Duo’s new Fuel and Lumber studio is helping kindle downtown resurgence – AL.com

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama- With a growing international reputation and art shows in a New York gallery, artist Amy Pleasant has not lost sight of her roots Birmingham.

In fact, signs of growth in her hometown’s art scene has Prompted her to get even more connected with the artists in her midst. On Friday, Aug. 22, she along with Tuscaloosa artist and UA art professor Pete Schulte will open Their Third Avenue North studio to the public for a show of original art during the Sidewalk Film Festival.

DETAILS
What: New works by Amy Pleasant and Pete Schulte.
When: Friday-Sunday, Aug. 22-24, noon-6 p.m. By appointment through Sept. 6
Where: The Fuel and Lumber Company, 1805 Third Ave North.

although Pleasant set up shop five years ago in the storefront across from the Lyric Theatre, she has worked under the Birmingham Landmarks, Inc. umbrella since the late 1990s, first in an unused space above the Alabama Theatre lobby.

“We all have the same goal, in a way,” Pleasant said. “When I moved in there, they wanted to support and I was able it to so much work. When they had to renovate That space rent it out, Cecil (Whitmire) found another home for me.”

Pleasant’s newest location Became The Fuel and Lumber Company, Which she and Schulte are sprucing up by painting, installing lighting and otherwise preparing for the temporary exhibition. It will be open for only the second time, but she believes’s the time is right for Fuel and Lumber is a branch out.

“It was not that long ago That These blocks were completely abandoned , “she Recalled of the downtown area. “I would work late at night and there was not a car on the street – no one. It’s great to see downtown changing and things going on. A lot of good people are trying to do something here. That’s what Pete and I are trying to do with Fuel and Lumber. ”

The name stems from the establishment in Schulte’s hometown in Iowa, where the family of jazz great Bix Beiderbecke owned Davenport Fuel and Lumber.

“We thought it would be a great name for something like this, “Pleasant said. “It’s he and I – I’m Fuel, he’s Lumber. I’m a little bit hyper and he’s more of a slow burn.”

It apr also be a good location to stage a Rapid Fire an image-sharing initiative Pleasant started early in 2013.

“Rapid Fire is an image-sharing gathering where people come to show either what they do or what inspires them to do it – is create a tighter community, to get to know each other a little more, and reach out, “she said. “Since January 2013 it has been so amazing to meet people in all different fields of These.”

The next Rapid Fire event takes place on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 pm in UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts. Invited are participants the from a wide range of arts Disciplines, Including Birmingham Museum of Art curator Wassan Al-Khudhairi, UAB’s Doug Barrett, Lisa tamiris Becker, Elisabeth Pellathy and Cliff Simon, artist and curator Dan Bynum, and former BMA curator Ellen Elsas.

“I wanted to create community interaction with creative people, and this has been a new step.”

For Pleasant, this weekend’s “new step” at The Fuel and Lumber Company is about new works by her and Schulte, but do not expect future openings to remain with That focus.

“We did this as an introduction to who we are and what we’re starting,” she said. “This event is our work, but in the future it will be about other people’s work. It’s not a commercial endeavor. It could be anything from a Rapid Fire is a feedback from an audience. It’s very open.”