Carole Bandy Carson is a certified interior decorator and a self-taught artist from Opelika, Alabama.
Carson’s work pays homage to the past incorporating themes of family, history, and faith. Using vintage photos as her inspiration, her work embodies nostalgia and the human experience as it relates to African Americans. She enjoys documenting everyday southern life and has a strong admiration for black sharecroppers, the simple life, the civil rights movement, and the black church. Her paintings are largely figurative pieces of black women. The use of bold, bright colors outlined in black are reminiscent of the stained-glass windows in the churches of her youth. These places of worship, her church and her friends’ churches were the foundations of her relationship with people, her faith, and her relationship with Christ. Her figures have a strong presence often with lots of attitude and personality just like the women that she grew up watching. Carole’s work can be described as colorful, full of life and representational without being overly realistic. Her figures are warm, thought provoking and often romanticized.
Carole is one of the Studio Artists at the Opelika Art Haus. You can find her these days painting in her studio or teaching art classes in the Art Haus Gallery.
Iain Stewart is a Scots born watercolor artist and a signature member of the American and National Watercolor Societies among other state and international entities. He has also recently been inducted into the Whiskey Painters of America. His work has received numerous awards in international competition and hangs in many corporate and private collections.
Iain is a sought after watercolor instructor and juror and has been published in numerous books and periodicals. He has a 3 DVD set of instructional videos and is planning to shoot another set available in 2023. In 2021 his first book on painting; En Plein Air- Light and Color, was published.
Iain maintains a studio in Opelika, Alabama, and in addition to gallery work, is an Architectural Illustrator with an international clientele, and taught watercolor and design drawing at Auburn University where he received his degree in Architecture.
Lauren Alyssa Howard was born and raised in a small town in southeastern Alabama. After moving to the Metro-Atlanta area in 1996, she attended the University of Georgia where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in drawing. Quoting her rural upbringing, Howard uses references from a particular lower-middle working-class history to address identity and place. Newer works take on a slight deviation from these particularly regional stereotypes to a more purposeful statement on relational dynamics. She has received multiple scholarships and awards such as the Las Damas de Arte Scholarship and the Jack and Jeanne Endowment Fellowship in Art, and most recently a fellowship to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has most recently been shown at HERE arts in NYC, Mammal Gallery in Atlanta, and the Jule Collins Smith Museum. Having found her way back to the south after receiving her master of fine arts degree from the University of South Florida and working and showing in Brooklyn, NY, she is now teaching art and design at Auburn University.
Leslie Reid Brasher is originally from Huntsville, Alabama. Her mother and her paternal grandfather were both well-known watercolorists, and this influenced her love of art. Leslie went to Auburn University for college, where she earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree. She met her husband, Jon, in the Auburn University Marching Band. They married and stayed in the Auburn/Opelika area, where they continue to be active in the community.
Leslie finds great enjoyment in painting with watercolors. She often paints pet, house, and flower bouquet portraits. She loves to paint just about anything, but especially the beauty she sees around her. She enjoys painting nature from life – painting fresh flowers as inspiration or sitting in a shady spot and painting the view before her.
Her greatest desire is to glorify God with her artwork, and she prays that by painting the beauty of His creation she is pointing viewers toward the Creator.
Margaret Mayfield began her love of pottery around 1996 when she took a “kids in clay” class with her daughter Megan, age 6, at Auburn University. Margaret enjoyed the class so much that her artist husband, Carlos Serrano, encouraged her to continue- stating- “You need something artistic to do when you retire one day!” Margaret was only 38 at the time.
Margaret continued classes at Auburn University and to make pottery with her children, Brandon and Megan until the Opelika Parks and Recreation center opened a pottery studio in 1999. Margaret was one of the initial members and has continued to be a member where she glazes and enjoys meeting with other potters. Margaret sells her pieces at a yearly show in her hometown of Opelika at the Art Haus, where she serves on the advisory board.
“My work is not production pottery. Each piece is uniquely designed. I like to let the clay direct the piece. Often, I have an idea in mind when I begin but the movement of the clay will take me in a different direction. I enjoy trying different techniques with the clay. It is fun to work with all the different glaze colors to make a one-of-a-kind piece of art.”
Margaret’s work can be found at her studio at Art Haus located on First Avenue in Opelika, Alabama where she glazes pottery and displays her work or at her yearly show at the Art Haus located on Railroad Avenue in Opelika. Margaret plans to retire in October of 2024 and hopes to spend more time with her husband, 2 children, grandson and of course- creating more unique pottery pieces.
The Studio Sisters are a group of local artists who are amongst the first supporters of the Art Haus, forming a painting club who met regularly in the gallery space. They now share the Pepperell Elementary Studio.
Kathy Miller-Lowe
Kathy Miller-Lowe is an award winning artist whose oil on canvas works are guided by the dual principals of rich contrasts and broad brush strokes. Her love for the countryside and her travels have influenced her subject matter. Being primarily self taught, she has studied with many prominent national and international mentors. Her works have been featured in local and nation magazines. Her unique pieces ha e broad appeal to her patrons across the country and abroad.
Kathy is a lifelong resident of Auburn and the Lake Martin area and regularly gives back to the community she loves.
June Metts Hurston
At the young age of 59, June attended a beginner’s class in oil painting and hasn’t put her paintbrush down yet! June loves to travel and paints in oils from sceneries found on her journeys. Her high school sweetheart/husband of 55+ years, John, is her favorite photographer and she often uses her amazing talent to turn his photos into beautiful paintings. June loves gardening and flowers which are often the subject of her works of art. June also paints pet portraits and action shot of her children.
June has studied under several renowned artists such as Portrait artist Ronald Bayens,, Dr Gary Bodner, Nancy Franke, Jo Anne Williams Walker and Perry Auten among others.
Painting with her best friends (The Studio Sisters) has been a true joy. The Studio Sisters travel together, visit galleries, bounce ideas off each other, and simply ejoy one another’s company while they paint. They now have a studio at the Art Haus in Opelika where they paint together and inspire one another on a regular basis.
June is originally from Columbus, GA and has lived in several states but her home has been in Opelika Alabama for more than years.
Kristen Cusano Murphy
She is primarily self-taught but initially studied under Ron Bayens. Her focus is oil painting with a special interest in landscapes and sheep.
Kathryn Whetstone
Ginger Stern
