What started in 1992 as an 80th birthday celebration for Sarah Carlisle Towery came full circle Thursday evening with food, drinks and art.

Not only did the Sarah Carlisle Towery Art Colony celebrate the end of another great week on Lake Martin with a reception honoring the participants but also it was a birthday celebration for one of the instructors, Hugh Williams, who turns 80 years old this month. 

Although this was the first year without Towery, who passed away last August, according to colony president Margaret George, it was one of the most successful years for the colony as 54 artists from beginners to advanced, participated in three separate classes over a week of art immersion on the campus of Children’s Harbor.

“This is in (Towery’s) name and in her honor,” said George. “This is the first one without her.”

The colony, which was sponsored in part by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts consisted of three instructors teaching different classes over a week long camp where students were isolated and spent most of their time painting.

Williams, a retired Auburn University professor taught a class for more seasoned artists at the colony. Williams’ class focused on areas an artist was proficient in and making it better.

“I take them from where they are and I raise them,” Williams said. “I try to help them solve their own problems.”

Holly Roberts instructed a class that dealt with mixed media and used a layering technique.

Roger Dale Brown instructed a class in plein air art which focused on an outdoor setting for the class instead of the traditional studio.

George said the reaction from participants in this year’s colony was great.

“People have really enjoyed it,” George said. “The reaction has just been amazing.”

Kamala McLemore, who participated in mixed media, said the form made it somewhat difficult for her to adapt from portraits, a style for which she was more familiar. 

“It was very hard for me to go from portraits to mixed media but it was a lot of fun,” McLemore said. “It was like kindergarten with everyone cutting and pasting things.”  

Awards were given out to participants’ works. Two artists’ works were chosen for purchase by the colony and will be displayed in the Alexander City Board of Education office.

The winners of the purchase awards were: Jamie Tate and Rosalyn O’Grady. The winners of a $250 merit award were: Melanie Morris and Kaye Vinson. The winners of the $150 merit awards were: Melody Bogle and Cecily Hulet. The winner of the peer award, which is chosen by other students, was Nan Cunningham