Atlanta, all in
Wednesday, Sept. 30 — Over the next four days, Atlanta’s art scene is stepping into the spotlight in ways we could hardly have imagined five years ago.
🌟 The Atlanta Art Fair is hosting 80+ local, national, and international galleries at Pullman Yards, in addition to co-producing activations with 50 local arts orgs. The Other Art Fair is bringing hundreds of independent artists from across the Southeast together in Chosewood. There’s also the Atlanta Design Festival, with its roster of global design giants, and Atlanta Fashion Week, showcasing independent designers.
But a single weekend isn’t the whole story. The ground-level work that put Atlanta on the global arts map in the first place deserves its own highlight.
✨ So, for this week’s Sketchbook, I caught up with Allie Bashuk, creative director at Goat Farm, about the SITE festival returning to West Midtown for one six-hour night only. In its third year, the experimental art festival’s lineup includes 30 artists and art collectives representing ATL, Canada, and Europe.
🎃 Then, the team at Explore Gwinnett previewed ARTober for me. October marks the arts and cultural celebration’s 10th anniversary. Exhibitions, festivals, performances, and workshops take place across the county throughout the month.
These two Sketchbook stories point to something easy to forget: Atlanta’s art scene didn’t arrive at these global moments by accident. The path was built one local arts lover at a time.
How have you shown up for Atlanta art lately?
—Sherri Daye Scott
🕯️ As the sun sets over Atlanta, the past comes alive. Now in its 20th year, history, theatre, and Halloween thrills converge at Oakland Cemetery for “Capturing the Spirit of Oakland” Halloween tours on Oct. 15-18 & 22-25 from 5-11 p.m. SPONSOR MESSAGE
One night only
✨ Goat Farm’s SITE festival lights up 12 acres for a single Saturday on Oct. 3. Picture 30+ art installations, eight musical acts and one glowing pair of eyes shipped in from Italy.
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.
Everywhere, all October
🍂 Gwinnett’s ARTober turns 10 this year. In celebration, art events will be spread across all 31 days of October. Exhibitions will move from gallery walls into a brewery, take place on town greens, and make a stop in a former bank drive-through. See how the event has grown since its inception, and learn more about where to catch it.
➡️ Plan your visit.
🕯️ As the sun sets over Atlanta, the past comes alive. Now in its 20th year, history, theatre, and Halloween thrills converge at Oakland Cemetery for “Capturing the Spirit of Oakland” Halloween tours on Oct. 15-18 & 22-25 from 5-11 p.m. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Art Happenings
🖼️ Welcome Wednesday: Atlanta Art Fair Week | 6-9 p.m. tonight | Miami Circle NE.
🍴 Lunch & Learn Art Workshops: Mixed Media Workshop with Darline Stuart | 2-4 p.m., Oct. 1 | Peachtree Gallery, Fulton County Government.
👁️🗨️ Quarter Life Crisis Exhibition Opening | 6-10 p.m., Oct. 2 | Echo Contemporary Art Gallery.
🎨 Group Project: An Artist Talk with Miya Bailey | 3 p.m., Oct. 4 | Old Rabbit Gallery.
🦷 Artist Talk, Born With Teeth, Noah Reyes | 12 p.m., Oct. 4 | Ambient + Studio.
Post of the Week
🏆 First pick
@theotherartfair named Atlanta artist Jennifer Mack-Watkins @mack_jenniferprints its first-ever Atlanta New Futures recipient, giving the silkscreen and Japanese woodblock printmaker free exhibition space at the fair’s Atlanta debut.
➡️ See the post.
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
