Shop for One-of-a-Kind Artwork at the Annual Jerry Brown Arts Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association

PHONE: 256.350.3500 / 800.648.5381

Shop for One-of-a-Kind Artwork at the Annual Jerry Brown Arts Festival

Decatur, Ala. – Juried artists from across the Southeast will make their way to North Alabama the first weekend in March for the town of Hamilton’s highly acclaimed art festival. Now in its eighteenth year, the Jerry Brown Arts Festival (JBAF) will be held March 7-8, 2020, and confirmed for this year’s event are over 50 artists from Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina who will be creating and demonstrating throughout the weekend.

Presented by the Northwest Alabama Arts Council, the JBAF offers two days of quality folk art exhibition, an art station for children and free admission and parking. The JBAF is known for its emphasis on Southern folk art, but there are various mediums available at each year's festival to include pottery, multiple forms of glass art, mixed media, jewelry making, wood art/carving, metal art, sculptures, gourd art, quilting, fabric art, paintings, basket weaving, wire art and photography. Over 50 artists offering one-of-a-kind creations and masterpieces will be on hand and festival goers will have the opportunity to shop their incredible work and a free kids’ art station will be provided where children can create their own works of art.

Featured artist for this year’s festival is the "Birdhouse Man," Ray Dutton, of Moulton, Ala. Following a career as a carpenter, Dutton, along with his wife, began traveling the festival circuit throughout the Southeast 20 years ago. The award-winning artist is known for his colorful and elaborate birdhouses. Other hand-crafted items by Dutton include four different styles of churches, bird feeders, butterfly houses, bat houses and carpenter bee traps. At the 2020 JBAF, Dutton will debut a new style of butterfly house and a school bus birdhouse.

The festival honors the late Jerry Brown, a ninth-generation potter whose work can be found in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. Brown was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship in 1992, as well as receiving numerous merit awards, and in 2003, he was awarded the Alabama Heritage Award from the Alabama Arts Council. Brown, who passed away unexpectedly in 2016, was the only known potter in the United States who used a mule, Blue the Mule, to help him mill clay for his pottery. For more information on Brown and his mule, visit www.jerrybrownpottery.com.

Set to take place at the Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, located underneath the city’s water tower at 3196 County Highway 55 in Hamilton, the festival location offers easy access for travelers by taking exit 14 on Interstate 22 (formerly U.S. Highway 78). Festival hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free and parking is free. For more information, visit www.jbaf.org or call 205.921.9483 or follow the event on Facebook at Jerry Brown Arts Festival and on Twitter @JerryBrownFest.

About Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association (AMLA)

AMLA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and development of the travel industry within the 16 northernmost counties of the state. It is supported by 500-plus members consisting of chambers of commerce, Convention & Visitors Bureaus, attractions, campgrounds, festivals, communities, counties, golf courses, restaurants, tour operators, accommodations, vendors, financial institutions and individuals. Counties included within the AMLA region are Blount, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan and Winston. Additional information on North Alabama destinations, accommodations and special events is available by calling 800.648.5381 or by visiting www.NorthAlabama.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @VisitNorthAL and like us at www.facebook.com/VisitNorthAL.

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