The Evelyn Burrow Museum hosting closing reception for Walker exhibit

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — The Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College will host a reception on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m., to mark the closing of an exhibit featuring the paintings of Laura Willingham Walker.

Walker’s paintings from her Funny Farm Animals and North Alabama Places series have been on display in the Exhibit Hall of the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. During the reception, Walker will be offering a 25 percent discount on all of the paintings exhibited during the show.

Walker said the Funny Farm Animals series is made up of “play time” pieces she creates as reward for completing her commissioned pieces. “They’re just pure silliness,” she says of the paintings that include images of cows, sheep and other barnyard critters.

The North Alabama series consists of portraits of houses and buildings across this region of the state. She paints these when she has a little free time between orders. She said as she’s driving around the area she often stops and take photos of places that she would like to paint.  Many of the paintings in this series include inspirational messages or Scripture painted within the background or hidden among trees or other elements in the artwork.

“I want to paint what appeals to me emotionally,” Walker said of what inspires her. “I want my work to have some sort of emotion, art with meaning, art with emotion, art with soul. It just needs to move me.”

The reception is open to the public. To view the exhibit before it closes, visit the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts during regular business hours for the campus. For more information about The Evelyn Burrow Museum, call 256.352.8457. For more information about Walker, visit www.etsy.com/shop/cullmanlaurasart.