Ever since I was a kid I have always loved art. My earliest memory is of drawing, and that remained a constant passion of mine throughout my childhood.
Growing up, my dad would take me to museums and galleries nearly every week. Being surrounded by art was a normal part of my life, and yet for a long time it seemed like art was something I could only afford to do on the side, as a respite from the daily grind and the work I did to support myself.
When I first moved to Atlanta from Boston in 2007, I wasn’t sold on the city right away. It took me a while to find my footing here, and I was initially introduced to the art scene while working as a server at the Majestic Diner.
There, in between pouring cup after cup of coffee and serving up smothered plates of hash browns, I noticed something– nearly everyone I worked with was an artist of some kind. Whether my coworkers were playing music with their band every weekend, working on paintings for an art show, or writing moody poetry on the back of their guest checks, it seemed like creativity was a normal part of life for many of my peers. I’d finally found my people.
And so, through connections I made at The Majestic and later at small local galleries such as Beep Beep and Young Blood where I interned during my days at Georgia State, I began to really understand the rich variety of artistic expression that is pervasive throughout Atlanta.
Flash forward a decade or so, and I had become part of that creative community. I began my career as a graphic designer working for local newspapers and eventually migrated over to photography and writing for the same publications. A life-long lover of print media, I found the outlet of free local newspapers to be not only exciting but also essential. I was lucky enough to meet Atlanta Intown editor Collin Kelley, and that chance encounter helped me to embrace the next phase of my career as I tiptoed my way into journalism.
Over the years, I have written about many local institutions, organizations, and people who enriched the Atlanta community. Eventually I came to realize that my heart belonged to the arts, and so with the help of Rough Draft publisher Keith Pepper, we launched my arts-centric newsletter Sketchbook in the summer of 2022.
I’ve had the opportunity to feature artists and arts organizations and tell their untold stories. I made connections, I made friends, and I fell even more in love with the Atlanta art scene.
I became a mom in 2020, and shortly thereafter, our family outgrew our tiny apartment in Little Five Points. We embarked on our house-hunting journey and were lucky enough to find a small two bedroom home in Avondale Estates. In the years since, we fell in love with our little slice of the world here.
I was even more pleasantly surprised to discover that Avondale Estates has its own vibrant and bustling art ecosystem.
Did you know that there is an arts district in Avondale Estates? I didn’t, but since I became President of the Avondale Arts Alliance last March, I came to understand just how many incredible artists live and work here. The Rail Art District stretches from Wild Heaven Brewing to Town Green, and includes many great local arts organizations that call it home.
Avondale Estates is home to Little Tree Art Studios, founded by husband-and-wife duo Bob and Marghe Means in 1998. Marghe was also co-president of the Avondale Arts Alliance with Jen Singh of Garage Door Studio before I came on board last spring.
Little Tree Art Studios is composed of studios that support over 40 artists, musicians, and creatives of all types. With a waiting list a mile-long of artists looking to rent space there, they have been an essential part of the art community for more than two decades.
A few years ago, their son Taylor Means moved back to Avondale Estates and bought an old factory building that backs up to Little Tree Art Studios. Dubbing it the Globe Arts Center as a nod to the Globe Chemical company that once occupied the building, Means has been hard at work transforming it into even more art studios.
Additionally, Avondale Estates is home to Fiber Parts, a fiber arts supply store that provides tools, materials, education, and community to fiber artists near and far. Also in the neighborhood is Garage Door Studio, which is co-owned by Singh and Rachel Herzog. Garage Door is a beautifully appointed shop that features local goods for sale in addition to art exhibitions, workshops, and special events.
I still recall the first State of the City address I saw at Wild Heaven Brewing in which Mayor Jonathan Elmore highlighted the arts and, in particular, the Means family for their commitment to supporting artists in our community.
The more I learned about Avondale Estates and its art scene, the more I loved it. As I moved into my role of president of the Avondale Arts Alliance, I started to look at the gaps in our art scene. And I set about addressing them.
First, we started offering free teen art nights, as I saw that many existing art workshops and classes either catered to children or adults, and not much in-between.
We hosted a zine making workshop and a haunted birdhouse workshop in 2023. We also got involved with WigWag, an annual music and art showcase held each May by legendary illustration and design shop Methane Studios that occupies a storefront in Globe Arts Center.
In July 2023, we decided to host an Artist Mixer as a way of introducing the new Avondale Arts Alliance board to the community. We organized the event at Banjo Lounge, a small event space brought to life by Banjo Coffee owners Chasidy and Billy Atchison. Now Vice President of the Avondale Arts Alliance, Brittany Smith opened her bookstore The Book Bird there earlier in the summer of 2023.
And so, we invited the neighborhood to come out and get to know us. In the days leading up to the event, we had many members of the community ask if we would show any work during the mixer.
On a whim, we decided to solicit for art submissions. Within 48 hours we received an incredible outpouring of interest and we pulled together a showcase of works by 23 local artists. Over 80 people came to that first event, and we were emboldened by the support from the community to continue these exhibitions.
Over the last six months of 2023, we hosted four art exhibitions at Banjo Lounge, a pumpkin painting workshop at Little Cottage Brewing, the first ever Waffle House Museum Art Show and Artist Alley held during their Waffle Week open house, and an outdoor exhibition of Latinx artists at Town Green during the city’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
Towards the end of 2023, change was afoot in our little city. Fiber Parts moved their shop across the street and set up inside the Lounge alongside The Book Bird. While we celebrated this new setup for our friends and business partners, the Alliance found that there simply was no longer enough wall space to host exhibitions.
We took a beat, hit pause on our exhibition calendar, and hoped that we would find a path forward to continue our exhibitions elsewhere.
In early December 2023, I was communicating with Shannon Powell and Ellen Powell (no relation) of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) about an upcoming Art and Wine Walk that we are planning for May 2024. They mentioned that perhaps the Alliance would be able to make use of an empty building that once housed the Finders Keepers consignment shop next to Town Green. Slated for eventual demolition to make way for a hotel and retail concept in its spot, it had been sitting empty since 2022.
When I read that email, my heart leapt to my throat. I think I wrote back in all caps with resounding glee at the idea. We met there the following morning and as soon as I walked through the doors, I was absolutely in love.
The space is a 4,500 square foot tudor-style freestanding building at the corner of North Avondale Road and Lake Street. It has one large room as well as a few side rooms that were formerly storage and fitting rooms.
We worked tirelessly behind the scenes during December to come up with a plan for the space as well as hash out details of the lease, which includes a clause that can accommodate the city’s eventual plan to move forward with the hotel concept.
In exchange for our flexibility, we have been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a beautiful new home for the Avondale Arts Alliance. We spent the month of January getting things ready, enlisting a team of dedicated volunteers, and completing some necessary repairs to the space thanks to the generosity of the DDA.
We raised money, hosted community work days, accepted furniture and financial donations, and started getting people excited about this idea.
On Feb. 10, just one day shy of a month since we signed the lease, we debuted the Avondale Arts Center with an opening reception for our first show, Neighbors & Friends.
The exhibition features 104 pieces by 60 local artists. In the mix are paintings, photographs, fiber artworks, sculptures, illustrations, an installation, and even an interactive video game piece. Our opening night party brought out more than 200 visitors over the course of three hours and was kicked off with a ribbon cutting by yours truly and Mayor Elmore. We sold $900 worth of art and heard so many times just how excited our community is for this new venue.
While the building itself is not forever, we believe that we can use this opportunity afforded to us by the generosity of the City of Avondale Estates and the DDA to flesh out a business concept that supports local arts through exhibitions, workshops, special events, summer camps, and to further our mission to build a community centered around the arts.
The Avondale Arts Alliance is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We are an entirely volunteer-run organization, and we hope to see the Avondale Arts Center become a business model that can be picked up and moved to a new home whenever the need arises.
The Avondale Arts Center is located at 84 N. Avondale Road and is open weekly during the Avondale Estates Farmers Market, on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Those who would like to keep in touch with us, to hear about our open calls for art, and to get involved with our vibrant and rich community of artists, please check out our website, give us a follow on Instagram, and sign up for our newsletter.
We are so thrilled to offer a home for the arts here in Avondale Estates. What a joy it is to become part of the tapestry of our artistic community and to provide essential support and a visible outlet for the great art that has always called this city home. It’s truly a lifelong dream come true, and I am so glad to be part of it.