Freedom in color
Oct. 16 — Atlanta’s creative energy moves in many directions at once, rooted in community, yet always reaching toward something larger. This week’s features reflect that duality by highlighting the work of Atlanta-based artists who are sparking connection and redefining space inside our borders – and beyond.
In Nashville, Dr. Fahamu Pecou gathers three decades of art and inquiry for “This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin” at the Frist Art Museum, exploring what it means to move beyond constraint and claim self-authorship.
Here in Midtown, Artsy Elaine and Sway Jones prepare for the Oct. 25 opening of Art Station ATL at Atlantic Station, where they’ll be turning a 1,500-square-foot studio into a living canvas for collaboration, color, and joy.
Together, these stories remind us that freedom in art begins with the courage to create and share.
See where you’re led.
—Sherri
Fahamu Pecou on Freedom and the End of Safety
🎨 Atlanta-based artist and scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou brings together painting, film, and philosophy in “This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin,” now on view at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville. Across such series as “End of Safety” and “We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds,” Pecou explores what he calls “the reconnection of mind, body, and spirit – a holistic treatise on Black being, becoming, and possibility.”
➡️ Read the conversation with Pecou here.
Be one of the first to see the next in an iconic line of murals!
SPONSORED BY SPRUILL CENTER FOR THE ARTS
🎨 The AMPLIFY mural competition, which seeks a new mural yearly to adorn the historic Spruill Gallery Smoke House, received a record-breaking 157 submissions this year! Finalists have been selected, and the winning design will be revealed on Oct. 25 at Spirits for Spruill – Spruill’s annual celebration of public art.
🍷 Enjoy delicious bites and sips, groove to live music, and cheer on the newest AMPLIFY mural.
Artists in Residence Bring Color to Atlantic Station
🌈 Painter and muralist Artsy Elaine and multimedia artist Sway Jones debut Art Station ATL, a 1,541-square-foot studio and gallery opening on Oct. 25 as part of Atlantic Station’s 20th anniversary. Their goal: to merge work and play, art and community. Visitors can watch new pieces take shape, join workshops, or simply be inspired by a place “where creativity is always in motion.”
Art Happenings
🖼️ The Portrait Society of Atlanta: Fall 2025 Open Juried Exhibition | 6-9 p.m., Oct. 16 | Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.
👐 Open Studios | 6-9 p.m., Oct. 16 | Atlanta Contemporary.
🤖 Ars Machina: Corpus Digitum / The Art of the Machine | 6-11 p.m., Oct. 17 | South River Art Studios.
🧱 Who Did That?: Public Art and the Walls of the City | 11 a.m., Oct. 18 | Williams Auditorium, Emory at Oxford.
🌀 Tina Johnson: Organized Chaos | 5-8 p.m., Oct. 18 | D Café.
Post of the Week
🖌️ The Art of Chinese Watercolor
@blooms.emporium is inviting Atlantans to explore traditional Chinese brushwork and technique in an intimate class led by artist Andrew Blooms on Oct. 25 in Chamblee.
➡️ See the post.
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
