A striking exhibit built around the idea of finding inner calm through art is wrapping up its run at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope, giving Baldwin County residents a final chance to see the work of a self-taught painter whose path to the canvas began in a laboratory.
The show, titled “enCHANTment,” centers on a large-scale sculptural installation known as the Jolly Lama Peace Project, a 15-foot-tall figure of a robed monk draped in red and gold fabric beneath what the artist describes as a cascade of hummingbirds. Visitors who step inside the structure are invited to write down their own prayers or wishes for peace, which volunteers then fold into origami birds to add to the display. The same installation traveled to Birmingham last October during a visit from the Dalai Lama, drawing crowds eager to take part in the interactive piece before it moved to the Eastern Shore Art Center for its current showing.
The artist behind the project did not start out as a painter. Trained as a biochemist, he shifted careers after a chance meeting with outsider artist R.A. Miller, whose folk-art style helped inspire a full change in direction from the lab bench to the studio. Working primarily in house paint on tarpaper, a technique closely associated with self-taught Southern artists, he has since built a body of work that has traveled to galleries across the United States and as far away as Japan.
Located at 401 Oak St. in downtown Fairhope, the Eastern Shore Art Center has long served as a hub for regional artists and a venue for rotating exhibits that highlight both established and emerging talent from around the Gulf Coast. The nonprofit gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., giving area residents and visitors several days each week to stop in before a show closes.
The “enCHANTment” exhibit is scheduled to close Jan. 10, and organizers say the artist plans to be on hand the afternoon before, at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 9, to speak with visitors about his work and the ideas behind the peace project. The informal talk is expected to touch on his unconventional path into the art world as well as the meaning behind the Jolly Lama installation and its focus on collective wishes for peace.
Those interested in visiting the exhibit or learning more about upcoming programming at the Eastern Shore Art Center can call 251-928-2228 or visit esartcenter.com for hours and additional details.