First Saturday Art Walk expands to 10 stops

Published 7:46 pm Thursday, January 5, 2017

In October, local artists A.C. Reeves, Anne Strand and Charlie Lucas decided to open their galleries on the first Saturday of the month.

Since then, the “1st Morning Art Walk” has grown to include 10 different locations and a food truck.

“It’s fantastic [to see the Art Walk] grow. To see the arts reviving Selma is a wonderful idea, and I think this is an example of it,” said Anne Strand, owner of Anne Strand Designs. “I think that it makes people happy. It’s a positive experience for people. They don’t have to buy things, they just have to get together.”

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The Art Walk, sponsored by Queen City Market, is an opportunity for people to get out of their house and meet new people and see the work of some of Selma’s most talented people, organizers say.

“[The Art Walk] encourages people to come out and see what Selma has to offer,” said Afriye We-Kandodis, owner of By the River Center for Humanities. “People always say there’s nothing to do here in Selma, but there’s always something going on, but if you never leave your front porch you never have the opportunity to experience these things.”

We-Kandodis said she hopes her work will inspire people, and she is excited to be able to share it with the community.

“A lot of us have the gift of turning old things and making them new again. So here, at By the River Center for Humanities, most of our work is things that we found on the street of Selma, and we find a new use for it,” We-Kandodis said. “We believe that we’re showing people … when you think you have nothing else to offer, take another look.”

We-Kandodis said she enjoyed participating in the walk in December, and she is looking forward to Saturday.

“I believe art is a wonderful way to bring a community together and it’s also a way to heal, when people can find a common ground of creating new beginnings,” she said. “Our whole goal is to get the community out.”

The studios participating will be Anne Strand Designs, 26 Broad Street; Gallery 905, 905 Water Avenue; Southland Studio, 120 Lauderdale Street; Queen City Market, 127 Broad Street; G Mommas Cookies, 900 Alabama Avenue; Selma Art Guild, 508 Selma Avenue; Restotonica, 1007 Water Avenue; Tin Man Charlie Lucas, 9 Lauderdale Street; River City Studios, 18 Martin Luther King Street; By the River Center for Humanities, 1306 Water Avenue; and the Uncle Clyde’s BBQ food truck will also be downtown serving people that stop by.

The Art Walk will be from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday and maps of all of the locations can be found at any of the participating studios.  In case of bad weather, Reeves will post on the Facebook page, 1st Morning Art Walk and the Instagram account firstmorningartwalk_selma.