Arty nominations about to close

If you haven’t been to the Mobile Arts Council’s website and weighed in with nominations for a 2019 Arty Award, you’d best hurry — the window closes Jan. 11.

You can submit any number of nominees. The categories are: Art Educator; Art Soldier; Business; Cultural Innovation; Design; Lifetime Achievement; Literary Artist; Organization; Patron; Performing Artist; Visual Artist.

You will be asked to provide information on the individual, organization or business you wish to nominate. You’ll also be asked for your own contact information. This will only be used if the nomination panel has additional questions.

The date for the ceremony is Thursday, March 28, 6 p.m. at The Steeple (251 St. Francis St., Mobile).

These cherished and beautiful awards have been handed out since 2004, yet there are many worthy recipients yet to be recognized for their contributions to keeping Mobile’s cultural fabric resilient. Use your voice quickly.

Painter returns stateside to Sway show

As a yoga instructor who also works in visual arts, Anna-Marie Babington believes in stretching, literally and metaphorically. Her photography runs a gamut familiar to regional residents: scenes of New Orleans sights, minutiae of Southern landscapes, weathered columns and gravestones, animals feathered and furry.

Babington’s strength is in her paintings, though. Utilizing a loose and relaxed style that lists toward minimalist approaches, her figurative work is an obvious offshoot of yoga’s focus on the human form.

Naturally, this marriage of habits puts her in exhibition at Sway Downtown (10 S. Conception St., Mobile) for the month of January. Gallery curator Jess Maples said Babington has spent several months abroad, so she is excited to see what she’s bringing to show.

An opening reception will be held during the Jan. 11 LoDa Artwalk.

For more information, call 251-650-4020.

Writers group seeks members

Of all the art forms we encounter, one should be most familiar because we start using its tools in our first years of life. We don’t all draw, paint, sculpt, dance or sing, but most all of us use language.

Inside us are the tools for telling stories, for sharing perspectives and humanity. Some of us even have hidden dreams to do so and no legitimate reason not to try.

The Mobile Writers Guild is always looking for new members eager to share their love of the written word. Per their website, they are “an organization of professional writers and aspiring writers.” Not all are published, only some. Among their members are “publishers, writers, artists and people interested in the craft of writing.”

All are welcome to the guild’s monthly meetings, at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month from September to May at the West Regional Library (5555 Grelot Road, Mobile).

For more information, go to mobilewritersguild.com.