Legacy of Elmore County art hangs at The Kelly

Two shows are hanging simultaneously at The Kelly Fitzpatrick Center for the Arts highlighting Elmore County’s deep rooted history in the arts.

One is by Dixie Art Colony artist and Kelly Fitzpatrick mentee Louise Smith Everton and the other is a show by the Elmore County Art Guild celebrating its 40th anniversary.  According to The Kelly executive director Jennifer Eifert, linking past and current Elmore County artists is something The Kelly has always wanted to do on a grand scale but was limited in space.

“Now, we have the space and the opportunity,” Eifert said. We love it.”

The Kelly has always had some work from DAC artists including Fitzpatrick. But thanks to Angus Everton and his family, The Kelly now has more than 80 works from DAC artist Louise Smith Everton. Everton traveled with his mother to the colony on Lake Jordan and Elmore County from Birmingham in the 1940s and 50s.

“Mother painted a great deal down here,” Angus Everton said. “In fact Kelly is my godfather.”

Everton said his mother had 100s of paintings stacked up, many unsigned.

“She never looked at them,” Everton said. “They were preserved because the way they were stacked air couldn’t circulate through them. She never looked at them.”

The paintings made their way to Maryland as the family moved north. Another move and the art was rediscovered by Everton. 

Over the years the family pulled a few pieces for themselves.

“We had so much more,” Everton said. “We didn’t want to just let it go to somewhere it didn’t mean much.”

The Everton family worked out an extended loan for more than 80 pieces to The Kelly including notes and letters.

“The idea is for it to turn into a donation at some point,” Everton said.

The Everton family recently returned to Wetumpka to see the show hanging in The Kelly.

“I don’t know that I have ever seen this much of my mother's work hanging in one place at once,” Everton said. “She had some paintings hanging in the museum in Birmingham and she had some in the museum in Montgomery, but never like this. She would have died and gone to heaven to see this.”

Louise Everton’s connection to the colony came through a Birmingham art teacher. Involvement with the DAC saw a connection with Warree Carmichael LeBron. After the DAC slowed, LeBron created another colony on family property on Hatchett Creek in Coosa County. Some of LeBron’s work hangs in The Kelly for the Everton show along with correspondence inviting Everton to Coosa County.

Everton’s work is reminiscent of Fitzpatrick, all soft watercolor. The scenes include some anyone who has visited downtown Wetumpka would recognize.

It matches well with the show from the Elmore County Art Guild as many of the subjects in its show are also downtown Wetumpka landmarks. The Guild’s show features more than 90 pieces of art from more than 40 local artists.