While her work hangs in the National Society to the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Continental Hall, Martha Lower’s lasting legacy remains the countless portraits she created across the Madison-Morgan region.
Lower’s work will be celebrated with an exhibit beginning Nov. 14 with a 5 p.m. opening-day reception, until Jan. 15, 2027 at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center (MMCC). The exhibit will be displayed in all three of MMCC’s upstairs galleries, and will include more than 50 of Lower’s works temporarily donated for display, according to exhibit curator Judy Gilbert.
“Martha Lower gave a special gift to those of us fortunate enough to own her portraits,” Gilbert said. “In my family, she painted my mother, my grandchildren, and my daughter, Chris Hodges.”
Lower earned an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and a master’s in English from the University of Georgia that helped shape the artistic perspective and literary refinement evident throughout her work. More than that, though, she created family heirlooms of portraits for generations.
Gilbert has asked Lower portrait owners willing to contribute to the exhibit to bring their portraits to MMCC (434 S. Main St., Madison) this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1), after emailing MMCC Visual Arts Director Kamden Ecker at kecker@mmcc-arts.org of their intention.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to bring these works together and display them in the galleries of the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center,” Gilbert said. “I have long dreamed of an exhibition of Martha’s work at the MMCC. Now, as a member of the Center’s Visual Arts Committee, I have thechance to help make that dream come true.”
— Contributed