Art Night, Acrylics Workshop, and an Award-Winning Band

May is shaping up to be a busy start to the summer season. We begin the month joining the Little River Arts Council and other businesses and artists with a First Friday Art Nights event on May 2 at the Chuck Sennett Center for the Arts. The afternoon will start with the Porch Pickers playing at the center, starting at 2 p.m. Gallery hours will be extended until 7 p.m., and light refreshments will be available for shoppers. Be sure to check out other First Friday events at the Moon Lake Village and around town from 4-7 p.m.

We will host a two-day Adventures in Acrylic Painting workshop at Moon Lake Village, May 17-18. The workshop is led by artist/instructor Bradley Wilson. Tuition is $195. A materials list will be sent upon registration. Class is limited to 10 students. See contact information at the bottom of this article.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Let go and begin making paintings that are bold, expressive, and satisfying. We’ll explore acrylic techniques that open a world of creative possibilities. Learn how to paint faster than your “inner critic” can judge (which will vastly improve your paintings), and discover compositional and color-mixing secrets that will make your paintings look amazing. This workshop will inspire both beginners and those with previous painting experience. Various subject matter will be explored.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Bradley Wilson was born in Chattanooga in 1970. He is a visual artist and author who creates paintings, drawings, and prints. He teaches studio art and art history part time at Lee University, Dalton State College, and conducts regular painting workshops at a variety of venues. He resides with his wife and a multitude of dogs and cats in Charleston, Tennessee.

“Twenty years ago, I became interested in the idea of painting as an improvised performance,”

Wilson says. “I had grown dissatisfied with making work that was fully conceived at the beginning, worked out through studies and sketches, and then executed onto canvas. Something important was missing. I began to make paintings with no formulated plan. I let the images emerge slowly or quickly out of the painting process itself. I began playing with color, line, texture, and shape. I embraced uncertainty as an essential element of creating,” he explains.

“My painting process is fluid and organic. I constantly make changes throughout the creation of a piece. I have no philosophy of painting other than to be open and responsive to the possibilities of the moment. Connecting with the present and finding the potential — this is what my work is about.”

The French Family Band

We also are excited to welcome back The French Family Band for two shows, Saturday, May 31, from 7-9 p.m. and Sunday, June 1, from 3-5 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person. There were a handful of tickets for Saturday night’s show at press time and more available for the Sunday afternoon show. A payment link can be found on the Mentone Arts Center Facebook page and on The French Family Band website, thefrenchfamilyband.com.

Originally from Australia and now based in Nashville, The French Family Band (core trio features husband-wife duo Stuie and Camille French and their son Sonny) takes inspiration from the country and Western swing icons of decades past, creating and performing American roots music that’s most assuredly vibrant and fully alive. The group appeared on the legendary Grand Ole Opry four times in 2023, and they have had ringing endorsements from folks like Marty Stuart and Connie Smith, among other greats.

Stuie and Camille and their three children moved to Nashville in 2019 after building a strong reputation back home. Over the course of nearly 20 years as the duo Camille and Stuie, they became one of Australia’s best-loved musical acts. They won three Australian Golden Guitar Awards, which are equal to the CMAs, and won another one in 2023 as The French Family Band. When Covid hit, they pivoted from playing traditional gigs to doing Facebook Live concerts from home. This turned out to be a winning strategy that exposed their music to the world. They built a Facebook following of more than 180,000 and created a new, global fan base that loves their music.