Art Guild to host reception

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Friday, July 10, 2009

A misty morning sits below a spiral staircase. A statue of an angel hangs her head under a dilapidated “Easy Credit” building.

Jim Morris’s photographs of these scenes may seem to be juxtapositions, but they fit because they all breathe of the Southern landscape.

“I am so excited that Jim Morris is going to be showing at the Selma Art Guild,” Jo Taylor said. “I love his work and how he uses the movement of the scene.”

Morris, of Tuscaloosa, should ring a bell with Selma residents. He won first and third places in the Summer Juried Art Show held by the Selma Art Guild.

He also worked at Cahaba Mental Health as a psychiatrist, but once he retired his hobby, photography, became his main focus.

Taylor said Morris loads up in his car and drives looking for a good subject. His jaunts have awarded him with many treasures ranging from statues and morning mist to run down but bizarrely beautiful homes.

“Jim belongs to the Montgomery, Selma and Tuscaloosa Art Guilds,” Taylor said. “He actually had the distinction of being the first photographer to win best in show for the Montgomery Art Guild’s art show. They had never had a photography win that honor before Jim.”

Morris has been awarded several prizes in varies art shows – Best of Show in the Arts Alive arts Festival in Florence, Ala., Best of Show in the 2008 Juried Fifth Annual Double Exposure Photography Exhibit in Tuscaloosa and many more.

His work was also featured in the State of Alabama Arts Council in the special 2007 exhibit “Alabama Originals: A Sense of Place.”

The public is invited to come view Morris’s work Sunday from 2-4 p.m. during the official reception or from Thursdays through Saturday from 12-4 p.m.

“Jim and his wife Joy are such nice people,” Taylor said. “When someone is that nice and talented, you really want for them to succeed.”

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