Piedmont museum features paintings by Kennington and Hill

DEMOREST - The Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art in Demorest has summer exhibits now on display featuring works by two Southern women painters, Dale Kennington and the late Carrie Lillian Hill.<br /> <br /> A reception for both exhibits will be held from 6-8 p.m., Aug. 22, at the MSMA in Demorest. The reception will feature remarks by Kennington and a relative of Hill, Dr. Julius Linn of Birmingham, Ala. Dr. Graham C. Boettcher, the William Carey Hulsey Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, will present a special guest lecture.<br /> <br /> The first show on display now through Aug. 22 is titled "Dale Kennington: Power of the Moment" and features a selection of large and small paintings. Born in Savannah in 1935, Kennington has called Dothan home for more than 50 years. She is known as a contemporary realist, often infusing her paintings with subjects in a variety of situations, ranging from the wisp of wind at an outside café to the profound complexity of human interaction. The show includes a special loan by the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Ala.<br /> <br /> Kennington earned a bachelor of art degree from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., and did post graduate work at Auburn University. She has had numerous solo and group museum shows and is collected by art museums across the Southeast.<br /> <br /> The second show, which runs through Sept. 30, features works by Carrie Hill (1875-1957). Born in Vance, Ala., Hill moved to Birmingham at age 16 and studied in Europe with American impressionist George Elmer Browne. She often painted in the plein-aire technique made popular by impressionists and tonalists of the day. Hill is also known for murals created in Birmingham during the Great Depression, the only woman selected for such projects by the Public Works Administration. Many paintings in this show have just come from a conservation treatment at the Atlanta Art Conservation Center. One painting, "The Foothills of the Pyrenees" is on loan from the Birmingham Museum of Art.<br /> <br /> Admission is free, and the MSMA is located at 567 Georgia Street in Demorest. The museum is open from 9 a.m.