A place to ‘grow’ artists thriving in Ashville
Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Richard Rybka
Jess Lauren Alexander sees art in everything. When she looks at coffee filters, she sees flower petals. Colorful yarn looks like the bristles of freshly dipped paintbrushes, and in her mind, plastic bottles have the potential to become sculpted human figures.
“I don’t think I’ve ever not done art,” she said. “My mother’s side of the family is very artsy, and I just took up with it.”
Alexander, who grew up in Ashville, wants children to have the same opportunities she did to explore different artistic mediums, unleash their imagination and develop their creativity. That’s why she opened Little Art Tree on the Courthouse Square just over a year ago.
“It’s a need I don’t think is being met,” she said, adding that art is no longer a regular part of Alabama’s school curriculum. A former substitute teacher, Alexander always had students asking her how to draw different things. When she realized how many children had the desire to learn, she started an afterschool art program at the elementary school. More than 60 children signed up, but the class was short-lived because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She began teaching again in 2021 and opened the studio that September. “To me, art is not just something to do or a possible career. It’s therapy; it’s an outlet,” she said. “My middle school students deal with so much. Sometimes they just come in here and start drawing and talking, and it’s a release. It gives them a chance to just chill, draw and decompress.”
Alexander, who is married to Andrew and is mom to 12-year-old Dawson, teaches six classes a week to nearly 50 students ranging in age from 4 to 18. She also offers the occasional adult class – a group recently made door hangers – and she’s looking for another teacher to join her so adult classes can be a more regular occurrence. “It’s hard to switch my mindset from children to adults,” she said.
Besides, helping children and teens fall in love with art has become Alexander’s passion. “I teach techniques, but it’s mostly about giving kids space and a place to come and explore art,” she said. “Anyone can be an artist. It’s just finding the style and medium that fits your personality.”
She uses her own family as an example. Her mother, Beverly Burnett, paints landscapes with oils, makes quilts and crochets. Her great-aunt is an abstract painter in Birmingham and works mostly with acrylics. Alexander, whose style is “semi-abstract,” prefers to mix things up a bit, often combining watercolors, acrylics, and ink with non-traditional materials, such as coffee grounds, in her artwork.
To help her students discover their own talents, Alexander’s classes focus on a variety of mediums. “We do a little bit of everything – painting, drawing, mixed media, clay,” she said, adding that she hopes to add a kiln to her ever-growing list of offerings soon. “Some of the kids have just extraordinary talent for such a young age,” she said.
Alexander knows that art lessons can be out of reach for many families, but she wants to make them accessible to as many children as possible. She’s reaching out to individuals and businesses who may be interested in sponsoring a child for $100 a month, $500 for half a year or $1,000 a year. All the materials are provided, and classes are held August through May, she said.
Sparking imaginations
Alexander’s studio, in a historic building that has taken many forms, including a feed store and a beauty parlor, is the perfect backdrop to showcase the students’ work as well as some of her own. Paintings hang on an exposed brick wall, and Alexander loves knowing that the building has a history of inspiring budding artists. Christine McCain, whose family owns the building, was an artist and once taught art classes there, as well. Alexander’s mother was one of her students.
“I fell in love with the building,” Alexander said. A colorful mural of flowers, mushrooms and a tree that Alexander painted on the back wall is a nod to the studio’s name, as well as its mission. “We grow artists here,” it reads.
The classes have proven to be a big hit with the young artists. “I like art,” 10-year-old Jayden said in one recent class. “You can paint and use your imagination.”
Her sister, Kadence, 12, said drawing is her first love, but she loves painting and learning other skills, as well. “I love doing stuff like this,” she said, using a palette knife to paint the black markings on the trunks of birch trees. “I’ve never done this before, and I love creating stuff. When I was little, I loved to draw. I have notebooks full of drawings.”
The same can be said of Alexander, who found her inner artist with a how-to-draw horses book as a child. “I would take paper and that book and sit and trace and copy for hours,” she said. “I did it so much I got to the point where I didn’t have to trace anymore.”
Alexander said she’s studied pretty much all forms of art over the years, including painting, drawing, sculpture and pottery. “I’m always taking classes and workshops to learn new things,” she said.
Although she loves introducing new techniques to her students, Alexander also allows them free time to work on whatever they want. Some paint, some draw, some sculpt with clay and they have access to all of the art and craft supplies she keeps on hand.
Alexander has three cans marked “Theme,” “Description” and “Color” the students can use if they get stuck. They can draw an idea from each of the cans to give them a direction or starting point. Alexander recently drew “fish” for the theme, “stressed out” for the description and “warm colors” for the palette.
“It’s usually something silly, but it will spark an idea for them to work on,” she said, adding that watching them explore is one of her favorite things to do. “Everyone has a medium they’re better at and they enjoy more, and I want each of them to find their thing. When they do, I get teary-eyed. It just gives me the most joy.”
