In the 1970s, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Humanities brought an artist named Lee Bain to Brewton. The grant was funded with private money, and his job was to work in the schools as an artist in residence. He did that for a couple of years. Then T.R. Miller High School hired him to teach art in the first year the school ever offered an art class.
This Saturday, Nov. 14, an art show carrying his name is held alongside Brewton PorchFest. The music will draw most of the crowd. In recent years the art show has been the half of the day built to give something back, and what it gave back went to the same place Bain started out, which is young people learning to make art in Brewton.
A Teaching Grant That Outlasted Its Term
Bain's path into the classroom took some extra work. According to the Tri-City Ledger, he had to go back to college before he could teach. He earned a teaching certificate and a master's degree in arts education from Troy State University. He taught at T.R. Miller for 10 years. During that time he became active in the Brewton Council of the Arts and helped organize the first Brewton Invitational Art Show.
His obituary in the Tri-City Ledger fills in more of his life. He served as a U.S. Air Force flight medic and held degrees in commercial art and art education. He worked across many visual media, and the obituary credits him with starting Brewton's first local art festival. He died in April 2019 at age 81.
The grant put an artist in Brewton's schools, the school opened its first art class around him, and his work with the arts council produced the invitational. The show that grew out of all that is now called the Lee Bain Brewton Invitational Art Show.
The Entry Fee Is a Piece of Art
Most juried shows charge a fee to enter. This one has asked for something else. When the Tri-City Ledger previewed the 2023 show, artists entered by donating a piece of their own work instead of paying. The Brewton Council of the Arts auctioned those pieces, and the money went to scholarships for art students in the Brewton area. Artists who would rather give cash could do that instead.
That setup tied the show to the classroom where Bain started. A program that once brought one artist into the schools had working artists paying toward the next round of art students, one donated painting or basket at a time.
The 2023 show also had two divisions, one for ages 18 and under and one for adults 19 and older. So students could hang their work in the same show whose auction raised money for student scholarships.
For 2026, the Brewton Standard describes the event as a show and sale held alongside PorchFest, with cash prizes for the top entries. That means some of the work on display can go home with you.
What Has Hung on the Walls
The categories show how wide a range the show takes in. The 2023 list included:
- Weaving and textiles
- Beadwork
- Pottery
- Jewelry and lapidary
- Cultural items
- Drawings
- Paintings
- Photographs
- College and mixed media
- Sculpture
- Computer-generated art
- Graphics
- Baskets
The list fits Bain's own range. His obituary says he worked in a variety of visual media, and the show has made room for craft traditions like baskets, beadwork and textiles right next to painting and photography.
Judging in 2023 worked in two rounds. Each category winner got a medallion. Out of those winners, the judges picked a $500 Best of Show and two $100 awards for overall special merit. That year, registration went through Clay Lisenby, Shannon Brantley and Connie Baggett at 251-809-1777. Connie Baggett also played a PorchFest set on Evergreen Avenue that afternoon. That year, the art show and the music shared the same blocks and some of the same people.
How Saturday Lays Out on the 600 Blocks
This year's PorchFest runs from 1 to 8 p.m. on the 600 blocks of Belleville and Evergreen avenues. Acts play on porches from 1 p.m. until 5:45 p.m., and the main stage takes over at 6 p.m. The listing names the Greater Brewton Area Chamber of Commerce as organizer. The Brewton Standard reports that the main-stage finale features Love is War and The Velcro Pygmies.
In 2023 the art show sat right in the middle of all this. That year the Brewton Council of the Arts hosted it from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 623 Belleville Ave., the same block where the bands played.
| Time | 2026 PorchFest | How the art show ran in 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| 11 a.m. | Not yet started | Doors open at 623 Belleville Ave. |
| 1 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. | Porch acts on Belleville and Evergreen | Show and judging underway |
| 5 p.m. | Porch sets continue | Show closes |
| 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. | Main-stage finale with Love is War and The Velcro Pygmies | Finished for the day |
If the 2026 show keeps that schedule, it opens two hours before the first porch set and closes before the main stage starts. Someone who arrives at 6 for the headliners would miss the art show entirely. The easiest way to see both is to come early, look at the work while it is quiet, and then walk the porches once the music starts.
In 2023, the main stage stood at 605 Belleville Ave. Porch sets moved among addresses like 600, 612, 619 and 623 Belleville and 615, 616 and 622 Evergreen. Every one of those addresses is a short walk from the art show's 2023 location. Both events were free to the public that year, and chamber officials encouraged people to bring lawn chairs.
Buying Something Off the Wall
This year's show is billed as a show and sale with cash prizes for the top entries, so the work on display is there to be bought as well as judged. In 2023, the scholarship money came from the pieces artists donated in place of an entry fee, which made the size of the fund depend on how many artists took part.
A grant meant to put one artist into Brewton classrooms for a few years led to a high school art program that ran a decade under the same teacher. It also led to an invitational show that carried his name to Belleville Avenue in 2023 and returns alongside PorchFest this Saturday.
At PHD Realty, we're glad to see Brewton set aside one Saturday for both porch music and local art. If you'd like to talk about Brewton's older streets, or anything else about property in Escambia County, give our team a call. Contact Us.
