Georgia O’Keeffe said to create one’s own world takes courage, but to the average homeowner, enhancing their environment through art seems to take a lot of money and an educated artistic mind. The January contingent of Arts Huntsville’s 2022 Art Tour of Homes offers a different perspective on those misconceptions.
Presented by Bank Independent, Arts Huntsville hosted the first of two Art Tour of Homes this year. Saturday, Madison County art lovers braved the January cold to visit five local homeowners and art enthusiasts who put their art collections on display for the community to see.
The featured homes include the Monte Sano home of Daniel Adamek; the Blossomwood home of Hunt and Blake Hudson; the Upper Blossomwood home of Steve Marz and Daniel Calens; the Old Town home of Tricia and John Murray; and the Northeast Huntsville home of Joanna and Jeff White.
These homes showcase how art, as part of your living spaces, can inform and inspire anyone on any budget.
Joanna White said the most important thing she can share about building an art collection is that it does not have to be expensive.
“When people picture art collectors, images of decadent rooms full of priceless works come to mind,” she said. “But local art is affordable! The majority of our pieces are in the $100 to $300 range.”
White added, “We save up for art show weekends like Panoply and the Monte Sano Art Show and we buy lots of art at those events. We also give our kids cash at art festivals and allow them to buy whatever they like to build up their own collections.”
The Art Tour of Homes offers residents and visitors an opportunity to learn more about Huntsville’s growing and thriving arts community and provides them with a guide to local art galleries and visual art venues where they can learn more about art and how to display it.
“By welcoming the public into our humble home, it was an opportunity to evangelize about the intrinsic value of adding art to your home, especially art created by local artists,” White said. “I learned from some of Huntsville’s most prolific artists during my ten years at Arts Huntsville like Jim Jobe, Alan Davis, Jennie Couch, Scott Smith, and David Edwards showed me how to group pieces together,” said White. “I learned from Dan Halcomb, (President/CEO Huntsville Symphony Orchestra) how to shop for art … how to buy what you like and pick a theme.”
She said they didn’t hang art to please other people. Instead, it reflects the love she and Jeff share for creativity and community.
“We have approximately 100 works of art displayed in our 2,000 square foot house. Most of the pieces in our home are by local artists here in North Alabama, or from our travels to New Orleans,” White explained.
Ironically, her husband Jeff is a prominent area photographer, but they have on display only a few of Jeff’s photographs.
“Jeff loves to support other artists,” she said. “We got to know local artists like Gina Percifull, Carolyn Wass, and Micah Gregg, and started collecting their works. Now, we have a pretty diverse collection that truly reflects our personalities.”
The second leg of the Art Tour of Homes is scheduled for August. The homes will be announced later this summer. Tickets for the tour are $20.
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