Munroe Family Community Gallery

March 27 - May 29, 2021

This exhibition of painting Atlanta based artist J.William Hill is meant to evoke strong emotions from the viewer. His representational style tends to deal in allegories and identity through depictions of amusements and distractions such as parades and circuses. Hill's paintings leave a lot up to interpretation while presenting the entertainment theme. Hill began painting in the early 1990s as an escape from the horrors of an epidemic he found himself ensnared in. It became a means to hide from the world around him and drew him inward toward a select few friends. The result created a very introverted and often dark persona. He has won awards in local and Southeastern galleries, most recently taking 1st place in a Gadsden Arts tried exhibition for a painting of his mother that drew remarks as “creepy” and “so Southern Gothic”. 

September 11 - December 11, 2021

In this series of new work Dawn McMillan moves away from past figurative and narrative work to explore landscapes centered on fleeting moments of light and circumstance. Whether it’s the sunset after a storm that bathes everything in a golden glow, or the stillness of deep, dark reflections on a pond at twilight, all scenes are meant to evoke a feeling of peace, serenity and awe. This series of paintings and drawings began at the start of the pandemic and continued throughout a year of isolation and a time of focus on nature and the briefness of a perfectly lit scene. Shadows cast on a clapboard house; bare tree silhouettes against a pale, pastel winter sky; brilliant reds and oranges of a crisp autumn day; the light at the end of a rhododendron tunnel; all are translations of exploration of nature by the artist and meant to be evocative, timeless and everlasting.

Fall 2021

The drive to create can be undeniable, even in a place as bleak, depressing, and dangerous as a prison. Creativity in an Uncreative Place showcases artwork made by inmates in Florida prisons, drawing from the collection of David Gussak, Ph.D., ATF-BC, Professor for Florida State University Graduate Art Therapy program. The bulk of the collection is comprised of the unique paintings by “Candy Man,” an inmate who paints with brushes made from locks of his own hair, and creates his own pigments from the colored dye of M&M candies. Other artists in the exhibition used shoe polish, trash bags, cardboard, and other found objects to make their contraband works of art. Gussak’s stresses that “as long as there has been incarceration, there has been art. Prisons are filled with creative energy needing an outlet.”