New art gallery coming to Homewood

Carrie Pittman is opening her first-ever permanent storefront and gallery in Homewood.

CANVAS by Carrie Pittman Art will open behind the Valley Hotel in early August. It will serve three purposes. First, Pittman said her clients wanted a place where they could see the art in person. CANVAS will also be a place to meet clients and discuss commission pieces. Last, it will be a pickup place for custom work and special orders.

Pittman will be bringing on more vendors with her new concept.

“When I named CANVAS, I wanted to have a name that was encompassing, something that was open and that was not restrictive,” she said. “CANVAS implies art, and it implies a free style of ideas. But I wanted to bring on people who were not just artists.”

As she spoke to her husband about opening the store, she began looking around her own home, and she noticed all of the beautiful things that made her happy. She reached out to some of the creators and asked if they would be interested in Pittman carrying their goods in her shop.

One of these vendors is a pottery line called Christina Cohn Ceramics out of Nashville that Pittman said she uses for her everyday plates, mugs and glasses. There is a candle company called FAVOR Candles whose fragrances Pittman said she adores, and this company was started by a Mountain Brook native and her sister. A pillow distributor that’s also located in Mountain Brook, called Too Pillows, complements her artwork, Pittman said, so she will be carrying that brand as well.

“CANVAS is primarily going to be art, but it’s going to have these lifestyle elements that are going to be complementary,” she said. “They’re goods I believe in, and I believe in the people behind them.”

Pittman has always been creative, she said. As a child, she painted acorns from the backyard and sprayed them with her mother’s perfume.

“I joked that everyone had acorns in their yard, but none of theirs were painted pastel colors,” she said.

In middle school, she began creating banners for other people, such as when children came home from camp and the parents wanted to welcome them home with a banner on the front door.

“I was always creating things, and I was always selling them,” she said. “And I loved it.”

Before Pittman was a full-time artist, she was a financial planner for her family’s business. Approximately eight years ago, she stepped away from her 9-5 to pursue art full time.

Pittman uses lots of water in her painting process.

“As most people have a subject — such as a house, a vase of flowers or a boat — my subject is more color and movement of color,” she said. “I use texture, whether it’s washy and watery or bumpy and rigid texture. I use texture and color as the subjects of my pieces.”

She gives a lot of credit to her parents. Her mother taught her how to repurpose everything, and her father taught her the numbers and business side of things. Pittman said many people assume artists don’t make any money, but because of the disciplines her parents taught her from a young age, she’s been able to be successful.

Pittman is a Mountain Brook native and recently moved to Vestavia to have more space for her at-home studio. She said the Homewood storefront will be a central location for her clients, who come from all over the Birmingham metro area.

Visit carriepittman.com for more information.