thology themselves. Established in 1900 as a textile mill, Lowe Mill was converted into a cotton warehouse in the late 1930s. It became a shoe factory in 1945 and a heating systems warehouse in 1978. Jim Hudson, founder of Research Genetics and co-founder of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, bought it in 2001 and set it on the path to becoming the largest privately owned arts facility in the South. With more than 150 studios filled with painters, jewelry designers, woodworkers, sculptors, photographers, culinary artists and more – plus concerts and other performances and events – Lowe Mill is now a center for the arts in Huntsville.
HUNTSVILLE BALLET COMPANY
HUNTSVILLE BALLET COMPANY Metal/clay artist Cindy Miller has her Cindy Miller Design Studio at Lowe Mill. She enjoys working in a place where people can find her and talk to her about her work. “It’s part of the magic of the creative process every time I pull something out of the kiln,” she said. “It adds value for people to see the process.” People want to see how it’s done, agrees Wallace Turman of Turman’s Pottery. For his cell phone amplifiers shaped like the space shuttle, he went online to study photos of the actual shuttle and then designed 20 FACES OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON
his clay shuttle’s open bay doors to look like the real thing. He also checked with a guy from NASA about the position of the thrusters. Like several of the Lowe Mill artists, Turman and his wife, Jackie, offer classes at their studio. Caroline Wang, a watercolor artist with an Asian flair, appreciates the interaction among Lowe Mill’s creative community. “We can share ideas,” she said. “Art is not right or wrong. Every piece of artwork is a piece of story.” The Lowe Mill buildings form an an-
The audience already knew the story that unfolded on stage at Huntsville Ballet Company’s final performance of the 201819 season. It’s been popular for 500 years. The star-crossed lovers die in the end. But the way Huntsville Ballet and its artistic director, Phillip Otto, revealed the story of Romeo and Juliet brought a fresh poignancy to the familiar tale. Romeo finds Juliet in the crypt. He doesn’t know she’s in a drugged sleep. He drinks poison to join her in death. Romeo is almost gone when Juliet revives. He sees her returning to life as he is leaving it. He reaches out his arm but cannot touch her. Juliet stretches and rises, unaware of Romeo’s presence as he falls. Otto’s choreography and the dancers’ performances paint a heart-wrenching scene of the chasm between life and death, the tragedy of lost chances. No words needed. Talented, trained human bodies moving in graceful, athletic forms tell many stories at Huntsville Ballet Company. It’s been around since the mid-1960s when Community Ballet Association was incorporated to inspire a love of dance in the Tennessee Valley through the ballet company and Huntsville Ballet School. Otto has been Huntsville Ballet’s artistic director for about 10 years. As he builds on the past to energize the present, his eyes are fixed on the future. “In the last five years, I started adding