Exhibition by InToto Community Artists Opens at BPL

River Hinds – A Woman of the 20th Century | 2026

The Birmingham Public Library is excited to announce an exhibition by the community artists of InToto Creative Arts. The Company We Keep features artwork by participants in InToto’s community-centered, healing arts classes. The show opens on Friday, August 14, in the First Floor Gallery at the Central Library.

Using a variety of media, the artists showcased in The Company We Keep explore the ways identities are shaped by relationships, place, and shared experience. Media include acrylic, oil pastel, paper collage, and watercolor. At the heart of the exhibition is a collaborative textile faces collage, a collective portrait celebrating the diversity, individuality, and interconnectedness of the people who make up our community. 

Community Artists in collaboration with InToto Creative Arts - Fabric of Our Lives | 2025

Fabric of Our Lives had its start in 2025 at Magic City Art Connection’s Imagination Festival, where InToto Board Member Jon Osborne invited children and adults to use fabric to create self-portraits. During the organization’s weekly classes at the Firehouse Shelter, participants created textile faces using the same method of layering textures, colors, and patterns. At Dia de los Muertos, InToto offered additional community members the chance to contribute to the project. The resulting portrait squares were hand-sewn together to form an expansive tapestry.

On Saturday, August 29, at 3:00 p.m., InToto’s teaching artists will host an interactive Creative Movements workshop, exploring the themes of the exhibition through movement-based games and embodied expression. All ages are welcome. Sign up on Eventbrite.

Brett Marlowe - Untitled | 2026

InToto Creative Arts is a Birmingham-based nonprofit that provides opportunities for artistic expression, healing, and connection to people affected by social and economic hardships. InToto's arts program welcomes people affected by economic hardships in InToto's arts program welcomes people affected by homelessness and poverty, mental illness, PTSD, diability and addiction, offering them opportunities for connection, expression, and healing through art, music, movement, writing, and improv classes. Through community art sales and exhibitions, the artists can also earn income through an 80% sales commission and performance stipend. Brett Marlowe - Untitled | 2026

The Company We Keep and the accompanying workshop are made possible in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Written by Margaret Splane