Artists Incorporated
Madoline Markham
If the characters from the sitcom The Golden Girls owned an art gallery, it would be called Artists Incorporated.
The gallery’s eight co-owners possess wit, energy and passion for art reminiscent of the life and shenanigans shared by the 1980s sitcom’s characters.
“I’m very lucky to have the best, craziest partners in the world,” founding co-owner Carolyn Brent said.
Mary Jean Henke, another original owner and Brent’s closest friend in the group, said all the co-owners are in their 70s or older except for Paula Reynolds.
The group of friends once entered local art shows together but eventually tired of other people’s art shows.
In November 1999, they opened Artists Incorporated, giving them a space to showcase and sell their own art and the opportunity to choose other featured artists.
Today the gallery displays work from more than 50 featured artists and members.
The first Friday of the month, several artists are chosen to have their work showcased at an opening reception.
At the event, customers can meet the owners and artists, many of whom work in the gallery.
This month’s opening reception, scheduled for Sept. 6 from 5:30-8:30 p.m., will feature artists Susan Baird, Melinda Mathews, Ruth Yarbrough, Les Yarbrough and Dr. Lowell Vann.
When Vann is at the gallery, many customers recognize him as the retired art department chair at Samford University. He happily joined the group in their endeavors 14 years ago, while he continues to teach art at Samford University and is the pastor at Rocky Ridge First Baptist Church.
“We call him our ‘Renaissance man,’ because he can do anything,” Henke said. “We sort of wooed him because we felt he would lend respect to the gallery.”
But every co-owner has talent to add to the culture of the Rocky Ridge area, just as their building does. Nicknamed the “Little Red Barn,” the building was once used as a dairy barn.
“When we first got the building and when we were renovating, you could still see the stalls where you [housed] the cows,” Henke said.
The building was constructed around 1929, and Henke was told it is the oldest commercial establishment in Vestavia.
But after renovating the space and displaying bold, unique art pieces inside, it has become a modern, little red gallery.
