Plenty of people dream about working every day in a chocolate shop, but how many of us actually open one of our own? That’s exactly what sisters Michelle Novosel and Caitlyn Lyon did, and fortunately for the sweet-tooths of Huntsville these savvy siblings set up shop at Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment. Pizzelle’s Confections is a candy store four years in the making. When Michelle went to culinary school for pastry-making she soon realized that her true passion was chocolate. In the following years the pair worked with the delicious substance, tirelessly perfecting their recipes as well as design. The hard work paid off tremendously; Pizzelle’s truffles and sweets are equally pleasing to the eye as they are to the tongue. Read more
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December is finally here, and at Lowe Mill this month has always been one of the busiest times of year for our artists. This year, however, things will be busier than ever. We have two major events happening this week, and we hope you folks will be able attend BOTH!
Winter Gallery Tour
The first event is one we have participated in for years. Winter Gallery Tour is now a tradition in Huntsville that we hope to see last for many years to come. On this night, art galleries throughout the city of Huntsville open their doors to the public, offering drinks and hors d’oeuvres to accompany all of the fabulous art on display and for sale as holiday gifts. Of course Lowe Mill and the Flying Monkey have been honored to take part in this tradition and love playing host to the hundreds of visitors who pass through to enjoy original art and take care of some important local winter shopping.
Gallery Tour happens Thursday night, December 5th from 5-9pm. A full list of participating galleries can be found here: http://www.huntsvillegalleries.org/
Lowe Mill Pop-Up Shop
Our second event is a first in Lowe Mill history, and we could not be more excited! Just to stir things up, Lowe Mill will be having a Pop-Up Shop downtown in the old Mason Building (formerly Crossroads Music Hall) on Clinton Avenue. That’s right! For one night only we will be moving downtown! For months we have been fixing up the wrecked interior of this space so that the long-empty building can be transformed into a kind of camp for our artists, bringing a taste of the Lowe Mill experience to the downtown night life for a completely unique event. Not only will we have 25+ artists displaying and selling their work in every corner of the building, there will also be food, drinks, and music throughout the night. We aren’t kidding when we say we will bring the full Lowe Mill experience downtown!
Our Pop-Up Shop happens Saturday, December 7th from 6pm till Midnight. Look for lots of fun announcements about the event throughout the week from us and our friends at Downtown Huntsville Inc., and be sure to tag your related posts with #crashxr !
See you all Thursday and Saturday night!
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“Shop Local”
This is a phrase that you will inevitably see everywhere you look during this now-upon-us holiday season. You’ve been told repeatedly to “Shop Local” and “Support local businesses” for years because, let’s be honest, it’s a trendy maxim – one that can be bundled easily into the same camp as eating more kale.
The problem with pop philosophy trends is that the actual meaning behind the message often gets lost in the constant mindless repeating of a phrase. “Shop Local. Shop Local. Shop Local.” Okay… You want me to shop local, but why? Is there any concrete reason shopping locally is better than purchasing from chain retailers? Is this trend not just a tactic to help a few struggling businesses from going under while morally validating the do-gooders who keep those businesses’ doors open? Is this whole “Shop Local” movement not just an exercise in delusional self-edification at the expense of established franchised businesses and the real economy???
Those are all valid concerns that the two-word instruction, “Shop Local”, don’t address. In fact, many proponents of that simple maxim either haven’t considered those questions or simply ignore them out of fear of the answers. The simple reason for many people to support local businesses is only that it feels good – like the right thing to do. For just as many others shopping locally is a political action – an act of voting with one’s checkbook as an act of defiance against a world of corporate giants.
But what if those reasons don’t fit your emotional/philosophical/political disposition? After all, money is money, and a job is a job. Whether those things exist in a mom-and-pop diner or at a giant chain retailer, human beings are still able to make a living from them. If money is exchanged and people are able to earn an income either way, why is it that local businesses are somehow considered inherently better?
The answer, friends, is that local businesses aren’t necessarily better. The reason we ask you to “Shop Local” is that local businesses are DIFFERENT.
Difference is the one characteristic that allows the very human concept of localness to exist. The fact that we have these businesses and no other city is able to have them is what makes our place in the world unique and worthy of visiting. In any town in America right now a person can bite into the same exact Burger King burger as every other town, but the only place in the world a person can have a medium-rare Bellow the Radar burger with a side of giant, fresh onion rings is Huntsville, Alabama. One can order a Budweiser at just about any bar on earth, but the only place you can sip a Straight to Ale Lily Flagg Milk Stout while sitting feet away from where that beer was just brewed is Huntsville, Alabama. And when people return home after visiting our city, they don’t tell their friends about the loaf of Wonder Bread they bought at Kroger. They describe just how much they wish they could taste another loaf of cranberry walnut Fred Bread at our Green Street Market.
The fact is that Huntsville is much, much more than just the “Rocket City”. The Saturn V rocket will indelibly be stamped in the minds of anyone who visits our city, but that image alone isn’t enough for visitors to fall in love with this place, tell everyone they know about this place, or want to relocate here and become part of our community. What makes our specific community attractive is the unique qualities and assets we contain that we alone can offer.
Fortunately Huntsville is already on the fast track to becoming one of the most distinctive and enjoyable local communities in America. We already have vibrant, thriving small businesses and local restaurants. We have a craft brewery scene that exceeds all others. And truly, no other city in America offers anything like Lowe Mill and the dozens of studios, eateries, and small businesses we have packed into this huge, beautiful old building.
We obviously want you to “Shop Local” this holiday season and support local businesses year-round. Just understand that we don’t ask you to do this to help us stay in business, nor to stick it to “the man”. Shopping locally isn’t a charity expense, friends, nor a moral duty. It’s not a privilege of the cultural elite, or a luxury that only the upper class can afford. Shopping locally is just the simplest way to ensure that your community experience is beautifully distinctive from all others. It’s the simplest way to make sure that Huntsville is a place no person could ever forget.
If you care about this idea, please share this article with a description of some of your favorite local businesses. Thanks for reading.
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You read that headline right! We at Lowe Mill could not be more thrilled to welcome Huntsville Art League (HAL) to our artistic community. Lowe Mill is a facility of over 100 working artists and growing, and HAL is Huntsville’s oldest advocate for artistic endeavors, promoting visual art in Rocket City since 1957. Could there be a more perfect pairing?
We could spend thousands of words describing the amazing things HAL has done for the art community in our town over the decades, the incredible opportunity this move will bring to Lowe Mill and our artists, the beautiful new HAL gallery going on our second floor, and our excitement about HAL’s 56th anniversary this October, but we would rather get right back to business. Let’s start talking about CLASSES.
Huntsville Art League is an incredible resource for art classes of every kind. Want to learn figure drawing, photography, anime, batik painting, ANYTHING??? HAL probably has a class for you. Check out HAL’s class schedule below and check out our “Classes” page at LoweMill.net any time you are looking to learn. You can also find HAL classes directly on their site HERE. Now stop reading and sign up for a class or ten with the Huntsville Art League!!!
From the artist: I live in Huntsville, and have for most of my life. I received a B.A. (studio arts) from UAH in 1994, and an M.F.A. (painting/drawing) from the University of Georgia in 1997.[...]
From the artist: I paint everyday objects and ideas that tie me to my family, my life, and my memories. I am drawn to images that evoke emotion and nostalgia. I work in layers[...]
From the artist: From the first moment I saw vessels formed on the potter’s wheel, I was fascinated and to this day I still haven’t gotten over the fascination. Technique: The pottery is[...]
About the artist: Martha Beadle’s mid-life crisis resulted not in a change of heart, but (excuse the pun) a change of art. When Beadle turned 50, she decided to utilize her well-honed skills of needlepoint and handwork and[...]
From the artist: I’ve never had any formal training, except drafting in design school. I dabbled in art over the years but never for any length of time. It wasn’t till I painted murals in[...]
About the Artist: Starr Weems enjoys designing colorful, dreamlike paintings and illustrations with watercolor. Her work has been displayed at Kentuck Museum, Birmingham Public Library, and Lowe Mill A&E (among others) and has been featured[...]
This daily camp is designed to encourage artistic expression through a wide variety of creative experiences. During the Camp we will explore art and nature, pop art, mixed media, comic strip art, create board games (a[...]
Receive individualized painting and drawing instruction for whatever level you are on in your artistic journey. Maximum 4 people per group, minimum 2. Bring your own art supplies, though there will be some available to[...]This daily camp is designed to encourage artistic expression through a wide variety of creative experiences. During the Camp we will explore art and nature, pop art, mixed media, comic strip art, create board games (a[...]
West Coast style swing dance every Tuesday night at the Flying Monkey Theatre at Lowe Mill A&E. Come out for beginner lessons at 7:00 PM to learn the basics, then stick around for open dance[...]Subscribe -
What makes Lowe Mill so appealing to so many people? It’s more than the one hundred year old building that’s been given new life; to be sure the worn bricks, creaking wood floors and peeling paint add character. And no one can deny that those old-time elevator shafts make going up and down all three floors a bit more exciting than a smoothly running modern model. But what makes Lowe Mill so unique is the variety of people; over one hundred working artists and the staff that keeps the place running…and YOU, the visitor. That’s what gives this place its magic.We want you to meet each of the artists; their stories are as varied as the kinds of art you’ll see. So each month we’ll talk with one of the tenants here at Lowe Mill, and ask them about their work and some random stuff. But it’s just the start of a conversation. Visit the artists in their studios, and learn more about what they do, and how they do it.
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Lowe Mill’s YouTube Channel has uploaded hours of fun videos over the years to show you all the cool stuff happening here. We recently made the very last of our ‘Video Newsletter’ series, and we have some exciting NEW series on the way.
We thought today would be a good time to look back at some of the most popular Video Newsletters we’ve made. These short videos are funny and creative, just like the artists who star in them! Enjoy.
Of course those are just a small handful of the dozens of fun videos we have made together over the years. To see all the highlights check out the playlist below. And to keep up with all of our video content, SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel Now!
Lowe Mill on YouTube -
Guitar virtuoso Justin Johnson is a genius player of homemade instruments like the cigar box guitar. We at Lowe Mill and Flying Monkey Arts have been thrilled to have him perform several times at our venue. Justin has played our outdoor Concerts on the Dock, indoor shows in the Flying Monkey Theatre, taught workshops, and participated in our annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival.
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Hooray!!! Lowe Mill has a brand new website, a brand new email newsletter, and a very strong feeling that 2013 is going to be an amazing year for the arts in Huntsville.
We’ve spent the past few months revamping our image and trying to build a website that has all the functionality that a place like this needs. With over 100 studios and businesses and dozens of events and classes every week, we needed a site that could share all of that content in an easy-to-navigate and fun-to-explore experience.
We think we have succeeded on those lines, but there is still a long way to go. We will be adding a lot more artists and content in the coming days, weeks, and months. And of course there will be kinks in the system to work out. So if you find something not working quite right give us a holler and we will add it to our stuff-to-fix list.
Now on to the good stuff! Our new artist pages have big, beautiful images, contact info, and just about anything you could need to pique your interest in someone’s work.
Our new calendar is incredibly functional and is featured throughout the website on any page that is relevant to events or classes. You can filter it down to just the types of events you are interested in, and you can easily subscribe to it using the buttons for Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, and more!
That’s enough writing for now; We’ve got a lot more work to do on this site! Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at the bottom of this page, and check out our final video newsletter. It’s about websites and ZOMBIES…
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This will be our first blog post. If you are seeing it now, that’s because you are viewing the new site early, you lucky duck! We will have an official launch on Tuesday and there will be lots more stuff added. See you then. ^________^
