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| Ask and Receive
The ‘Good Book’ says, “Ask and ye shall receive.” And so, I asked you to prepare some finger food for Nall’s Reception on Tuesday, March 2, 2004. Your response was overwhelming. We had food, and more food, people! Thank you so much for all you do to better Highland Park. You’ve never let me down and the reception was no exception. Everyone was talking about it and Bubba Trotman said he’d like us cater his next party…pretty high praise for us Highlanders. If you weren’t there how I wish you could have been. It was lovely and Nall is delightful, but rather than take up time in this article telling you about it I’m going to ask Richard to print the article that was in the Montgomery Independent in this issue of our newsletter so you can see for yourself. I just want to add that Carol Herring made a tape of Nall addressing the guests at the reception and we plan to show it at the Highland Park Association meeting in April. Come. You’ll want to see it! AOTA Committee Meeting The Art On The Avenue committee met at Oak Park last time. Chairman, Mike Hardy surprised us with a picnic lunch. The weather was beautiful and the food delicious. Afterward our picnic we walked around the park trying to determine artist placement and I think we have a good idea as to the areas we are going to use for entertainment, children’s corner, food, artists and exhibitors and the parade route around the inside perimeter of the park. Food boxes for canned goods for the Montgomery Area Food Bank will be placed at the entrance gate on Forest Avenue. The Food Bank doesn’t pick up on Saturday therefore we will use Annette Bruner’s van to store the boxes of food we collect until they are picked up. Publicity Advertising for AOTA is great this year. Ads have appeared in several magazines, newspapers, the Bulletin Board, newsletters and radio with more to come. I taped ‘The Time of Your Life’ show with Marlene Cavanaugh and Jack Galassini at WSFA TV-12 that was shown on Sunday, March 21st at 6:30 AM. Betty West will make an appearance on Wednesday, March 24th on WAKA TV-8 at noon…to late for you to watch but we are taping the shows and hope to show them with the tape of Nall at our next meeting. Other shows to watch are ‘Cooking With Gas’ on WSFA TV-12 at 6:20 AM on Friday April 9th with Elizabeth Morgan. The News at noon on WAKA TV-8 on Friday, April 16th with Jenny Bailey (if we can work this out) and then on Thursday, April 22nd Norma Poulos and I will be on WSFA TV-12 at noon for ‘12 Talk.’ WNCF TV-4 is making a commercial for AOTA watch for it soon. Watch for fliers, signs all over the place, billboards going up around the 24th of March. All this advertisement is wonderful but nothing beats “word of mouth,” so tell all your friends, neighbors, family, church members, co-workers and club groups about AOTA and tell them you want to see them there! If you know of any artists ask them if they would like to be a part of AOTA. The scholarship with Nall in the south of France is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity for an artist. I for one would love to go! Montgomery Education Foundation links up with AOTA The other thing you might find interesting is the art contest sponsored by the Montgomery Education Foundation for students from the 7th through the 12th grade. Artwork will be on display at Highland Park’s ‘Art On The Avenue in Oak Park’ to kick off the event. The contest will end the weekend of Jubilee. Student artists have been asked to submit artwork that can be classified in one of the following categories: Notable Montgomerians, Military/Wright Brothers; Historical Buildings; Local Events/Places; Citywide Historic Districts and Baseball. Twelve murals (4’x 6’) will be made from artwork submitted by junior and senior high school students from Montgomery’s public and private schools and hung inside the windows of the Webber Building (on the corner of Monroe and Perry Streets). Once initial selections have been made for the Webber display, additional businesses may commission artwork for the murals at a cost of $175. Art On The Avenue I looked at my Almanac to see what the weather would be like on April 24. It says cl. I don’t know if that means cloudy or clear but I’m grateful it didn’t say rain. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, AOTA is going to be outasight this year! In our new location, Oak Park, with featured artists Annie and Mose T, authors, Mary Ann Neeley, and Sarah (Candy) Dubose, extra special guest artist and friend Norma Poulos, riding, roping, cowboy Bruce Brannon, Sponge Bob, the ‘Honey Man’ Fred Fulton and basket weaver, Danny Phillips, and the entertainment we have this year is wonderful read on…we have the Shrine Brass Band, Tammy Rauch’s, Academy of Dancers, Max Brass, Capitol Sounds Concert Band just to mention a few, how could AOTA be less than magnificent? A continental breakfast will be served from 8:00 - 8:30 AM. The parade is going to be super! We’ve named it ‘Parade of Artists’ and this year we have clowns, the antique Car Club, Shriners and neighborhood associations in addition to our parade of artists and media. I just can’t say enough about AOTA. I’m excited about it and hope you are too. Speaking of events, author Sara A. (Candy) Dubose is speaking at the TROY STATE AUTHOR EVENT at the Rosa Parks Museum across from the Davis Theater on Montgomery Street, Monday April 12th at 6:30 PM. She has graciously invited us, Highlanders, to attend. Candy will be speaking on her books, 'Where Hearts Live' and the sequel to it 'Where Love Grows.' Greek Night Out On Saturday March 6 Dimitri and Magdalene had a ‘Greek Dinner Night’ at Capitol Grill. The menu was baked style Greek chicken with savory potato wedges, braised green beans (fasolakia) spinach triangle (spanakopita) salad (salata) rolls, coffee or tea and baklava. Tickets were $10 each and sold out just two weeks after they went on sale February 2. Greek Night was so successful they plan to have another very soon. Here are pictures I made of Dimitri with a customer and Magdalene with Papa and Mama. We are hoping to have some of their Greek food at AOTA.
Members to remember This month remember Lilly Smith in the death of a loved one, my husband, Billy, who had dental surgery on March 19, 2004. I’m happy to report that he is doing really well. Let’s remember Mae Jarrett who had a scare about her daughter Ann, and Katherine Harrison and Bunny Nielson who are experiencing poor health. Also, let's remember Nall Hollis as he recovers from his accident. Article from the Montgomery Independent: - Nall sustains injuries in accident on Interstate 65 - Fairhope artist Nall Hollis was injured in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 65 near Greenville last week, troopers said. A vehicle driven by the 55-year-old Hollis, more commonly know as Nall, overturned several times on I-65 March 5th at 2:42p.m., according to Cpl. Tommy Waters, a trooper spokesman. Hollis had to be extricated from the vehicle. He was taken to L.V. Stabler Memorial Hospital in Greenville and was released March 7th, a hospital spokeswoman said. Dr. Betty Ruth Speir, a friend who visited Nall in the hospital, said the artist sustained multiple cuts and bruises but escaped major injury. Nall was returning from a gallery opening of his work in Birmingham and is now home and in good spirits, Speir said. He can’t remember what may have caused the accident, she said.
Highland Park Association holds reception for Nall Hollis THE HIGHLAND PARK ASSOCIATION, James Cameron & Rod Reynolds honored Nall Hollis, the artist, with a reception held on Tuesday March 2, 2004 at the historic Mary Baldwin house located at 402 S Perry Street. The weather was so nice some guests wandered out on the side porch to enjoy the music of Sylvia Phillips while sampling the food prepared by members of the Highland Park Association, while others mingled inside admiring the renovation of the Victorian home, now turned law office, by Betty Cameron and admiring Nall’s new agenda book and his painting and collage on display. Among the guests were Georgine Clarke and Al Head, of the AL Council On The Arts, Nall’s cousin Bubba Trotman, Dora Hause, Ron Drinkard, Mary Ann Neeley, Jon Dow of the BONDS (Building our Neighborhoods for Development and Success) program, Carol Butler of the Central AL Community Foundation, Lynn Beshear, Envision 2020, and Dottie Hannon. Long time friends of Nall’s, Susie Whaley, Jennie Thompson, Kelly Durden, and Dockery Austin were there. ‘Tin Man’ Charlie Lucas, brought Nall a dish of turnip greens and a slice of cornbread…Nall’s favorite soul food. Charlie told Nall, “Party food is good but you need food for your soul.” Caroline Montgomery was on hand to represent The Montgomery Education Foundation and to talk about the art contest they are sponsoring for students from the 7th to the 12th grades. The student’s work will be displayed at AOTA in Oak Park and the winners will be announced. First place winners award will be to paint a mural in the Webber building on Monroe Street and later to paint murals on the outer walls of selected buildings downtown. The guests gathered in the living and dinning areas of the house to hear Nall speak about his life. He told about the request he received from Chris Brown for a scholarship for an artist from Art On The Avenue to apprentice with him in the south of France at the N.A.L.L. (Nature Art Life League) Art Association. He said he thought from Chris’ e-mail that she was a black male about 22 years old. Chris asked him if he would have responded had he known she was female, a senior citizen and over weight. He said, “I always have my cousin Bubba Trotman check out things for me and I always follow his advice.” And yes, Nall is giving a scholarship to an artist from ‘Art On The Avenue’ to apprentice with him at the N.A.L.L. Art Association in Vence, France this summer. This will allow a budding artist to focus solely on his/her art. Nall said the Art Association is a dry foundation…no drugs or alcohol. He said, “Some people think that artists can’t create unless they are under the influence but that is not true, art is spiritual and can create positive things.” Art On The Avenue, sponsored by the Highland Park Association, is a festival of arts and crafts held in Oak Park in Montgomery, AL, on April 24, 2004 from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM. Admission is free with a donation of canned food for Montgomery’s Food Bank. Artist’s applications will be accepted until March 31, 2004.
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