44th Montgomery Art Guild Musuem Exhibition by MontgomeryMFA

44TH MONTGOMERY ART GUILD

MUSEUM EXHIBITION

CONTENTS Welcome Page 1 From the President

Page 2

From the Juror Sponsors + Acknowledgments

Page 3 Page 4

Award Donors Page 5 Award Winners Artists + Entries

Page 6

Also On View

Back Inside Cover

Page 16

Left to right: Phoebe Burns, Ain’t I a Woman, 2021; Steve Spencer, If You Bought It in Memphis, 2020; Steve Spencer, After Jazzfest Lets Out, 2019

WELCOME Angie Dodson

Director Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Each Montgomery Art Guild exhibition provides an opportunity for the Museum to celebrate both its origin story—we were founded by a group of area artists and arts educators—and, at the same time, the ever-deepening creativity and capacity of today’s regional artists. Of the 133 artists who submitted 443 works for inclusion, 74 works by 57 artists constitute this year’s exhibition. We thank juror Wendy Castenell for so generously bringing her head and heart to the selection of works which—individually and collectively—seem to speak to the diversity of experiences and perspectives the artists bring to their works. And, we applaud all of the entrants for their commitment to their craft…and for their courage in bringing it forward for public consideration. This exhibition is the product of the juror and artists, yes, but also the team of MMFA staff and MAG leaders whose coordination underpins it. MMFA contributors include: Jennifer Jankauskas, Pam Bransford, Sarah Elizabeth Kelly, Sarah Graves, Brad Echols, Christen Napp, and Stephen Hayes. And, on the MAG side of the equation: co-chairs Sandra Polizos and Carol Ballard along with Alisa Koch, Bob Corley, and Warren Simons. Finally, we thank our sponsors, without whom we could not bring this biennial exhibition to the River Region: AlaCOMP, Elizabeth Crump, Laura and Barrie Harmon, Lucy and Hans Luquire, Paula and Nelson Smith, Renasant Bank, Ann Hubbert, and Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Harris. Here, we also express our gratitude for the generosity of the many award donors for their support of this exhibition and its artists. Clearly, it has taken a village to realize this 44TH Montgomery Art Guild Exhibition as well the attendant exhibition of works by featured artist Marguerite Edwards. Again, we applaud all the people of our “village” for their investment in and devotion to this longstanding cooperative effort of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Montgomery Art Guild. 1

FROM THE PRESIDENT Warren Simons

President Montgomery Art Guild This 44TH Montgomery Art Guild Museum Exhibition would not be possible without the support of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, the City of Montgomery, and all the organizations and individuals who support the museum. A deep heartfelt thanks to all of you. Thank you, Angie Dodson, director of the museum, and all the MMFA staff that made this exhibit happen, especially Jennifer Jankauskas and Sarah Graves. You are awesome! To the sponsors of this event and to the cash award donors: your financial support and love of the arts helps feed and sustain the artistic sparks of creativity that are present in the works submitted to this exhibit. A big thanks to Dr. Wendy Castenell, our juror, for selecting this strong grouping of art for our exhibition. It was no small task to review and assess the large body of accomplished artwork in order to choose the work for display. To all the artists who submitted artwork to this show: you rock! Thank you for creating your work and for entering the juried process of the exhibit. Now consider taking the next important step: keep working! The Montgomery Art Guild work committee of Sandra Polizos, Carol Ballard, Alisa Koch, and Bob Corley were key to making this exhibit a success. Thank you for your efforts! Lastly, thanks to all the viewing public who come see this exhibit. We hope this art inspires you to look—and to look again.

FROM THE JUROR Wendy Castenell

Assistant Professor of African American Art in the Department of Art and Art History The University of Alabama It was a great pleasure to work as a juror for the 44TH Montgomery Art Guild Museum Exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. There were 443 submissions this year, of which I selected 74 for the exhibition. It was incredible to see the eclectic and interesting works by local artists. I was especially impressed with the breadth of media, subject, and style amongst the submissions. In selecting works for the show, I deliberately tried to showcase the diversity of the submissions by choosing examples from a wide variety of media that included a large number of 2-D and 3-D pieces and that were a mix of abstract and naturalistic. The result, I think, is an eclectic show that showcases the range and variety of the talented local artists who submitted to the show. That said, after walking through the exhibition, a few prominent interests and themes emerged from the selected pieces. I was drawn to several works that used nontraditional media, such as textiles, paper, found objects, and mixed media. I was also deeply interested in artworks that evoked a sense of the local and the Southern because of the way they seemed to be rooted in Alabama. Finally, I was moved by the number of works that were related to the collective experiences and challenges facing the local and national communities over the past year due to the pandemic anxiety and the spotlight shone on racial injustice. Ultimately, I hope this exhibition will inspire the public as well as the participants to continue to be creative while displaying their personal experiences.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS Thank You The relationship between the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Montgomery Art Guild has flourished for more than fifty years due to the generous patronage by sponsors of both organizations. The sponsors who support the Museum exhibitions and programming and fund the awards received by MAG artists represent the overall support of the Montgomery community for local art, artists, and art scholarship. We are tremendously grateful to the sponsors below and on the following page for their support this year and every year that we enjoy this fruitful collaboration.

44th Montgomery Art Guild Musuem Exhibition

Articles inside

From the President

Welcome

From the Juror