Feature Exhibit, Figh-Pickett House
June 2nd through September 3rd
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday
Closed on Federal Holidays

Photo Credit: Photograph from the Dixie Art Colony Foundation Archives, circa 1940s

Our second exhibit of the year, Doris Alexander Thompson: Painter, Lithographer, and Novelist, in partnership with the Dixie Art Colony Foundation, is a retrospective exhibition that highlights the life and work of Doris Alexander Thompson, a member of Alabama’s historic Dixie Art Colony. Thompson sketched, transferred compositions to stone, and created prints. Each lithograph from the original stone was unique and is considered original artwork.

With every exhibit, we strive to spark interest in Montgomery’s history and motivate members and visitors to explore local and regional historical sites and attractions.

MCHS thanks the following friends and partners for their exhibit contributions, temporary loans, and assistance in making this exhibit and programming possible: Alabama Humanities Alliance; Alabama State Council on the Arts; Beverly West Leach, Artist and Adjunct Professor in the Art and Design Department at Troy University; the City of Montgomery; Dixie Art Colony Foundation, led by Mark Harris; Jeff Dutton, Volunteer Preparator; and Travis Taylor, local artist.

Her Work

The works shown are examples of Thompson’s stone lithography. Additional works on display during the run of the exhibit, June 2 through September 3, 2026.

Stone lithography was the first printmaking technology to allow an artist to work with traditional techniques and create prints that could rival an original painting in detail, mood, and color variations. Stone lithography was popular for about a century during the 1800s. Today, only a few artists still practice this near-extinct method of artistic expression. Four-color lithography is a very labor-intensive process that requires a separate drawing and stone for each of the four colors.

Stone lithography was invented in 1798. People used stone lithography to create color art for book illustration and for more common uses such as labels, flyers, and posters.

Basics of the Stone Lithography Process

The Dixie Art Colony was an informal adult art camp that operated in the River Region from 1933 to 1948. The brainchild of John Kelly Fitzpatrick and Sally Boyd Carmichael, the colony produced and promoted many noted artists. Many of the Dixie Art Colony artists became best known for their colorful watercolor landscapes and still lifes, a style commonly referred to as regionalism.

The idea for the art colony was conceived around 1933 by Fitzpatrick and Carmichael, who envisioned it as a summer art school, an outgrowth of the school Fitzpatrick founded and directed at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, referred to as the Montgomery Museum School. Sallie Carmichael and her husband, Malcom, provided financial and practical support for the gatherings, and Fitzpatrick served as the artistic director. The Carmichaels’ daughter, Warree Carmichael LeBron, who had studied under Fitzpatrick and elsewhere, also taught and served as a critic at the colony. The colony met in several locations over the years before finally establishing itself at the Carmichael family’s Lake Jordan property. While a few of the colonists hailed from outside the Deep South, due to limited advertising, most participants over the years were native Southerners. A few participants attended strictly for fun and were often referred to as “Sunday Artists;” however, some were career artists. Tuition was minimal ($15 per week or $25 for two weeks) and could be waived if a member was elevated to the level of critic for having work accepted at juried exhibitions. The colony’s only paid employees were a cook and a caretaker.

Research to preserve the colony’s legacy began in 2011 and is maintained and promoted by the Dixie Art Colony Foundation, incorporated in 2015 by Southern art historian Mark Andrew Harris. Harris catalogs paintings, archives newspaper articles and memorabilia, acquires works by colonists, curates exhibitions, and lectures on the subject. In August 2024, the foundation moved from its Wetumpka location to Prattville. In addition to the DAC Foundation’s ongoing exhibitions and lectures held at the Prattville Creative Arts Center, the foundation also holds lectures and exhibitions in other locations across Alabama and the Deep South. For more information, visit DixieArtColony.org.

Photo of some of the original Dixie Art Colonists at Lake Jordan in 1938. The wagon was loaded with artists and supplies and used to transport artists to various locations around the property where they were dropped off to paint or sketch.