Carnegie Visual Arts Center

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In the spirit of the Hudson River School of the mid-1800s, the vision of artists Jerry Brown, Mary Reed and Matt Welch is to share ideas and artistic concepts in an attempt to develop a regional movement and particular style of easel painting in the Tennessee Valley.  Their mutual experiences, passion for painting, and collaborative efforts have fostered each of them as they worked in their individual styles to produce the pieces in this exciting exhibit.

Although he had originally planned to become an artist, Jerry Brown graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with an engineering degree. After a retiring from a career in engineering in Huntsville, Alabama in 1994, Jerry set about following his dream of creating art. Over the past years he has honed his skills through classes at University of Alabama in Huntsvile and Cape Cod School of Art, and has exhibited extensively in the North Alabama area and beyond. Jerry has always been attracted to both the French Impressionists and Post-impressionist, and has pursued these avenues in his contemporary paintings. He has also developed a unique approach to painting in his occasional “prismatic” paintings that break up the image into pieces that resemble stain glass.

Art has always been a part of Mary Reed’s life, although serious pursuit of the art of oil painting is relatively recent.  Born and raised in the Midwest, adult life brought Mary and her family to Decatur Alabama where she eventually found herself surrounded by the amazingly diverse local artistic community. Mary states, “I paint for the simple and clear reason that it is what I was meant to do. Each painting is an invitation to the viewer to step through a portal, not into a fictional setting, but possibly into a different state of being – one of heightened awareness and appreciation for the beauty that nearly always surrounds us.”

Matt Welch has always been able to draw. He was the kid in school who was usually called upon for any needed bulletin board or chalkboard work. Matt’s current creations feature oils and acrylics that capture light and shadow across landscapes, water, and urban locations. Matt currently lives, works, and paints in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area after a few years in Decatur, Alabama.