From cotton to arts: the story of Lowe Mill
L’ancien moulin regorge d’artistes et de belles rencontres.
One of the reasons for researching, discovering and writing about things that intrigue me is that this is how good ideas spread.
One of my absolute favourite places in Huntsville, Alabama, is Lowe Mill. I never miss a chance to visit every single time I’m down there. The former cotton mill (it also produced combat boots for soldiers and served as a warehouse) is today a thriving hub of creative activity, housing hundreds of artists who use the space in so many cool ways I can’t even count them.
It is also where the esteemed artist and my podcast bestie Taylor McLendon works. He designed and created Lowe Mill’s latest mural — the big V sign in the photo gallery below.
This extraordinary location exists because one guy liked a piece of art at one hospital in Virginia. That’s one hell of a point in favour of random curiosity.
In Huntsville, Alabama, Jim Hudson is a big somebody, the co-founder and chairman emeritus of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. They do incredible work on genomics and related research I understand little about.
Hudson is also, by all accounts, an arts lover. During a hospital stay in Alexandria, Virginia, in the early aughts, he noticed an intriguing piece of 3D art and was told it had come from the nearby Torpedo Factory Arts Center, which he then went to visit. The idea of creating a similar site in Huntsville germinated in his mind.
At the time the old Mill was used as a sad warehouse for wood stoves and it was a real estate man, Gene McLain (who also served as a lawyer and Alabama state senator in addition to being my dear friend Scott’s late father) who showed it to Hudson, knowing it would be a great fit.
The rest is history, which you can read in detail here. I have so many photos taken from this place over the three and a half years I’ve spent visiting this little town in Northern Alabama they wouldn’t all fit in one post. I find everything there from artisanal mead to textile art to extraordinary food to lifelong friends.
Cet endroit charmant que j’adore est difficile à décrire tant il est éclectique. C’est un ancien moulin à coton, construit il y a plus d’un siècle, dans une petite ville qui à l’époque ne faisait pas grand chose de plus que de l’agriculture de survie. Et à peine.
Quand, après la deuxième guerre mondiale, le gouvernement fédéral américain lança le programme spatial avec un paquet d’ingénieurs allemands transplantés à Huntsville, la ville s’est convertie assez rapidement en centre de connaissances et de technologies avancées. Mettons que ça fait une moyenne différence.
Les anciennes usines à coton se sont transformées, certaines en bureaux chic, d’autres en vulgaires entrepôts. Celle de Lowe Mill, dans mon quartier préféré à quelques kilomètres du centre-ville, s’est vue reconvertir en centre artistique extraordinaire par un homme d’affaires qui avait vu quelque chose de semblable en banlieue de Washington.
Le résultat est époustouflant. Les studios et artistes changent souvent. Il y a des shows, des festivals de musique, de la bouffe incomparable, des espaces créatifs à en couper le souffle, et une faune humaine vraiment hors de l’ordinaire. À voir absolument quand vous passerez dans le coin. Moi, je ne manque jamais d’aller y faire un tour.
