He(art) of the community

Mountain Brook is known for its wealth of doctors, lawyers and business owners, but many people might not be aware about another, not-so-well-known side of the villages: the myriad of artists.

Since its inception in 1981, the Mountain Brook Art Association has represented an ever-increasing collection of talented two-dimensional artists, Show Chairman Janet Sanders said, who are all within 25 miles of Mountain Brook. Within the city limit itself, she said, is one of the largest troves of both new and old artists, some an active part of the association and others representing themselves in other ways, be it through the school arts programs, annual Birmingham art shows or simply at their own home. Many are known across the globe for their art and have it displayed in international galleries.

One of those Mountain Brook artists, who Sanders said has been a longtime member of the art association, not only made a name for himself locally, but also with none other than Queen Elizabeth II.

Bob Moody is known for his watercolor illustrations of Mountain Brook and Birmingham spots — some of which are no longer standing, his wife Rebecca Moody said, and are only preserved through a few photographs and his paintings — as well as his books depicting some of Alabama’s oldest churches. He was also able to travel abroad and paint a book of churches in England, which is what led to him being honored by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010.

“It was serendipity, really, meeting the queen. … It was everyone, Prince Phillip, the archbishop. We presented the book to the queen, and she was very gracious,” Bob Moody said. 

For the longtime Mountain Brook illustrator, his art journey began in Auburn, where he took his first art class and eventually graduated with a degree in architecture. Since then, his ability to paint watercolor depictions both of the present and the imagined future has led him to many opportunities, including settling down in the art-hungry city of Mountain Brook. 

After he worked briefly in Texas, he then went to work for NASA painting watercolor depictions of space missions, spaceships and the moon before they landed on it. 

“When I left NASA at ’65, we had already landed on the moon a million times [in painting-form],” he said. “Being in future projects, I could see the space race winding down, so I decided I needed to get into something a little more proactive.”

That is why, he said, he went on to live in Mountain Brook and work “mostly in historical renovation and preservation,” at first for Charlie McCauley and Associates, the largest architect firm in the South at the time. Later, he worked with his wife at his own firm, Moody and Associates, where he continued to do interior and architectural design work — presented in watercolor — for the city. 

“He’s done a lot of watercolors right around [in Mountain Brook] and the botanical gardens and the clock towers, also he’s done a lot of English Village,” Rebecca Moody said. “The art has been the success of his business because he would be able to paint things that people couldn’t visualize” but would one day create because of his paintings. 

Before he closed down the firm in 2005, Bob Moody said he also did work depicting over 40 buildings downtown, some of which, like Morris Avenue, have shaped how the city has been growing over the years. If it wasn’t for his Morris Avenue paintings, he said,“that area would have been a giant parking lot.”

After they closed the firm, Bob and Rebecca Moody got to work on producing watercolor books with historical information, including the book of some of the state’s oldest churches that led to getting them noticed by a London reporter with connections to the Historical Preservation Trust and, by default, Queen Elizabeth II.

Currently, Bob Moody has his Mountain Brook depictions displayed at the Grand Bohemian Gallery, located at 2655 Lane Park Road.

Although Mountain Brook’s 3-year-old Grand Bohemian Gallery features European collections, Curator Molly Johnson said the gallery remains mostly filled with work by talented locals. Johnson said Mountain Brook artists cover the basics of major kinds of art and produce “a little bit of everything,” from acrylic and bronze sculptures to acrylic oil painting figurative work to more abstract work of watercolors and mixed media.

There’s a huge arts community here, Johnson said, not only in Mountain Brook but also across the Birmingham metro area.

“It’s kind of a tight-knit community. We know whenever there’s a new person on the scene that we need to look out for [them],” Johnson said. “… A large percentage of the opening for our shows are Mountain Brook people, and they’re been very supportive of the gallery and the artists, and especially Mountain Brook artists.”

Another well-known and award-winning artist, 94-year-old watercolor artist Peggy Tilly-Montgomery, also is a longtime Mountain Brook resident and featured artist at the Grand Bohemian Gallery.

Tilly-Montgomery, who said she has been known as Peggy Green Tilly for most of her life until she remarried, grew up in Birmingham and has done art for as long as she can remember. When she was in elementary school, she noticed an ad in the newspaper to draw a picture for a college scholarship — which she sent in, unbeknownst to her parents, and ended up winning — at the age of 12.

“I’ve done all kinds of arts, but I’ve never found one that suited me as well as watercolor,” she said. “It’s just been my love, so that’s what I’m still doing.”

When she moved back to Birmingham after studying art in New York, she did pen and ink work for years with the Birmingham News and painted watercolor on the side. Her art has always been about the “enjoyment.” Every Thursday, she meets in Crestline with a handful of other watercolor artists in Mountain Brook to share inspiration and paint the morning away. 

“I like seeing the colors run together and sort of do their own thing. Sometimes, you’re just surprised and shocked and happy and sometimes sad by the way they go at [each] other and what they produce. But they’re always fun,” Tilly-Montgomery said.

Tilly-Montgomery primarily paints landscapes, “anything in its natural form,” she said. She considers herself a representative artist. 

Over the years, she’s done a lot of larger paintings of landscapes from the local community, including several Mountain Brook-specific places like Mountain Brook Village, which locals have purchased.

Art collecting, Johnson said, is a hobby several people in Mountain Brook start considering a luxury once they get to a certain point in their career, which is one reason scenes from the community get bought up by locals. 

“In Mountain Brook, specifically speaking, we do have a lot of those people that fit into ‘new collectors’ and people that are more into it from a hobby standpoint, as far as collecting and getting involved that way,” Johnson said. 

Newcomers, in addition to Mountain Brook natives, are rushing to be part of the Mountain Brook art scene, as well. 

Even though Amee Morgan Calloway has been an artist for a long time, she only moved to Mountain Brook in July 2017. 

Calloway, who primarily works in acrylics and mixed media abstracts, said that since she’s moved from Dallas, Texas, she has set up an art studio in her Mountain Brook backyard, where she works everyday. 

“I mean, there’s galleries everywhere. I’m kind of blown away,” Calloway said. “I love how the retail stores have artists and featured art.”

Though her family didn’t move specifically to Mountain Brook for the art scene, she said it’s been “a huge bonus” that has helped her meet other local artists and began to submit applications to be in nearby galleries, in addition to shows like the annual Crestline Art Show. Until then, she will continue to sell her work online through commission work. 

The Mountain Brook Art Association has seen a influx of newcomers, Sanders said, and she’s excited to see them join the scene and get to know the community through art.

Johnson said art, more than anything, is a reflection of culture, which is why she thinks it’s important for people in the community to come and see or buy what is being created and produced by other locals.

“It’s a reflection of all of us and how we all impact each other, and the art industry at large,” Johnson said. “I think, of course, also it’s a great way to just kind of relax and embrace a more creative side, and it’s just a nice treat to come in and reflect and see beautiful things.”

Another local artist is Annie Kammerer Butrus, who originally grew up in a suburb of Chicago. After completing her master of fine arts training in painting and printmaking from the University of Notre Dame, she married and moved to Mountain Brook in 2003. 

Since then, Butrus said much of her painting has centered on the growth of the Birmingham-metro area she has come to know so well. 

Living as a professional artist in Mountain Brook, she said, has been “wonderful, as the community is incredibly supportive of the arts.”

“As soon as I moved here, I found an encouraging community of artists and supporters,” she said. 

They quickly helped her to find her place in the tight-knit community through the right studio, critique groups and local shows, she said, and since then she has had break-through projects.

“Living alongside many talented artists, makers and patrons is an important factor for nurturing a creative community. Mountain Brook is succeeding from that standpoint,” Butrus said.

Not only that, she said, but Mountain Brook Schools also has a long-standing commitment to its arts education, which she enjoys watching her four children learn from. Each year, Butrus volunteers for the MBS Expressions Art Contest for the elementary schools, in addition to serving as a parent representative last year on the MBS Curriculum Framework for the Arts Committee. 

She said she loves to see both the new and old art community in Mountain Brook producing one-of-a-kind work.

“I think for the most part, all of the artists from here are producing new and avant-garde works that we should be proud of as a community, ” Johnson said. “We have a lot of cutting-edge artists here, and just because we are in the South or Birmingham doesn’t mean it’s not as substantial as it would be in New York or something like that.”

Learn more about the Grand Bohemian Gallery at grandbohemiangallery.com or the Mountain Brook Art Association at mountainbrookartassociation.com.