Festivals & Events

USE YOUR LIBRARY CARD AGAIN!!

Bring back all overdue materials during the month of February to any library in Jefferson County, and they will forgive your past and present fines. Your record will be cleared!

All material should be undamaged. Other fees may be excluded from this offer. Eligible to all cardholders for Public Libraries In Jefferson County.

For more information contact us at 205-444-7800 or call your local library.

The AHSAA Basketball State Finals, formerly know as the Final 48, is one of the top high school basketball championship events in the country. The state finals brings seven classifications, boys and girls, to the Legacy Arena at the BJCC for the semi-finals and finals. Alabama was the first state to adopt this format for crowning a state champion.

For the 113th consecutive year, Lent at the Advent will include gospel-centered sermons delivered by guest preachers, warm meals provided by loving volunteers, and gracious fellowship with friends around tables. Since 1908, thousands have gathered to hear the Word preached in a way that enlivens, confronts, encourages, and clarifies. The emphasis we place at the Advent on preaching “Christ and him crucified” – nothing other than the gospel of God’s love for sinners – is in full focus during Lent.

See website for schedule of speakers.

Teen Haiku Contest
Saturday, February 1-Saturday, February 29
During the shortest month of the year, we are hosting a short poetry contest. A haiku is a short Japanese poem consisting of three lines and a total of 17 syllables. The first and last lines of a haiku have five syllables and the middle line has seven syllables. Teens can submit two original haiku poems via the library’s website. Judges will award prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Winning will be announced by March 6.

Friends Gallery / Jan 4 - Jan 31, 2020
Plaza Gallery / Feb 1 - Feb 28, 2020
Bib & Tucker Sew-Op is a non-profit located in Birmingham, AL. Their mission is to cultivate skills and an environment for those who sew or want to sew (ages 9-99) where everyone can be both a student and a teacher. They achieve their mission through projects conducted in the community, workshops and weekly sewing sessions conducted in their shop. They aim to be a hub for sewing-related activities that promote empowerment, education and economic opportunity.

The March Quilts began in 2015 when Bib & Tucker Sew-Op partnered with UAB’s Department of Art & Art History and the Birmingham Museum of Art to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches through open sewing sessions that yielded 461 quilt blocks. Sew-Op members stitched the blocks together and made three quilts, which hung at the Selma Public Library and the Alabama Department of Archives in Montgomery during the anniversary. Due to an overwhelmingly positive response, collaborators agreed that it should become an annual project. For five years, Bib & Tucker members have chosen a civil or human rights theme and facilitated open sewing sessions and discussion. During these sessions, community members created quilt blocks that express personal feelings about the theme. Since the beginning, Bib & Tucker members have sewn 10 quilts from over 1,050 submitted blocks. Themes have included celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Supreme Court Ruling, raising awareness of gender pay equity, environmental justice and most recently, unsung heroines of Alabama.

Friends Gallery / Feb 7 - Mar 30, 2020

Artist and educator Carlton Nell lives and works in Opelika, Alabama. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the country, and his work is found in many public and private collections. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Auburn University and his Master of Fine Arts from Georgia State University. He is currently a Professor of Art at Auburn University.

George P. Farmer Gallery / Feb 8 - April 30, 2020

The Fine Arts Department and HLP Kids collaborated to produce this Black History Month exhibition and art class. On February 4th, the Children’s Department led an art class, open to children ages 7-12, where students completed an art project based on the artwork of African-American painter, educator and Expressionist, Alma Thomas. The work of the students will be on display in the George P. Farmer Gallery through April. When the exhibition concludes each student will receive their framed artwork provided by the Hoover Public Library.

This exhibition is an expression of the color and concepts of blue. It is also a collaboration allowing contact and communication via art for 32 artists from Cuba and the USA.  The artists inspired by blue and the power of art to reach across the horizon of 90 miles of blue sky and water between our shores, traded work, and at times both artists worked on the same piece of art. This show embraces the life connection of each artist through all the metaphors and concepts for blue. It is a way to find a common shore, and to dissolve boundaries in order to embrace our common human hopes. The closing reception and gallery talk is part of the Blue Colloquium, March 5-6.

This exhibition is supported by the UM Green Fund, UM Concert & Lecture Series, and Martha Allen Lecture Series.

The 2020 OVC Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship will be held February 26-27 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama for the second-straight year. The CrossPlex, which hosted the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships (and will host the 2022 event as well), houses one of the fastest indoor hydraulic tracks in the world. The 2021 OVC Championships will also be held at the venue.

Enjoy an easy walk in the woodlands overlooking Birmingham on a Thursday morning.  The trail is level, as it is on an old mining railroad right of way just below the crest of Red Mountain.  A previous walk on this trail drew one of the highest numbers of participants, 67, on any outing SEO has ever sponsored.  Don’t miss it!

Note-To view photos of what we will see on this trip, please click on this link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zC6TRPW6bC7n2ySR7

Please be sure to click on the link and view the photographs.

Please meet at 9:15 a.m. in the Vulcan Park and Museum Parking Lot where you would normally park to visit the Vulcan Statue and Vulcan Park.  We plan to depart from there at 9:30 a.m.  Please follow the directions to the meeting place.  Please note that three people got lost trying to find the group on a previous  hike on the Vulcan Trail because they tried to use their GPS to find the start point.  Their devices misled them to The Club and to the TV stations on top of Red Mountain, not to the Vulcan Park parking lot! 

We will walk from the big parking lot a short distance down some new stairs to the trailhead and then on the trail to Green Springs Highway and back.  The formerly unpaved section of the Vulcan Trail has recently been widened and resurfaced.

After the walk is completed, there will be an optional lunch at Jim 'N Nick's 11th Avenue Grill at Five Points South.  Well-behaved, carefully supervised children age 7 and older able to walk 4 miles without complaining are welcome.

Share an adventure.  Bring a friend or friends.

Info: Dan Frederick, seoutings@bellsouth.net or 205/631-4680

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING PLACE

Vulcan Park and Museum Parking Lot—1701 Valley View Drive, Birmingham, AL 35209.  Please call 205/631-4680 to obtain a list of complete directions to Vulcan Park from all major highways in Birmingham.  You may leave your email address and a phone message if you wish, and the directions will be emailed to you promptly.

DESCRIPTION OF SOUTHEASTERN OUTINGS

Do you wish you had friends who share your active lifestyle and enjoyment of outdoor activities?  Then become active with Southeastern Outings (SEO), a nonprofit organization committed and created to serve people who enjoy being active in the outdoors.  The organization plans, organizes and leads outings such as dayhikes, easy kayak and canoe trips, stream and waterfall walks, bicycle rides, lake events and other fun activities to beautiful sites in our natural environment.  From time to time we also sponsor potluck suppers and other socials.  All events and activities of the group are open to the public.  Participating in SEO activities is a splendid, simple way to make congenial new friends who enjoy the outdoors.

NO DOGS OR SMOKING ALLOWED, PLEASE, ON ANY SOUTHEASTERN OUTINGS EVENTS.

The organization currently has about 300 members.  We scheduled eighty-seven events during calendar year 2019 for an average of 7 fun events per month.  We enjoy the outdoors in all seasons throughout the year.  Seventeen people on average have participated in each hike during the first four months of 2019.

SEO does not charge for participation in any of its outings.  You do not have to be a member to participate in one or two SEO activities.  Dues are only $10.  Please contact Dan Frederick, President, 205-631-4680, or seoutings@bellsouth.net for more information and to obtain three free monthly newsletters with membership application and a complete description of all our outdoor events.

Southeastern Outings now has a website.  Just go to seoutings.org to find announcements of all our upcoming outings scheduled plus some brief, general information about Southeastern Outings, a membership application and 1500 lovely photographs from most of our outings.

Thank you.

(Preschool) Join us for a morning of hands-on fun and imaginative play!

In 2013, Alabama-based artist Allyson Comstock spent six weeks living and making art in Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers program, working and living alongside scientists engaged in climate change research. Comstock’s series of drawings, Antarctica: Micro, Macro, and In-between, questions how our society views and understands the larger natural world. Each triptych in the series contains three perspectives of the landscape of Antarctica: the macro, the micro, and the artist’s view — the in-between. To foster a deeper understanding and conversation about Antarctica, Comstock created postcards from images taken during her time in Antarctica which she mailed to people across the world. This group of people, comprised of a myriad of professions, created artwork in response to her postcards resulting in the series Responding to Antarctica. AEIVA’s iteration of the series will also feature response pieces created by UAB students, painting a picture of the impact of Antarctica, the disappearing continent.

Image from Micro, Macro and In-between #6 by Allyson Comstock, 2015

The Hudson River School is known as the first American artistic fraternity which began in the mid19th century under artist Thomas Cole, a British immigrant who brought with him the emotive and imaginative European influence of Romanticism. After Cole’s death, the movement known as the Hudson River School rose to prominence highlighting the natural beauty of America. This artistic movement, focusing on sweeping landscapes, played a part in the westward expansion of America, propelled by the increasing popularity of Manifest Destiny. But in the mercurial landscape of a growing nation, the Hudson River School’s popularity fell as quickly as it rose. Focus IV explores the rise and fall, as well as the consequences, of this impactful, yet short-lived artistic movement. Focus is a series of exhibitions that spotlights local and regional private art collections in the Southeastern United States. Focus IV: Eclipse of the Hudson River School / Selections from the Koleszar Collection highlights work from the Birmingham-based collection of Bill and Elizabeth Koleszar.

Image: Henri Joseph Harpignies, Les Lavueses, 19th Century. Oil on canvas. 

The 44th Annual Juried Student Exhibition features more than 35 works created by University of Alabama at Birmingham students and selected by guest juror Allyson Comstock.

Image: Blind Patriotism by Salma Hernandez

Space One Eleven and the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project present Art on the Inside, an exhibition of work created by those impacted by the system, people who stepped into classroom spaces where they could create stunning works of art despite a profound lack of resources. Their art allows us to connect to one another, to share stories and engage. The exhibition is a reminder that humanity persists in all places, and that we can see it flourish if given the space to grow. As one APAEP student wrote, “Creativity is what makes us truly human, a path to and from our soul.”

Complementing the exhibition will be a panel discussion on the value of educational programming inside prison, the unique academic challenges for students, and the opportunities for the outside community to get involved. Recognizing our shared humanity and the fundamental necessity of education, everywhere, is paramount to creating sustainable social reforms. Panelists will discuss these topics as well as the demonstrable benefits of higher education programs in prison.

The exhibition will be on display through April 30, 2020.

Due to the weather, the Opening Day of the 4th annual Festival of Tulips has been moved to Saturday, February 22nd (weather permitting). Come and stroll through a field of 100,000 tulips in every color of the rainbow. Pick the ones you want to take home - tulips with the bulbs are only $1.50 each pus tax! Don't forget your camera. The tulips and the American Village make a beautiful backdrop for photos!

The Festival of Tulips will continue as long as the flowers are in bloom. The Festival will be open Monday-Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4, weather permitting.
**Please check our Facebook page or website for field conditions before your trip.

Vintage Market Days is an upscale vintage-inspired market featuring original art, antiques, clothing, jewelry, handmade treasures, home décor, outdoor furnishings consumable yummies, seasonal plantings and a little more. The Market is a three day event held several times a year in various communities. Each Vintage Market Days event is a unique opportunity for vendors to display their talents and passions in different venues.

Debra Goldstein is an attorney, judge, and author of mystery novels. She does it all and keeps her sense of humor! Coffee and refreshments at 10:00, program starts at 10:30. Ages 18+.

The beauty of makeup is that you’re in control of when and how you wear it—whether it’s to enhance, conceal or simply not to wear it at all. Find the perfect coverage, finish and complexion-enhancing products that complement you at Bluemercury. From February 13 – March 1, Thursdays–Sundays, Bluemercury clients will have the opportunity to book a 30-minute skincare consultation with a Bluemercury beauty expert. The appointment will be highly tailored, including a skin-type assessment, guidance on shade matching and product recommendations/education to help achieve desired coverage & finish. Clients will receive a four-piece Complexion Kit with a qualifying purchase of $125+. Clients will also receive deluxe sized samples from their favorite brands, including Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown, RMS Beauty, Kjaer Weis, Kosas, BY TERRY, Surratt Beauty and Jane Iredale!

The Men's and Women's teams host Shorter University.

The University of Montevallo Tennis Court Complex is located on campus. The facility includes restrooms, bleachers and a covered canopy with a picnic table near the playing courts.

Emily Sparrow - No Place Like Home: An Architectural Study of Auburn, Alabama―The First 150 Years

Auburn is well known as a college town and as a historic Southern village in central Alabama. The architecture that presently constitutes Auburn's built environment deserves the same level of recognition. From structures on the campus of Auburn University to historic churches and other buildings across the town, Auburn's architectural record is worth celebrating and protecting. In No Place Like Home: An Architectural Study of Auburn, Alabama―a companion volume to Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs―co-authors Delos Hughes, Ralph Draughon Jr., Emily Sparrow, and Ann Pearson highlight the buildings of Auburn that are distinguished by age, celebrated residents, distinctive design, and historical importance. The architectural character of Old Auburn lives on in the enduring structures found throughout the city. Anchored by a strong sense of place, No Place Like Home will inspire readers to a greater appreciation of the shared past that connects us all through historic homes and meeting places.