GOOD STUFF

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Describing herself as someone who “finds beauty in the ordinary,” Maggie Stickney’s life and art are anything but mundane. A mother of three daughters, Stickney finds time to paint in the rare moments of quiet when everyone is otherwise occupied or out of the house. She grew up on Long Island and then earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Ultimately, she moved to Fairhope, where her husband grew up, and has been raising her family along the Bay ever since.

For years, Stickney used her artistic vision to create fabric designs for baby carriers but recently returned to her love of painting. Whether exploring the “edge of two worlds, where land and water meet” through her coastal landscapes or revealing the beauty in simple items such as a houseplant or butterfly, her colorful works remind us to take the time from our busy lives to appreciate the magic all around us. Her work can be found at Sophiella Gallery in Mobile, Purple House in Gainesville, Georgia, and Jenner McGinn studio in Atlanta.

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Other artsts are always a great source of inspiraton for me. There are so many I love. Alice Neel, Fairfeld Porter,John Singer Sargent,Henri Matsse and Richard Diebenkor are just a few.

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Color is a constant inspiraton. In nature, textles, books, food, architecture – really everywhere. If I see a color or combo I like, I try to fle it away. I get really excited about relatonships with color. Color is magic. I love color! I enjoy trying to match and mix colors to my color-aid paper chip.

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The natural world is a huge inspiraton. I’m constantly snapping pics while walking my dog or when we drive the backroads to the beach. I can fnd something I want to draw or paint anywhere. I like to play games like: where is the paintng?

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Playing with compositon is a huge thing, too. What makes a paintng work has a lot to do with the compositon. So I like to tnker with this and see if I can take something really boring and make it interestng with just compositon and color.

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I enjoy lines and form.

Sometmes I just see something with really cool lines and I want to draw it.

Recently we were at the beach with some friends down at Fort Morgan, which has all these brightly painted houses on stlts. The bright colors were fun, but the stlts were the inital pull for me to paint that setng.

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The edges of where things meet is something I’m always drawn to. I love where water and land meet. I also love the juxtapositon of the natural world and man-made — like houses on the dunes or the masts of boats in the sky.

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Houseplants are a kind of mundane beauty. I appreciate the lines and forms and incorporate them into interior spaces.

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The color combinatons in the sky are literally endless. I relish the challenge of sortng out what the colors truly actually are, and recreatng them in my work. Ofen with clouds there is very litle white — even when they appear white. Clouds are a hard thing to paint. It’s hard to make them feel authentc, but I like the challenge.

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Light and shadows are really fun for me. I love creatng simple stll lifes in my house, arranging fruit with interestng shadows and paintng them.

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Anything with a shape I like, I want to draw it. That can be a chair, scissors, a bunch of bananas, a houseplant, a stack of books, a crumpled napkin or a bag of lemons from the grocery store. I’m always reminded that anything can be a good paintng if it’s painted well.

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At an early age, June Reddix-Stennis discovered her passion for art and social justice. She was raised on a farm in Vancleave, Mississippi, where she joined the Jr. NAACP and won the state art competition at the young age of 6. With no formal art education available, she became “the class doodler and hobby photographer,” while remaining an activist throughout her younger years.

Reddix-Stennis enrolled at Tidewater Community College to study commercial art, and then mass communications and advertising at Norfolk State University. Eventually, after “bouncing around a bit,” she landed in Mobile where she had a 20-year career as an award-winning graphic designer.

Then, after a life-changing injury, June realized that she could merge her passions to advocate for social change. Now, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Goddard College, June works from her studio in Central Arts Collective in Mobile. Her upcoming “SOIL” focuses on lynchings in Mobile and their modern-day legacy.” She describes herself as one who “creates for ‘them,’ the ones who are unheard, unseen, unnoticed.”

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The Mississippi natve is an infuental internatonal painter and social actvist, and also happens to be my frst cousin!

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!"$%9%.B%6"4"9)(8")2"+,%"7))>" LM149>"H'+"N)'6O"<*"<*+,)1)#8" )2"-)6%$*"C)%5/"78"M149>" Americans” by Arnold Adof &,%*"!"&4/"47)'+"%.#,+"8%4$/" )16"2$)5"58"<'*+"N.1"&,)"1.B%6" in Chicago. I stll read from it. I also had the pleasure of meetng and chatng with Maya Angelou &,.1%".*"9)11%#%".*"F.$#.*.4?"4*6" my daughter is named afer her. I am also a fan of Mobile poet Alex Lofon, aka “HuggyBear Da Poet,” ,%=/"4"/+4+%"+$%4/'$%;"

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I’m refreshed by green space, and Mobile has some jewels. I’m a frequent visitor to Langan Park, Treasure Forest and the Botanical Gardens.

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I love being out and about in the world. An exotc locale, a cross- state excursion or simply driving the back roads of Mobile and Baldwin countes is cup-flling.

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU GUMBO | INSPIRATIONS

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A well-made cup, an Eames chair, a Frank Gehry building, even a good grilled cheese sandwich can be inspiring.

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When I think of the clear waters and the sound of the creek fowing through the limestone canyons, I feel at home and at peace.

B"#$%#:.=&#and best friend, Amy Paterson.We’ve known each other since we were children growing up in small-town west Texas. Our relatonship and our adventures together, keep me centered and motvated.

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I frequently revisit the places I’ve been, the people I’ve known, the experiences that have formed who I am. I look back so I can beter understand and shape what lies ahead.

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The process of gathering molten glass on a blow pipe and forming a bubble gives me unfetered joy. At that moment anything is possible.

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Artsts like William Gudenrath taught me craf, while others, like Therman Statom, taught me how to conceptualize my work. I frequently refect on their lessons.

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To be a child is to see the world for the frst tme. They are so atuned to being imaginatve, open, and free. They are practtoners of play and unconditonal love.

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Being able to work with such a talented and diverse range of collegues at The University of South Alabama has fostered and facilitated my professional development these past eleven years. Being a teacher, helping students grow and mature as artsts, and knowing that I played some small role in their success inspires and informs my own work.

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Whether traveling to far-flung destinations, going for a drive or enjoying the pleasure of a long walk, Matthew Patterson finds beauty in life’s journeys and the natural world. Beauty defines Patterson’s award-winning art as well, “beauty is not just the object of our attention, but the quality of how we think and feel,” he explains.

Patterson was raised in Ballinger, Texas, where he met his wife Amy. Art ran in the family, and Patterson was influenced by his mother, a landscape painter, and his brother-in-law, who introduced him to glass blowing. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fine Arts at the University of Texas Arlington before relocating to Mobile and becoming a professor at the University of South Alabama, educating his students in the art of glass blowing.

Patterson’s works have been displayed in galleries, museums, and private collections across the United States. A busy, proud father of two children, Patterson still takes the time to appreciate the beauty of Mobile’s “frequent rain, lush landscapes, delicious food and people.”

Kent Walsh is a painter, but she is not the type who sits quietly at an easel. Walsh’s process is a physical act, often leaving her breathless as she scrapes the canvas to create her distinctive works. “I refuse to plagiarize myself,” Walsh proclaims.

Walsh has been painting since her grandmother gifted her a set of oils when she was 5 years old. She graduated with a degree in studio art from the University of Alabama where abstract art was not a part of the curriculum. Despite this, she gained knowledge of color and expression that enabled her to develop her style, creating the abstract pieces that define her work today.

Nearly 30 years ago, she donated 25 of her paintings to sell for an event, and all of them sold. The enthusiasm for her work made it clear that she had chosen the right profession.

Now, she continues to paint and teach classes out of her studio in Point Clear, where she has lived for the past 20 years. She is an engaging mentor and teacher, who encourages her students to use their emotions to fuel their work. She takes pride in the relationships that her students form with each other on top of the instruction they receive. Walsh’s works are displayed at the Sophiella Gallery in Mobile.

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His color and brush strokes are bold and intent onal. I especially admire “Rosy Fingered Dawn 1963”

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Lennon and McCarthy make me remember meaningful t mes in my life.

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I respond to the nature around me. I’m moved by high and low t des, sunsets, and squalls on the bay.

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The color combinat ons on the houses in the French Quarter thrill me.

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The ships’ simple lines and monochromat c palet e remind me of abstract paint ng.

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The moss on the trees, the cypress knees, the refl ect ons on the water, all contribute to my landscape paint ngs.

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The story of fi ve women who started a movement that changed modern art: Lee Krassner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hart gan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler.

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Flowers, candles, crystal and china can be seen in the background of my abstracts.

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I can stare at bridges forever. The way light expands and alters the architectural elements invigorates my imaginat on.

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Everything my mother touched had style. She lived her life with elan. Her sense of proport on had an eff ect on me.

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PHOTO BY KATHY HICKS

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