Art Around Athens (and Beyond)

If you're a decorative-arts person, you will, of course, be at Robert Leath's lecture tonight (7 p.m. at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education) as part of the Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts, especially considering that it's free and open to the public (thanks to the Georgia Humanities Council). The rest of the symposium, which runs today and tomorrow, mostly at the Georgia Center, requires registration but should be a great deal of fun, as always. If for some reason you're not planning on doing all that, here are some other arts-related events going on this weekend in the Athens area and a bit beyond.

From 5 to 7 p.m., the UGA College of Environment and Design’s Circle Gallery will hold a closing reception for its exhibition "Italia," which consists of photographs and sketches of Latium, Tuscany and Venetia by professors Brian LaHaie of UGA and Clark Lundell of Auburn University. Next up at the Circle Gallery, "Plant Communities of the Trail of Tears," a collaboration between CED professor Alfie Vick’s Maymester class and the UGA Institute of Native American Studies, which runs February 3–24.


Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m., the Madison Morgan Cultural Center will hold an opening reception for the exhibition "Myths and Legends: Works on Paper by Andy Warhol," drawn from the private collection of Wes and Missy Cochran, with a gallery talk by Wes at 7 p.m. The exhibition consists of 23 silkscreened works by Warhol depicting subjects including John Wayne, Teddy Roosevelt, Super Man, Annie Oakley, John Kennedy, Mickey Mouse, the Wicked Witch of the West and Greta Garbo and will be on display through April 2.


The Lamar Dodd School of Art is hosting two opening receptions at 7 p.m. for exhibitions in its East Campus building and an open house for the jewelry and metalwork department from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Cedar St Art Annex that will show student work from intro to graduate-level courses. Opening at the Dodd proper are "@LAST: Ceramics by Arthur Gonzalez" (through February 19; image above) and "Kathy Prescott: Translucent Fusions" (through May 7). We'll let the art school describe them to you:

Dark, somber and foreboding, Arthur Gonzalez's works encourage serious deliberation and reflection on the relationship between personal concerns and world issues. Raw in form, lacking in smoothness and rough in finish, the ceramic sculptures give glimpses of a conversation or a contemplation in progress. Gonzalez's creations of ceramic and found objects reveal visions and feelings that are not polished but ongoing processes of gyrating thoughts and churning emotions that threaten to erupt into reality and consciousness to defy the fantasy of a peaceful experience.

“Drawing with other people’s marks” is the way Kathy Prescott describes her transfer collages rendered on wood board. They display her reverence for images, whether masterpieces of Western painting, nineteenth-century photographs, examples of pastry tip patterns from Martha Stewart Living or advertisements for Victoria’s Secret lingerie and Spanish cocktail olives. Even though modern technologies might come to mind, Photoshop was never even considered here. In this era of digital manipulation of images Kathy’s work is stubbornly and programmatically manual. She produces unique objects that invite meditative contemplation and capture the sense of old photographs’ melancholy. Their varnished surface gives the impression of softly filtering the light streaming from within the images, containing luminous, superimposed, inner screens. Crisp lines suspended in white space lead one’s gaze to areas of graphic flatness or volumes modeled in shades of gentle grays. Taking away the exuberance of color is a sign of the artist’s preference for understatement and self-effacement, but it is also a way of making things more complex. These essays in white, black and gray emerge as a study of the dynamic between drawing, printmaking and photography.

On Saturday, Ciné Barcafé hosts the 20th Annual Mental Health Art Auction to raise funds for Mental Health America of NE Georgia from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

From 4 to 6 p.m., the Athens-Clarke County Library will have an opening reception in its Top of the Stairs Gallery for an exhibition featuring paintings by Mia Merlin. And at 8 p.m. Athens Community Theatre will host an Athens for Haiti Benefit. Admission is $5. Storytellers, dancers, musicians, teachers and an eclectic consortium of local artists have organized their talents for an exciting hodgepodge of entertainment to benefit a Haiti relief fund. There will be a silent auction of art, classes, books, jewelry, facials, antiques and more. A ways out of town, the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta is hosting its fourth annual print fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a great opportunity to pick up some great inexpensive art.

Art Around Athens (and Beyond)

If you haven't had a chance yet to see "Tutorial," the exhibition at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) consisting of works by its instructors, today (Friday, January 22) is a perfect opportunity, as there's a free reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Visual artists showcased are Maria Dondero, Monica Jones, Leah Mantini, Walker Montogomery, Peggy Pitts and Dave Smiley, and the exhibition is up until the following week (it closes January 28).



At the very same time and place, OCAF is celebrating the opening of "Heart & Soul,” an exhibition that showcases the work of eight black artists: Gwen Patterson, Harold Rittenberry, John Ahee, Margo Candelario, Margaret Warfield, Sammie Nicely, Warren Fletcher and Yvonne Studevan.



Tomorrow (Saturday, January 23), the Lamar Dodd School of Art will hold a closing reception at 3 p.m. for its exhibition of work created as part of the UGA Studies Abroad, Cortona, Italy, program in 2008. The exhibition is on the third floor of the building, and a a reunion of students and faculty who participated in the programs will take place at the same time on the ground floor of the building. The work covers the studio areas of painting, drawing, watercolor, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry/metals, book arts, graphic design, interior design and landscape architecture. Art history, art education, Italian language and creative writing students are also involved in the programs.



Sunday, January 24, from 2 to 4 p.m., as mentioned earlier here, Ciné will hold a free reception for the silent auction of works donated by local artists for the annual Mental Health Benefit. The actual auction takes place next week, Sunday, January 31, from 6 to 9 p.m., also at Ciné, but this is a chance to browse and think about what might look good on your walls. The images of art donated this year are posted online as well.

Finally, note that the undergraduate Art History Society at UGA has started a Tumblr, which you might want to follow.

Annual Mental Health Benefit at Ciné

The 20th Annual Mental Health Benefit, which runs January 24 to 30, is calling for donated art in order to raise mental health awareness in the Northeast Georgia community. The donated art will then be auctioned off in order to raise money for the awareness and prevention of mental health discrimination in the workplace and in society. In the organization’s own words, the money from the benefit will help “continue the mission of the MHANEGA by advocating for the rights of mental health consumers and their families, educating the public, and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness” (http://www.fightthestigma.com/Join-v-13.html). On January 24, from 2 to 4 p.m Ciné Barcafe is hosting the free reception. To view works of art up for auction The MHANEGA website also provides a brief mission statement:

Mental Health America of Northeast Georgia is affiliated with Mental Health America of Georgia and the national Mental Health America organization. We recently changed our name from the Mental Health Association to communicate how fundamental mental health is to the overall health and well being of our citizens: locally, throughout the state, and nationally.

We want all people to understand how to protect and improve their mental health, and know when and how to seek help for themselves or someone close to them.

We want our state schools, businesses, healthcare system and other settings to have the knowledge and resources they need to respond to the mental health of their constituencies and achieve their missions.

We want all Georgians to have access to high quality, affordable and personalized
preventative, early-identification and treatment services, when and if the need arises.

We want persons with disabling mental illnesses to receive the support, treatment and services that they need to recover and live full lives in their communities.

Check back on the MHANEGA Web site to see art up for auction