Little River Art Gallery (Little River Arts Council)

The Little River Art Gallery, operated by the Little River Arts Council, sits at 5866 E River Rd in Mentone, Alabama, inside the historic Moon Lake Campus building, next door to Leonard Architects. The council has been organizing artists and arts programming in the Mentone and Little River area since 2006, working from the belief that, in the organization’s own words, “the arts are for everyone.” Its stated mission is to encourage individual creativity and to broaden community participation, appreciation and support for the visual, performing and literary arts in the Mentone area.

The gallery itself is open to visitors from 10am to 4pm, Thursday through Saturday, or by appointment. Inside, more than 50 member artists rotate work through the exhibition space, with paintings, sculpture, pottery, photography and other pieces offered for sale alongside council-branded apparel and merchandise. The space functions less like a single curated show and more like a working showcase of the region’s creative community, changing as different member artists cycle their pieces in and out.

Beyond the gallery walls, the council maintains an artist registry of more than 90 member artists from the Little River area and surrounding communities, meant to connect art enthusiasts directly with local makers. The registry spans a wide range of disciplines: painters such as Brande Arno, Bev Bates, Amy Bluekat and Daniel Bowles; woodcraft artists including Kevin Chitwood, Jeremy Clark, and Doug and Betty Perkins, who work in carving and broom making; potters Sam Cordle and Erika Prater; photographers Christa Boice and David and Lesa Cummings; jewelry makers Caroline Moore and Linda and Charlie Munoz; and mixed media artists Steve Soares and Victoria Wheeler. A handful of members work in more specialized techniques, among them Claire Vassort in silk painting, Meg Justice in linocut printmaking and Michele Smith in cyanotype art.

The council’s calendar runs well past the gallery’s open hours. Recurring programs include Big Art Pop-Up, Music for the People, the Mentone Fall Festival, the Creative Spirit Market and the December Art Crawl. Music for the People pairs live acts on a single evening, with recent lineups featuring a local band followed by NACC Theatre. The Mentone Fall Festival, held each October at the Moon Lake Campus, includes a Kids’ Korner of art activities that the council sponsors and staffs directly, alongside a youth art show and community booths. Members also gather periodically for informal socials, including one hosted at board member Deedee Morrison’s studio.

The council has also taken on several public art projects around Mentone. At DeSoto Falls, it helped fund and organize the DeSoto Falls Art Project, a set of 43 mosaic step risers made of stained glass that together depict the West Fork of Little River flowing downward, paired with a quote from naturalist John Muir. The project began in 2018 at the initiative of DeSoto State Park naturalist Brittney Hughes, drew instruction from glass artists Linda Munoz and Jane Nuckolls, received donated materials from Auburn University, and was completed and installed by October 2019.

Closer to the gallery, the Moon Lake Campus Sculpture Garden features “Firmly Planted, Forward Moving,” a 10-foot aluminum totem by Deedee Morrison shaped like a white oak leaf with laser-cut pollinators worked into the design. The piece honors an old white oak tree on the grounds of the former Moon Lake Elementary School, which closed in 2021 and whose motto inspired the sculpture’s title. Morrison forfeited her own artist stipend for the piece, redirecting those funds toward future community art projects, and the Lyndhurst Foundation provided partial funding for the installation. Separately, the council partnered with the Mentone Educational Resources Foundation on Pathway to Community, a quarter-mile walking trail along Alabama Highway 117 lined with a fence of hundreds of pickets designed and painted by community members and installed in September 2020, funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama.

Looking ahead, the council is developing the Moon Lake Arts Collective, a planned community arts space intended to offer drop-in pottery experiences, one-day workshops in painting, pottery, jewelry and fiber arts, and introductory wheel-throwing classes for residents and visitors alike. Board member Deedee Morrison has been researching comparable arts facilities to help shape decisions on studio layout, programming and day-to-day operations. The project is funded through a dedicated Building Fund, with donor tiers ranging from Friends of the Collective up through Pinnacle Benefactors; gifts can be made by PayPal or by check made payable to the Little River Arts Council, mailed to P.O. Box 370, Mentone, AL 35984.

The council also partners with DeSoto State Park to run a regular schedule of classes and workshops covering oil painting, watercolor, fiber arts such as twining and basket weaving, sculpture and clay work, nature journaling and pastel techniques, with recent sessions including a kudzu egg basket workshop, an oil pastel landscape class, a beginner watercolor session on native mushrooms and a flintknapping workshop. Membership in the Little River Arts Council is open to anyone, artist or not, with seven annual dues levels ranging from a $10 student rate up to a $1,000 benefactor level, and sign-up available through an online form or PayPal. Dues support programming for both children and adults and help sustain the gallery and its exhibitions in Mentone.