If you didn’t make it out to January’s artwalk, here’s a taste of some of the highlights – still on display in most cases.

Gratitude is its own reward. It pays the owner in perspective and peace and reflects something positive onto their world.

As much as complaining – or more specifically, carping without an attempt to solve the issue – seems to be an inexhaustible resource in these parts, the denizens of Mobile’s cultural realm have more to be thankful for than we sometimes realize. Plenty of these come to mind off the top of my head.

We should be glad for a lot of the folks we have around here with a relentless urge to give of themselves and enrich our cultural scene. There is a tiny portion of our local populace, less than five percent is my guess, who keep it humming along with their participation. An even smaller number are the ones who immerse themselves in it up to their chins, doing the heavy work of organizing or dedicating most of their time to those pursuits and anyone who has ever known an artist or musician can tell you there’s nothing lucrative about it. Not measured in bank accounts, anyway.

I’m thankful for organizations like the Centre for the Living Arts and the way they have kept the Saenger alive. The renovations they’ve managed have given us a showplace that still awes visitors and begs be utilized more fully.

I’m glad they’ve given us Space 301 and glad new director Bob Sain has kick-started the place into a higher gear. We’re starting to see its facilities used for films, concerts, meetings and things that embed it into our community more.

I’m grateful for local entrepreneurs that have showed great courage in opening art reservoirs in downtown, risking their fates to prime an arts district. Places like Kangal Gallery, Host Gallery, Robertson Gallery and others are filling essential roles in our local economy.

I’m grateful someone like Karen Cassidy has chosen to bring her Windy City determination to little ol’ Mobile. The mentor relationship she quickly established through Blue Velvet Studio has shown a whole generation of artists how easy things can be with the right focus and drive.

I’m glad we have Max Morey in town, going to every length he can to keep the Crescent Theater open. It’s been a focal point for several local cultural events and its presence alone gives a specific vitality to our arts district that was sorely missing.

I’m thankful for Courtney Matthews at Lunatix. I think the idea she’s birthed, the “big tent” she has there fosters a sense of kinship among a cultural subset who can often feel marginalized. It’s impossible to miss her enthusiasm and obvious the warmth she shows to everyone is repaid. Her community theater nights, with films projected on the side of her building and picnickers scattered on the ground in an atmosphere that alienates no one of any age or background is reflective of who she is and the effect she has on downtown.

I’m appreciative of Carson Kennedy and the way he has lifted the South Alabama Film Festival into unexpected heights in a few short years. Kennedy is a shot in the arm to an art form that has been sorely underrepresented here for a while.

I’m grateful Mobile has Elizabet Elliott in town. Her creativity, insight, intelligence, confidence and organizational skills are refreshing to find in a young cultural leader. Watching her herd cats with few resources the way she has with Rumor Union is inspiring and as long as she’s in Mobile, we will all reap the benefits.

I’m especially appreciative we have people like Charlie Smoke and Bob Burnett at the head of the Mobile Arts Council. Their passion for art, eagerness for inclusion and assistance and their overall qualities as just “good people” who seem to let their humanity rule, make them an invaluable asset to Mobile.

I’m glad for Chris Barraza and Greg Cyprian and the yeoman’s work they do with the city’s Neighborhood and Community Development department. Whenever you see markets in the squares, wildly successful artwalks, open-air concerts and other public events, it’s their endeavors that most likely made it possible.

I could continue like this for a good while, tossing out names like Danielle Juzan, Orrin Kickliter, Casey Downing, Scott Speck, Russell Adams, Creola Ruffin and on and on. It would only devolve into a roll call when the greater point is that there are plenty of Mobilians who deserve more thanks than will likely ever be given them.

But right now I’m particularly grateful for Mod Mobilian and an opportunity Doc Valso has given me that will clarify in the new year. This site is trying to inject unprecedented verve into the Azalea City, showing people it’s more than the Battle House, the battleship and Bellingrath. Its potential is far greater than many realize, if it can be directed in the right way.

Mod Mobilian is more than a hub of information about bands and bards. They’re trying to put a stethoscope to Mobile’s cultural heartbeat so everyone can witness and tell the world this sleepy Southern town isn’t content to slumber anymore.

I leaned back and took in the feckless autumn sky, relished the invigoration of cool air moving in and out of my body.

“Hey there, Stranger,” I heard. Straight-Up Princess sauntered up, heels clacking on the sidewalk.

“Just enjoying the weather,” I answered to her customary pleasantries “ Glad it feels good to be back outside again.”

“Little chilly for me,” Princess said, wrinkling her nose. “But it suits my errands today.”

“Why? What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m celebrating by going out and doing a little early Christmas shopping,” she smiled, flicking lint from her red plaid leggings.

“What’s the occasion?”

“The new Publix in Midtown, haven’t you heard?” Princess said. “They’re putting it in over there behind the Dew Drop. Tearing down them tacky apartments full of Democrats.”

I rolled my eyes. “But I thought you and all your Midtown friends were big fans of the new Winn-Dixie on Catherine? Y’all act like they invented oxygen over there.”

“Yeah, well now Publix is coming in and we’ll just have more choices. Besides, you ought to be happy with more places to pick-up sushi now,” she said as she playfully swatted at my arm.

“I just have my reservations,” I shrugged. “I’ve lived in Midtown a long time and I wonder if there’s the population density to support those being so close to each other.”

Now it was Princess who rolled her eyes. “Oh brother, I should have known,” she said. “What do you think should be there? Another homeless shelter?”

“No, I like the idea that Publix is moving into town,” I said. “I just think other locations might have been better. For starters, what about the spot where the Greer’s was on Florida Street?”

“By old Crockmier’s?”

“Yeah, look at that decimated little retail area,” I said. “It could use the help. The zoning was already in place, the parking lot is there. They could have razed the old structure and done what they wanted with the building.”

“But that neighborhood there is kind of ‘low rent,’ don’t you think?” Princess said. “You know Publix tries to price out all those folks with EBT cards.”

My expression dropped. “I live in that neighborhood,” I said and stared blankly at her.

“Sorry,” Princess apologized and slightly ducked her head. “But that isn’t as nice as where they’re going to put it.”

“But you just said that the apartments sitting over there now are populated by the lower end of the ladder,” I countered. “Besides, I think a Publix on Florida would have boosted all the business space on that street. Look, it’s even on a road with heavy traffic. The Publix is going to create a nightmare over at Louiselle and Old Shell with that little intersection jammed up all day long. I hate see what it’ll be like when Old Shell Elementary  and McGill-Toolen are letting out.”

“That’s the price of progress,” Princess said. “Besides, I’ll bet Publix did their research and decided it was best where they’re putting it.”

“Maybe, but knowing the way things work around here, there’s no telling what was exchanged to make that deal,” I said, my cynicism bare. “But what about in the other direction, closer to downtown?”

“Why would…” Princess started.

“Because downtown needs a grocery store and Publix has a name that could pull people from surrounding areas,” I said. “Look, we keep saying we want to build downtown residency but there’s little immediate access to the kind of retail you need for neighborhood growth. A grocery store near Broad and Government would draw from downtown, De Tonti Square, Church Street, Oakleigh, various areas around there while the Midtowners would still be heading to Winn-Dixie.”

“But why do that when the Winn-Dixie has proven that’s a good spot?” Princess said, turning her head back and forth as she looked into her compact mirror.

“I just don’t think it’s progressive,” I answered. “I think it’s a pretty standard approach that isn’t innovative. I also think it likely city leaders didn’t do anything to try and prompt something a bit more forward thinking rather than trying to duplicate someone else’s success.”

“But these are business people, they want to make money, not feed some idealistic dream,” Princess said, smacking her fresh lipstick.

“That’s a pitfall with following businessmen, they often play it too safe when that’s not what’s needed,” I said. “Remember the shot of energy that ran through the community when it was announced Google was setting up shop here for a short while to help local businesses start mobile websites? That quick little jolt was due solely to the fact that it was a new technology, something that sounds futuristic and progressive that was being associated with Mobile, no matter how limited or small.

“For so long, we’ve been associated with old ways, old technology, old thinking. Paper mills and chemical plants and refineries and docks, cotton and timber and steel. Just a whiff of 21st century tech put stars in people’s eyes.”

Princess shrugged. “But it wasn’t permanent.”

“No, but hopefully another new venture is,” I said. “This Artspace project where an outside non-profit might help develop combination living and working spaces in downtown could make a big splash. It’s just what downtown has needed for a while. If they could help get some of these vacant facilities like the old Red Cross building, the Van Antwerp building and City Hall North converted into that, you would be amazed at what it will do for downtown.

“Space 301 seems to be waking up too with more activity now than in a while. Movies, concerts, shows, it’s no accident the Google project was located there. The energy it could create in conjunction with this Artspace thing could change downtown forever. It could reach a kind of critical mass that would finally put it over a crest it’s been trying to mount for a long time.”

“But what’s that got to do with getting me K.O.R. tickets?” Princess cackled before her expression suddenly changed to shock.

“K.O.R.? That reminds me!” Princess shrieked as she fought a knot of bracelets to find her watch. “I’m supposed to meet Buffy Blanc-Spinner Van Antrese at True for lunch. I’ll bet I’ve missed the first hour of gossip.”

Princess gave a start and nearly twisted her ankle trying to jog away on her high heels.

“Why are you worried?” I called after her. “You’ll hear it all five times from other people before sundown.”

“I know,” Princess shouted back over her shoulder, “But if I’m not there, the gossip will all be about me!”

Centre for the living arts presents CATALYST: Artists of Southern Louisiana Respond to the Gulf Oil Crisis

Opening reception July 8, 6-9 pm (ARTWALK)

Artist Conversation with Robin Wallis Atkinson, moderated by Robert Sain – 301 Auditorium July 9 2pm

Exhibition runs July 8 – Sept 4

From Independent Curators International:

Robert Hannant, Grand Isle, LA, 2010. Digital Print. 20” x 20”. Courtesy of the artist.
CATALYST is an exhibition exploring the ways in which artists from Southern Louisiana have critiqued and confronted the Gulf Coast Oil Crisis and its connected issues. Using the oil spill as a spark to ignite an environmentally and socially charged conversation, this exhibition, on view at Whitebox Gallery in early 2011, will give audiences access to the poignant socially engaged art created by Southern Louisiana artists in response to the habitual neglect of their regional environment and the people that call it home.

    Rajko Radovanovic, Last Line of Defense, 2010. Photographic Installation.

The Gulf Coast Oil Crisis began on April 20, 2010 with the explosion and subsequent sinking of the BP leased oil rig, Deepwater Horizon. The following 86 days saw hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil spewed into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Though the well was successfully capped on July 15th, temporarily halting the flow of oil, a permanent solution has yet to be reached. Environmental experts estimate that between 90 million and 180 million gallons were released into the Gulf of Mexico, making the Deepwater Horizon spill the largest ever maritime oil spill to occur US controlled waters. Widely regarded as the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, the crisis along the Gulf Coast is threatening the extinction of both a unique environmental ecosystem, and also the ways of life that the have been built upon it.

Although the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is unparalleled in size and environmental impact, it is only a symptom of a wider and more persistent problem. Negligence on the part of the government, the oil industry, and the nation have deeply impacted Southern Louisiana over the decades. Even after the hemorrhage is permanently plugged, the citizens of the coast will be facing the consequences of this disregard for years to come. CATALYST uses this current crisis to address these long-standing endemic social and political issues that have led to this catastrophe.

Michel Varisco, Shifting, 2010. Digital Print.

CATALYST is organized around three principal themes of socially engaged art practice in Southern Louisiana. The first practice consists of art addressing environmental protection and preservation. Here, Michel Varisco’s epic photo-documentation of the rapidly deteriorating Louisiana Wetlands serves as a salient example of artwork that celebrates the beauty of the native environment as well as acting as a memento mori of what is at risk and what has already been lost. Similarly, Willie Birch’s large-scale drawings call attention to the land. His work addresses the beauty and complexity of the mundane, portraying the everyday landscapes of New Orleans to underline the inseparable connection between the artist and the land.  The second practice explored in this exhibition is art produced to increase social consciousness by examing interactions between diverse individuals and groups. Ron Bechet’s sculpture Crabs in a Barrel is a commentary on our inability to work collectively for the benefit of the whole. Like crabs stuck in barrel, rather than working together, we as individuals, as states, and as nations, are constantly undermining each other in pursuit of our own interests, systematically ensuring our prolonged collective struggles. The third practice includes art created for political activism. The work of native New Orleans artist Dan Tague exemplifies art that addresses political issues. His installation for CATALYST will address the 32 billion dollars that has been set aside by BP for gulf restoration. His installation, which will consist of a looming chalkboard onto which “healthcare, education, and adequate housing are for the privileged” is written addresses the historically lacking public policies of Southern Louisiana. In front of the chalkboard is a child’s school desk onto which the long-standing slogan for the city of New Orleans – care forgot – will be carved. This piece questions the billions of dollars dedicated to the damage in the Gulf, which scientists and industry experts alike fear may be irreparable. Tague’s stance is that if only a fraction of that money were dedicated to repairing the educational system in Southern Louisiana, the pervasive problems of homelessness, crime and drug related violence could be almost eradicated.

In light of a disaster as large, and frankly as horrific, as that which has been unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico since April, the artists in CATALYST have come to understand that it is their responsibility, the least they can do, to begin demanding answers and raising national awareness, not only to issues surrounding the oil spill, but also to the endemic social, environmental, and political maladies that have long plagued the area.

In the response to decades of neglect and preventable disasters, the art of Southern Louisiana has shifted to reflect an artistic consciousness focused on celebrating, protecting, and preserving one of the richest cultural and environmental jewels that America has to offer; though the artwork speaks directly to local issues, it is also relevant on a national and international level. Southern Louisiana is a canary in the coalmine of unsustainable industrial, environmental, and governmental practices. The need for change addressed in this exhibition is not rooted in Southern Louisiana, but instead in our national and international collective consciousnesses.

A concert in a series of performing arts entertainment at

An Intimate Evening with Beverly Jo Scott –  Friday June 10

“SoCo3,” an exhibition of social commentary by Dona Lief, Juan Carlos Quintana and Lee Renninger, is on view through June 26 at Space 301 on Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile.
The work of Lief and Quintana, on view in the main gallery, is on loan from Taylor Bercier Fine Art in New Orleans, La., and was curated by Mark Bercier. In the installation “Cry Baby Cry,” Lief addresses the obsession with celebrity in our society while Quintana is more overtly political in nature in “The Denizens.”

In his curator’s statement, Bercier writes: “Dona Lief and Juan Carlos Quintana are very gifted painters who explore two very different worlds. Lief is an original member of the Visionary Imagists of New Orleans. (She has been) working for four decades on her paintings and collages that feature Pop icons who have fallen from grace and, more recently, the Gulf oil spill and its effect on our children and environment.
“(The artist’s) highly charged works are macabre, political and spiritual. Dona’s view of life is expressed by meticulous images that challenge us and ask us to take a stand.

“Quintana is Cuban and was born in New Orleans and now lives in Berkeley, Calif. (His) images come from many sources: propaganda material, political cartoons, comic books, postcards. His painterly surfaces are deliberately “dirty” to allow the viewer to see mistakes and erasures. This creates a beautiful journey of layers superimposed with stages of the story that unfold as one spends time with the paintings.
“These stories are about independence and repulsive characters who are in a landscape of contemporary Cuban-American contradictions and conflicts.”
Renninger, of Gulfport, Miss., is a ceramic-based installation artist who has exhibited at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C., and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Her work was recently published in Contemporary Ceramics and Art in America magazines.
Renninger’s “Cautionary Tales,” in the Fabrication Hall, “is different take on a social commentary that reflects on the role of women, fashion and identity,” according to the artist.
“This installation uses pieces from Renninger’s couture and textile collections to examine the power of affluence. These works, made up of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hand-wrought pieces, tell visual stories about finery and its ability to seduce, inspire and corrupt.”

All three artists were selected by the CLA’s Visual Arts Advisory Committee chaired by Jason Guynes, chair of the art department at the University of South Alabama.

‘SOCO3’ at SPACE 301
WHAT: ‘SoCo3,’ an exhibit of social commentary by Dona Lief, Juan Carlos Quintana and Lee Renninger
WHEN: through June 26 WHERE:
Space 301/Centre for the Living Arts, downtown Mobile
ADMISSION: free
INFO: http://www.space301.com

The fourth installment of the intimate concert series features Walker Hayes. Sponsored in part by 95KSJ and Ashland Gallery.

Benefit for Centre for the Living Arts and Saenger Theatre Chandelier restoration Fund

Limited Seating – 175 tickets – Terrace Bar opens at 6:30 PM, Concert at 8:00 PM

Reservations guaranteed with payment. Tickets required. LIMIT 175.
Tickets: All tickets will have an additional $2.00 fee for Saenger Restoration Fund Individual Tickets – $27.00 for CLA members, $37.00 for non-members

For reservations and information call the Saenger Box Office at 208-5600

Walker Hayes had no business being in Nashville, yet here he is. He may have moved to Music City on a lark, but his determination—and a loving and supportive wife—helped him develop talents he didn’t know he had.

Raised in Mobile, Ala., in a “Brady Bunch” household—his parents each brought four children to a blended family before making Walker the ninth—he discovered music early in his life. His father was a former music minister and one of his half-sisters once auditioned for “Star Search.”

He learned piano at a young age, Walker was torn between music and sports. “I grew up an athlete/ choirboy in turmoil,” the boyishly handsome singer-songwriter says. “Half my friends were jocks and half were in choral. I was pulled between them.”

He completed a degree in general music with an emphasis on piano in just two years at Birmingham-Southern College and then attended the University of North Carolina before moving back to Mobile to work in real estate with his father and half-brothers.

“Pants,” the debut single from Reason To Rhyme, which not so coyly states, she can wear the pants as long as I can take them off her, is also a study in contradictions. “I wrote that totally for Laney,” Walker says. “She is so much better than me at so many things—for example parenting our kids—and I will bow down and cower to whatever she says. She does wear the pants and I’m OK with that, as long as I can take them off her.”

Walker’s music also reflects his unique sense of humor. “My Best Friend’s Fiancé,” for example, which finds the singer in lust with his friend’s intended and which rhymes “fiancé” with “Beyonce,” was written “just for fun,” Walker admits.

No matter what happens next, Walker has proved that dreams, with a heaping helping of determination, can come true. The man who sang cover tunes at the Bluebird Café is now a songwriter of extraordinary proportions. “From now until the day that I die I can get up and write a song and hopefully it will be better than the last one I wrote,” he says.

Seating is limited to 175 seats and is held in the auditorium/terrace of Space 301 (contemporary art gallery at 301 Conti Street – downtown).

Tickets are $27 for members and $37 for non-members.

Theatre Scramble Mobile is excited to work together with Space 301 in presenting Fairy Tale Theatre on March 12 from 6 to 9 PM.  Several teams of writers and actors were given the prompt of re-imagined fairytales on February 19th, and this event marks the culmination of their efforts to create a short, original play.  Some of the fairytales being re-imagined are Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and more.

Fairytales transcend time and location, with similar stories existing in different cultures.  In recent decades, fairytales have been presented as family friendly entertainment with consistently cheerful endings, but historically, fairytales have contained very dark material, including cannibalism, incest, rape, and physical violence, and the characters didn’t always live happily ever after.  The teams have been encouraged to examine their selected fairytale and its versions around the world, and they have been given free license as to content.  In other words, this is not a show to bring your kids to see.

There are many ways one can re-imagine a fairytale, whether one uses the Baz Luhrmann approach (Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio) or the Gregory Maguire approach (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Tales of an Ugly Stepsister) or anything in between or outside of that, including a Sleeping Beauty where everyone wears funny hats and talks with a thick accent.  The plays shown that night may take any one of these approaches, so this event is sure to bring out a lot of creativity and originality.  Come out to Space 301 on Saturday, March 12 at 6 PM and enjoy some light refreshments and a cash bar as you watch fairytales being acted out in new ways!

Theatre Scramble Mobile was started by Stefanie Bencsath and Trey Lane.  Its mission is to provide area writers and actors with opportunities to showcase their talent to the community in the form of short, original plays created within two to three weeks.  This is live theatre in a pressure cooker.  

Fairy Tale Theatre is the third such event to come out of Theatre Scramble Mobile.  The first one took place in November at the Mobile Museum of Art and was greeted with close to two hundred audience members, and the second one, a family friendly Mardi Gras themed scramble, took place this past Saturday at the Mobile Museum of Art.  

For more information, visit theatrescramble.wordpress.com  

To become involved in future scrambles, please email theatrescramblemobile@gmail.com

Read Thomas B. Harrison’s full article here.

photo credit : Victor Calhoun

Q. Did you get a sense of the Centre For Living Arts board’s expectations and priorities? Did they give you a mandate?

A. “The mandate is to engage the community (and) . . . so more people have experiences that matter in their lives. The issue is how to maximize and leverage the capabilities of both Saenger and Space 301. . . . While the theater and the gallery are the anchor, hub and headquarters space, to me it’s just the sparkplug. The Centre can generate activity in all kinds of arenas throughout the city — in unexpected public spaces, for example.

Part of how you do community engagement is through collaboration, building alliances, partnerships with other cultural organizations, and with social, healthcare, school system and civic. To me that’s the richness of what can happen. Because of the scale of Mobile, it’s small enough to do it and big enough to matter.”

Read the whole Q&A here

[Editor's note - this turned up in Mailer-Daemon's mailbox as you see it below. To protect the identity of the reporter i'm referring to him/her as Artshole...]

January LoDa Art Walk….

LoDa Art Walk was terribly and unfortunately blah.  It was colder than Hillary Clinton in bed, a couple of exhibits were so-so and there just wasn’t anyone there.  The weather  is understandable…I know it’s a state wide crisis when weather dips below 70, but come on Mobile!

Space 301, 3+3, clay survey-

This exhibit was by far, the winner…possibly of the year actually. 3+3 is an exhibit of 5 ceramic artists who will be part of the upcoming Alabama Clay Conference.  It was curated by Tony Wright and I truly applaud his choices.  It is a great mix of pieces from sculptural objects to more classical teapots and vessels.  A personal favorite was Misty Gamble’s installation work Tan Hands.  This row of tanned ceramic hands sport a diamond, showing off the ring in elegant poses and exploring concepts of femininity, status, and age. Posing the question ‘How the hell did he do that?‘, Chris Gustin’s large scale vessels fill the space with a quiet calmness.  The beautifully organic pieces are finished simply with soft colored glazes.  All and all, well worth the trip downtown– 3+3 will be up until Feb. 20th.

Mobile Arts Council, Mobile Watercolor Society-,

Usually one of the more packed galleries during LoDa, MAC was pretty dead on Friday night. The show was one of my least favorites put on by MAC, due to my love/hate relationship with watercolors.  I think that while they can be done well and beautifully, most of the time they fall short of that with subject matter and technique. But, I digress… I did enjoy Mary Rodning’s paintings which were loosely based off of traditional Japanese watercolors. The distinct style and delicate application set her apart from the majority of the work being exhibited.

Lunatix & Co, Elizabet Elliot-

Photos courtesy of Nikki Burkett.

After 301, Lunatix had the most visitors during art walk ( I’m excluding Cathedral on this one, remember?????).  Courtney had the Mulligrubs playing outside, the front filled with new stuff and Elizabet Elliot in the back.  Some new pretties in the front included several silky nighties and lingerie printed with Nikki Burkett’s wood blocks and Rachel Wright’s anatomy dresses.  While I love the folk art quality of Elizabeth’s paintings, what I really dig is the cloth panels surrounding her work.  Cut out trees and and a landscape in varying shades of white and beige created this beautiful, translucent world around her fairy tale-esque art.

Blue Velvet Studio, Mural Night,

I absolutely loved the idea and I think it was a great follower after the nude show.  Although, when I popped in there was only a handful of people painting, it is something that may be better pursued outside in the spring when more people are out and about…Defintely looking forward to the black light exhibit and the costume exhibits in the spring.

Hopefully in Feburary more people will put on a jacket and head downtown….Cold never hurt no one…but don’t ask Winnie bout that.

www.mistygamble.com/