Art tells stories from times gone by

STORY BY KYMBERLY DONOWSKI PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE & COURTESY OF DAC

President and Director of The Dixie Art Colony Foundation, Mark A. Harris has a passion for bringing together both art and the historical period in which it was produced.

“We not only hang art on the walls, but also, we talk about the history of the art and how it ties art and history together,” explained Harris. “In many ways, artists serve as historians, creating visual records of our society and culture.”

Art had a strong impact on Harris, who grew up in Wetumpka. From a young age, he realized the impact of Southern art, not only in galleries but also in history.

“In the spring of 2014, I curated an exhibition about The Dixie Art Colony. That was spurred by an article published in the late ’90s in Alabama Heritage maga- zine. The exhibition was exclusively Dixie Art Colony artwork and also information about the story of the colony. It was well attended, and there seemed to be a lot of interest in it. That’s when I had the idea to form The Dixie Art Colony Foundation. This foundation was formed in an effort to preserve the history behind The Dixie Art Colony,” explained Harris.

The Dixie Art Colony, which initially met at a lake house in Elmore County, was one of the Deep South’s early art colonies. Some of the area’s most celebrated artists of the early and mid 20th century met there to paint and encourage each other’s artistic efforts, including Kelly Fitzpatrick, Arthur Stewart, Carlos Alpha (Shiney) Moon, Frank Applebee, Waree Carmichael LeBron and others. More than 140 men and women participated in The Dixie Art Colony. Working mostly in watercolor, the artists captured portraits, landscapes and vignettes of everyday life in colorful works.

Through these and other studies, Harris found art a helpful and useful lens through which the viewer and student could gain insight into the history of the area.

“I felt that this unique part of Alabama’s history, Southern history really, needed to be preserved. You had this group of people from all different walks of life. Some came from well-to-do families; some were middle class families. Young and old alike. The youngest artist that participated was 18; and then, you had artists that were in their 60s and 70s, and basically they lived in this location together for several weeks,” he explained.

The painters of The Dixie Art Colony provide viewers a mirror into what the land and lifestyle once was.

“The first year The Dixie Art Colony met was in 1933 on Lake Martin, the area referred to as Cherokee Heights. They actually met at a place called Camp Dixie, which is where they got their name, The Dixie Art Colony. The area was built by the Russell family of Alexander City. The last year that they met was in Elmore County in 1948,” he said.

Many will notice the painters have a distinct purpose and style to their work.

“Their typical paintings are colorful and depict everyday things, Southern things. They did primarily landscapes and a few portraits. The bulk of their work was watercolor. Watercolor is very difficult. In order to be good at it, you have to be really quick and fast.

Watercolor is a quick medium, and they could produce a lot of it. They wanted to help preserve things in painted scenes. They would paint things, like turpentine stills and pottery kills and cotton gins, that don’t exist anymore. In the rural landscape, they were painting things to document what life was like here during the ’30s and ’40s,” explained Harris.

Some of the colony artists were instrumental in the foundation of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

Locally, The Dixie Art Colony Foundation keeps a current exhibition at the Dixie Art Colony Museum and Gallery at 219 Hill St., Wetumpka.

“We do programs in Wetumpka, but we also do programs out of town. They are all educational programs that talk about history, as well as art. In Andalusia, we focused on one particular artist who grew up in Andalusia and also during the time he participated in the colony. In the programs, we talk about the history of the area; the history of them meeting there; how they met; where they stayed and so forth. We talked about the history of the location where we’re meeting and how it is related to the Dixie Art Colony. Then we show the art and talk about the artist,” explained Harris.

The gallery is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and by appointment. Visit the website at dixieartcolony.org to learn more or call 334-328-0730 to schedule a tour.