Season 7 | Episode 5: Interview with Artist Beth McKay

Beth McKay is a multi-faceted artist with disciplines in oil painting, watercolor, screen-printing, acrylic, mixed media and graphic design. Beth began her formal training in art at the University of Montevallo which led her to pursue a degree in Art Education from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Her studies concentrated in Graphic Design, Painting, and Education. She earned her Teaching Certification in 2018 and currently holds a Class B Visual Arts P-12 certification. She has worked professionally as a Graphic Designer, Social Media Marketing and an Art Teacher. Beth McKay currently operates out of Studio 261 at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville, AL. 

Rebecca Tully Fulmer is a visual artist based in Birmingham, Alabama, whose interdisciplinary practice explores the material life of images through lens-based media, collage, and fiber techniques. Working primarily with transparent and reflective materials, Fulmer transforms photographs into layered, dimensional forms that exist between image and object. Her work invites viewers into an active perceptual experience where light becomes both medium and collaborator—shifting, refracting, and revealing the image anew with each change in perspective. Fulmer holds a BA in Interior Design from Auburn University's School of Architecture and an MFA from Lesley University Art + Design. Her recent solo exhibition, Light in Tandem, was presented at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Alabama. https://www.rebeccatullyfulmer.art/ https://www.instagram.com/rebeccatullyfulmer/

Xavier Adams is a photographer and aspiring cinematographer based in Huntsville, Alabama. Raised as an Army brat before settling in Augusta, Georgia, Xavier graduated with a B.A. in Film/Video Production from Georgia State University in 2020. After graduating, Xavier pursued film photography to flesh out his creativity while working in the public sector. He initially began photography in 2015, but it wasn’t until he started shooting 35mm film in 2021 that it became a full-fledged creative hobby. Furthermore, he views it as an opportunity to build community before returning to the film industry. He primarily operates in a self-made darkroom to develop film and photographic prints. Xavier’s photographs have been exhibited in numerous places, such as the Huntsville Museum of Art (2023), Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (2025), Huntsville City Hall (2025), and “Framing the Future: a Black Photographers’ Gallery” in Huntsville’s Orion Amphitheater (2025).

Holli Conger is a professional illustrator, found object artist and licensing artist in Winston-Salem, NC. Holli shares her journey through many different creative industries, working with agents, finding the work you would like to make and more!

Holli Conger is a professional illustrator, found object artist and licensing artist in Winston-Salem, NC. Holli shares her journey through many different creative industries, working with agents, finding the work you would like to make and more!

I'm Kitty Smothers and I have been painting portraits and fine art professionally for over 26 years. I live in South Alabama with my husband, two daughters and two dachshunds. I earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Troy University, and later a Masters of Science in Counseling and Psychology. I apprenticed under world-renowned artist Nall Hollis, constructing frames for his intricate paintings and learning drawing and painting techniques. I founded the Pike County Art Guild where local artists collaborate, learn and support one another. I believe the art community should be a place where all artists feel encouraged and cheered on. My artwork started as personal portrait paintings until people began asking me to paint portraits, places and pets for them. I also love painting scenes from around the countryside and gardens. I have a crazy passion for painting and my favorite thing of all is handing over a piece of artwork to a happy client.

Casey Roberts is textile artist and poet living in Perry County. Trained by artist June Carlton in painting and their great-grandmother in sewing, they started in visual art before turning to garment-making. Their art is informed by growing up queer and remaining in the rural Black Belt of Alabama. Incorporating antique textiles, painted elements, and doll-making into wearable art and more is of particular interest. We are the sum of time: the resilience, the degradation, the patina all testify to a present informed by the past. Textiles are not only a shield from time, but a window into its passage.

Challiss’ circuitous art journey includes working a stint as a window decorator in Berlin in 1992, working with a team to paint endangered species murals for the Center for Biological Diversity in Tennessee and Alabama, and teaching art (mostly drawing) to all age groups. Challiss received a “Window of Opportunity Award” from the Leeway Foundation in 2000, an Alabama State Council of the Arts grant in 2005, was included in the Juror’s Pick / New American Paintings, Southeast Edition 2015. Challiss has exhibited her work in Portland, Oregon and Phnom Penh, Cambodia among other places in the Southeast.. Challiss collaborated with scientist, Dr Rick Strassman, on illustrations for his latest novel, released December 2024, Altered States: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Trauma, Psychedelics, and Spiritual Growth, published by Simon & Scheuster.