Public Art
Come help Art Sign the BeltLine Saturday at Eyedrum
At noon this Saturday, February 20, Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery will be hosting a WonderRoot-sponsored painting party, Art Sign the BeltLine 2.0. The goal is to create 216 works of art to be placed around town at various BeltLine sites and public right-of-way crossings. If this strikes you as a lofty goal, let... »
Art on the BeltLine: Call for public art proposals
Today, as I conducted my daily bike errands, I noted the scenery around me. The highlights? A dirty bucket and a decaying sock of questionable origin. I figure if I’m going to freeze my ass off riding around town, I (and my fellow street-stompin’ travelers) could at least use something pleasant to look at.... »
At gifting’s end: An interview with Beth Lilly
For this year’s Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) public art project, Gifted, curator Beth Lilly and volunteers handed out no less than 1,200 signed, limited edition photographs by local artists. Now that the month-long project is complete, I took the opportunity to interview Lilly and find out how it went. »
Good signs: Another kind of public art
Parking the wrong way on McDonald Street in Taco Town for a few minutes, I felt compelled to get out of my car to photograph a funny little piece of renegade public art. I was sure such unofficial signage would soon disappear. In a hurry, I turned around and a man confronted me in... »
From Atlanta to LA: Slow ‘Death by Graffiti’
Following a lead in a column of Artillery magazine’s March/April print edition, “The sad, slow death of LA’s freeway murals,” I spent some time today researching the street battle between LA taggers and muralists—and the courtroom battle between artist Frank Romero and the state authorities of CalTrans. To tell you the truth, I’ve given up... »
Ken Lum and the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service
They’re obviously pretty different images: portrait versus landscape, detailed text versus emotional outpouring. Still, both these images use similar elements of design to deliver a basic message: “do what we tell you.” The Metropolitan Police Service launched their new campaign this March. Ken Lum, whose work focuses on questions of race and identity, frequently creates... »
Oakland Cemetery in Grant Park
If “graveyard” doesn’t come to mind when you think of places to view art, it certainly may after a visit to Oakland Cemetery. From gravestones and monuments to sculpture and architecture, this Grant Park attraction contains a small cross-section survey of art history. »
Noguchi Playscape at Piedmont Park
Public art is a tricky thing. The line between satisfying the general public and maintaining artistic integrity is difficult to successfully straddle. Isamu Noguchi’s Playscape manages to do both with flying colors. The playground/sculptural landscape at Piedmont Park allows art to become useful in everyday life. Somewhat sadly, it is the only playground Noguchi... »
New Series: Public Art + The Economy
As debates over the economic stimulus thunder overhead, BurnAway has decided to experiment with new avenues of reporting. We will be launching a handful of features this spring, starting with two distinct, but related, series: 1. Public Art (which started Monday with Meghan Norman) 2. Art and the Economy »
Public Art: The Five Points Monument by George Beasley
The hustle and bustle of Five Points, the heart of downtown Atlanta, is filled with knock-off Coach purses and honking horns. In the midst of the chaos, a large steel monument commemorates the historic intersection of five streets: Peachtree, Edgewood, Decatur, Whitehall, and Marietta. Created in 1996 by George Beasley, a professor at nearby... »
Best of Atlanta 2009
Best Local Arts Blog
(Readers Choice)
Best New Trend in the Arts
(Critics Picks)
Best Local Art Event
(Readers Choice)