The art of a second look
Wednesday, April 22 — There is a kind of seeing that many of us never learn. It is a way of looking at a broken CD, a scrap of plastic, a painting that didn’t pan out, a bottle fragments buried under decades of decay — and seeing not what is, but what could still be.
This week’s Sketchbook features two stories about that kind of vision.
In Sandy Springs, Cathy Ehrler and Kathy Rennell Forbes opened “Unexpected Reclamations” this week at Abernathy Arts Center, showcasing how they turned discarded materials and failed projects into new artistic expression.
Further northwest in Summerville, GA, the Paradise Garden Foundation has started the slow, careful work of bringing Howard Finster’s Mosaic Garden back into view — one found fragment at a time.
Each asks us to consider the idea that what we throw away, or neglect, or give up on, is rarely as finished as we think.
When was the last time you found art in the unexpected?
—Sherri Daye Scott
Trash becomes treasure
🚯 One artist builds from broken CDs and discarded plastic. Another turns her failed paintings into handmade paper. In their new joint Abernathy Arts Center show, “Unexpected Reclamations,” the results are anything but throwaway.
➡️ Explore the pairs’ reclamation work.
Posters in Action at MODA
SPONSORED BY MUSEUM OF DESIGN ATLANTA
🪧 Posters are how ideas go public.
Every two years, the U.S. International Poster Biennial gathers the best from around the world. This year’s prize winners and jury selections – drawn from 11,800 submissions across 93 countries – are on view now at MODA. Work that takes on social issues, amplifies cultural events, advocates for America’s National Parks, and explores what the poster becomes in digital form.
➞ Public Notice: The 2025 U.S. International Poster Biennial. Open Wed.- Sun., 12–7 p.m. Closes May 22.
Restoring Howard Finster’s vision
👷♀️ Decades of decay have slowly obscured the concrete walls, sculpted faces and embedded objects of Howard Finster’s Mosaic Garden. A small team is now cleaning it by hand – and what’s coming back into view is extraordinary.
➡️ See what the Paradise Garden Foundation is uncovering.
Art Happenings
✏️ Still Life: Figure Drawing + Photography | 8-11 p.m., tonight | Railroad Atlanta.
🏺 Elemental Vessels by Jena Dost | 6-8 p.m, Apr. 23 | DWR Atlanta.
💵 AIN’T LIFE GRAND Group Exhibition Opening | 7-11 p.m., Apr. 24 | Railroad ATL.
🐉 Chinatown Art Market | 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Apr. 25 | Atlanta Chinatown.
🎨 Carroll Street Takeover | 4-9 p.m., Apr. 25 | Stacks Squares.
🧑🧑🧒🧒 Contemporary Kids Art Workshop with Makiko Maekawa | 12-2 p.m., Apr. 26 | Atlanta Contemporary.
Post of the Week
⚢ @gawomeninthearts is celebrating the women artists, like @amandaplatner, who filled Atlanta Contemporary’s Open Studios last Thursday – and the roster is worth knowing. Eight Atlanta-based women artists, one room, no ceiling.
🌙 When the sun sets, Oakland Cemetery lights up for illumine, Oakland’s after-dark arts event. Experience this light-centered interactive exhibit in a gallery unlike any in Atlanta. Featuring new locations and artists, including illumine’s first posthumous artist. Learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
