BY SARAH STEPHENS
PHOTOS BY BOB EALUM
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
The Dixie Art Colony’s collection of artwork by Carlos Alpha “Shiney” Moon was on display throughout July at the Millbrook Art Mill. During the show, hundreds of art enthusiasts in our area visited the Art Mill, discussing the color, history and creativity of the artist.
Monday was a closing reception, and our own Bob Ealum was there to capture some photos.
The show was called “A Retrospective of the Works of Carlos Alpha “Shiney” Moon.” The exhibition was curated by DAC founder and director Mark Andrews Harris. July 18th marked what would have been Carlos’ 117th birthday.
Visitors during the exhibition learned that Carlos’ painting career was launched in 1943 due to his daughter Martha’s attendance at a two-week girl’s camp located where Grandview Family YMCA sits today in Millbrook.
The exhibition included 25 original works of art, including Moon’s first painting, an oil painting titled “Southern Pine Tree,” depicting a view from the family’s backyard in Florala, Alabama. It was painted using his daughter Martha’s paint set. Many of the paintings included in this exhibition have been shown in art museum exhibitions throughout the Southeast and Internationally as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Art In Embassies program.
Moon’s most acclaimed work, titled “Moonlight on Pickle Hill,” (shown in this article) was included in the exhibition. This large oil painting was included in the 2004 traveling exhibition titled “Tales from the Easel: Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century American Narrative Paintings from Southeastern Museums, circa 1800-1950.
In 2022, the Mobile Museum of Art donated this painting and many others to the DAC Foundation. In that exhibition, this painting hung alongside works by some of America’s most prominent 19th and 20th-century artists, including Thomas Hart Benton, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, and Andrew Wyeth.
There is an amazing collection of artwork to be found, courtesy of the DAC collection in Elmore County. For more information, or to schedule a visit to DAC, visit www.DixieArtColony.org or call 334-328-7030 for more information.
See more Photos below.
