Made you look
Wednesday, May 20 — The invitation is simple: slow down and ponder. What happens next depends on what you see.
Take celebrated painter Amy Sherald, for example. Just before the final leg of “American Sublime” – her celebrated solo retrospective – opened at the High, she sat down for a frank exchange with filmmaker RaMell Ross about the politics behind her practice and the conversations they’re meant to spark.
Then there’s Atlanta artist Sanithna Phansavanh. For the fourth edition of Dashboard’s Alleywave in downtown Fairburn, he suspended 119 feet of community-colored fabric panels over a brick alleyway, creating a canopy designed not to provoke but to restore. “A Forest of You” closes May 24.
What has slowing down allowed you to see?
—Sherri Daye Scott
Beyond the frame
💬 Celebrated painter Amy Sherald sat down in conversation with filmmaker RaMell Ross shortly before her retrospective exhibition, “American Sublime,” opened at the High. The conversation covered the South, representation, Broadway, and more.
MODA Opens Its Doors Wider with Free Fridays
SPONSORED BY MUSEUM OF DESIGN ATLANTA
🎨 MODA is opening its doors wider. Free Fridays means free admission every Fri, 12-7 p.m., May 25 through June 20 – our commitment to keeping design accessible when it matters most.
During your visit, explore Public Notice: The 2025 U.S. International Poster Biennial, a timely look at the poster as design’s most democratic form. Make your own poster to add to the show. Browse the Design Shop.
→ Free Fridays is supported by Midtown neighbors HLGstudio and DAG Architects. Good design is for everyone. Come see for yourself!
Look up
✨ Atlanta artist Sanithna Phansavanh designed the visual system. Fairburn community members colored the panels. Together they created 119 feet of suspended fabric canopy over a downtown alleyway – and it closes May 24. Learn more through a conversation about forest bathing, railroad history, and why impermanence is the most poetic part of public art.
➡️ Take a peek into “A Forest of You.”
Art Happenings
🍎 State of the Arts & Wellbeing: Celebration & Interactive Arts Activation | 7-9 p.m., May 21 | Atlanta Contemporary.
🎨 Popup Art and Craft Show | 8 a.m.-6 p.m., May 22-24 | King Plow.
👀 A Deeper Vision | Alt Text + Art | 1-3 p.m., May 23 | Peachtree Branch Library. (pictured)
👭 Open Studio w/ ATL Art Gals; Closing Reception for Embracing the Frivolous | 6-9 p.m., May 21 | Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.
Post of the Week
👀 Atlanta artists @trudytranart and @krispyaki just dropped a debut mural collaboration – and the internet wants more. One portrait. Two artists. All eyes on what they do next.
🔗 See the post.
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
