A Brave New Generation At The Birmingham Museum of Art

Last night, the Birmingham Museum of Art Junior Patrons wined and sauntered through the gorgeously renovated space at the new Matt Jones Gallery in Birmingham. The forty foot ceilings, and elegant French grey walls added to the drama of the setting but it was the smart looking and smart thinking crowd that really made the evening click. The gallery harkens back to Birmingham's steel city founding. In one corner area where now hangs a number of very large and at times combustible constructs by Dali acolyte, Nall, there was, decades ago, a fiery smelter of molten ore. The Birmingham art scene is hot.

The Junior Patrons event was spearheaded by young, Cate McCusker of the Birmingham Museum of Art's special events group. Cate is a North Carolina native, a Sewanee alum and a beautiful blonde that Botticelli would have swooned to have model for him. After meeting Cate and being introduced to the also young and enthusiastic new head of the BMA's American Collection, Graham Boettcher, I dropped BMA director, Gail Andrews a note of congrats on recruiting an impressive next generation of leadership for our city's top notch, nationally acclaimed fine art museum.

If you haven't toured the Birmingham Museum of Art in the last few years, please include it on your arts sojourn down South. There is something for every taste and interest and often something big--like that huge, 9' x forever, Bierstadt of the Yosemite Valley or that even huger Joan Mitchell lush garden canvas, or perhaps the biggest collection of Wedgwood on this side of the pond. And, isn't that a big, beautiful, Botero babe basking in the Birmingham sun?Birmingham is big on art. Come enjoy the grander than ever Birmingham Museum of Art and grand new venues like the Matt Jones Gallery. P. S. Y'all, Have a big blast of art in Birmingham