherine Lucy, Thurgood Marshall and Arthur Shores,
exit the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Ala. in February 1956, following
Lucy's reinstatement as the first black person to be admitted to the University
of Alabama.
Photo credit: Courtesy of The Birmingham News.
The Birmingham Historical
Society and the Birmingham Public Library are showcasing the life and times
of Birmingham civil rights attorney Arthur Shores in a special exhibit. The
exhibit features a scrapbook of newspaper reports and printed materials, which
Shores collected throughout his legal and political career.
The Birmingham Historical Society has copied numerous pages of the
scrapbook, which is larger than the size of a newspaper, in order to display
them in the downtown library's fourth floor gallery. Shores, who was born in
1904, was a high school principal at Dunbar High School in Bessemer, Ala. when
he became a lawyer in 1937. Although Shores died in 1996 at the age of 92, the
scrapbook and exhibit look at his career from 1939 to 1975.
Some of the exhibit highlights include:
- How Shores and Thurgood Marshall successfully fought to get Autherine
Lucy enrolled as the first black student at the University of Alabama in
1956
- How Shores became the first black person to sit on the Birmingham City
Council in 1968
- How Shores fought to strike down a Birmingham zoning law, which
determined which side of Center Street black people could live. (Black
people could not live on the west side of the street. The zoning law was
struck down in 1946. Once people started moving to the west side of the
street, their homes were bombed. Shores moved his family to an east corner
of Center Street in 1953.)
- How Shores' Birmingham home, which was located in an area that was known
as "Dynamite Hill" because of so many racist bombings, was bombed twice in
1963 because racists thought he was involved in an effort to integrate
Birmingham schools that year
- Ads, telegrams and memorabilia from Shores' career
Event
Opening Reception
November 4, 3:00-5:00 p.m., The Gallery
Remarks 3:30 p.m.
Shores' daughters, Helen Shores Lee and Barbara Sylvia Shores, have written a
book about their father. During the Nov. 4 opening reception, they will sign
copies of
The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill - The Untold Story of Arthur D. Shores and
His Family's Fight for Civil Rights. They wrote the book with Denise
George. Helen Shores Lee is a Jefferson County circuit judge and Barbara Sylvia
Shores is director of the Jefferson County Office of Senior Citizens Services.
Both say they are humbled that an exhibit features their father, who fought for
voting rights, housing issues, educational opportunities and more. "I'm sure if
he were here, he'd be very pleased that there is a recognition of his work,''
says Helen Shores Lee.
Press and Publications
Interview of Arthur Shores' daughters, Helen Shores Lee and Barbara Sylvia
Shores discussing their father and the scrapbook. Credit: Bernard Troncale.
Gallery Guide and Timeline"Civil rights attorney Arthur Shores' life
told by daughters in new book"
Birmingham News article.
Watercolor Society of Alabama, September 17 - October 28
Both
Sides of the Lens: Photographs by the Shackelford Family, Fayette County,
Alabama (1900-1935)
July 23-September 14
In the early twentieth century, posing for a photographic portrait
was an event -it was an opportunity for people to make meaningful visual
statements about themselves, their families, and their communities. Those living
in Fayette County, Alabama, and the surrounding area did not need to travel to a
photo studio to have their picture taken. Instead, they could simply visit the
Shackelford family. Mitch and Geneva Shackelford, along with their children,
were multi-talented African American artists who played a central role in the
rural Fayette County community of Covin. Though farming was their primary
vocation, the Shackelfords were also commercial photographers who left behind a
collection of more than 850 glass-plate negatives that are now preserved in the
Birmingham Public Library Archives.
The Shackelfords photographed local residents and visiting travelers, taking
pictures of individuals, families, school groups, and civic organizations. In an
era when demeaning and stereotypical depictions of blacks were prevalent in the
United States, the Shackelfords provided African Americans with a vehicle for
self-representation. The Shackelford photographs offer a dynamic and rarely seen
depiction of the African American experience in rural Alabama and show black
people living full and vibrant lives in the face of the racial and socioeconomic
oppression of the Jim Crow era. This exhibition offers a glimpse into life on
both sides of the lens, telling the story of these remarkable photographers and
those who stepped in front of their camera.
Events
Opening lecture and reception featuring Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson
July 24, 6:30 p.m., Arrington Auditorium
Curator Andrew Nelson and Shackelford decendent Annie Shackelford Gallery Talk
July 26, 12:00 p.m., 4th Floor Gallery of the Central Library
Press and Publications
Brochure (pdf)
Poster (pdf)
Press Release
Eudora Welty—Exposures and Reflections, June 5, 2012 -
July 20, 2012
Four Decades: Photography from the
University of Montevallo, April 17-May 25
Simpler
Times: The Paintings of Maurice Cook, February 28 -April 13
The African
American History Makers Quilt Exhibition, January 3-February 24