#147...fairhope, alabama

Last weekend we took a road trip to the  charming little town of Fairhope, Alabama, to visit friends who recently moved there. Fairhope is located on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. These are a few shots from the trip.

The town is an artist's community, and is home to the Eastern Shore Art Center. My friend Lisa and I walked over to the center to check out the pottery classes they offered and stumbled upon the work of Alabama artist Tres Taylor.

Taylor's installation is entitled "Amaze" and is a mural wrapping around 100 feet of the art center's central gallery, and is made from more than 300 square feet of plywood and roofing paper which Taylor says he tranformed "into an emotionally moving journey toward self-illumination." The mural is colorful and whimsical and here are a few of my shots from the exhibit.

Taylor’s signature subjects –monks, are present throughout the work, and  at the center of the installation lies a labyrinth, "an ancient symbol representing the expedition into one’s own being and back out into the world." You can read more about this exhibit here and see additional photos here.

While working on Amaze, Taylor held a workshop for children where he collaborated with them on an art project from which the proceeds will benefit outreach programs for children throught the Eastern Shore Art Center. They used splatter paint techniques on tar paper to create houses, birds, fish, boats, which lined the hallways of the center, and were for sale for between $5-$10 dollars. These are the houses that I bought, now I just need to figure out how I want to frame them. I love splatter paint art.....which maybe you can tell by the splatter art banner I made for this blog.