Photo courtesy of Mountain Brook Art Association.
People look at art during the Mountain Brook Art Association’s 2024 Spring Art Show in Crestline Village. The Mountain Brook Art Association has been hosting its annual spring art show for the past 40 years.
The streets surrounding Mountain Brook City Hall will be bustling on May 3 as artists and art lovers gather for the annual Spring Art Show, hosted by the Mountain Brook Art Association.
With more than 50 artists signed up to showcase their work, the event is one of the largest and most popular art shows in the Birmingham area.
“Most people come to this show because it’s a concentration of a lot of professional artists, artists that really do this for a living,” event co-chair Lois Mash said. “And this year, we have more professionals than we’ve had in a long time, which is great. It will attract that many more people who don’t get to see their art firsthand.”
Mash has been working alongside co-chair Sara Cook to organize this year’s show, leaning on Cook’s previous experience running
the event and her own experience as a participating artist.
"It’s good for artists who’ve never shown before, and I remember what that felt like to have the experience," Mash said. "You get a feeling for what the community is looking for in the way of art, not that every artist paints for other people. There are a lot of artists that paint because they love painting."
That love of painting is what brought the MBAA to life. Local artist Ron Lewis was teaching a class through the Mountain Brook Community Education Program when a few of his students wanted to publicly display their work.
In what would later be known as the association’s first art show, they set their paintings against trees along Church Street in Crestline Village and offered them for sale. It was such a success that they officially formed the club, which has been promoting an interest in the arts for the past 40 years.
With roughly 150 members and growing, the MBAA limits the number of participants in its shows. This year’s spring show is capped at 55 artists, all of whom had to attend at least two meetings in the previous year to be eligible.
“It just provides another way to enrich the community. I think we would all agree that one of the things that’s great about Birmingham is its culture,” Mash said, “both with the arts and the music and the patrons that participate with the arts here in Mountain Brook and Birmingham, so it’s just another layer of cultural interest.”
Along with the annual event, the MBAA offers members educational opportunities through demonstrations, as well as information about upcoming shows and art education programs.
To become a member, individuals must live within a 25-mile radius of Mountain Brook, and the group primarily focuses on traditional, two-dimensional art forms.
The show will take place in and around City Hall on May 3 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Visit mountainbrookartassociation.com for more information.
