1) Fahamu Pecou leads the 15 Project at Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
2) Mark Farina performs at the Mark Ultralounge.
3) Downtown Decatur hosts the Decatur Beach Party.
4) Reed Dorty celebrates Juneteenth with a Langston Hughes recitation at A Cappella Books.
5) A Flood of Pictures opens at Saltworks Gallery.
(Photo courtesy Fahamu Pecou)
LINE BACKER: Glexis Novoa's 'Refurbish, 2007'
At least one historian has described the Peruvian song form called cumanana as “descuidado,” or careless. He meant that in the best way, referring to the form’s random, haphazard meter. Likewise, the group exhibition Cumanana currently on view at Saltworks showcases art that feels casual, thrown together and improvisational.
The 13 artists assembled by curator William Cordova all have long histories of collaboration — many of the same shows from the last half decade pop up over and over in their CVs. In Cumanana, the artists use mostly trash, found objects and low-grade materials to channel the experience of making something from nothing. This should sound familiar — the trend of making art whose list of materials reads like the inventory of a homeless lady’s shopping cart is well-established.
EIGHT: Members of the Westside Arts District
The newly christened Westside Arts District will host its inaugural gallery walk Sat., Feb. 28, in what may become a monthly routine. Scheduled events begin at 11 a.m. at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, and continue throughout the day at seven other WAD locations along Howell Mill and Marietta Street.
“We’re trying to introduce people to the idea that there is a growing arts district in this part of town, and that we are all located within walking distance,” comments Lloyd Benjamin, owner/operator of Get This! Gallery. “This will be a different type of art walk. It’s during the daytime, and one focus point will be on special events. We hope the viewer walks away from the afternoon more informed about the shows they have just seen, along with having enjoyed the neighborhood and all it has to offer.”
So, does WAD represent a long-term shift in Atlanta’s physical and cultural development? Benjamin’s Get This! and next-door neighbor Saltworks — both recent transplants from other Atlanta neighborhoods — continue a trend since late 2006 of new galleries opening or reopening on the Westside, including WAD members Kiang Gallery and Bobbe Gilles Gallery.
“If feels like it’s still growing,” says Emily Amy, the eponymous owner and director of Emily Amy Gallery, which opened just last year. “There may have been plans for forming something like [WAD] before, but no one ever really mentioned it. There are so many creative people working here, it just makes sense to establish some teamwork.”
MASTER-PEACE OUT: From the High Museum:
The last day to view Johannes Vermeer’s painting “The Astronomer” at the High Museum of Art is Sunday, February 15. This painting, on view as part of “The Louvre and the Masterpiece” exhibition, had never been seen in the southeastern United States before coming to Atlanta in October 2008. George de la Tour’s “The Card Sharp” painting will replace the Vermeer in the exhibition beginning February 17, and remain on view through September 6, 2009.
LANGUAGE CITY: From the Alliance Theatre:
Atlanta’s nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre has been awarded a $1.1 million 2008 Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant from the U.S. Department of Education through its Office of Innovation and Improvement. The grant money will be distributed over a four-year period and will be used in planning, researching and implementing programs to introduce young English Language Learners (ELL) to the theatre art form and build verbal communication abilities. There were 74 applicants for the grant nation wide. The Alliance ranked first out of 15 awardees.
SUPPORT SYSTEM: Eight local artists have been tapped for grants from the Charles Loridans Foundation. The Loridans Arts Medal comes with $15,000 and will be awarded to Dwight Coleman, head of the Georgia State University School of Music; Klimchak, local a performer and composer; Larry Larson, local actor and playwright (who can currently be seen in Smart Cookie at the Alliance Theatre); and Juan Ramirez-Hernandez, a first violinist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
The Loridans Encouragement will be awarded to photographer Sheila Pree Bright ($10,000); Actors and founders of Out-of-Hand Theater Ariel de Man and Maia Knispel, ($15,000-$7,500 each); and the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Jason von Hinezmeyer ($10,000).
MEET AND GREETS: CUMANANA opens tonight at Saltworks from 7-9 p.m. followed by an artist’s talk Sat., Feb. 14 at noon with William Cordova, Gene Moreno, Glexis Novoa and Ernesto Oroza. Atlanta Pecha Kucha opens its spring series at Octane Sun., Feb. 15, 7 p.m. with talks from Louise E. Shaw on “AIDS in the Eighties,” Alex West on “WonderRoot is Cool,” William Boling and Corinne Vionnet on their Opal Gallery exhibit “Complete Desire,” among others. Caterina Verde discusses her solo exhibition of video installation, photography and drawings, “All You Can’t Eat and Other Tales of Waiting,” at Wm Turner Gallery, Sat., Feb. 14 at noon. SCAD’s Ivy Hall Lecture Series presents Walter O. Evans, “a distinguished surgeon and bibliophile, is widely regarded as one of the foremost collectors of African American art in the United States,” for the lecture Great Collectors: The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, Sun., Feb. 15, 3 p.m. at Ivy Hall.
