Transitions: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Miriam, her husband, and her son lived in an apartment complex off Montclair Road in Birmingham, Alabama. This land the complex was built on was part of a cow pasture from the adjacent Baker’s Dairy farm which Miriam often painted.
In this work, Miriam is standing in the courtyard of the red brick apartment complex looking out to the gas station and busy street. The bright colors of the apartment buildings and commercial lights give way to the muted colors of the tree line and gray sky in the background beyond.
Miriam and her family moved to a permanent house with a garage art studio a few blocks away by 1975. Pastures, cows, and dairy farms have all been replaced by grocery stores, strip malls, and storage buildings, but the apartment complex remains.
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Miriam McClung is an artist from Birmingham, Alabama, and has been creating works of art in oils, pastels, ink, charcoal, pencil and everything in between for over 70 years. You can follow her on her Instagram account @miriammcclungart.