Alex Loeb

Then Alex Loeb was elected President/Director, functioning as Director until 1976, when Bess Dawson took the job, but stayng on as President for twelve more years.  Jean Loeb had been asked to take the Secretary/Treasurer job, while Stafford Springs was headquarters. She held these two responsibilities for 27 years and soon took on the newsletter, which had lapsed.

Under Alex Loeb, the Mississippi Art Colony was incorporated as a non-profit entity, making it eligible for funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission. Grants from the Commission gave much-needed help over several years. Attendance began to dwindle, with only 21 painters signing on in the Fall of 1971, and these monies were to Colony’s survival.

Another change made during Loeb’s tenure, was the switch to a single payment of $12, rather than the assortment of charges previously used to figure up the painters’ bills.