Last night (Thursday- April 7, 2022) I got to attend the reception for the Little House Art Project‘s Autism Awareness art show. April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, and April is Autism Awareness Month. Little House Art Project is a combined art class for special needs and typical young adults ages 12 and up.

The show was put on by the Southaven Arts Council at the M.R. Davis Southaven Public Library in Southaven, MS. The library has a nice gallery space in their front lobby area. (The MSCA had a brief showing there, but unfortunately the library had to close that week due to COVID.)

There were about 13 art house students that participated in this show- each doing 2-3 pieces of art. Some were originals, some were digital prints.

One of the participating artists was the MSCA’s own Grace Smith– AKA “Warrior Grace” and/or “Creator Grace“.

Grace works digitally in Procreate on a tablet, and loves to draw in a manga/anime style on it and her smart phone.

There were many different styles of art and mediums used, and they varied in size and details- but all were fun.

My favorite was this monkey painting..!

I really enjoyed getting to check out all the art, and talk to many of the artists that attended. There were a few artists I didn’t realize were participants until after I got home from the show. It had been a while since I had seen Grace at one of our dinner meetings at Garibaldi’s or drawing  nights at Michaels in Olive Branch back before the pandemic.

Grace, Austin Almond, and Austin Richards (above with his blue dog painting) were all interviewed by Fox13 Memphis’ Mandy Hrach. You can see the video here and see pics here.

The artists did great on camera discussing their art, autism, and why they love creating art.

Austin Almond , art house director Vicky Neyman, and a few others were also interviewed by a reporter from the DeSoto Times-Tribune newspaper (click here for the story). Austin works at the Germantown Community Theatre where we had our latest MSCA art show.

I’ve known Vicky since I first joined the DeSoto Arts Council back when she was that art council’s director, and she’s a former Southaven director. She does amazing work with her “art kids”, many have grown up in her art classes. I’ve taught art classes at the art house before (as has Kevin L. Williams and Martheus Antone Wade) and look forward to getting to draw funny with them again in mid-May for some Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Congrats to Vicky, Grace, and all the Little House Art Project participating artists. Little House Art Project is a program of The Arc Northwest Mississippi. The show will be on view in the M.R. Davis Southaven Public Library until the end of April. They look to do another art show next year in April for Autism Awareness Month.

M.R. Davis Southaven Public Library
8554 Northwest Drive,
Southaven, MS 38671
Phone: (662) 342-0102
Fax:     (662) 342-0556
south(at)firstregional(dot)org