Since 1988, the Huntsville Museum of Art’s recurring Red Clay Survey juried exhibitions of contemporary Southern art have gained a strong reputation for excellence in the region. They have also provided the Museum with an opportunity to acquire significant artworks for its own collection. Since the inaugural Survey over 30 years ago, the Museum has acquired more than 50 works by Red Clay participants. For many years, The Huntsville Times sponsored a prestigious Purchase Award for each show. More recently, the HMA Docents and the Huntsville Museum Association have provided funding for multiple purchases from each Survey. Numerous gifts have also been received over the years, a direct result of the strong relationships that the Museum has established with artists throughout the area.Looking at the Collection: Red Clay Alumni celebrates the legacy of this landmark exhibition series through a presentation of artworks by many past Red Clay artists in the permanent collection. Included on display are works in a range of styles from realism through abstraction, with subject matter that probes the serious as well as the absurd. The exhibition also reflects the eclectic nature of works typically found in The Red Clay Survey, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, collage, assemblage, and installation art.
Highlights include arresting portraits by Martin Arnold, Alexander Bostic, and Carl Gombert; lyrical abstractions by Medford Johnston, Whitney Leland, and Merrill Shatzman; works of social conscience by Tim Crowder, Larry Walker, and Aimee Perez; and whimsical subjects by Dori DeCamillis and Kristin Skees. Also of note are Douglas Baulos’ dramatic mixed-media sculpture and Tim Hunter’s elegiac multi-panel piece, both of which incorporate unorthodox materials. Taken as a whole, this celebration of three decades of artistic expression provides tangible proof of the enduring strength, vision, and spirit of contemporary Southern art.
