Another great Friday!

Hey y’all!  Today is another great First Friday (http://www.firstfridaysflorence.com/) here in Florence.  The weather is should be excellent all weekend, so come out and enjoy the first cool crisp breezes of fall.  While meandering the streets of downtown, we’d like to invite you all to come up for a visit and take a peek at some new art.

Our walls are starting to fill up and we are nowhere near finished collecting art from around the country!  We’ve also been hard at work “touching-up” the gallery, and although there is still more work to come … it doesn’t hurt taking a look at what we’ve done!

See y’all soon!

Picture Perfect

Well you all asked, and now it’s time to receive.  Below are some images of the new gallery for those who have not had the chance to visit for themselves.  Jaime wanted me to remind you that we are in the first stages of set up.  The art placement is not permanent and as more artists are added the walls will fill up.  So here is a taste of what’s to come.

Thanks ya’ll!

A big thank you to everyone who came out (and up those stairs) last night.  We had a wonderful time meeting you all and can’t wait to see you again for our grand opening shindig.  We’ll be updating the building and the artists nearly daily, so feel free to stop by for a chat.

Thanks again and its great to be back downtown!

- Jaime and Wade

It’s Friday, YAY! Oh and we’re opening too.

It’s First Friday in Florence, Alabama today and a wonderful time to come downtown and see all the great local and regional artists that call the Shoals home.  We have a bit of even better news … we are finally open!  Yes, the long awaited day has finally come.  All of our blood, sweat and tears (and I’m not using that as a typical literary phrase, we’ve spilled all of those) have finally culminated into one gorgeous gallery. So please stop by The Route of Art Gallery at 218-A Court Street, this evening and say hello – we’re upstairs just waiting.

Actually an even better idea would be to stop by and sign-up for our grand opening party happening in just over a month.  We’ll be giving away an original Jimmy W, during the grand opening festivities and if you think we can renovate a building … you should see us throw a party.

Rats!

Well I just realized that only one of our blogs from the road actually loaded.  Rats.  So I’ve reposted them below.  We had a blast, and hope you come up to The Route of Art Gallery to see these great works in person!

When in Rome …

Rome, Georgia is one cute town.  Nestled in the mountains it has a vibrant downtown, great parks, a river and one home to one heck of an artist to boot. We stopped by Ken Gentle’s gallery to talk art and of course have our pick of some of his best work!  Known throughout the art world at “Blacktop,” Ken’s unique perspective is strictly southern.  Ramshackle houses in cotton fields come alive with each stroke, you can see the quilts blowin’ in the wind on the clothesline. Let’s not forget his famous black birds which adorn ever scrap of paper, or wood he can find.  This stuff is going to look great in the gallery!

Hot-lanta

Wow it’s hot in Atlanta, but we guess it’s hot everyday in this town.  Jaime is thrilled to be back on her post-collegiate stomping ground and I’m always happy to go along for the ride.  So for old times sake we decided to do a little stomping ourselves, oh and shopping good grief at the shopping.

… oh wait we need to get some art too.

We stopped by one of Atlanta’s newest artist, Alex Leopold’s home and studio.  Alex’s work can certainly be described as funky folk.  Bright colors and slick textures mix perfectly with an eclectic mix of goats, birds and bulls creating a collage-isk masterpiece.  A popular artist in our previous gallery, we’re glad to see Alex back on the walls.