Tag: art

Nonprofit arts organizations in metro Atlanta are facing financial challenges as government grants, corporate sponsorships, and Covid-era relief funding have dried up while costs have risen and audience participation remains below pre-pandemic levels. In response, arts leaders have banded together through weekly meetings and the coalition Arts Capital | Atlanta, which seeks to raise $100 million to stabilize the sector and ensure smaller organizations in particular can survive.

Creativity is one of life’s great mysteries. But artists of every genre recognize it when the moment of inspiration hits them. We spoke to 16 Atlanta artists about their creative processes—visual artists, dancers, musicians, actors, and more. What ignites their creativity? How do they turn an idea into art? How do they overcome a creative block? Their answers are illuminating, sometimes humorous and often profound.

For all the challenges of creation and commerce that follow, the creative spark itself often starts with something wondrously simple: You can be going down a street feeling bad and all of a sudden, a song comes to you . . . if you’re listening for it.

Atlanta’s arts season is bursting with creativity, from the High Museum’s landmark exhibition of Minnie Evans to bold new takes on Balanchine, Bram Stoker, and Tennessee Williams. Here's your 2025 fall arts calendar.

In 2023, Karimah McFarlane took a leap and purchased the gallery Buckhead Art & Company. Her mission for the gallery is “to make art accessible to everybody and to have difficult conversations with people whose paths wouldn’t cross,” she says. “And let them know that we actually have more in common than we think.”

Far from the major art capitals, works by internationally reputed artists and local standouts can be found in galleries on unassuming Southern streets. Indeed, many of the treasures in these locations couldn’t have emerged anywhere else. From Alabama folk art to Lowcountry landscapes to North Carolina crafts, a strong regional sensibility runs through the collections of the 10 galleries recommended here, as well as a relaxed, approachable vibe and a true sense of place.

Ponce City Market is widely known for its support of local art and artists. Its next pop-up gallery, however, has a particularly special meaning. Titled Love Asheville from Afar, the month-long exhibit will help Asheville artists gain reach and sales after the devastating loss of their physical spaces and financial well-being due to Hurricane Helene. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go toward artists affected by the hurricane.

In psychology, the “shadow self” is the part of ourselves that we struggle with and choose to reject—our dark sides, if you will. Fascinated by the concept, Lynne Tanzer, a creative consultant, curated a show for Echo Contemporary Art, located with Guardian Studios, that explores this theme.

“Atlanta is home to me. I highlighted the streets in our city by making the signs big and bold throughout the design, but foregrounded by subtle imagery from pervasive topics like gentrification."

An autographed poster by painter Varnette Honeywood from the 1990 National Black Arts Festival hangs in muralist Ashley Dopson’s living room. Family visits to the festival inspired her own interest in art. “That era was a time when people were very aware of the legacy of Black art,” Dopson, 37, says. “For a little girl like me, I felt like I could do this and make a living at it.”