2024 MVAC Artists Exhibit Opens in Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s Montgomery Office Suite

Just in time for the new legislative session, Mountain Valley Arts Council volunteers have installed the 2024 exhibit of local artists’ artwork in Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s office suite in Montgomery where it is seen and appreciated by legislators and visitors throughout the year.

The selected artists include Bill Cash of Arab with a wood-turned walnut bowl; James Davidson of Guntersville with a lidded wood box made of several exotic woods which some people call engineered wood art; MJ Venrick of Albertville with a large acrylic painting that is in the waiting area and another acrylic painting; and Justin King of Warrenton with two Lake Guntersville photographs.  This year-long exhibit also includes two art pieces from MVAC’s Permanent Collection including Frank Nelson (deceased) of Warrenton with a watercolor; and Pam Watters (formerly of Fort Payne) with a French oil pastels piece. This exhibit is especially diverse with the six different art mediums.

The office staff commented that the artwork is a constant source of conversation by visitors and raises MVAC artists’ visibility.  A large oil painting (from an earlier exhibit) by Marty Bibee formerly of Guntersville is permanently on exhibit in Lt. Governor Ainsworth’s personal office. Each artist receives a certificate commemorating their artwork’s exhibit.

In addition, local artists’ art is exhibited in the County Commission lobby and the Probate Court offices in Guntersville. At the MVAC Gallery in Guntersville, visitors will find art exhibits by MVAC members on the “Members Wall”, the rest of the “Permanent Collection” in a designated area, as well as the main gallery exhibits that remain up for two months. Visit these locations (pay for your car tag or renew your driver’s license!) and discover how talented your local artists are.

past mvac exhibits

MVAC partners with Snead State for March - APRIL Exhibit

For the second year, Mountain Valley Arts Council will partner with Snead State Community College for its March 5th – April 26th exhibit that features some 24 art students of Art Instructor Lanette Blankenship, MFA.  The exhibit is called “Artistry Nexus: A Collective Showcase of Instructor and Student Talents”.

The public and art fans are invited to the artists’ reception on Tuesday March 12th from 5:30 – 7 PM at the MVAC Gallery at 440 Gunter Avenue in Guntersville.

Lanette Blankenship is in her second year as the full-time Art Instructor presiding over Snead State Community College’s Art Department in the Fine Arts Division in Boaz, Alabama. Besides teaching art techniques and history, Mrs. Blankenship incorporates the exhibiting process that professional artists need to know when exhibiting in galleries such as the art inventory, the contracts, pricing, art labeling, as well as meeting with the public and discussing their art. This exhibit is part of her curriculum.

This exhibit is free to the public, but donations to support the arts are gladly accepted. The exhibits are sponsored through grants from City of Guntersville and generous businesses and members of MVAC.

January 9th - February 29th, 2024 Exhibit

Lynnette Zanghi Brown of Dagmar Studio . . .

will be the featured artist. The reception will be January 9th from 5 - 7 PM with appetizers and drinks. Lynette is a new member of the MVAC board and has participated in several previous exhibits including the most recent 2023 Holiday Art Market. This exhibit will show a much wider array of her artwork in various art mediums than has been exhibited here. You can check out some of her commissioned work on Facebook by searching on Dagmar Studio. Many of these pet portraits and other pieces were Christmas present commissions, so you won’t see them in the exhibit.

After this exhibit ends at the end of February, Lynnette’s work will be part of River’s Edge Gallery on the Scottsboro Courthouse Square, not too far up the road. This gallery also particularly features local artists. You can follow them on Facebook.

November 7 -December 29 - Holiday Art Market & Holiday Cheer Quilts

32 area artists participated in the Holiday Art Market. The Artists Reception was held on November 14th, 5:30 - 7 PM.

October - North Alabama Woodturners Association

This talented group meets monthly for demonstrations and sharing ways to make turned wood into real art pieces. Five members with well over 100 years of woodturning experience exhibited at MVAC, and the response was so great, that MVAC has invited the whole group to participate in October.

October - Gretchen McKee

Also in October, Gretchen McKee from Langston will be on exhibit. You can get an advance preview by coming by the gallery to see one of her oils with cold wax landscapes that is in MVAC’s Permanent Collection and her lovely notecards in watercolors.

Gretchen McKee is a graduate of the Auburn University Fine Arts program with a major in Printmaking and minors in Painting and Illustration.  She intended to illustrate children’s books but quickly discovered her passions for painting, using oil and watercolor. She is drawn to the abstract and landscape painting, drawing inspiration from her home in Langston near the Tennessee River. 

Her ”Duende” series are oil paintings using cold wax medium.  Duende means the mysterious power of art to deeply move a person. The combination allows Gretchen to produce imagery that is abstract and ethereal in appearance.  The medium adds a whisper of mystery to her landscapes.

Gretchen ‘s art was part of in MVAC’s exhibit in Lt. Governor’s office suite in Montgomery in 2022, and she has participated in other collaborative MVAC exhibits.

The Critters of William H. Darby

Mountain Valley Arts Council features William H. Darby’s artwork in its August exhibit at the main gallery at 440 Gunter Avenue in Guntersville. The exhibit is called The Critters of William H.  Darby because it will be a zoo of an exhibit that will enchant everyone from children to grownups. That “H” is very important because a search on William’s name will come up with a lot of strange options besides this exceptional artist.

William began drawing at an early age.  Growing up in New Mexico, he developed a love for space exploration, nature, and the singular beauty of the southwest.  His initial artistic endeavors centered on dogs, horned toads, and rockets.  Painting primarily in acrylics, William uses color and brush strokes to illuminate that which is sometimes unseen. 

William studied art at the University of South Carolina, received a B.A. in art from Georgia College, and MLIS from the University of Alabama.  His paintings have been exhibited at Leeds Arts Center, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, St. Vincent’s East, and Art on the Lake, and Mountain Valley Arts Council in Guntersville. William's paintings also hang in private collections from New Mexico to Virginia and from Michigan to Florida.

William’s wife, Della H. Darby, also a retired librarian, was inspired to return to quilting after seeing the One-Block Wonder quilts that were exhibited by MVAC in January. Della’s quilting will be exhibited along with the Dear Jane Quilts of local quilters.

Jimmy Trotter specializes in large-scale portraits of children and animals in fairytale or folktale settings. He said his style stems from his many years of working with children.

"I found the large portraits to be a way of combining illustrating, mural painting and observing children in one format," he said.

Trotter has a bachelor or arts degree in art education from the University of Alabama at Huntsville and a master of arts degree from Alabama A&M University. He taught art at Emma Sansom High and Walnut Park and Jessie Dean Smith elementary schools for three years as well as Snead State Community College in Boaz.

A lifelong love of art has turned into both a vocation and an avocation.

"I work as a commission artist for people interested in having their (children's portraits) painted," he said. "Clients can choose a fairy-tale, mythological or folk-tale theme, and I incorporate the images into a setting from that tale. "Also, many clients choose to include pets or other objects of some personal importance into the painting."

Before July, four of his paintings are on exhibit in the Marshall County Probate Court (1st Floor) and the Marshall County Commission office (3rd Floor) in the Guntersville Courthouse.

March - Snead Art Students & Instructor Lanette Blankenship

Mountain Valley Arts Council will open its exhibit featuring art instructor Lanette Blankenship and Drawing II and Painting I art students from Snead State Community College on February 28th.  The exhibit will remain up through March 31st.

 The artists’ reception will be Tuesday March 14th from 5:30 – 7 PM at the MVAC Gallery at 440 Gunter Avenue in Guntersville. The exhibit will feature art from the students’ current studies of Byzantine art and and religious artwork during the Middle Age and their current interpretation of that era. The students will also show their other artwork created this semester in Drawing 2 and Painting 1.

Lanette Blankenship is in her first year at Snead and has a rich background in the arts.   Lanette Blankenship received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011 from The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Masters of Fine Arts in 2014 from Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.  She has been involved in education since 2012. She has taught in graduate school, at non-profit after-school programs like Space One Eleven in Birmingham, AL, and with Auburn University’s Prisons Arts Education + Project where she went inside a prison to teach watercolor classes. She taught for three years as an adjunct instructor at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and for five years as the full-time lead Art Instructor in the art area in the Humanities and Fine Arts Department at Lawson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama. She is currently the full-time Art Instructor presiding over Snead State Community College’s Art Department in the Fine Arts Division in Boaz, Alabama.

The Snead State participating students include:

Brianna Anderson Henry Bartolon Natalie Creel Keana Cruz Macy Dohring Kelly Garcia Sara Henson

Marisol Lazaro Makayla Lockwood Marcelita Lopez Daniela Rios Kit Slaton Madeline Smith Scout Strong

Caroline Thomas Laura Whitmire Kaitlyn Willis

April - Ken “Blacktop” Gentle, contemporary folk artist

Ken “Blacktop” Gentle is an artist known for his unique style of painting on tar and tar paper. He creates both watercolor and acrylic paintings that tell stories and captures the essence of the American Southern landscape and the people who live there.  He has been inspired by the works of Milton Avery, John Marin, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and David Hockney.

Gentle's artistic journey began in his youth, where he spent countless hours exploring the rural countryside of North Alabama with his mentor Albert H Lane who was a illustrator for NASA & The Smithsonian National Space & Aeronautics Museum. The natural beauty he encountered during these trips would later become a recurring theme in his work. He was particularly drawn to the old houses & buildings along the roads and paths he traveled.

After retiring from Hewlett-Packard in 2002 he began experimenting with tar and tar paper as a canvas for his paintings. He found that the rough texture of the tar paper provided a unique surface for his watercolors and acrylics, giving his paintings a sense of depth and movement.

Gentle's work quickly caught the attention of art critics and collectors alike, and his paintings have been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers across the country and he has been interviewed by Public Radio & CNN.  His work can be found in private, corporate and public collections across the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico and Japan. 

Gentle’s work continues to evolve, and he continues to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with tar paper as a canvas. Recently he has experimented and mastered using his IPhone & IPad as his digital canvas which has opened his work to more contemporary collectors.

Ken Gentle is currently represented by these galleries:
Art Alley Gallery, Homewood, Alabama
Jeanine Taylor Folk Art, Sanford, Florida
Roots Up Gallery, Savannah, Georgia
Yellow Door Antiques & Art, Rome, Georgia

Self-description by Ken Gentle:

Many years ago, I saw several paintings by Milton Avery, John Marin and Jimmy Lee Sudduth, and recognized that art is not as complex or as simple as it's made out to be, but rather it comes from your heart and soul, not from your mind.' 

My paintings and drawings are a process of storytelling - bringing the past and spirits into people and their environments. They are also about a way of life and the events that have changed our lives. I focus on contemporary social issues which include the complexities of relationships. Scenes of people at work and play, old houses, churches, baptisms and the struggles of everyday life are my favorite subjects. I have a passion for telling the stories of growing up in a time where the simple pleasures of life were important and cherished.' 

I am a full-time contemporary self-taught artist who began painting at an early age as a way of sharing my experiences of growing up in the South. Over 50 years ago I began painting with watercolors and then in 2002 I started creating multi-media paintings and drawings that typically start with a base of 'black tar' or tar paper on wood. (hence the moniker “Blacktop').   
My work has been referenced and featured in various newspapers and magazines across the U.S. and was the subject of a public radio interview in the spring of 2007.  Additionally my paintings can be found in galleries, businesses and many private collections around the world. Ten of my paintings pertaining to the Holocaust were acquired by Appalachian State University, Boone, NC and Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA. The Rome Georgia History Museum has acquired my artist proof of the Noble Brothers Foundry print.

I am often asked "How long does it take you to complete a painting?". The answer to that question can vary, depending on the type and purpose of each painting. I often meet people who are under the misconception that a painter simply steps up to a canvas, begins painting, and within a short period of time emerges from the studio with a finished work of art. This may be the case with more contemporary styles of painting, but for a story-telling artist such as myself, the creation of a finished painting is a long and sometimes tedious process. Depending on the purpose and complexity of the painting, the process can take weeks, or even months, from start to finish.

Ken Gentle has also participated in MVAC’s Show for the Birds in January 2023.

Ken Gentle’s Website

May - Fabric Arts - open to all fabric artists, quilters, cross-stitchers, crocheters, and more

June - Art by Men - open for all art mediums

July - Jimmy Trotter, Freelance Portrait Artist and retired Snead Art Instructor

Jimmy Trotter specializes in large-scale portraits of children and animals in fairytale or folktale settings. He said his style stems from his many years of working with children.

"I found the large portraits to be a way of combining illustrating, mural painting and observing children in one format," he said.

Trotter has a bachelor or arts degree in art education from the University of Alabama at Huntsville and a master of arts degree from Alabama A&M University. He taught art at Emma Sansom High and Walnut Park and Jessie Dean Smith elementary schools for three years as well as Snead State Community College in Boaz.

A lifelong love of art has turned into both a vocation and an avocation.

"I work as a commission artist for people interested in having their (children's portraits) painted," he said. "Clients can choose a fairy-tale, mythological or folk-tale theme, and I incorporate the images into a setting from that tale. "Also, many clients choose to include pets or other objects of some personal importance into the painting."

Before July, four of his paintings are on exhibit in the Marshall County Probate Court (1st Floor) and the Marshall County Commission office (3rd Floor) in the Guntersville Courthouse.

August - William H. Darby from Moody - paintings

William H. Darby began drawing at an early age.  Growing up in New Mexico, he developed a love for space exploration, nature, and the singular beauty of the southwest.  His initial artistic endeavors centered on dogs, horned toads, and rockets.  Painting primarily in acrylics, William uses color and brush strokes to illuminate that which is sometimes unseen. 

He studied art at the University of South Carolina, received a B.A. in art from Georgia College, and MLIS from the University of Alabama.  His paintings have been exhibited at Leeds Arts Center, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, St. Vincent’s East, and Art on the Lake, and Mountain Valley Arts Council in Guntersville.

September - MVAC Members’ Favorite Art - Exhibited art is limited to MVAC members

Favorite art can be something you created, you bought, or you received as a gift. The reception on September 12th from 5:30 - 7 PM will also be when MVAC members vote for board members for the following year. If you are interested in being more involved with MVAC’s art programs, call the Gallery at 256-571-7199.

MEMBERS’ WALL EXHIBIT

MVAC member artists can also exhibit 2-3 pieces on the MVAC Members’ Wall for a few months of the year based on available space. This exhibit is separate from the main gallery and is located in the art workshop area toward the back of the gallery.

MARSHALL COUNTY PROBATE COURT EXHIBIT

Judge Andrea LeCroy hosts MVAC artists throughout the Probate Court offices which includes her courtroom, staff offices, licenses area, and records area. This exhibit is for about six months at a time in the Guntersville Courthouse. The current exhibit includes three paintings by Jimmy Trotter and selections for a private art collection.

Marshall County Commission Office Exhibit

Commission Chairman James Hutcheson hosts MVAC artists’ work in the County Commission’s office suite on the 3rd floor of the Guntersville Courthouse. This exhibit changes every three to six months. Currently, work by Jimmy Trotter is on exhibit.

Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s Office Suite in Montgomery

An juried exhibit of MVAC artists’ work is held in Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s office suite in Montgomery each year. The MVAC Exhibits committee and Lt. Governor’s staff select the items on exhibit. The exhibit changes out in late January or early February.

2023 Artists: MJ Venrick (shown below), Gretchen McKee, Kenyan Kelley, Lynette Brown

INFO FOR VISUAL ARTISTS for 2023

If you’re interested in any of our upcoming exhibits, email us at info@mvacarts.org or mail us a letter at 440 Gunter Avenue, Guntersville, AL 35976 with the following info:

• Brief bio of yourself as well as your art

• Several pictures of your work

• Contact Info (Name, Address, Phone, Email, Website)

PAST EXHIBITS

This exhibit and reception are sponsored by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, City of Guntersville, Citizens Bank & Trust, PNC Bank, Rodney’s Flowers, and generous local businesses and MVAC members. 

October - Art from Other Cultures or “Not From Around Here” exhibit

This exhibit will focus on the various cultures that make up Marshall County communities - Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and more. In the South, a common introductory question is “Where are your people from?” Excuse the incorrect grammar! Or upon hearing a unique accent, “You’re not from around here, are you?” Whether you came to the US last week or on the Mayflower, we welcome you to Marshall County Alabama!

Almost all of MVAC’s exhibits focus on local artists of all ages, but this exhibit focuses on art from other cultures whether they are family heirlooms from “the ole country”, artistic mementos bought on travels around the world, or art created following Native American techniques are included.

Past 2020 Exhibits

Marty Bibee has been a frequent exhibitor at MVAC as part of the Art Klatsch and member exhibits. She has served on the MVAC board in several capacities and volunteers with the Art Unleashed, Art Uncorked, and Child Advocacy Center art workshops.

This Heron in Reeds is currently on exhibit at Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s Montgomery office suite through MVAC.

Although Marty is accomplished in many art mediums, oils hold a specicial fascination for her. She has some 42 works both large and medium-sized ready for this show, so you’ll be guaranteed to find something that has to go home with you.

SEPTEMBER 2020 - MVAC MEMBERS’ “A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS”

August 2020 - Art Teachers’ ARt

JUSTIN KING PHOTOGRAPHY

LAKE SHORE CREATIONS WOOD ART AND FURNITURE

This double-header exhibit features photography from Justin King of the Warrenton area and 3-D rustic wood furniture and art from Lake Shore Creations (Judy Norstrom and Mary Brewer) from north of the River Bridge in Guntersville. Even though this exhibit is complete, MVAC can put you in touch with these great artists if you still want to buy their work.

MARCH 2020 - FISHART

No, it’s not a sneeze. This exhibit represents 25 local artists with over 100 pieces of art that are rather fishy in an amazing array of art mediums. Some of the artwork is for sale, and some is for display only by local art fans. Some great unique gift ideas are here for the fisherman in your life.

MVAC is supporting Guntersville celebrate another Bassmaster Classic fishing tournament March 6 - 8, 2020.