City Center Art is Space One Eleven’s afterschool studio art program for students of all skill levels and is designed to build visual communication skills and foster creative thinking. Through individually conceived projects and collaborations, young artists learn the elements of art and principles of design, strengthen foundation skills, and further their understanding of art criticism, art theory, and art history.

Grades 2-3: Tuesday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 4-5: Monday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 6-8: Wednesday, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Grades 9-12: Saturday, 10:00am - 1:00pm

On view in the First Floor Gallery, "Art on the Inside" features works in an array of media, including watercolor, pencil, pastel, mixed-media collage, and handmade paper. The largest work in the show is an eye-catching collaboration among APAEP artists, nationally renowned artist Tameca Cole, and New Orleans-based Brendon Palmer-Angell. The present exhibition marks the unveiling of the mural, which is titled "Can You See You?".

Based at Auburn University, the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project works to create spaces where currently and formerly incarcerated individuals can practice meaningful engagement with the arts and develop their own artistic voices. Founded with the knowledge that creativity is an essential trait of humanity, the program has grown from one poet teaching one class in one facility to hundreds of classes that have reached thousands of students at over 12 facilities. This exhibition is made possible by a grant awarded to the Friends Foundation of BPL by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

"Issues" is a series of new canvases by local artist Jourdan Truth McGowan. The featured paintings are imagined covers of iconic magazines, in which McGowan makes bold commentaries on culture, politics, religion, and other topics. The paintings invite viewers to engage in meaningful reflection and dialogue on the pressing challenges of our time.

Jourdan Truth McGowan is a full-time artist from Enterprise, Alabama, who brings his own experiences and cultural heritage into every brushstroke of his paintings. By telling stories that are both inspirational and deeply human, his art speaks to people of all backgrounds, transcending barriers to connect on a universal level. For more information about McGowan, www.artoftruth.guru.

This exhibition is made possible by a grant awarded to the Friends Foundation of BPL by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Participants will learn to design and construct one- and two-part plaster molds, mix and use casting slip, and refine their cast forms for finishing and firing. Through demonstrations, hands-on practice, and discussions on historical and contemporary applications, students will gain an understanding of how molds and slip casting can be utilized for both functional and sculptural work.

No prior experience is required. All materials will be provided.

This class is taught by Wade MacDonald. Wade was born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan by two former opera singers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Western Michigan University. In 2014, Wade received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Ceramics from Michigan State University. As a graduate student, Wade received the Stanley and Selma Hollander Graduate Fellowship in Studio Art, the Varg-Sullivan Award for Distinguished Research, and the John and Susan Berding Family Foundation Endowment Juried MFA Prize. Wade has exhibited work nationally and has completed artist residencies at Banff Centre, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Red Lodge Clay Center, Zentrum für Keramik and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. In 2018, Wade received the NCECA Emerging Artist award and was featured in American Craft Magazine’s August/September 2018 Issue. Wade lives with his wife, Anne Herbert in Birmingham, Alabama and is Assistant Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Roy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.

Part of our Alabama Film Spotlight Weekend.

When Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) becomes ill, his son, William (Billy Crudup), travels to be with him. William has a strained relationship with Edward because his father has always told exaggerated stories about his life, and William thinks he's never really told the truth. Even on his deathbed, Edward recounts fantastical anecdotes. When William, who is a journalist, starts to investigate his father's tales, he begins to understand the man and his penchant for storytelling.

Part of our Alabama Film Spotlight Weekend.

Jenks has been pushed to the brink by a system that does not care about him. Desperate for life-saving medicine, he resorts to robbing a small-town drug store. But when he injures a mysterious woman involved in a black market pharmacy, his attempts to save her life may end up jeopardizing his own.

Part of our Alabama Film Spotlight Weekend.

Intimate and personal moments from the lives of the black community of Hale County, Alabama, forming an emotive impression of the historic South and consequences of racism while upholding the beauty of life. From the Academy Award-nominated director of Nickel Boys.

Part of our Alabama Film Spotlight Weekend.