Celebrating art in the heart of Alabamas Black Belt – AL.com

From her office at Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center in downtown Camden, Kristin Law can see pine needle baskets intricately woven by Maxine Hopkins of Dallas County, displayed next to handmade scarves by AC Reeves of Selma. One is so colorful, the other is straight from the earth, yet they complement each other, Kristin says.

She notices something new every day when she walks in to do her job, which doesnt feel like a job at all. As art programs and marketing director, Kristin is one of those lucky people who have found their true calling in life, and she couldnt be happier to be doing it in her hometown.

A Camden native, she grew up learning art from her artist mother. Kristin majored in ceramics in college and became curator of collections at the Heritage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, Va., where she lived for eight years. Then she learned of an opportunity to return to Camden and take a job in her field.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think Id come home to Camden and work in the arts, she says. I was absolutely blessed to luck into this job.

Black Belt Treasures, which opened in 2005, is a nonprofit organization that promotes the work of artists from the Black Belt region. Its 2,500-square-foot gallery features the work of more than 350 artists, all of it for sale. In addition, art classes are offered for adults and children in a variety of media, from painting to pottery, from basket-weaving to quilting.

This hub of creativity is located right in the middle of the Black Belt, Kristin says. You can go in any direction and see the unique people who make this region what it is. As a collective group of counties working as one, we can do so much more to make arts stronger in Alabama.

Black Belt Treasures is housed inside a former car dealership on Claiborne Street. In the back part of the building, where the body shop used to be, there is 6,500 square feet of warehouse space currently being renovated in three phases. The first phase is complete and includes a pottery studio/classroom and kiln room, as well as a multimedia art room and an artists studio space for the Arts Cultivate program to help artists get their start.

Within a year, the center will start fundraising for the other two-thirds of the expansion for the Black Belt Art House, a large event/meeting/workshop space and small stage, with maker spaces for four to six artists as well as a changing gallery for solos shows and even touring exhibitions.

Since 2012, the Black Belt Teaching Artists Program has also provided art programs in schools in nine counties from 24 teaching artists.

Arts education begins the moment anyone comes through the front door, Kristin says. We share stories of the Black Belt, how things are made, the artists, techniques and history.

Among the longtime artists whose work is for sale at Black Belt Treasures are Andrew McCall from Letohatchee, who sculpts churches and angels from barn wood; James Winky Hicks of Clarke County, who makes turkey callers with such perfect sound, says Kristin, that theyre shipped to hunters all over the country; and Minnie and Tinnie (pronounced Tiny) Pettway, sisters from Gees Bend who are as full of personality as their potholders are, Kristin says.

Available for less than $20 each, the potholders are miniature versions of the famous Gees Bend quilts. Each one is a one-of-a-kind, small work of art, says Kristin.

Visitors have come to Black Belt Treasures from every state as well as 32 countries. One day, there were customers from Australia, Scotland and San Francisco, all of whom had found their way to Camden. We finally have that great combination of things to do that make the entire Black Belt a place for a weekend destination, Kristin says, citing nearby Gees Bend, bed-and-breakfast inns, The Pecan on Broad and other restaurants in the area. Big events are happening this spring, too, including the Wilcox County Tour of Homes in March and the Hog Wild for Arts Festival in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerces annual Barbecue Cookoff in April.

The center also played a key role in the creation and installation of 11 beautiful new concrete benches adorned with mosaic tile telling stories from the area, celebrating everything from the natural resources to the architecture to the founding of Wilcox County and Camden. Funded by an AARP grant, the bench project was led by mosaic tile artist Linda Munoz with the help of some 100 volunteers.

The Black Belt is known as an economically depressed area. But, like the soil from which the region got its name, the Black Belt is rich in creativity. We take what we have and make what we need, says Kristin. That speaks to quilters, basket-makers, weavers and pottery-makers. What at one time was made as a necessity have become true works of art. The Black Belt is a great melding of old and new, telling a story through their art.

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Celebrating art in the heart of Alabamas Black Belt - AL.com