The Spruill Gallery’s final exhibition of 2026, Material Poesy, opens September 24 and
features works by Atlanta-based artists Johanna Flores, Ato Ribeiro, and Ivy Wu, according to an announcement from the organization.

The exhibition runs through October 29 with an opening reception on Sept. 25 from 6-9 p.m. and an artists’ talk event on Oct. 11 at 2 p.m.

“I am thrilled to close out a successful year by presenting the work of these artists,” said Spruill Gallery’s outgoing Director Shannon Morris. “Flores, Ribeiro, and Wu each
contribute meaningfully to Atlanta’s growing art community, and it was my pleasure to work with them to present the visual poetry collectively shared through their works.”

The title Material Poesy was chosen by the artists to represent the poetic intent of their artistic practices and the diverse range of materials – clay, wood, and paint – they utilize to express poetic concepts.

Johanna Flores

Flores’ work has been exhibited at several institutions, including the American Museum of Ceramic Art in California and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta. She holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design in Product Design and Ceramics, and she is a 2025 recipient of a creative residency at Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap.

Ato Ribeiro

Ato Ribeiro is a multidisciplinary artist working in a variety of media, including sculptural installation, drawing, and printmaking. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent the formative years of his life in Accra, Ghana, before relocating to Atlanta, where he has recently been a member of the Studio Artist Program at Atlanta Contemporary

Ribeiro was a 2024 Louis Comfort Tiffany Founation Biennial Grant Awardee and a 2022 Atlanta Artadia Awardee. He served as a 2024 Artist in Residence at the Fountainhead Residency and has received fellowships at the Musuem of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), the Vermont Studio Center, and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture.

His work is in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Phoenix Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, and the Mercedes-Benz USA Headquarters, among others.

He earned his BA from Morehouse College in Atlanta, and his MFA in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Ivy Wu

Ivy Wu is a contemporary artist whose paintings arise from a dialogue between Eastern tradition and Western abstraction, where gestures become both language and emotion. Wu’s immigration to the United States from Shanghai in 2013 informs her practice as she navigates between distant and intertwined identities.

Wu’s work is held in private, public, and corporate collections in North America, Asia, and Europe, including the Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, American International Group Inc., New York, NY; HSF Kramer; Sense Time Group Inc.; and Savannah College of Art and Design Museum, Savannah.

She exhibits work nationally and internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia; the AAPI Talents Exhibition at the Coca-Cola Company; the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta; the Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York; the Shanghai Painting and Sculpture Art Institute Museum, Shanghai; the Kenna Xu Gallery, Shenzhen; and West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai.

Her work is awarded by the Savannah College of Art and Design, and her work is featured in publications such as Whitewall Art Magazine, ARTNET, Visionary Artistry Magazine, and others.

Wu serves as an assistant professor of art at Kennesaw State University. She holds an MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design and lives and creates in Atlanta.

Additional information about Material Poesy can be found on the Spruill website.

This report was compiled and written by Rough Draft Atlanta's staff.