The Foley Performing Arts Association, a non profit organization, finds its home at the Arts Center in Foley Alabama. The gallery consists of three large rooms at the Historical Red Carpet Hotel in uptown Foley. Over 300 Artist and Craftsmen who lived through out the southeast created all of the arts and crafts at the Art Center.

Many exhibitors that participate on the Annual Art on the Park show have their work on sale and shoppers may chose from a variety of pottery, handmade textiles, jewelry, photographs, paintings, woodcrafts and much more. Two artists are featured monthly and their art is displayed in two of the galleries in addition to the mezzanine of the Colonial Bank of Foley.

Carolyn Mitchell – Front Gallery (Courteously of www.foleyartcenter.com)

Wildlife artist Carolyn Mitchell, Birmingham, Al., hopes her paintings will serve as a medium through which others will become more aware of our delicate environment. A graduate of Auburn University, majoring in commercial art, Carolyn has won numerous awards throughout the South, including awards in the Southern Wildlife Show, the Alabama Wildlife Federation.

Carolyn's paintings have been selected as designs on both Ducks Unlimited and Audubon Society Sportswear. Leanin' Tree has chosen several of her paints to use on their greeting cards. She has studied with numerous wildlife masters including Robert Bateman.

Her painting of the barn owl won the best of Fauna Award in the 2nd Annual Alabama Wildlife Federation Art Show in 2006. The judge was internationally famous wildlife artist, Guy Koheleach.

Suzanne Ens of Pensacola – Middle Gallery (Courteously of www.foleyartscenter.com)
Suzanne is well known in the Florida and Alabama area for her mosaic and tile work. She has participated in numerous shows including Foley's Art in the Park where her work has been well received. Some of her notable works include mosaics of the female form. www.fineartmosaic.com

“Visions of an Artist”

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” James McNeil Whistler so eloquently stated in the 19th century. Today this idea still rings true for many. If you don’t have a vision to start from, the labor is going to be useless.


21st Century painter Oudi Aarroni declared, "I paint not only what I see but, more importantly, what I feel. For me, painting is not merely holding up a mirror to the world but rather reacting to it". An artist can easily paint the world as it is, but when you react to the world though artwork it makes everything look possible. You can reveal to people how much differently you see the world than they do without even speaking a word.


Ruth Asawa voiced, “The best ideas come unexpectedly from a conversation or a common activity like watering the garden. These can get lost or slip away if not acted on when they occur.” This is true not only in artistry, but in writing as well. When you feel an idea taking hold of you, don’t put it off. Take your fantasies as far as they’ll let you go.


As Lani Picard stated, “There is no excuse for small thinking, for we have infinite minds.” So, if our minds are truly endless to possibilities, we can come up with almost anything. Because the more you create and produce, the more you are able to let your infinite mind run free.


In closing I leave you with another quote from James McNeil Whistler, "As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight and the subject-matter has nothing to do with harmony of sound or of color."

Tiffany Hartman – Journalist
Gungho City

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