Lillie Mack & Marilyn Gordon, Fiber & Design Arts:Fashion - Blackbelt Designs, York AL

In the heart of the black belt of the Deep South, on the western edge of Alabama and just a few miles from Mississippi, sits the small town of York. York, population 2,854, is in Sumter County, population under 15,000 and listed as one of the poorest counties in Alabama.

August 1956 a female was born who never embraced the idea of being poor. She was well aware there was never much money to spend in stores but there was always hand-me-down clothing and leftover scraps to rework and/or play with creating something new, functional, and
usually different than her peers.

Lillie Jean Mack , the second oldest of 7 children, learned to sew by observing her mother. Often she would remake an adult’s dress into two child size dresses. Feed sacks and flour sacks were a source of new fabric to sew with.

"Although two of my sisters also sewed, I was the one that helped to clothe the family. We had no commercial patterns so I learned to eye the body, cut the garment, sew & fit on a live mannequin – the person who would be wearing the item."

After High School and the birth of her eldest child, Lillie began working at the local apparel factory. Twenty six years later, the factories moved to Mexico and she was without a job. Sewing for family members did not fulfill her need to sew and create what she visualized, so she began making quilts, lap robes, and craft items to sell.
“All these years of designing and sewing from salvaged materials and I never realized I did anything differently from other sewers. In fact, I felt others were more skilled since I could not work from a pattern. "

This soon changed when she joined Blackbelt Designs, a new fulltime fiber arts workshop that was starting in York sponsored by the Coleman Center for Arts and Culture.

"The same year I joined Black Belt Designs as a volunteer, we visited Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Northport, Alabama. Previous to this excursion I thought art was something people hung on the wall. I had an epiphany that changed the way I viewed my passion, and myself, as I walked the aisles. This exposure to quality arts and crafts awakened me to possibilities. At age forty six, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother I discovered what I had been doing for forty years to clothe family and decorate my home was admired by many people.

Now, I recycle denim jeans into designer jackets. I totally rip the jeans and incorporate unfaded areas into the design of the jackets.

Another fabric of choice is mudcloth from Mali. When people ask why mudcloth, my reply is “I use the African made fabric because it epitomizes what I believe. One can make something beautiful from what they find around them”.

Lillie is listed as one of Alabama’s outstanding artists on SouthernArtistry.org.

Some of her other recognition includes:
Arts & Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa, AL juried show - honorable mention.
Sumter County, AL Fine Arts juried show - 2nd place
Invited exhibitor Kentuck Arts & Crafts, Northport, AL
Invited exhibitor Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Design Arts Fellowship with the Alabama State Arts Council

For more information, please visit their new web site:
http://www.blackbeltdesigns.net/

Jaclyn Benedict, Unique Handcrafted Fine Jewelry - Mobile AL

In 1974, when Jaclyn was in her sophomore year at the University of South Alabama, she happened to look through a doorway into a new art class being offered by Lloyd Patton. The class was metal smithing. She dropped her handful of clay and never looked back.

Jaclyn spent two years under Mr. Patton’s tutelage, studying jewelry design and the many varied techniques of working with precious metals. Over the years, she has increased her knowledge by talking to other artists and taking classes from such sources as master wire wrapper Preston Luther, Fairhope artist Betsy Sable and the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts. Jaclyn’s pieces of wearable art are created by but are not limited to hand building, wax carving and casting and wire wrapping all done in silver and/or gold.

Colored stones also fascinate Jaclyn. She began experimenting with and using many different and unusual types of gem material in her pieces. “I like my jewelry to reflect the personality of the wearer. I prefer my stones to be freeform and the finished piece to certainly not be something you would find in a jewelry store.” Jaclyn has traveled across the United States visiting sites where she has been able to dig gem material and has been in numerous Gem & Mineral Shows. She travels to Tucson, Arizona each year for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.

Jaclyn began participating in juried art shows in 1989. She has won numerous awards, including Best-of-Show. She has been a member of the Cathedral Square Gallery, Mobile, Alabama’s only artist’s co-op, since 1998.

Scott A. Blackwell, Cajun Art & Design - Waveland MS

"When i ate my first crayon as a kid, I knew I wanted to be an artist."

Scott Blackwell... A Contemporary Humorist, with a Cajun and Carribean Twist, who takes art seriously, but with a big dose of humor and color.

Scott takes his work to another level of depth using vibrant colors and textures to produce his wacky world of original and limited edition pieces. His mediums consist of acrylic paint, gypsum cement, found objects and new building products found at local hardware stores. His original paintings are on canvas with a technique he designed to create a look as though it were a tile.

Scott grew up on the Anna Maria Island, Florida, attended Ringling School of Art and achieved a BFA from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana. Scott has moved back and forth from Florida to Louisiana several times after graduation. His heritage, being half Cajun, made him settle in a little town called LaPlace on the outskirts of New Orleans. After ten years he relocated to Waveland, Mississippi, where he lives close to the Gulf beaches and the bayous.

"My mentors were always Salvador Dali, Peter Paul Rubens, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Gary Larson's "the Far side"." Scott's inspiration comes from the beaches, his Louisiana heritage, and a good roaring fire.

Scott's works are currently sold in galleries in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Michigan. and have been sold to private collectors in 24 different countries.

He has been included in many group shows around the country, including the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans (1993), The New Orleans Museum of Art (1991), and in 1993 he was featured in the show Real New Orleans on Channel 26 TV. He was also Featured Artist at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center (Bear Creek Bluegrass Festival) Children's Museum, Gulfport, MS (2005), and at Jubilee CityFest, Montgomery AL (2005)

Scott can now be reached at:
Mombo Graphics, 436 Sandy St., Waveland MS
email: mombocompany@aol.com