Topsoil Literary Project’s Creative Writing Workshop

The Coleman Center for the Arts was delighted to partner with UA English Instructor Travis Turner (@travisturnerii) of the Topsoil Literary Project (@topsoillit on Facebook) to offer a free Creative Writing Workshop at our Pop Start Community Space! The schedule included: introductions/why stories matter; styles of writing; tools and resources for editing; peer review/group exercises; […]

Collaborating with Future Leaders of Cultivation and Farmers 2022 Summer Camp

We are absolutely elated about collaborating with Future Leaders of Cultivation and Farmers 2022 Summer Camp and Druid City School of Ballet to provide weekly art enrichment, arts education, and weekly ballet classes to the youth! Week 1 featured a tour of the CCA campus and a visit to Pop Start to participate in Bib […]

“The March Quilts: A Celebration of Arts & Activism” Exhibition

Celebrate#art and#activism with us! We are so pleased to have welcomed “The March Quilts: A Celebration of Arts & Activism” Exhibition to our Pop Start Community Space! This summer will have an incredible two site exhibition of #TheMarchQuilts! The entire collection will be on view with quilts being shown at the Pickensville Rosenwald School, and […]

Radio York featuring “Bells for York,” a radio project by Zarouhie Abdalian

The sounds of bells variously signify a call to service, a warning, a memorial, or the marking of a historical time. In Bells for York, the voices of York, of Sumter County, of the Black Belt give expression to these associations through recorded speech and song. The sound work functions as a kind of exalted […]

University of Alabama’s New Faculty Engagement Tour 2022

The Division of Community Affairs resumed its New Faculty Community Engagement Tour (NFCET), connecting University of Alabama faculty, staff, graduate students and community members across various counties in the Black Belt region, Wednesday through Friday, May 11–13, 2022. The University of Alabama New Faculty Engagement Tour stopped through Sumter County, May 12, 2022! Several of […]

York Day 2021

On July 3, 2021, the City of York celebrated York Day from sun up to sun down and well after. Artist Zarouhie Abdalian, collaborating artist Joseph Rosenweig, Coleman Center staff, family and friends used the occasion to recognize student artists from our two Making Art in Public workshops. We help a soft, COVID-safe opening for […]

Making Art In Public II: Exhibition

In July and August of 2020, seven students participated in two workshops – Making Art in Public II and History-Making & Storytelling – with visiting artists Zarouhie Abdalian and Ashley Hunt respectively. The former was the second iteration of Abdalian’s Making Art in Public workshop series. This Spring Abdalian completed a public exhibition of six […]

Alabama Newspaper #7

In July and August of 2020, seven students participated in two workshops – Making Art in Public II and History-Making & Storytelling – with visiting artists Zarouhie Abdalian and Ashley Hunt respectively. The latter was in concert with Hunt’s ongoing exhibition Degrees of Visibility, a nine-year survey of more than 260 carceral spaces. The objective of […]

What’s happening at Pop Start? II

Last fall, Tuscaloosa-based artist Jamey Grimes installed their work Strata VII & VIII, (2015) in our “Pop Start A,” storefront space. The objects and environments that Grimes creates are fueled by encounters with real and imagined natural forces. The artist generates unique forms through the manipulation of synthetic materials, in this case, common corrugated plastic. […]