About Us
Our Story
Mobile Art Association is the ideal organization for amateur and professional artists. With over 100 Members. MAA provides numerous opportunities to network with and learn from fellow artists. Meetings are on the third Sunday of each month, from September through May, at 2:30 PM, located at Springhill Presbyterian Church. The meeting includes an artist talk to provide instruction, critique, and/or “hands on” opportunities to help artists further develop their knowledge and skills. MAA provides a variety of venues to allow members to show their work, including a Spring Member Show, a Fall OPEN Juried Show and opportunities to show work at local businesses.
OUR MISSION IS TO:
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Provide amateur and professional artists with opportunities to network with peers
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Offer opportunities for artists to showcase their works including a minimum of two juried shows each year
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Encourage and promote the education and appreciation of a variety of artistic skills in monthly meetings and communications
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Celebrate the talents of our members and other artists and groups
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Promote the arts within our organization and community
MEETINGS
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Held on the third Sunday of each month at 2:30 PM at Spring Hill Presbyterian Fellowship Hall
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Include artist talks/hands-on experiences to encourage members to further develop their knowledge and skills.
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Provide opportunities for members to interact with their peers
HISTORY OF MOBILE ART ASSOCIATION
An early meeting of art group in Mobile. Left to right: Mrs. Ed Zelnicker, Mrs Ceceil Forcheimer (Pickens), Mr. Carlton Furbush, Mrs. Patsy Lowe Front Right: Mrs. Cora Palmer Ward, Palmer Ward. Man with glasses behind Palmer Ward is William Bush. To rear, with hand on face: Edmund deCelle. To rear is Catherine deCelle. Used with permission of the Mobile Museum of Art.
Mobile Art Association (MAA) was organized on February 24th, 1943, and incorporated April 12th,1948 by several local artists including Edmund deCelle and William Broughton Bush. Thepurpose was to form an organization to support local artists, provide education, and further the arts in Mobile.
In its early years, MAA exhibited at the Mobile Public Library or in the Customs House in downtown Mobile. In 1947, The Emma Langdon Roche Gallery was established as MAA’s Art Gallery. This gallery saw exhibits such as the Exhibit of Scalamandre Tapestries and the showing of 16th and 17th century drawings from the Estelle Higgs Sims estate, exhibits of paintings from Mid-Town Galleries in New York City, along with featuring local artists. In 1965 MAA and WKRG-TV co-sponsored the first Outdoor Art Show. Paintings were hung on the fence that bordered Bienville Square.
In 1955, Mobile Art Association formed a planning committee for a permanent exhibiting gallery. In 1957, the Mobile Art Association, Allied Arts Council, and the Art Patrons League inaugurated the original proposal to the City of Mobile for the Mobile Art Gallery, now named The Mobile Museum of Art. In 1957, MAA began a fundraising project to construct a building. It concluded in 1963, with a donation of $30,000 to the building fund. The City of Mobile funded the remainder. The Mobile Museum of Art Gallery opened on October 31, 1964.
