Tag: Reynoldstown

"A community's personality can really be reflected in signs and typography," says graphic designer and SCAD Atlanta professor James Burns, whose Reynoldstown alphabet includes graffiti, church signs, storefronts, and a steel plant.

Settled after the Civil War by freed slaves who rebuilt the train tracks at the nearby rail yard (now CSX), Reynoldstown now enjoys a growing diversity, which is what prompted Chris Appleton—executive director of the arts nonprofit WonderRoot—to make his home there nine years ago.

Atlanta’s emerging public art scene is exciting—murals and installations enliven our city and make it more engaging, and yes, they draw outsiders to parts of town that might otherwise be overlooked. But the controversy over the Krog Tunnel underscores the need to balance arts promotion and the concerns of communities that serve as the backdrops for street art.

Life as I mapped it out for myself has been good; across my three score years I’ve put my Satchel and Underwood typewriter down in New York, Paris, Munich and in other cities I read about at the public library on Carnegie way. But whenever I’ve thought of home, I’ve thought of eight square blocks in the southeast quadrant of Atlanta, the Fulton Mill Village, called Cabbagetown since around 1946.