Art Papers magazine — the longest-running nonprofit art magazine in the United States — will end the way it began: as a community project.
Founded in 1976 by Atlanta artists as the Atlanta Art Workers Coalition, Art Papers started as a two-page printed newsletter, made by and for the people in the room. By 1991, it had grown into a national art journal with readers in more than 35 countries. Through 50 years, the mission never changed. Atlanta art lovers built it. Atlanta art lovers shaped it. And on Sunday, April 12, Atlanta art lovers will gather to send it off.
The Art Papers Issue Launch Party & Reunion runs 1 to 4 p.m. at Whitespace Gallery. At 4 p.m., the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable Band leads a Second Line Procession from Whitespace to the Art Papers office in the Little 5 Points Community Art Center — one last stroll through the neighborhood that claimed this publication as its own.
“Many of the arts leaders in Atlanta interned, worked for, wrote for, or served on the board of Art Papers. We’re in the DNA of Atlanta’s visual arts community. Art Papers was shaped by the people in this community, and it has shaped the community in return.”
sarah higgins, rt Papers executive director and editor
The second line was the idea of eyedrum director Will Lawless, and Art Papers executive director and editor Sarah Higgins says the suggestion landed immediately.
“We were neighbors with the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable for many years at the Little Five Points Community Center,” Higgins says, “so it also felt right to invite them into the farewell.”
A final issue worth celebrating
The event marks the launch of “Fire Ecology,” Art Papers’ final issue and the culmination of a three-year project examining the Atlanta arts ecosystem and the state of arts writing and publishing nationally. The issue features nearly 40 contributors, among them Tempestt Hazel, Cinqué Hicks, Maori Karmael Holmes, Rinko Kawauchi, Courtney McClellan and Siddhartha Mitter.
Higgins is candid about the weight the issue carries — and what she wants people to do with it.
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“We know that there are a lot of emotions tied to the final issue and to Art Papers’ closure. We feel them, too,” Higgins says. “But we want this event to be a celebration of the many accomplishments, including the final issue that might never have happened, but did. It’s really a bonus issue, one made to celebrate all that Art Papers is and was.”
She wants people to leave feeling pride — the kind that belongs to an entire community, not just an institution.
Atlanta made this
“Three generations of artists, writers, and arts workers in Atlanta have passed through this institution,” Higgins says. “Many of the arts leaders in Atlanta interned, worked for, wrote for, or served on the board of Art Papers. We’re in the DNA of Atlanta’s visual arts community. Art Papers was shaped by the people in this community, and it has shaped the community in return.”
That reciprocity is why April 12 is also a reunion. Past staff, writers, interns, board members and volunteers are invited as guests of honor. Remarks and acknowledgements begin at 3 p.m. before the second line departs.
“I hope they’ll feel pride,” Higgins says, “in being the community that made Art Papers the longest-running nonprofit art magazine in the US.”
The Art Papers Issue Launch Party & Reunion takes place Sunday, April 12, 1–4 p.m. at Whitespace Gallery.The event is free and open to the public. More information at artpapers.org.
