The Museum Installs Public Art: The Do Good Fund Teen Photography Workshop

Last Tuesday, June 7, two educators, one preparator and an intern from the Georgia Museum of Art took a break from the galleries to install a new exhibition on an exterior wall of Ciné, the local community-based cinema and arts venue in downtown Athens, Georgia (234 W. Hancock Avenue). This installation is the culmination of the Do Good Fund Teen Photography Workshop, in which a group of local teens learned about the art of photography through the Do Good Fund's exhibition of photographs by Southern artists. In response, the young artists created work to influence community engagement. In conjunction with Inside Out, a worldwide outdoor photography project, the display of eleven teen portraits honors the contributions of young adults to our community’s well-being.

Time-lapse video of the installation by Larry Forte

At the museum, we pride ourselves in preserving works of art to ensure their long existence for the public. For this outdoor installation, we faced a number of challenges that rarely threaten an exhibition indoors. The final large-scale photographs were printed on paper and adhered to the public wall space with a homemade wheat paste made from a mixture of flour and water. Although we always understood this installation was ephemeral and to last for one month, torrential rain and wind quickly disintegrated many of the photographs in just one week, with only two photos managing to stay intact.

But not to fret. The damaged work will be replaced in time to celebrate teen artists at the Athens Farmers Market on Wednesday, June 22, across from Ciné at Creature Comforts from 4 to 7 p.m. The public is invited to create their own self-portrait and continue the young artists’ message that, together, we add life to the Athens community in all of our beautifully individual ways.

Brittany Ranew

Education Program Specialist

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We are the next wave of thinkers, inventors, and astronauts; the ones who will make Athens proud. We are curious, brave, active, smart, shy, busy, loving, daring and different in many ways. We are the quiet ones with books under desks, the bold ones who stand up for what's right, and some of us aren't quite sure who we in are yet.

In these photos you can see our origins our eyes. 

Together, we add life to the Athens community.

Artists on view (from left to right): Piper, Crystal, Savannah, Eva, Stacy, Jessa, Kamron, Annesly, Tina, Umberto and Angelina

Contributing artists: Don, Madison, Michael and Sofy