Engage
Wednesday, May 27 — Some art stops you. Some moves you. This week’s Sketchbook considers both types.
Architect Amy Landesberg, folk artist Layla Ali Amar, and painter Sophia MacMaster all believe art disconnected from community has failed its purpose. Their joint-curated exhibition, “This is Now,” opens Friday at the Goat Farm Arts Center with the work of 33 artists on display, a letter-writing station in support of press freedom, and a community banner project – among other interactive elements.
At the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA students spent a semester with Thomas Nast and Winslow Homer’s post-Civil-War-era Harper’s Weekly illustrations. What stopped the students is the same thing that will stop you while taking in “Seeing the News in Harper’s Weekly, 1860-80” – conversations about segregation and citizenship brought to life through drawings.
When art stops you, what happens next?
—Sherri Daye Scott
Purposeful protest
✊ “This is Now” fills Goat Farm’s galleries with paintings on trans rights, large-scale photography of deforestation, and “City of Cameras” – a map documenting the spread of surveillance technology across Atlanta neighborhoods, layered with an artistic interpretation of the data. The work is urgent. The admission is free.
➡️ Move through ‘This is Now.’
Come For the Museum. Stay for the Shop.
SPONSORED BY MUSEUM OF DESIGN ATLANTA
🎨 MODA’s Design Shop is one of Atlanta’s best-kept secrets. Visitors say it again and again: best shop in town. It’s easy to see why. Every object here was chosen because it’s well-designed, whether elegantly simple or delightfully whimsical. Books, housewares, stationery, and objects that make daily life a bit more delightful.
Skip the algorithm. Come browse in person.
→ Located in the lobby of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) at 1315 Peachtree St NE, Midtown Atlanta.
History, handled
📰 UGA students came to Harper’s Weekly with little knowledge and left with enough to curate an exhibition. At the Georgia Museum of Art, their unfolding curiosity is now yours to share through “Seeing the News in Harper’s Weekly.”
Art Happenings
🖼️ “The Summer Invitational” Group Exhibition Opening | 6-9 p.m., May 28 | Swan Coach House Gallery.
🏘️ HOME v.2: Homeland Opening Reception | 6:30-9 p.m., May 29 | Decatur Library.
📸 Meet the Artist: Doug Sturgess | 2:30-5:30 p.m., May 30 | The Scene Art Gallery. (pictured)
✂️ Lynthia Edwards: Jumping Rope Artist Talk | 1-3 p.m., May 30 | Black Art In America Gallery and Gardens.
Post of the Week
Dax takes Paris
🇫🇷 Atlanta artist @dr.dax took over a room at @zoo_art_show in La Défense, Paris with “Be Here Now,” an immersive installation built from color, graffiti, and a meditation on presence. Every surface. Every wall. Every step.
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
