By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

Summer’s evening stroll

I have to give due credit: the biggest star was also the most infamous.

As the Fifth Annual Greater Mobile Area Arts Awards unfolded during the September LoDa ArtWalk, Hurricane Ike spun in the Gulf. Though its fury was bound for Lone Star shores, the Azalea City reaped a benefit in the vigorous winds that rustled the town for a couple of days. It was welcome respite from our late summer sauna and made for a perfect evening of honors in Cathedral Square.

An earlier journey to Space 301’s new show revealed more welcome visitors but from the other side of the compass. Former CLA employee Clayton Colvin had returned as curator of this exhibit, a survey of recent work from Tuscaloosa-based artist Alvin Sella.

Readers may recall Colvin relocated to his hometown of Birmingham earlier this year. His work here will be missed and he repeats his successes of earlier 301 shows with this current one.

Sella’s work is striking. Sizable paintings accentuate an Impressionist influence with a verve and brushwork reminiscent of Degas, Guillaumin and Renoir but liberated from confines of expectation. He has a wonderful instinct for subtlety, for balance and texture.

Accompanying Sella are the works of his students, explorations as satisfying as the mentor’s pieces, entrancing in both their provocations and invocations.

The renovations at 301 are still remarkable with each trip, my personal preference for the earlier industrial incarnation aside.

The only caveat to the experience was the remembrance as to why an exhibit is best viewed on a slow afternoon. The hubbub and traffic of artwalks make for a great social setting, but not so much for the serenity and focus needed to get everything out of a viewing. The best strategy is to make a note of anything intriguing and come back later for a more complete viewing.

The awards ceremony outside was all about community though, a chance to thank the stalwart for their attention and drive.

One by one, the recipients took their turn expressing appreciation.

Educator Nancy Raia edged a tumble into tears, laughter balancing her emotions throughout her acceptance.

A grateful gentleman’s Northeastern accent tugged a smile from my lips at the inevitable reminiscence of Sopranos episodes past. His decorum was pleasant, but something in my head kept waiting to hear, “Dis a great f#%*in’ award, he-uh’” in classic Paulie Walnuts style.

Another recipient reminded me of an earlier moment in a preceding Artifice edition. The event I moderated at the end of July, the ostensible “arts versus entertainment” discussion, counted this particular arts award winner among the attendees.

As questions came from the seminar audience, this woman asked about what she perceived as an inordinate amount of coverage in local media directed toward BayFest. Her concerns were that the focus on the festival inevitably shifted resources or attention away from other local arts endeavors.

I volunteered to address her inquiry first and unequivocally relayed my impression that BayFest has done as much as any other local event to facilitate arts growth.

I called to mind the fact that when the annual music festival began in 1995, many locals were still very leery of venturing downtown. After a few years of exploration, many began to see the irrationality of their fears.

Only then could the nascent entertainment district grow in fertilized soil.

Granted, plenty of folks flocked downtown for Mardi Gras but that is hardly an accurate or desired reflection of what an arts district could do. No one wanted to see Mardi Gras take place every weekend but BayFest was another matter. The music fans behaved. They were civil and sober.

Lo and behold, it seemed Mobilians would turn out for something beyond debauchery after all.

I dare say all the fanciful dreams, both realized and unborn, of downtown would be greatly diminished without BayFest. The talk of an arts district, the success of the artwalks, the eagerness to visit bookstores, theaters and galleries, would be stymied.

Regardless of whether music at the festival meets your particular taste, it remains a fact that it showed hordes could turn out simply to enjoy an art form, regardless of how “high” or “low” one chooses to classify it.

My colleagues at the head of that seminar classroom agreed with me. It was evident BayFest was a jump start, a nudge in the right direction for downtown.

It was just up to us to see it for what it actually brought us, not what we wished it was.

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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