The Wellness Walls for Art program, curated by alumna Deborah Hughes, presents a new exhibition at the University Medical Center, 850 Peter Bryce Boulevard, entitled Five Seasoned Artists with Ann Betak, Sue Blackshear, Janet Mego, Chris Metzger, and Hughes. The show will be up through March 29, 2024. Along with Hughes, artists Janet Mego and Ann Betak are also UA art alumni. The show also features a sixth UA artist, current BFA major Ainsley Greer.
Greer, from Collierville, Tennessee, is a BFA major in Graphic Design with a minor in art history. She is in the University Honors Program and made the President’s List in 2023. Greer has held an internship with Chris Landau Photography in Memphis and is now working as an artist’s assistant to Hughes, helping her organize and store her art and her collection of other artists’ work, including posters, cards and publications.
Greer’s paintings are part of a series titled “Salvaging,” an investigation into “waste and valuables,” Greer said. “Gemstones represent priceless items held close despite the waste piling up.” After many years of throwing away old paint, Greer began looking at it differently: saving her old paint and even collecting it from her classmates and the trashcan. “Things that were once valuable such as fresh paint and cardboard boxes are forgotten when they are no longer useful. I wanted to bring their value back by using them in a new way.” The only materials she uses in these paintings are cardboard, acrylic paint and hot glue to adhere the paint to the canvas board.
UA art alumna and local artist Deborah Hughes has been creating art shows at the UMC featuring local artists for more than a decade. In 2013, she took over coordinating the hanging of art at the center and in January 2014 she became the official curator of the Wellness Walls for Art program. Previous shows include Small Curious Wonders, Side by Side: Paintings of Henry and Ann Betak, Metaphysics in Almost Black and White, Recaptured, Rediscovered, and Reconsidered, The Artist’s Studio, Inside and Out, A Sense of Place, A Brush With Art – Paintings by The Tuscaloosa and University Painters; The Many Faces of Art in Adult Continuing Education; About People and Quilting and Carving, featuring the prints of Isadora Bullock and quilts by the West Alabama Quilters Guild, and More Quilting, Carving, and Printing Too!, among others.
The public is encouraged to visit the exhibition Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the University Medical Center, 850 Peter Bryce Drive, Tuscaloosa.