aTeam Ministries is excited about our 2025 heart2heart Event on Friday, March 7, 2025 at The Grand Bohemian Hotel. We will be announcing our professional and patient artists very soon. Make your reservation to attend today by going to https://ateamministries.org/events/heart2heart/make-your-reservation/sponsorship/
Meet our 2025 Professional Artists!
Lila Graves
Lila Graves, a talented artist hailing from Alexander City, Alabama, now resides and creates in her studio in Homewood. With a career spanning over four decades, Lila has earned widespread recognition, with her paintings featured in prominent newspapers and magazines. Her work, renowned for its distinctive style and emotional depth, is widely collected across the United States. Lila holds a BFA from the prestigious Atlanta College of Art, and her impressive exhibition history includes galleries and shows from Birmingham to Orlando to New York. Through her art, Lila continues to inspire and captivate audiences, leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary art scene.
White Wings is a book of Lila’s paintings, photographs, and verse that tells the story of her miraculous experience with terminal melanoma cancer. The book is a remarkable journey of her path to become a survivor of cancer and life. Her journey is truly a joyous testimony to the healing power of art that she now shares with her two beautiful daughters.
Inspiration Statement – Lila
Greer radiates incredible energy! She approached the art with such focus and confidence. Her love for pink and purple shines through! When I asked her mom about her favorite things, I learned that her favorite animal is a giraffe, and her go-to foods are salad, salami, and cereal. When we worked together it had just snowed, so I felt inspired to cut out and capture Snow Day Greer and her favorite animal…a giraffe.
As an artist and a cancer survivor myself, I deeply believe in the healing power of art. My hope was to paint Jesus into this family’s journey—a visual prayer for daily strength, boundless love, and unshakable support.
Brooke McMahon
Brooke McMahon is a watercolor artist known for her vibrant, pigmented works that bring a sense of joy and energy. Through the fluidity of watercolor, she layers pigments to create pieces that are visually striking and evoke a deep connection. Every brushstroke is a dance of pigment and water, carefully working together to produce rich, saturated hues that convey depth and luminosity. Brooke’s passion for painting is complemented by her love of spending time with her husband, Reed, and their dog, Harvey, in Nashville, Tennessee!
Inspiration Statement – Brooke
“Dreams in Bloom” reflects the aspirations and passions that shape us as we grow. Getting to know Jeremiah and hearing about his dreams and ambitions took me back to my younger self, when all I wanted was to grow up and be an artist. Inspired by Jeremiah’s journey, this story serves as a powerful reminder of how our dreams, once they take root, can blossom into something extraordinary. Our dreams, like vibrant hues, are deeply personal, reflecting the true essence of who we are. Jeremiah’s story beautifully highlights the joy of dreaming big and watching those dreams transform into something uniquely our own — bursting with color, life, and purpose!
Hannah Morris
Hannah Morris is a spirit-led abstract artist whose work is inspired by scripture, vibrant colors, and personal experiences. Utilizing acrylic and watercolor paints, along with pencils, charcoal, and oil pastels, Hannah creates expressive pieces on paper and canvas. Her hope is that each piece of art brings glory to God, sparks curiosity and joy, meaningful conversation, and serves as a powerful reminder of God’s endless love and His desire to fill hearts with peace and joy.
Inspiration Statement – Hannah
This piece was inspired by Hayes. After hearing Hayes’ story, and then getting an afternoon to paint with him, God revealed to me the word wilderness. When you consider “wilderness” in scripture, you might consider it to be a place prepared by God to be tested and transformed, maybe through isolation and dependence on God, encountering Him, possibly through suffering or struggle. For me, it’s all of those things but ultimately it’s a place of hope, restoration, and renewal. We are not promised life without suffering but we will experience the refuge of God’s love, care, and provision. Also, see Isaiah 35:1-6. The wilderness represents a place of both struggle and divine intervention – a metaphorical landscape where people are stripped of worldly support and forced to confront their need for God. It’s a crucible for growth, transformation, and renewal. When I think of Hayes, I think of his kind & reverent spirit, as well as a fierce and mighty warrior, full of bold courage and faith. He is a righteous warrior who battled with cancer in the wilderness, and WON! PRAISE GOD! God had a place prepared for him in the wilderness. And his testimony from the wilderness will, undoubtedly, change the world beyond anything we can imagine.
Amanda Petro
Amanda is known for her textured oil paintings and use of vibrant colors. Her art is housed in private collections, corporate collections, and has been featured in National publications. She was born in Fairhope, Alabama with the desire to create. Amanda continues to draw inspiration from the coast’s brilliant colors in her work. She graduated from The University of Alabama earning a degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Oil Painting and a minor in Art History. Following her graduation, she studied in the graduate Painting Program at The Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. Amanda works out of her home studio in Birmingham, Alabama.
Inspiration Statement – Amanda
Patchwork is a tribute to my time spent with Ava. I created this mixed media painting as a visual representation of resilience and hope—a quilt made of scraps.
Each patch in the quilt symbolizes different pieces of life, some difficult, others joyous, but all integral to who we become. Patchwork reflects Ava’s journey through her cancer diagnosis and treatment. She did not allow pediatric cancer to define who she is- it was merely a patch on the quilt of her life.
Ava is a bright light. She radiates joy. I was inspired by her boundless curiosity, creativity, and positivity.
Meet our 2023 Professional Artists!
Lauren Adair
Inspired by the wonder of creation, relationships, and beauty in everyday life, Lauren Adair loves pouring out her heart and expressing her faith through painting. The contemporary abstract artist, based in Birmingham, Alabama, delights in bringing joy to others with her canvases. A lover of art since childhood, she rekindled her passion for painting during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she had time to reflect and refocus. She realized that 15 years devoted to full-time corporate and non-profit work had taken priority over her true passion and calling. Now, she’s enthusiastically embracing work as a full-time artist. Lauren holds an associate degree in fine art from Young Harris College, along with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Georgia. After college, she worked at Southern Living, where she enjoyed using her creativity in the magazine world. From there, she embarked on other rewarding work endeavors, but none as personally satisfying, she now recognizes, as the work she does in her art studio.
Inspiration:
As I was thinking about starting this piece I kept thinking about the effect an event and experience like this can have and wanted to mirror that in my work. I wanted it to flow and ripple out from one spot to represent how one day painting with a precious little girl like Malia can lead to so many good things for others. I started by writing one of my favorite bible verses on the base of the canvas so whoever’s wall it hangs on will be reminded of God’s unfailing love for us when they see it. “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love for in you I put my trust, show me the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8-9 You can see glimpses of the letters poking through the paint layers in the finished product. Then I used all the same colors Malia picked out for her piece and started to create a whimsical, bright, happy piece with a lot of movement and a lot of fun—all things that reminded me of our time together. 
Kendall Bingham
Kendall Bingham was raised in Birmingham, Alabama and currently still lives in the Birmingham area with her husband, John, and their three daughters. Kendall practiced nursing for 12 years, but decided to come home full time in 2020. During that time of transition, Kendall was craving a creative outlet. Since she was a young girl, Kendall has had some sort of creative hobby. She painted off and on, made jewelry, candles, etc. On a whim, Kendall ordered a watercolor paint set and began playing around with it. She quickly realized that she had a passion for painting and started teaching herself through studying other artists and watching videos online. Kendall fully immersed herself into learning different techniques and mediums. After she started sharing some of her first pieces with friends and family, Kendall was encouraged to turn this hobby into something bigger. Since starting to paint full-time two years ago, Kendall had the privilege of having her work in galleries as well as working closely with designers from Boston, Chicago, and Birmingham. She also had pieces chosen to be showcased in the 2022 Birmingham Home and Garden show home. Kendall’s art brings her so much joy and she looks forward to continuing to share her work.
Inspiration:
What stood out to me immediately when I met Ella was how confident she was. She never wavered from her vision of her piece and I really admire that. Her future is so bright and that is what inspired my landscape, Sky’s The Limit.
Dori Carpenter
Bluff Park, Alabama has been home for most of Dori’s life. She recently moved to Bessemer, Alabama with her husband, Mark, and their three children. Surrounded by acres of agricultural land she is often inspired by the breathtaking sunsets and rolling hills. Along with a career in graphic design, Dori enjoys creating commissioned paintings for her clients. She delights in the challenge of understanding and portraying her client’s vision for their custom works of art. Dori’s earliest memories of painting began at her grandmother’s kitchen table where confidence and encouragement flowed as they created together. Because of her grandmother’s influence, Dori is passionate about teaching others with the same encouragement.
Inspiration:
Acrylic on canvas rendering of the passage from Isaiah 40:11, “He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers his lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” I was struck by the way Kaiden’s mother watched him with such tender love and enjoyment. Over the weeks after meeting her and Kaiden, I found myself thinking of her and praying Isaiah 40:11…praying she would feel the closeness of her Shepherd caring for them so gently.
Mallory Lane
Mallory’s art is designed as a catalyst for human connection– a conversation piece that brings people together in the rooms it hangs. The stamped phrases on each of her paintings are intended to spark questions and inspire emotional resonance. Whether it be with your family or with guests, Mallory’s hope is that by inviting her art into your home, you unlock meaningful conversations and deeper love and understanding. Mallory recently moved to Birmingham from NYC where she worked as a technology consultant. Now, as a full-time-artist, Mallory is motivated by curiosity, connection, and FUN! Her pieces are bold, bright, and contemporary, inspired by her relationships and experiences.
Inspiration:
Rio is incredibly artistic, and he came in with a clear vision to paint a butterfly. I love the symbolism behind butterflies – retreating into a season of stillness to become more beautiful. Thus, I decided to run with the theme of “metamorphosis.” I pulled colors from Rio’s piece to inspire the overall color scheme, and stayed true to my own style with color-blocking and stamped text. Both of our pieces are two triangles that when hung together, form a rectangle on the wall.
Caleigh Parsons
Caleigh Parsons is a wife, mother, executive recruiter, and art-enthusiast who began her personal art collection over 25 years ago. Over those years, she’s found ways to surround herself with all types of art that speak to her and fill her home with stories and memories. In 2021, after a year of introspection and reflection, Caleigh decided to start The Untrained Edit. At that time, the business would just be an online art gallery for people to explore and use to add to their own personal collections. Very quickly, however, she discovered a need within the community of Dothan for a true creative community, where artists and makers of all types can create and where art-lovers and collectors can come to be inspired. Simultaneously, Caleigh finally discovered, after years of attempts, her own artistic style and process, and began painting herself. While continuing her “day job” and full-time motherhood, Caleigh spends her free time painting and soaking up the inspiration and constant creation that happens at The Untrained Edit and throughout the arts community of the Wiregrass.
Inspiration:
When Cooper and I were painting together, he was absolutely certain that he wanted to paint birds. I was inspired by this and the idea of a journey. “Cooper’s Landing” represents the journey of something difficult that lands in a safe and beautiful place. When I paint, there are moments when I’m unsure. There are times when the piece is ugly and I’m not really certain which direction to go. So I just make the next move and trust that it’s going to lead to something beautiful. I imagine this is what Cooper’s cancer journey was: moments of uncertainty and fear but faith in the next step and that, eventually, the landing would be beautiful. And it was.
Anna Dickson
Anna Dickson moved to the Birmingham area ten years ago with her husband and three children to help plant Christ Church PCA in Trussville. Though she is a North Carolina native, this move was a bit of a homecoming, bringing her closer to her alma mater, Auburn University. After working as a Registered Nurse and raising her three children, Anna is now enjoying the artistic journey. She has always loved creativity, but in recent years painting has become the focus of her creative expression. Anna is inspired by the beauty of color, shape, texture, and their relationship to one another. These elements come together in her soft abstract style, through which you can expect a gentle flow, subtle movement, and softness with surprising hints of boldness. Anna considers it a true gift to bring joy to others through her art!
“From the first moment I met Daniel Logan, I was struck by his energetic personality and joy. Whether he was painting his favorite characters or talking about the things he loves to do, his excitement was contagious. Daniel Logan described his perfect day as, “A warm summer day or a cloudy day, having pizza for breakfast and spending the day playing in the creek at my Papa’s house.” I wanted to capture the simplicity and wonder of his “perfect day” with a warm summer sky and an inviting creek. It was such a joy to create this with DL in mind and it reminded me to embrace the “simple wonders” the Lord gives us every day.“
-Anna Dickson
Anne Corhern
Anne Howell Corhern, a Mississippi native, cultivated a love of drawing while young and turned her artistic skills into an architecture career. While in architecture school, Anne took her only painting class, “Watercoloring for Architects,” which introduced her to the possibilities of watercolor. Throughout her career, while managing commercial and educational design projects, Anne taught herself watercoloring on the side, eventually turning to painting more often as she reduced her work load to raise her daughter and son.
Drawn to the interplay of light and shadow in faces and landscapes, Anne works primarily in watercolor for its luminosity, transparency, and fineness of color. Anne also works in oils and in pen and ink, preferring the saturation of oil paint for landscapes, while reserving the precision of pen and ink for many of her architectural renderings of homes, churches, and other buildings.
Anne and her family have lived in the Birmingham area for almost a decade and now call Vestavia Hills home.
“Wearing his uniform, having just come from one of the first games of his season, Mikey arrived to paint full of excitement and energy. As we talked about baseball, he drew then painted a batter ready to knock in the game winning run. In creating my piece, I wanted to capture the similarities between a baseball game and Mikey’s journey through cancer. From a green bat to his pink cheeks to the grass stain on his knee, I wanted my player to convey the sense of youthful excitement and the delight in a game well-played. His gaze is focused on the ball contemplating the last out or the game-winning run. The ultimate victory has occurred, a win.“
-Anne Corhern
Tessa Glass
Tessa Glass is a native of Houston, Texas but now calls Birmingham home. While the University of Alabama brought her here, she could not imagine her life anywhere else. While serving as a brand director during the day, she deeply enjoys working creatively almost 24/7. Having always had a passion for the relationship and space between emotion and reality, she believes abstract art bridges the “gap” between the two. Tessa paints out of a response to her adoration for the way God commissioned the story of her life. She believes that when we step back from the mess, we often find a dance of figures, scribbles, and colors that form a story more beautiful than we could have planned for ourselves.
“Working with Abigail was such a lovely experience. She immediately jumped right into creating her piece— she was eager to learn and used almost every color in the rainbow. Abigail was absolutely full of joy the entire day, making my job pretty much effortless. Her love and energy was infectious which is something I really wanted to capture in my piece titled “Hope”. After getting the opportunity to meet Abigail and her sweet family I felt as though the word “hope” was present not only in our conversations but in their story. Rainbows so often represent this, which is why I wanted to include a variety of colors in this piece. The white abstract overlay is used to represent comfort and protection offered in Christ. By wrapping itself around the color it communicates the deep love that The Lord has for his children and that there is always hope peeking through.“
-Tessa Glass
Leslie Nunnelly
Leslie Nunnelly’s art journey began when her children were in high school. Having always enjoyed the creative process, she joined a small painting group on a whim and has never looked back. Her preferred medium is oil paint, but enjoys working with acrylic, watercolor and inks as well. Inspired by elements of nature, a conversation, color, interior design and textiles, she formed Leslie Nunnelly Art LLC in December of 2015. This is also the home of her textile company, Cocoon Silk Ribbon, which specializes in creating silk ribbons and table décor mainly for weddings, using a natural dyeing process.
Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Leslie has lived in several different cities, eventually calling Birmingham home in 1979. She is married to her husband, Mark, and together they have four children and five grandchildren. She hopes to inspire her grandchildren with a love for the arts and looks forward to the day when they can all paint together in her home studio.
“My piece, entitled “Bubbly”, was inspired by Lauren’s love of both swimming and blowing bubbles. I had a lot of fun creating it! It’s colorful, fun and happy, just like Lauren! It was an honor for me to meet such a wonderfully courageous young girl!“
-Leslie Nunnelly
Andrew Lee
Andrew G. Lee is a full-time professional wildlife and sporting artist, inspired by the beauty and culture of the southeastern United States. Andrew works in a wide range of fine art mediums and blurs the lines between artist and artisan as he features his artwork on his handmade lifestyle goods and entertaining wares using fine woods and leathers, as well as his line of custom stationery paper goods. Andrew Lee operates his one-man fine art business, Andrew Lee Design, from his home studio in his hometown of Auburn, Alabama. Alongside his beautiful wife, Whitney, he is a proud father raising two young sons (and two sweet dogs) and is immensely grateful to be able to live out his God-given calling as an artist to reflect the beauty of creation in the work he undertakes.
“Robert is a cheerful, energetic, optimistic boy with a fire in his eye to enjoy life. In getting to know Robert, one of the things that Robert missed the most but looked forward to equally as much was the opportunity to swim in Lake Martin again. That struck a chord with me seeing as that’s one of my favorite places on earth, and I wanted to incorporate that somehow. When it came time to paint together, Robert had already decided on painting a tiger and he was very intentional about what he wanted to include in his painting. When it came time to paint a separate piece to depict Robert, I carried on with the theme of a tiger. And what better way to depict optimism and the feeling of looking ahead and swimming past the hardships of something like cancer than a bold, vibrant tiger cutting through the waters of Lake Martin? It’s my hope that this painting is well-loved and becomes a true force for healing and to the glory of God for pediatric cancer patients and their families.“
-Andrew Lee