The Lower Alabama Arts Coalition presents the work of Andalusia artist Mary Lynn Thorington in The Gallery this month.

Thorington works in oil, pastel, and watercolor, and many of her portraits, still lifes and landscapes are in homes throughout the South.

Thorington said her love of art was inspired by her parents, who taught art classes in painting and sculpture; her grandfather, Frank Spangler, Sr., a political cartoonist for The Montgomery Advertiser for 40 years; her uncle, Frank Spangler Jr., also a cartoonist for The Advertiser;  and her sister, Marguerite Edwards, a well-known portrait artist in Montgomery.

She is a graduate of Birmingham Southern College, where she majored in art. She continued her studies at the University of Alabama, Montevallo University, Florida Institute of Technology, San Diego Art Institute, and the Art Students’ League in New York City and Woodstock, N.Y. She also was an artist-in-residence for schools in Roanoke, Ala., for one year.

She will be honored with a reception from 1:30 until 3 p.m. on Sun., Aug. 6, at The Gallery, located at 209 E. Three Notch St. in Andalusia.

–Michele Gerlach