Pavo's Farewell

Enlivening our community, celebrating our diversity, restoring our legacy, recovering our dreams.

Have I Ever Told You How Much I Love Birmingham?

by Janet Elizabeth... | May 14th, 2010
Photo by Jason Hamric

The truth is, a couple of years ago, I liked Birmingham.  I thought, “This is an alright place to have ended up.”  It was a passive approval.  But like many others, I still had my hang ups.  But when Lauren moved back home from Chicago and she and I decided to embark on our dream of co-creating our very own publication -- THAT is when I fell in love with Birmingham.

Like most passionate love affairs, it was quite accidental that Birmingham and I found ourselves together like this.  It all began with a series of questions.  Of course the first question, the one that made my eyes open anew, was: What will our magazine be about?  Following that, questions like: What audience are we trying to reach?  What do these readers need?

Birmingham was smack dab in the middle of one of its most awful cases of political turmoil since the 1960s.  Our city and county governments were up against accusations of embezzlement, fraud, bribery, mismanagement, miscommunication, lack of transparency, and it would only get worse. 
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Roll Call - A Shout Out to Our Beloved City's People and Places

by Janet Elizabeth... | May 14th, 2010
Pavo is for Peacock

Art Galleries

  • Lite Box – new on the scene, this austere space is perfect for group shows.  Curator Kate Merritt Davis has done a fantastic job of putting together cohesive shows of some of Birmingham’s brightest talent.
  • Space One Eleven – This gallery truly pushes the envelope, seeking out artists and projects that expose an original voice and a devotion to innovation in art.
  • Beta Pictoris – Curator Guido Maus is dedicated to celebrating the dialogue that art creates within its community.  Beta Pictoris is a new, small space with terrific light and an artist spirit, driving the community into new frontiers.  Additionally, Maus will be publishing books of each of his featured artists’ shows to further promote and support our terrific scene. 
  • Bare Hands Gallery – Bare Hands features art from some of Birmingham’s most successful artists in their beautiful space on Richard Arrington.  The experience of Bare Hands is t
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Pavo Out - It's Been Fun Bham

by Lauren Lippeatt | May 14th, 2010
Lauren Lippeatt and Janet Elizabeth Simpson

Birmingham, you’ve got a lot of soul.  I wasn’t always convinced of that, I’ll admit, but I can now, with complete certainty say, that our Bham is like a kaleidoscope, not always beautiful, not always fitting everyone’s tastes but the more you look at it, the more you see and understand its complexities and appreciate its unique intricacies. 

I learned my love of Birmingham about four years ago, on a night flying in from Chicago.  I’d been living in that cold metropolis for about two years and I was on the fence about what I actually called home.  Chicago’s lakefront, skyline, and cultural scene are world class and I thought that meant it was world class to me as well.  It wasn’t until the Birmingham skyline came into view that night on the airplane that I realized that Birmingham was my “world class” because of its people, history, spirit and above all, my own memories.  Read more...