When I think of fine art, I often imagine a lone artist, working on their trade in a studio. What I don’t imagine is a community. For the 8×8 show, however, art is synonymous with community—one where they gather to celebrate and support each other and their work.
The gallery show featuring visual artists has been a staple part of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, holiday season for the past seven years, providing interested buyers the opportunity to purchase unique works made by local West Alabama artists. The criteria for entry as an artist? Your work must measure eight-by-eight inches. Each piece is then sold at the show for eighty eight dollars, with one hundred percent of proceeds going back to the makers. The event is hosted annually at the Historic Drish House, a pre-Civil War stucco-and-brick mansion plastered in the Italianate style by enslaved artisans in downtown Tuscaloosa.
On the warm December night I attended, there was quite a crowd, including artists, potential buyers, family, friends, and art enthusiasts. The variety of artwork was just as diverse. There were sculptures resting on displays on the floor, and pieces hanging from walls. My gaze was drawn immediately toward the main display where close to sixty eight-by-eight pieces were hanging symmetrically against a white wall. I found in this presentation a striking dichotomy between its minimalist display and diverse pieces. That numerous pieces aligned into a graph formation made the presentation approachable, keeping the amount of work from becoming overwhelming. Subsequently the display was more accessible for those unaccustomed to the art world, and made it easier to study each piece for its significance.
This straightforward curation worked to support the diversity among the pieces, both in subject and technique. Brilliant and soft colors hung side by side, as did impressionistic farm landscapes with bright comic strips, and political messages with private contemplations. The exhibition was capacious, featuring conceptual pieces as well as those more documentary. The stylistic differences at the show were most prevalent in the variety of mediums. There were embroidered pieces, classic oils, acrylics, watercolors, creative uses of unusual mediums, like cardboard or glass and plastic, and an article meant to be touched using folded cloth.
The thoughtful curation of the show worked so that each piece remained distinct in style and content, while also telling other stories when considered side by side. For example, “White Flower,” by Amy Perkins, was a textured piece featuring an ethereal glass-like flower jumping out of the canvas. It shared space with Madison Ryan’s “Zen Garden,” a playful narrative piece that featured animated humans interacting in a garden. Both these pieces brought perspective to human interaction with nature, drawing attention to our responsibility in this biodiverse state to care for it and respect it, knowing how much we have gained from it.
At this particular evening, I got to witness the diversity of the art community in conversation with Jay Slough and her father, Steve Slough. I’ve known Jay for many years now and was thrilled to learn her artwork has become a part of Tuscaloosa’s artist community. When attending 8×8, I knew her work was displayed, however I was surprised by her father’s work, not knowing he is also an artist. I got to talk with Jay and her father about their work. Jay paints and draws but would say she’s still discovering her favorite mediums, while her father is a committed sculptor. Though both were at different walks in life and created through different styles, they had a place in the art community here and learned from family ties the value of this community.
Shows like 8×8 offer an accessible perspective on Tuscaloosa’s art community. Those sixty or so small pieces at 8×8 gave me a glimpse into the lives, thoughts, and experiences of those in West Alabama. For this show, art is a community.
8×8 was sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Visual Art Center Initiative, and ran December 9 to 10, 2022. The cover image “Untitled,” by Jay Slough, is used with permission from Becca Godfrey and the Tuscaloosa Art Center.