4 Female Artists Put Their Palettes Together For New Design District Studio

This article was originally published by Culture Map on May 16, 2019.

The ALG Collective is located at 1302 Dragon Street in Dallas. Photo by Sara Kerens.

For artist Anna Lou Curnes, transforming shattered fragments of glass into vibrant works of art was a way to visually express the brokenness she felt when her sister passed away in 2002.

Now the Dallas native, who has earned accolades as a top glass artist in Chicago, is coming home to display her works at a new studio space and showroom, the ALG Collective.

Located in the Design District at 1302 Dragon St., ALG Collective (which stands for "Anna Lou Glass") is a collaborative multi-media art space that will showcase the work of Curnes and three other celebrated women artists in Dallas.

They are: Annie Griffeth, who creates Hawaiian-inspired pop art work; Melissa Ellis, who calls her sculptural, oil-palette knife paintings “organized chaos;” and Christi Meril, who makes nature-inspired fluid acrylic and ink creations.

The high-end creative space will be the home of these resident artists and will provide a platform for the encouragement of new ideas and artistic camaraderie, Curnes says. In other words, lots of girlfriend time.

"I am so grateful to have such talented studio mates, this amazing building, and the support of the community to continue doing what we love," Curnes says.