Art Around Athens (and Beyond)

This weekend is another busy one for the art world in Athens!

Thursday, December 10, at the UGA Visual Arts Building, the Georgia Museum of Art will host a Holiday Shop and Book Sale in the lobby. The sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, the museum’s gift shop and the GMOA department of communications. The sale is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., December 10 and 11. Call 706.542.4662 for more information.

Friday, December 11, ATHICA will host the “Not So Silent Night” silent auction, with bidding on art, jewelry, weekend getaways, computer services and more. This is the second annual fundraiser for Clarke Central High School’s student publications, “Odyssey Newsmagazine” and “Iliad Literary Magazine,” so come out and support the students. The auction opens at 7 p.m. and will close at 9 p.m. and there is a suggested donation of $10. Visit www.athica.org for more information.

Also this weekend, Blue Tin Art Studio is hosting an art sale featuring affordable art by local artists Erin McIntosh, Sarah Seabolt, Denton Crawford, Craig Hawkins, Marie Porterfield and David Savino. The sale is Friday, December 10, from noon to 10 p.m.; Saturday, December 11, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, December 12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Friday, December 11, through Sunday, December 13, Good Dirt is hosting its Annual Holiday Pottery Sale. This is the 12th annual sale featuring functional pottery and ceramic sculpture from a wide selection of Athens-area studio potters. The sale will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Also, every Friday Good Dirt hosts a weekly “Try Clay” class from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and a “Family Try Clay” class on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. for $20 per person. These are great ways to experiment with different types of art, so why not try something new? Call 706.355.3161 or visit www.gooddirt.net for more information.

Saturday, December 12, Crocker Pottery in Lula, Ga. (6345 W. County Line Rd.), is hosting its Christmas Kiln sale. This sale features over 150 pieces for freshly made pottery by Michael and other Crocker family members. There will be face jugs, "pigs," snake jugs, grape pots, ring jugs, Rebekah pitchers, miniatures and more with Meaders and other North Georgia pottery for sale! Contact 770.869.3160 for more information.

Also Saturday, White Tiger Gourmet is hosting a holiday art market from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a variety of handmade jewelry from local artists and vintage items to choose from, along with some tasty treats from White Tiger. Visit their Facebook event page for more details.

Soup Studios (2140 S. Lumpkin Street) is hosting its annual holiday studio this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come and warm up with some hot apple cider and enjoy Soup Studios’ newest pieces. You can expect fun hats, clay and sterling jewelry, and an entire line of functional pottery. Call 706.340.1973 or visit www.soupstudios.com for more information.

Saturday as well, the Old Clarke County Jail (380 B Meigs Street) is hosting a free holiday open house. Charles Pinckney is opening up his studio to the public. You can find hand-crafted wearable sculpture, including earrings, pendants and bracelets, as well as unique furniture and decor. The open house is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 706.614.6115 or visit www.charlespinckney.com for more information.

Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, Carter Gillies Pottery (572 Nantahala Ave.) is hosting the Absolute Crockery! pottery sale. The sale features work by local potters including Geoff and Lisa Pickett, Jeff Bishoff, Jim Peckham, Julie Greene and Juana Gnecco. The sale is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 706.546.7235 or visit www.carterthepotter.etsy.com for more information.

Also Saturday and Sunday in Elberton, at 3558 Ruckersville Road, is the 24^th Annual Jeanne Mack Studio Open House, offering food, new friends, and plenty of great new art! Each year, Jeanne designs a new snowman print for everyone who attends as a gift of appreciation. When you buy art you’ll receive a gift, as well as if you bring cat food in support of Jeanne and Glenn’s cat rescue. The open house is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Call 706.283.5959 for directions and more information.

Sunday, December 13, Brick House Studio is hosting another Holiday Market from noon to 5 p.m. You can expect jewelry and various other handmade goods from local artists. Visit www.lamarwood.com for more information.

Art Around Athens (and farther...)

There is a ton of stuff going on this weekend, y'all, so you may have to pick and choose.



Today (Friday, Oct. 2), from 5 to 9 p.m., is a free open house in the Railroad Arts District of Athens, which has started a First Friday thing. Art and wares will be on display at the D.O.C. Building on Barber and the Chase Street Warehouses, around the corner from there, including works by Lou Kregel (the coordinator of all this), fused-glass jewelry by Annette Paskiewicz (see above), a hoop dance class at Canopy, and much more, including an art sale on the sidewalk in front of Mercury A.I.R. Click the link for a full list.



Just a little bit later (from 6 to 8 p.m.) and right nearby is an art opening at White Tiger for Casa de la Cultura, a pottery group for Latino women. The facebook page for the event says:

A brief history: Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture) was created in 2004 by a partnership of Casa de Amistad (a local non-profit that serves Latino families) and the Lyndon House to provide a creative outlet and an opportunity for support and friendship for Latino women. Since then, Casa de la Cultura has been offering free weekly clay workshops every Friday morning at the Lyndon House. Casa de la Cultura is an open group whose members are typically mothers of small children or women who work the late shift at the local poultry plants. Other members are our children, who join us while they are pre-schoolers and during the Summer months when they are out of school. We have also been lucky enough to have volunteer potters and non-potters offer all kinds of assistance: teaching workshops, providing technical help, giving rides to people, or just coming to make art with us. Our pots are sold in art sales around town. Artists are able to generate a small income by keeping 80% of the sale of their pieces. The other 20% goes to buy clay and glazes.

The exhibition closes with a Dia de los Muertos celebration Nov. 6.



From 6 to 9 p.m., a little farther away, is an opening reception at OCAF for two exhibitions: Profess, featuring work created by the art faculty from both the Oakwood and Oconee campuses at Gainesville State College, and Table’ de Art: Place Matters, an exhibition of placemats made in a variety of textile and fiber media produced by the Athens Fibercraft Guild. Mary Jessica Hammes had a great article in the Athens Banner-Herald about the latter yesterday. Both exhibitions run through Oct. 31.

Events start early on Saturday, with a Turning and Burning Day at Crocker Pottery in Lula, Ga., from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Click on the link for a map. This year will feature memorial exhibitions of works by Reggie and Anita Meaders, as well as a great selection of old and new pottery made by the Crocker family, many Meaders family pieces (from the ordinary to the very rare), unusual pieces by Bobby Ferguson and other Ferguson family members, and wares by Clint Alderman, Wayne Hewell, Roger Corn and other local potters. Michael Crocker, who sent out the email and has spoken at the museum's Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts, notes, "Many potters in the Gillsville/Lula area will be out displaying and selling their pottery on this day. Be sure to pick up a Folk Potters Trail Map while here so you can easily find them."



It's also time for the R. Wood Studio fall sale, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., which you can find out more about here.

And, that evening, in Macon, Ken Burns will be in town for the opening of an exhibition of the works of William Segal, which the Georgia Museum of Art hopes to have at some point. The Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences doesn't have a lot of detail about the opening or the exhibition on its Web site, but here is a link to Segal's obituary, which explains some of what his work is about.