Last Days of the MAG Members Show!

 Today and tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, are the last days to see the Montgomery Art Guilt show!

Here's a review by Susan Hood!

The Montgomery Art Guild Members Show at the Anita Folmar Gallery at the  Montgomery Cultural Arts Center comes down Friday.  You have until Friday, January 28, 2022 at 10 am to see the show.  I encourage you to go see it right away!   What’s different about it?  It’s not a show to impress the community with the incredible skills of local artists:  it’s a show to celebrate the creative spirit and to have fun.  It is a totally original idea!  It’s a popularity show—visitors can vote on the works they like best, and monetary prizes will be awarded to the artists of the most popular works.     While the goal was not to demonstrate the incredible skills of Guild members, it does anyway.  By way of disclaimer, I have a small watercolor in the show. ( It was really difficult to find a work that was under 16”x20” which was the size limit.)  Yet Art Guild members came through:  and  there are some truly wonderful pieces in the exhibit.   Korey Roswell’s Turkey Creeks is incredible!  We have seen his three dimensional embroidery in the Regions Show; his craftsmanship is awesome.  Tim Henderson’s Pond in Autumn is gloriously atmospheric.  R. Keith Farrar’s three photographs expand the ability of the photographer to address texture.  A few of the works in the show have been exhibited locally in other shows, they are very fine works, but it was a real joy for me to see works by artists with whom I was not familiar.    Among the many surprises for me was Kelly Nicole Hatfield’s Lake of the Ozarks, which is an image of a beautiful young woman against a patterned background.  The abstracted treatment of the figure and her headdress turns her into an icon.  Her beauty and innocence are striking—she might be an image on which to meditate.  Kay Alkire Brummal’s Cobalt Intersection seems to juxtapose what might be a lunar landscape against a simple everyday scene.  Nyaradzai Malachi’s Zimbabwe  demonstrates the finest drawing and one of the finest compositions in the show. David Jones’ Young Cotton is a sensitive and beautiful rendering.  Trish Gober’s use of oil paint in Patio is lovely—she superimposes tiny brush strokes against flattened areas of color.     Lindanne Phillips Oblivious  is simply delightful! The arrested movement, playfulness, and energy of the two dogs and puppies tells me that the artist is a keen observer who cares deeply about animals.  It’s a technically difficult work—but she succeeds and brings joy to visitors to the exhibit.   I think Edward Brummal’s Chiswick House is a lovely drawing—I usually see this architectural icon from a frontal view, so it’s nice to see it at an angle.     Please, go see the exhibit:  decide what you like best.  Vote!  You can vote on five pieces.  Enjoy this celebration of creativity  in our community.  The Montgomery Art Guild is  to be congratulated on this original and exciting show.   Susan Hood ( Dr. Hood is a retired associate professor from Auburn University at Montgomery. She has three degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia: her Bachelor’s degree is in Painting and Drawing, her Masters is in Art History and she earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction.)