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Monday, June 30, 2014

Five Atlanta Architects Build Their Own Homes

Five Atlanta residential architects will live their in own designs and I want to know everything.

I'm sorry to tease.  I know the who, the what, and except for one the where. But it's personal. And each architect can leverage the house, the design, and the story, perhaps get published. And publishers want exclusives.

I'll show you the before's: One occupied, one just started, one nearly done, one about 1/4 done, one a mystery.


Torn down. It's on a 1911 Sanborn® Fire Insurance Map but it hasn't had a future for a long time. I've toured the new one. It's a not so big modern that I really like.


I toured this one. It's clever, a 1,175 square footer build from a kit in 1971. It's been stripped of salvageable material awaiting the wrecker. The new one will be a "not so big" modernist but the architect is coy about the specifics.


The big renovation is underway. The is before, built 1925 about 1,700 square feet. It's the most interesting challenge. It had been ruined by home-brewed renovations but its craziness amused me. I'll bet they hollowed it out inside. It will keep this basic shape.


It's nearly done and it still looks like this from the front. I've had a tour. Inside it's spacious and special, bigger than a not so big house but you can't tell from here. Built in 1940.

The mystery house? The folks who know are keeping it secret. I presume they are going whole hog PR / marketing on it. I've heard one detail but they could be teasing me.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Sabine Woman by Dorothy Berge is BACK and I'm GLAD


I think this is the perhaps the best / best sighted sculpture in town. They'd hid her in the bushes for close to 20 years. I am unexpectedly emotional about it.

I ran into Gregor Turk last weekend. He told me they were "moving the Burge," said they spent three days just figuring how to take her apart. I needed to get over there.

 
This is "Sabine Woman" by Dorothy Alphena Berge (1923 - 2009), commissioned in 1968 to sit in front of 100 Colony Square at Peachtree and 14th Streets. See the map at the bottom of this post.

P1170547-2013-03-05-Midtown-Public-Art-Tour-by-Gregor-Turk-Phoenix-Flies-Sabine Sabine Woman by Dorothy Alphena Berge
Sometime in the 1990's they moved her around the corner to a little garden triangle between the 100 building and the W Hotel. They hid her in the bushes.

P1170549-2013-03-05-Midtown-Public-Art-Tour-by-Gregor-Turk-Phoenix-Flies-group-TK  Sabine Woman by Dorothy Alphena Berge
I got my picture taken with her last year, she's big.

IMG_7852 2014-06-24 Sabine Women sculpture by Dorothy Alphena Berge returned to Peachtree and 14th streets
Yesterday I made my way from the North on foot.

IMG_7858 2014-06-24 Sabine Women sculpture by Dorothy Alphena Berge returned to Peachtree and 14th streets
She's digging in.

IMG_7857 2014-06-24 Sabine Women sculpture by Dorothy Alphena Berge returned to Peachtree and 14th streets
Look at that curve!

IMG_7854 2014-06-24 Sabine Women sculpture by Dorothy Alphena Berge returned to Peachtree and 14th streets
I talked with these guys, they know they are working on something special.

IMG_7861 2014-06-24 Sabine Women sculpture by Dorothy Alphena Berge returned to Peachtree and 14th streets
This is how you see her as you exit 100 Colony Square.

57 second video.


How to get there.


Bravo!

P1170553-2013-03-05-Midtown-Public-Art-Tour-by-Gregor-Turk-Phoenix-Flies Sabine Woman by Dorothy Alphena Berge
Thanks to Gregor Turk and the Atlanta Preservation Center's Phoenix Flies for my formal introduction.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Field Guide to 18 Southeastern Arts Presenters - Thanks ACAC

There were: 18 Southeastern Arts Presenters at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center's "9/50 Summit: 2014". What's "9/50?" That means they had folks from 9 of our 50 states. What's an "art presenter?" Read on.



I met them all but I started to get them mixed up. So I made this field guide so I could find their URL, Facebook page, Twitter feeds, and maps all in one place.

They are in alphabetical order by state: AL, AR, FL, GA, LA MS NC, SC, TN.

There's a compact list at the bottom of the page.



Coleman Center for the Arts (York, AL)
630 Avenue A York, AL 36925   205.392.2005 Map
Coleman Center for the Arts on Facebook Twitter: @CCAYork
IMG_7691 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art  Center  Coleman Center for the Arts York, Alabama http://colemanarts.org/


Space One Eleven (Birmingham, AL)
2409 2nd Ave N Birmingham Al, 35203 P. 205.328.0553 Map
Space One Eleven on Facebook


IMG_7734 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Space One Eleven Birmingham Alabama http://spaceoneeleven.org/


Good Weather (North Little Rock, AR)
4400 Edgemere North Little Rock, AR 72116 Map
Good Weather galllery Facebook Twitter: @goodweathr
IMG_7664 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Comtemporary Art Center   Good Weather Art Gallery Little Rock Arkansas http://goodweathergallery.com/


Dimensions Variable (Miami, FL)100 NE 11th Street Miami, Florida 33132 United States 305.607.5527  Map
Dimensions Variable on Facebook  Twitter: @DimsVariable

IMG_7678 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art  Center  Dimensions Variable Miami Florida http://dimensionsvariable.net/


Locust Projects (Miami, FL)
3852 North Miami Avenue Miami, Florida 33127 305.576.8570  Map
Locust Projects on Facebook Twitter: @locustprojects
 
IMG_7698 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Locust Projects Miami, Florida http://www.locustprojects.org/


Ain’t Bad Magazine (Savannah, GA)
P.O Box 8444 Savannah, GA 31412
Aint Bad Magazine on Facebook  Twitter: @aintbadmagazine 

IMG_7724 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Aint-Bad Magazine Savannah Georgia http://aintbadmagazine.com/


Flux Projects (Atlanta, GA) 
Flux Projects on Facebook  Twitter: @fluxprojects 

IMG_7695 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Flux Projects


Dust To Digital (Atlanta, GA)
PO Box 54743 : Atlanta, GA 30308 : USA 

Dust to Digital on Facebook  Twitter: @dusttodigital

IMG_7751 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art  Center Dusl-to-Digital


ART PAPERS (Atlanta, GA)
1083 Austin Ave NE, Suite 206 Atlanta, Ga 30307
Art Papers on Facebook  Twitter: @artpapers

IMG_7720 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Art Papers Atlanta Georgia http://www.artpapers.org/


Press Street / Antenna Gallery (New Orleans, LA)
3718 Saint Claude Avenue New Orleans, LA 70117  Map
Press Street on Facebook  Twitter: @PressStreet

IMG_7665 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Comtemporary Art Center  Press Street Gallery New Orleans http://press-street.com/


Parse Gallery & Artist Situation (New Orleans, LA) 
134 Carondelet Street New Orleans, LA 70130 262.60.PARSE  Map
Parse Gallery & Artist Situation on Facebook    Twitter: @PARSEnola 

IMG_7674 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Parse Gallery & Artist Situation New Orleans http://parsenola.com/


Pelican Bomb (New Orleans, LA)
Map to a bucnh of New Orleans galleries and art space thanks to Pelican Bomb
Pelican Bomb on Facebook Twitter: @PelicanBomb 

IMG_7740 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Pelican Bomb New Orleans http://www.pelicanbomb.com/ https://twitter.com/PelicanBomb


Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, MS) 
386 Beach Boulevard Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 28.374.5547  Map
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art on Facebook

IMG_7717 2014-06-21 TK 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Ohr-O'Keefe Museum Of Art Biloxi, Mississippi http://www.georgeohr.org/


Elsewhere (Greensboro, NC)
606 South Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27406  Map
Elsewhere on Facebook   Twitter: @elsewheremuseum
IMG_7730 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Elsewhere Museum Greensboro NC http://www.goelsewhere.org/


Paradise of Bachelors (Chapel Hill, NC)
PO Box 1402 Carrboro, NC 27510
Paradise of Bachelors on Facebook   Twitter: @PofBachelors

IMG_7675 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Paradise of Bachelors Chapel Hill http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/


Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston (Charleston, SC)
161 Calhoun Street Charleston, SC 29401 843.953.4422  Map
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Facebook   Twitter: @HalseyArt

IMG_7660 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Comtemporary Art Center Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art  http://halsey.cofc.edu/


Seed Space (Nashville, TN)
1209 4th Ave S Nashville, TN 37210  Map
Seed Space on Facebook  Twitter: @Seed_Space 

IMG_7684 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center  Seed Space Art Gallery Nashville http://seedspace.org/


Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee (Chattanooga, TN)
752 Vine Street Corner of Vine and Palmetto Chattanooga, Tn 37403  Map
Cress Gallery of Art on Facebook   Twitter: @CressGallery
IMG_7705 2014-06-21 950 A SOUTHEAST ARTS PRESENTERS SUMMIT Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Cress Gallery of Art Chattanooga http://www.cressgallery.org/ 


Here's the short list in alphabetical order:

Ain’t Bad Magazine (Savannah, GA)
P.O Box 8444 Savannah, GA 31412
Aint Bad Magazine on Facebook  Twitter: @aintbadmagazine 

ART PAPERS (Atlanta, GA)
1083 Austin Ave NE, Suite 206 Atlanta, Ga 30307
Art Papers on Facebook  Twitter: @artpapers

Coleman Center for the Arts (York, AL)
630 Avenue A York, AL 36925   205.392.2005 Map
Coleman Center for the Arts on Facebook Twitter: @CCAYork

Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee (Chattanooga, TN)
752 Vine Street Corner of Vine and Palmetto Chattanooga, Tn 37403  Map
Cress Gallery of Art on Facebook   Twitter: @CressGallery 

Dimensions Variable (Miami, FL)100 NE 11th Street Miami, Florida 33132 United States 305.607.5527  Map
Dimensions Variable on Facebook  Twitter: @DimsVariable

Dust To Digital (Atlanta, GA)
PO Box 54743 : Atlanta, GA 30308 : USA 
Dust to Digital on Facebook  Twitter: @dusttodigital 

Elsewhere (Greensboro, NC)
606 South Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27406  Map
Elsewhere on Facebook   Twitter: @elsewheremuseum

Flux Projects (Atlanta, GA) 
Flux Projects on Facebook  Twitter: @fluxprojects 

Good Weather (North Little Rock, AR)
4400 Edgemere North Little Rock, AR 72116 Map
Good Weather galllery Facebook Twitter: @goodweathr

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston (Charleston, SC)
161 Calhoun Street Charleston, SC 29401 843.953.4422  Map
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Facebook   Twitter: @HalseyArt 

Locust Projects (Miami, FL)
3852 North Miami Avenue Miami, Florida 33127 305.576.8570  Map
Locust Projects on Facebook Twitter: @locustprojects

Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, MS) 
386 Beach Boulevard Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 28.374.5547  Map
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art on Facebook

Paradise of Bachelors (Chapel Hill, NC)
PO Box 1402 Carrboro, NC 27510
Paradise of Bachelors on Facebook   Twitter: @PofBachelors

Parse Gallery & Artist Situation (New Orleans, LA) 
134 Carondelet Street New Orleans, LA 70130 262.60.PARSE  Map
Parse Gallery & Artist Situation on Facebook    Twitter: @PARSEnola 

Pelican Bomb (New Orleans, LA)
Map to a bucnh of New Orleans galleries and art space thanks to Pelican Bomb
Pelican Bomb on Facebook Twitter: @PelicanBomb 

Press Street / Antenna Gallery (New Orleans, LA)
3718 Saint Claude Avenue New Orleans, LA 70117  Map
Press Street on Facebook  Twitter: @PressStreet 

Seed Space (Nashville, TN)
1209 4th Ave S Nashville, TN 37210  Map
Seed Space on Facebook  Twitter: @Seed_Space 

Space One Eleven (Birmingham, AL)
2409 2nd Ave N Birmingham Al, 35203 P. 205.328.0553 Map
Space One Eleven on Facebook


There's a nice 9/50 Summit Tumblr. and here's my Flickr album.


Thanks so much.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Meet Mike Lydon, Learn Tactical Urbanism in Sweet Auburn on Thu, June 19 at 4:15PM

Free Snacks tomorrow at Noni's. See you there?

"New Urbanism" rhetoric is a whispering game. I don't understand how "We're trying to do a better job in designing places people like," turns into a grand unified theory for solving all our social ills. I don't understand why trying emulate things that have worked turns into political religion with a strident rhetoric of smugness, condensation, and busybodyness. I don't understand why even the practitioners and city lovers at times have chips on their shoulders.

So...


The best solution to the whispering game is to seek the original sources like Mike Lydon, a planner, an author and one the most eloquent and straightforward spokespersons on street design. He and Jason Roberts from The Better Block are here in Atlanta working with the Atlanta Regional Commission.

You can meet Mike AND Jason on Thursday, June 19 at 4:15PM at Noni's thanks the the Atlanta Regional Commission, TSW, and the Atlanta chapter of the Congress of the New Urbanism.

Read more about the ARC Sweet Auburn project here: "...demonstrate what a Lifelong Community might look like by temporarily transforming two blocks of Auburn Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward into a place that allows young and old to live well and age in place.

P1110289-2012-08-18-Plaza-Theater-Living-Walls-Lectures-Gaia--Kate-Creason--Ellen-Dunham-Jones--Mike-Lydon--Gyun-Hur--Gene-Kansas
Mike has friends here. Remember him in the 2012 Living Walls panel at the Plaza?

Twitter:
@thebetterblock @AtlantaRegional @MikeLydon  @CNUAtlanta and me too: @terrykearns

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Quick Takes: 11 Moderns on Modern Atlanta's 2014 Tour

I barely slept on Friday night. I finally got up too early, un-rested but energized. It's easy to see traditionals and I love them but the Modern Atlanta Tour comes just once a year.



I had to be on Oakview at 9:45. I found my MA docent badge and my wrist bands. I wrote down the names of my fellow docents and hydrated. I put on my fresh shorts and my new seersucker shirt and headed out.

2014-06-07-TK-Modern-Atlanta-docent
Staffan Svenson met me at the door, gave me the tour and "I fell into a (modernist) dream."

IMG_6687
I abandoned documenting the houses and just took the tour dammit.

Oakview
I chose to be docent here because it seemed the edgiest. In less than a minute I found the place where I most wanted to be: Sitting at the back porch dining table with my back to the wall in the chair closest to the kitchen. THAT is a nice spot. The image that stays with me: Three bird pictures in elaborate period frames on a chartreuse wall, un-modern in the modern. A library on the mezzanine. They could open the whole back and the whole front into screened porches. The place seemed infinite yet cozy. How do they do that?

Corley
I'd seen it before, was it four years ago? I fell in love on the uncanny screened porch. Do I still love it? Yes, the porch still charms me as does the house. It seems small but it just keeps going and going in a series of switchbacks. Cutaways reveal zen views and light everywhere you look. I can't keep the plan in my head but I was delighted not confused. It's for sale.

IMG_6682
I'm a fan of nearly outdoor showers.

The Pearl Street 3
I've been following these, three houses in a row by the same architect. I've only seen them from the street. When I set foot on the properties I found a sculpture garden. The three worked together. All three have the same ingredients mixed differently. Windows and porches placed and aimed to maximize light and privacy. Light took first place, privacy took a close second. Most memorable: All three were filled with people, the most flattering things you can put in a house.

IMG_6686
So straightforward, so flexible. Aren't these dining chairs wonderful.

IMG_6695
Sculpture garden with more people than an actual sculpture garden.

Sanders
The first two stories have everything. Up one more flight and you find the VIEW. The office / studio is up there and opens to the rooftop deck and the VIEW under the canopy. Praise to the driveway and parking pad too, so informal so unfussy. I'd rather see a car than a garage door.

IMG_6700
There's shelter from sun and rain.

IMG_6699
VIEW from the capital dome to midtown. 

Custer
Oh glorious flatness, stair-free flatness, complete grandma-friendly flatness. Front entry flatness with a sheltering roof for unloading groceries and loved ones. I think it's small but it didn't seem small. The only rancher on the tour. Can you do ranchers anymore? It's not brand new. It had a lived-in patina.

IMG_6707
Wonderful flatness that wraps around the pool.

Lorainehttp://dencity.us/
From the outside it's gigantic. There was plenty of room inside but nowhere felt gigantic. The kitchen has a dropped ceiling, it's cozy and so unusual in our high-ceilinged culture. The neighboring houses are most interesting in this half gentrified neighborhood, eclectic for now.  AND there's this:

IMG_6891
Period place in a modern: Bravo.

Welbourne
Comprehensible to me in a glance, I knew where to go and where things were, nothing tricky, nothing screamed clever. I made sure to be its docent so I had time to take it in. It's big, twice a big as my house. The backyard seems to be inside the house. But I felt the space rather than the BIG. I felt breathing room, light and wonderful family chaos. I want to live in the "office."  I bonded with the limestone. I hope they didn't mind that I kept ringing the doorbell.

ADAC
It's a familiar place. It's like someone scrubbed, polished, and waxed right before I got there. It's a showroom that shouts "inside." It would be claustrophobic but for the sky-lit atrium.

Lightroom
It's the iceberg with windows on McDonough. What I love is the totally flexible grand spaces without luxury finishes. Does everything have to be $300 square feet? No.

12th Street
Didn't make it. Je regret. Next year I hope.

IMG_6693
Backyard? Roof? Backyard Room?

Four words for modernist landscaping today: ornamental grass, slate chips.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Dude Working WAY UP THERE on Corey Tower

On my way into town on Dekalb Avenue yesterday I stopped on the connector bridge. Was there somebody up there? 


Yep, there he is. Read more on the tower below.

IMG_6526-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip
The tower is 300 feet tall.

IMG_6519-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip
Looks like they've just lifted a panel.

IMG_6519-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip-dude up high detail
Unhooking the left.

IMG_6520-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip detail dude working high
Loose.

IMG_6520-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip


IMG_6522-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip 
Walk it over.

IMG_6525-2014-06-04-Corey-Tower-smokestack-building-digital-sign-wip-detail-dude-working-high
There you go.

I hope he's taking some pictures.

Corey Tower to be transformed into giant digital sign that will be Atlanta's most glorious landmark forever and ever Max Blau for Creative Loafing

Structure of the Week: The Corey Tower Rebecca Burns for Atlanta Magazine

At Last! Corey Tower's Digital Billboard Has Arrived From Utah   Kimberly Turner for Curbed Atlanta

P.S. Say Hello on the Modern Atlanta Home Tour. I'm docent at Oakview on Saturday morning and at Welbourne on Sunday morning.