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VALLEY — Adrian Alsobrooks was one of the artists exhibiting this past weekend at Fall Into the Holidays Arts & Craft Show at Valley Community Center. Adrian has lived in Five Points for most of his life. A gifted artist, Adrian honed his skill at the Art Students League of New York, located on 57th Street in Manhattan. He studied under such noted instructors as Joseph Stapleton, Steve Wheeler and Hans Offman.

“I liked my time in New York,” he said. “I was only a couple of blocks away from Central Park. It’s a fast-paced place to be, but I learned a lot while there.”

What he learned shows up in the beautiful works of art he creates. He could be nicknamed Sweet Baby James from a line in a James Taylor song. “Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose,” that line goes.

Those vibrant colors are in many of his paintings, some of which have been displayed in museums, office buildings and elegant homes.

When he’s not creating works of art, Adrian is busy reading about famous artists. He especially admires those from the Deep South who have made the big time. He really likes the work of Montgomery native Thornton Willis and Jasper Johns of Augusta, Georgia. He also likes the work of women artists Georgia O’Keefe and Agnes Martin.

He’s kept a magazine story he came across several years ago about a historic home in West Point that was skillfully given a makeover by a New York City architect who was born and grew up in West Point.

Located on West 4th Avenue in the Westside Historic District, the Parr House is now owned by Point University and plays host to host guests and special events. An annex located behind the house is home to Point’s advancement department.

The house was designed by famed architect Henry Johnston Toombs (1902-1967), who did much work for President Franklin Roosevelt and his family. The Parr House was built in 1937 and was gifted to Point University by the Bill and Pat Parr family in 2012.

West Point native David Martin headed up a major upgrade to the home, giving careful attention to keeping the appearance in the Henry Toombs style.

Having the opportunity to do this was really special to Martin. He developed an interest in building fine homes as a young boy touring the city’s neighborhoods and asking people living there if he could see their homes.

Located up the hill from what was then the First National Bank, the Parr House was one of those homes he really admired.

“I like to read about some of the great masters having ties to the American South,” Adrian said. “I really liked a story I read about Edgar Degas coming to the U.S. and doing some paintings in this country.”

Degas (1834-1917) is famous for his paintings of Parisian dancing girls. While in New Orleans he painted a scene of a cotton office in New Orleans. The original parting is now in the Harvard Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Another French master, Edouard Manet produced a famous artwork that’s tied to Alabama. This painting commemorates the June 19, 1864 Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama. The famed Confederate ship went down off the French toast new the port city of Cherbourg. The original is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

“If I’m not painting I’m probably reading about great painters,” Adrian said. “I’m 72 and have been exhibiting artworks for more than 50 years now. I really admire those artists who were at the top of their field.”

There’s a Chambers County connection to 20th-century American artists whose paintings are valued in the multimillion range.

The artist, Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), studied art at Ohio State University before becoming a famed pop artist. He always credited one art instructor, in particular, Hoyt L. Sherman, for having had a great influence on him. Sherman was a native of LaFayette.