The Birmingham News
Social Scene by Judy Haise
Birmingham Residents Frequent Art Gallery
Sally paints hat ladies, and Eddie paints horses, but wait. Today, Sally and Eddie are painting landscapes, and Eddie's painting sea turtles and water lilies.
The Sea Grove artists' paintings are taking shape in the back of their new art gallery in The Shops of Grayton in Grayton Beach, Fla.
It's not just the locals who're stopping by eddieandsally art gallery, which opened in April. Their Birmingham friends have been making their way back home all summer with canvases in tow.
Sally Waldrup Powell, who grew up in Mountain Brook and graduated from the high school in 1986, says she can't remember when she didn't paint. She worked several years in interior design in New York, Atlanta and Birmingham, but always wanted more time for painting.
Her husband, Eddie Powell, really got into painting, he says, at the McCallie School in his hometown of Chattanooga.
"I worked in advertising in Atlanta, New York, back to Atlanta and then Birmingham, but I was ready for a change," Eddie says.
Since the couple, who've been living in Mountain Brook for a couple of years, wanted to work together, an art gallery seemed to suit them both.
"Sally's signature hat ladies reminded me of (Kentucky) Derby days, and I'm a big follower of the Triple Crown," Eddie says. "I knew I wanted to provide something masculine, and horses are hard to paiint, so I knew if I did well, there might be a calling for me."
Paintings of mares with their foals and horses with jockeys or pastures are shown at eddieandsally, a compact gallery of 576 square feet in The Shops of Grayton in Grayton Beach.
Their original acrylics and oils reside along with a few other artists' canvases, painted ceramics, pottery, metal art and handmade jewelry.
The first group of Birminghamians they recall stopping by their gallery included Harry and Kay Littleton, Carole Ann and Bob Moorer, Van and Bobbie Ann Goodner and Peggy Marshall, all of Mountain Brook.
More who've stopped by over the summer include Sally's parents, Annella and Jimmy Waldrup, Doris and Jim Wilson and Hunt Gillespie, all of Crestline; Gil and Mae Mae Kracke with Caroline and Margaret, Betty Kent, Derry Bunting, Betty Brice, Kay McKinnon, Mary Helen Straughn, Katherine Debuys with Forrester, Madeline and Isabelle, Hannon Davidson, Evelyn and Joe O'Leary, Julie and Buddy Smith with Harrison, Kay and Cary Williams with Cary, Kathy and Chris Dyleski with Kate and Jones, Liz Clark, Leigh Leake, Allie Shore, Joan Curtis, Jennifer and Davis Bennett with Davey and Will, Pidgie and Bill Dismukes, Kate Littleton, Amy Littleton with Katie and John, Peggy Barnhart, Nancy and Max Austin, Beth Henry, Randy Reed, Cheryl Isobe and all of her grandchildren with Teresa and Todd, Laura Brown and Kristina Isobe, all of Mountain Brook; Michelle Hornberger of Homewood; Jeff Leonard of Vestavia Hills; Kay and Ray Jacoby of Chelsea; and John and Suzie Bell of Shoal Creek.
More visitors from Birmingham have been Ann Relfe, Bobbie Fillingim, Kaye Adams, Martha Lytle, Ann Oliver with her grandaughter Oliver Little, Libba Hughey, Allison and John Christian, Amy Merrell, Kristin Williams, Marian Dill, Jane Hodges, Paula and H.C. Ford, Meredith Keith, Anton Hand, Claire and Dan Wright, Lisa Howard, Traci Morris, Tom Findlay, Michelle McNamee, Dee Tipps, david and Cindy Turner, Linda Stewart, Barbara Wall, Sue Belcher and Gail Smith, all of Birmingham.
Somehow Sally has found time to help with a Montessori school's art auction in Rosemary Beach and exhibit her work at the ArtQuest juried festival at Sandestiin, Fla., during the PGA tour.