4 Artists, 4 Artists' Collections in 4 Grant Park Bungalows

How do Atlanta artists "do" their homes? Who do they collect? Is collecting just for the elite? Are artists good designers? This was an architecture tourist 3-fer: Artists and their collections in century old bungalows.

It was the Burnaway.org Grant Park Artists Collection Tour, featuring the homes and collections of four Atlanta artists: Mark Leibert, Terri Dilling, Jonathan Bouknight and Katherine Taylor.

In this Atlanta season we have high profile tours: the Atlanta Symphony Show House, the Inman Park and Driud Hills tours. I do love them. But the Burnaway tour was under the radar. The houses weren't freshly renovated, redecorated, or staged, folks just lived there.


Here are two Burnaway "bigs" Susannah Darrow and Rachel Reese selling tickets at the season opening Grant Park Farmers Market on April 21. It was fine day for home grown food, Hula Hoops and home tours.

House 1: "I realized it could hold a lot more art."
The artist was a print-maker among other things and print-makers trade and collect their friends. Paintings, sculpture, folk art, ceramics, sense of humor. Art everywhere low and high. Cozy, comfortable warm yet plenty of challenge. The house's color pallet obviously curated by a color-wise artist. Public rooms on an enfilade on the west side of the house. First class design of master, family room, kitchen on the back. Narrow deep lot that bordered the SE Atlanta BeltLine. One of the most charming front-porch streets in Grant Park or anywhere.


House 1 had this black bird print by my neighbor Gena Spivey VanderKloot.


Irises in the pediment.

House 2: Child and Parent Raising
A corner house, a "must see inside." They were cooking up a late lunch. A bit sparser with a sense of big bungalow volumes. Art, prints, books, photos, maps, furniture with plenty of space left. An historic theme perhaps. Child's presence everywhere. Bright child art. Warm indestructible feel. The corner kitchen held furniture, not just kitchen cabinets. The 100 year old house had all the space necessary and the flexibility for several more generations of maturing families.


This wasn't in House 2 but...

House 3: Older, Quirkier Bungalow Goodness.
You don't see this floor-plan in the magazines. Early-mid career couple curated. Probably much more detailed than average when built. Shady. Evidence of glory then decline, then pioneer quirk, and much appreciation. Previous come-back owners clearly loved it. Every room a curiosity. Amazing furniture pieces. Some challanging art, a comfortable nude. Each hearth held a different gravel, I presume the originals were destroyed long ago. On an alley. There was a totem pole and mega-giant oaks in the back yard. My mind can't hold on the the floor plan: not odd but not everyday either.


House 3 window transom.

House 4: Young Artists with Space.
Focused on art, and making art and thinking about art and living in art. Hadn't yet accumulated room-loads of furniture so you could feel all the volume. The public rooms done as livable galleries. I got a personal tour of  the pieces. There was the most startling self-portrait of a friend done when she was 17 right inside the front door. A borrowed Shara Hughes set everything in spinning color. The stair hall had work hung knee-high, you had to look down. It also two red-spotted rectangles joined in a diagonal echoing the stair. Lace on yummy green background in the bathroom. Nearly everything stimulated.


House 4 window transom.

I think that this was my favorite home tour.
I was overwhelmed in the very first room.


Thanks Burnaway.org and Mark Leibert, Terri Dilling, Jonathan Bouknight and Katherine Taylor.