'Opportunity meeting need': Cahaba River-inspired art sought for juried art show in Trussville

Kathy Prince has long looked forward to the Bluff Park Art Show, Moss Rock Festival and Magic City Art Connection.

She has enjoyed day trips to the Kentuck Art Center & Festival in Northport, Panoply Arts Festival in Huntsville and the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival. 

“It was fun to see the recurring artists, some at a professional level and what they were doing that was new, who were the newcomers, who were the prize winners,” Prince said. 

Prince has worked in healthcare for 40 years, and retirement is on the horizon. She always knew that, upon retirement, she’d want to feed her neglected passions — a second act for her life. 

“I always knew that when that time came, I wanted to grow my passion for art and creating art,” said Prince, a longtime Trussville resident. “I wanted to find a way to serve my community as well. It seems that when you open yourself up to possibilities, opportunity has a way of finding you. As it turned out, the opportunities I sought presented themselves, as if on cue. Meeting and getting involved with artists and art organizations was the catalyst, but eventually, the connections I made began to merge with a need.”

Prince has hoped for an art festival in the city she calls home. Now, that time has come.

She attended a Cahaba River Society presentation at the Trussville Public Library last year, and afterward struck up a conversation with the organization’s executive director, Beth Stewart. 

“I wondered if there had ever been consideration of opportunities for artists to paint the river and showcase the work to bring awareness to the Cahaba River Society mission,” Prince said. “She told me it was something she had always wanted to do but needed to partner with artists to accomplish this. Here was opportunity meeting need.”

The collaboration was the origin of what is being called Cahaba Inspired, an inaugural juried art exhibition at the Trussville Public Library scheduled for Nov. 9 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The deadline for entries is Aug. 15, and acceptance notifications will be sent Sept. 20. 

The exhibition will remain open Nov. 9 through Nov. 30. Cash awards will be given, including $500 for best in show and a people’s choice award. 

The competition is open to all artists. All works created since Jan. 1, 2020, that can be exhibited and hung on a wall will be considered. Both representational and abstract works are welcome. Acceptable work includes but is not limited to drawing, painting, photography, collage, mixed media and printmaking. The maximum size for a finished framed/ready-to-hang work is 48 x 48 inches. Accepted works must be delivered and retrieved in person and must be delivered ready to hang. 

For questions about the juried competition and show, Prince may be contacted at 205-655-0608 or kprince109@gmail.com with the subject line “Cahaba Inspired.” More information can be found at cahabariversociety.org. 

Graham C. Boettcher is director and CEO of the Birmingham Museum of Art and will serve as the art exhibition’s juror. He arrived at the museum in 2006, first serving as The Luce Foundation Curatorial Fellow of American Art, and subsequently as The William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art, chief curator and deputy director, prior to his appointment as director in 2017. 

According to the Cahaba River Society, “This themed show will explore our relation to water and nature, embodied by the Cahaba River. The artistic process and the show will encourage artists and audience to immerse themselves in experiences with nature and in nature. We hope the artwork inspires people to value and protect the Cahaba, an essential resource.”

The Cahaba River, famous for its rare Cahaba lilies, flows through the heart of Alabama, from its headwaters near Trussville until it reaches the Alabama River southwest of Selma, passing through Jefferson, Shelby, Bibb, Perry, and Dallas counties. 

“We are working hard to make it something exciting and special, so that it can become the core building block to create a new annual art event for our growing city,” Prince said. “In support of this effort, we are launching Operation Arts Trussville. This is an evolving organization people will begin to hear more and more about.”

For Prince, the key to this inaugural event is community involvement. 

“I believe our community spirit and our relationships will ultimately create the Trussville of the future,” Prince said. “The time is prime to do those things to build something we will be proud of as a community. I hope Trussville will rally around the idea of a new annual art show by attending and volunteering with Operation Arts Trussville. Community involvement will help make Trussville identify with something of its own making. Something special. Something unique.”