Learn more about Sara Garden Armstrong here.

Just as Black History Month kicks off and the City of Birmingham celebrates 60 years of the civil rights movement, the Birmingham Public Library (BPL) is proud to be hosting a photo exhibit featuring the work of legendary photographer Spider Martin. Taking place on the first floor of our Central Branch, the exhibition, Spider Martin—Selma to Montgomery, is on display for the public to see during operating hours.

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass is the first public presentation of an ongoing series of new artworks by artist and educator John Fields. These works utilize drawing, painting, video, printmaking, found-object sculptures, and mixed media materials to provide a darkly humorous and critical examination of our country’s current cultural crisis at the intersection of Christian Nationalism and unchecked capitalism.

The artists in this show explore the various meanings of “light” and “play” through their media, expression, and form choices. These artworks transmit feelings of joy, whimsy, and wonder in both subtle and distinct ways.

These galleries feature works by over thirty artists, including Afruz Amighi, Kumi Yamashita, and Harry Anderson, who incorporate light and shadows as a part of their art. Meanwhile, artists like Tayeba Begum Lipi, Kerry James Marshall, and Demond Melancon use the opulent effects of light interacting with shine and glitter to invite viewers into a serious dialogue. Debra Riffe’s prints from the series walk, in the direction you goin’ in tell a powerful story using silhouette forms, and the photographs of Chester Higgins, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and Jerry Uelsmann creatively capture the playful whimsy of their subjects. John Bankston, Amir H. Fallah, and David Shrobe use color and lightheartedness to tell complex stories in their art.

Together, these works reflect an expanse of contemporary artworks incorporating light and play. Whether using it literally or conceptually, each artist employs light’s profound influence or captures a playfulness that lights up the room.

Opening Reception: Friday February 3, 2023 from 5:30 – 7pm

Exhibition on display through March 31, 2023

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 5pm
or by appointment

Anne Arrasmith Gallery
2407 2nd Avenue North
Downtown Birmingham

Exhibiting Artists:
Caleb Jamel Brown, Rosa P. Duffy, Jaymerson Payton, Ezekiel Wright-Robinson, Hasani Sahlehe

Thought surrounding the ontology of the gesture, for most remains in abstract space. For black folks this discourse was waged violently upon our bodies. Thus, the notion of the abstract gesture cannot be, and is never neutral.  – Y. Malik Jalal

Surplus in Pantomime was originated in 2022 by Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, Alabama.

Joyful and full of whimsy, Linda Ellen is known for her vibrant and unique paintings that always have a story to tell. Her colorful palette and feminine subjects are signature to her work and you can feel the delight with which she paints. Linda Ellen's work is highly collected and brings sophistication to any space!

Oh, that Goldilocks. She’s managed to do it again. She’s stumbled across the Three Bear’s home and everything seems just not quite right. In honor of our 75th Anniversary, we had to include a BCT classic from one of our favorite playwrights, Jean Pierce. Join this reimagined Goldie in a guitar-flying, porridge-tasting, bed-hopping spree!

In Our Wee Folks Theatre

Recommended for ages 4 - 8 years
Approximate Time: 45 minutes

Saturdays, February 25th, March 11th & April 1st
Special Spring Break Performances: Tuesday, March 28th & Wednesday, March 29th

It's time to show us your brick creations! Use your imagination to create your best architectural designs using LEGO bricks with an architect or engineer to help create the coolest building.

This exhibit will feature projects & architectural models from local architects, designers, & structural engineers. Come gather inspiration for your next renovation, office, new construction, investment property or home! Learn how to read drawings onsite.

Join us as we discuss Matthew Quick’s book about Lucas Goodgame who lives in Majestic, Pennsylvania, a quaint suburb that has been torn apart by a recent tragedy. Everyone in Majestic sees Lucas as a hero—everyone, that is, except Lucas himself. Insisting that his deceased wife, Darcy, visits him every night in the form of an angel, Lucas spends his time writing letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl. It is only when Eli, an eighteen-year-old young man whom the community has ostracized, begins camping out in Lucas’s backyard that an unlikely alliance takes shape and the two embark on a journey to heal their neighbors and, most importantly, themselves.

Includes demonstrations, knife show, knife contests, and tool vendors. Knife Show and auction are open to the public.

Bright Star is an ode to Americana, with lyrics from Edie Brickell and book/music by Steve Martin (an award-winning banjo player as well as an actor & writer). It tells the story of Alice Murphy at two points in her life: the first when she is a wild, barefoot girl in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the second when she is a well-to-do magazine editor 22 years later.

As a girl in the 1920s, she falls for handsome Jimmy Ray, the mayor’s son. Their love falls victim to ambitious parents, and their newborn son is whisked away against Alice’s will. Twenty years later, staid Alice meets an aspiring young writer named Billy and finds that they share a mysterious connection that will deliver them from the past.

Registration for our Spring 2023 City Center Art (CCA) afterschool classes is open!

Through our scholarship application, class fees are based on a sliding scale. As a result, families may qualify for free or reduced tuition through the generosity of foundations and private contributors.

Visit our website to register for art classes and find out more about our spring classes and other Arts Education programs.

Locations: Vestavia Hills 10 and Trussville Stadium 16 theatres.

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy. Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park and Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

Music: Verdi
Language: Italian, with English subtitles

"This series of self-portraits are an exploration of the reconciliation of the inner and outer self, and the manner in which these two opposing personas must occupy the same space. As a woman, this frequently entails "holding it together" in the face of ridicule, microaggressions, and the constant stress of being a caretaker. This body of work embraces the inner strength required to maintain this constant balancing act while acknowledging the toll that it takes on the psyche."

About the Artist: Chloe Alexander is a printmaker who lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. Her most recent work focuses on creating visual narratives by layering various printmaking techniques to create mixed-media drawings and varied editions. Chloe obtained her BFA in Printmaking in 2010 and an M.Ed. in 2014, both from Georgia State University. She has exhibited work in various locations in the Atlanta area and beyond, including at Kai Lin Art Gallery in Atlanta, the International Print Center in New York, and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair in London. Chloe has also been awarded numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including a two-year fellowship with The Creatives Project in Atlanta and the Parent Artist Award at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA.

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The Jane Austen Society of North America-Alabama Region invites you to join us for a Jane Austen Regency Ball. This ball will consist of English country dances with a "caller”, who will provide instructions for the dances as we go.  No prior dance experience is necessary however, there will be a practice session from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for those who wish to learn some of the dances prior to the Ball. Attendance of the practice session is not a requisite to attend and/or dance at the Ball but would be extremely helpful. Period costumes are encouraged, but not required. The cost is $20 per person (the price includes practice session). This event is for adults and teens. Refreshments will be served. You must call to reserve your spot (though payment not required until the day of the event). Reservations can be made beginning Tuesday, January 1, through Saturday, March 23.  Space is limited. Please call (205) 578-8280 for reservations or email jasna.alabama@gmail.com

Join Three on a String and special guests Kelli Johnson, Allen Tolbert, Jason Bailey, Joe Estes, Mark Weldon, Donny Carpenter, Rowdy Yates, Stan Putnam, John Less, and Herb Trotman.

CO.STARTERS is an action-driven, collaborative process with a small and supportive group of like-minded people. Led by a facilitator who is an experienced entrepreneur, you’ll identify your assumptions about why and how your businesses will work and then talk to customers in order to validate your ideas. This approach enables you to rapidly uncover flaws in your concept and find viable models more quickly. You’ll leave the program with a deeper understanding of how to create a sustainable business, articulate your model, and repeat the process with your next great idea. Participants receive one-on-one time with the facilitators, support from Create Birmingham staff during and post-graduation, membership in the alumni network, and access to the CO.STARTERS Graduate Resources.

This cohort will take place for ten weeks from April 3 - June 12 (skipping a week for Memorial Day). Please note that in order to take the class you must register on our website. There are limited spots available. Class space may fill up before the start date arrives so make sure to register soon!

Ableism, the favoritism towards people without disabilities, plays a tremendous role in athletics. Organizations like the Lakeshore Foundation have offered athletic programs for individuals with disabilities since 1984 and provide opportunities for individuals to live a healthy lifestyle through physical activity, research, and advocacy. Through this program, Foundation members share the history of their organization, its importance, and the many ways they’re continually working to provide opportunities for athletes. Art in Conversation is a bi-monthly series at the BMA where curators, museum professionals, and other special guests lead conversations on art and culture.

Taking You Higher, an annual musical praise-fest!  With spiritually uplifting performances from gospel and R&B superstars and soul-stirring spoken work readings.

Join us as we discuss Taylor Jenkins Reid’s latest book One True Loves. This breathtaking new love story is about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

Lena may have taken her girlfriends' advice out of desperation or because she wasn't thinking clearly. Who takes advice like, "The best way to get over a man is to get under another" seriously? Lena, for whatever reason, does. As a consequence of that same advice, she now finds herself in the middle of an evening full of twists, turns, and drama. The type of drama that can only be stirred somewhere between the peach mimosas and the sounds of "Ladies Night". It's a nonstop roller coaster ride of relationship drama, shady business dealings, scandalous secrets, and so much more, all intertwined with a sexy sultry live soundtrack filled with love, emotion, and grit. Ladies Night is a new urban stage play that promises to be worthwhile entertainment.

The ten graduating University of Alabama at Birmingham students will have their works featured in a Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibition April 7 – 29.  The closing reception Friday, April 28, 6-8 p.m. is free and open to the public.

“The BFA exhibition represents crossing the threshold into the professional environment for students who are often showing their work for the first time in the setting of a gallery or museum,” says Rich Gere, professor and chair of the Department of Art and Art History. “We are very fortunate and happy to collaborate with AEIVA’s staff and curators, who afford students the same experience in preparing for and mounting the exhibition as the professional artists who come in from around the globe,” Gere said. “Students write about their work and give oral presentations explaining their inspirations, research, processes and concepts. The BFA exhibition is the studio capstone experience and one of the spring’s premier closinging receptions in the area, and we hope to see you there.”

The Department of Art and Art History’s Bachelor of Fine Arts degree offers undergraduate art studio students an intensive exploration across a breadth of discipline that allows them to prepare to be artists, designers, or begin careers in the arts, or to continue their studies in graduate school. Students gain skills and competencies including team-based learning, technology, communication, aesthetic judgment, interdisciplinary and innovative approaches, critical analysis, and professional development throughout their program of study.

The 2023 BFA artists are: Kaylee Coffman, Matthew Davis, Kayla Lazrak, Olly Lynman, Jada Nguyen, Keilicia Parker, Kaitlin Runnels, Elizabeth Stephens, Kaye Bailey Tindell, and Ella Waddell.

Join us as September Reed shows you easy it is to paint your own masterpiece on an 11x14 canvas. We will provide all you need to paint your own masterpiece. Register online at homewoodpubliclibrary.org.

We're so pleased to welcome Rii Abergo to the Green Rug for some quality time with kids and their families! Rii will chat about her work as an illustrator, answer questions, and maybe even give a drawing demonstration!

Come early to secure your spot!

*

Rii Abrego is a Latina illustrator and comic artist who resides in the very humid southern United States. Rii has provided work for Random House, Oni Press, BOOM! Studios, Lion Forge, OMOCAT, Harmonix, Kazoo magazine, Ascend Comics, and Power & Magic Press, among others. She is the illustrator of the graphic novels THE SPRITE AND THE GARDENER, co-written with Joe Whitt and published by Oni Press, and GRACE NEEDS SPACE, co-written by Benjamin A. Wilgus and published by Random House.

“With new music, characters, monster trucks, and even the Blippi mobile, we’re thrilled to bring Blippi to even more kids and families around the world in a brand-new show,” said Stephen Shaw, founder, and co-President of Round Room Live. “Following the success of Blippi The Musical, we’re excited for audiences to create memorable experiences with Blippi, with all the amazing music, production, and energy they expect, but in a way, they’ve never seen before.”

“It’s very special to witness the love that our fans have for Blippi and his buddies, and the joy this beloved character brings to families around the world,” said Susan Vargo, Head of Live Events at Moonbug Entertainment. “Our live experiences bring families together to make memories that will last a lifetime. With Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour fans can expect catchy music, lots of dancing, and a whole lot of fun!”

Blippi is coming to your city for the ultimate curiosity adventure in Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour! So, come on! Dance, sing, and learn with Blippi and special guest Meekah as they discover what makes different cities unique and special. Will there be monster trucks, excavators, and garbage trucks galore? You bet! So get ready to shake those wiggles out and OJ Twist your way through this brand-new musical party!

Blippi, along with his best friend Meekah, inspires curiosity in preschoolers around the world by creating content and experiences that are relatable, accessible, and make learning fun.  Blippi has become a worldwide sensation with more than one billion monthly views on YouTube and more than 50 million fans around the world.  Blippi is available in more than 20 languages, including ASL, and is distributed by more than 30 global broadcast and streaming partners around the world including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Roku, Virgin Media, and Kidoodle. Meekah, Blippi’s creative, inventive, cart-wheel-loving pal, stars alongside Blippi in Blippi’s Treehouse on Amazon and also recently launched her own YouTube channel in September.

For Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour, the character Blippi will be played by professional stage performers selected specifically for the stage show.

At The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show, you’ll tackle a challenging crime while you feast on a fantastic dinner. Just beware! The criminal is lurking somewhere in the room, and you may find yourself as a Prime Suspect before you know it!

Each admission includes our fantastic full dinner, murder mystery entertainment, wait staff gratuity, prize package for Top Sleuth, and much more! Cash bar and ATM available throughout the event. Click a show date below to see pricing and get tickets!

Our Birmingham, AL murder mystery shows are geared toward adults! Some mild content, loud noises, and adult humor will be present.

Celebrate short stories by challenging yourself to read (or reread a favorite) short story. Feel free to bring a copy to share (or email your story to judith.wright@homewoodpubliclibrary.org) for the April meeting.

Join Chaotic Good Improv for a night of live improv comedy at your favorite local indie cinema: Sidewalk! There's a full bar so you'll have the liquid courage necessary to join us on stage for some audience participation. There's also a great concession stand if you just want to sit back, eat chocolate, and watch the silliness.