By TERRI SULLIVAN / Community Columnist

The Shelby County Arts Council is pleased to present Joanne Fogle’s Solo Exhibition at the SCAC Gallery in Columbiana.

Best of Show winner in the arts council’s highly competitive 2012 Juried Art Show, Joanne Fogle captured top prize for her oil painting titled “Woods in Winter.”

This is her first solo exhibit as a professional artist. Joanne spends her creative time in her studio at Artists on the Bluff in Hoover. Joanne uses a variety of painting and drawing mediums in her landscape and figurative works and is known for her “quarry art.”

A native of Birmingham, Joanne began her art education at the University of Montevallo in 1988. While attending Montevallo, Joanne won excellence awards in both painting and printmaking and was accepted in the 1990 Southern Graphics Council Traveling Two Year Exhibition.

Joanne returned to the Montevallo campus as an artist-in-residence to complete work on the Alabama Big Print project in 2002. The work from this project toured the state for two years and is placed in the permanent collections of the University of Montevallo and the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

The public is invited to a free opening reception on Sunday, March 10, from 2-4 p.m.

The exhibit is open March 5-29. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The gallery is located at 104 Mildred Street, Columbiana. For more information, call 669-0044.

For a complete list of events and to learn more about the Shelby County Arts Council, please visit ShelbyCountyArts Council.com

Terri Sullivan is founder and executive director of the Shelby County Arts Council.