Notch8 and Atlanta Contemporary: Two Atlanta Galleries on the Tracks

I think art is an "indicator species"  and indications are pretty good around here: A mature thriving gallery on the near west side and brand new soon to be thriving gallery in south Atlanta. Parts of the same scene I think.

The Atlanta Contemporary's long running "Art Party" fundraiser was on August 29.

Notch8 Gallery's second exhibition ever was on September 11. (You really have to be on Facebook to follow art around here.)

You probably haven't been to either: Great spaces all done up for shows. So...

I did a Terry's Tiny Art Show Video for each. I love they way they play together with 500 year old polyphony and modern ambient.

They play one after the other. You can just listen while you are doing email.



Notch8:
 
Great Space! Bravo Sharon Dennehy.

Terry's Tiny Tips for Art Shows.

1. Just go. They really appreciate your interest.
2. Don't try to "get" anything.
3. Enjoy the people. Most don't "get it" any better than you. Talk to them. Most are just as shy as you are.
4. Galleries have their own regulars who only see each other at shows. They are the ones talking in groups, nice folks who will know the answers to your questions, who can point out the artists.
5. Admire the craftsmanship even if you don't enjoy the art.
6. Look at everything 3 times. It's not always love at first sight. Imagine them in your place.
7. Be grateful if you find something you like or affects you.
8. Terry's special tip: Don't hog the artists. Help them meet everybody.


This one by Josh Feigert "got me" from across the room. I haven't the slightest idea why. I could totally imagine this at my house. I wonder if I'd like it as much the second time.

Your results may vary.

Eleven Months into the Church Demolition - Edging Granite

"With the benefit of hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a hot idea." - H I McDunnough in Raising Arizona.

I've followed the demolition since November 2012. It was all but inevitable but nobody wanted it. In 2013 we lost the J.A. McCord Apartments, most of Crum & Forster, and we're about to lose E. Rivers but this one hurts me more. But as performance art it's unmatched in the city.


Yesterday at the remains of old stone church at Hapeville Baptist. The men are trimming the granite matrix back to the corner.

Recapping:


This is from 1954. The portico was still there and the stained glass. Image purchased from the Atlanta History Center.



Fall 2012, though abandoned it was a stunning sight, weight and presence galore.


The southwest wall. The 1964 building wrapped around the east end of the stone church.


They couldn't go all the way to the edge without damaging the new building. Could they have sawn though the granite?


They had to do the rest by hand.


That's what they were doing yesterday.

Here are 47 seconds of delicate, choreographed jackhammer teamwork.









View Larger Map



I regret that few interior pictures have surfaced.

 
The scar from the old stone church.

Finding Spivey Hall - Its Pretty Side Faces the Lake

"Nobody" went to Morrow, Georgia until they built Spivey Hall.

It's a bold claim: "one of the finest facilities...in the nation..." and there is so much that fascinates about this small auditorium in Morrow, Georgia, south of the cultural centers of metro Atlanta.



Spivey Hall is a 392 seat concert hall completed in 1991 at Clayton State University. On June 29 I went to a free 11am concert culminating a choral workshop, about 60 voices accompanied by piano and organ. Brief expert commentary: They rocked!. Spivey Hall rocked.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the concert hall. You can find some here. So I'll show you a bit of the outside so you won't be surprised when you visit.


View Larger Map
Clayton State University is a low slung campus in a park overlooking lakes and ponds. Spivey Hall's curvy side faces Swan Lake. The curve houses the lobby and grand stair. The stage is on the street-side. The music school connects on the south.


This is Spivey Hall from the street. It does not express itself on the outside.


It's rather a shock, I didn't expect a brick box. But this is above average for the backside of a theater though most backsides face the back.


You really need the sign.


You enter to the back-left, there's a porte-cochère next to the comfortable entry.


The entry is on the second floor. The lake side is a glass wall, though it's hard to see the lake though the trees.


The entry is a balcony overlooking the grand lobby, the stair, and the lake.


They set up the lobby for an after concert buffet.

 
From the stair you pick up all the design themes, lake to the left, lyre themed balustrade, black marble floors (but not in the auditorium), faux-painted colossal pink columns, crystal sconces, blue rectangles on the walls.


The lobby feels bigger than it is.


It's quite comfortable, it's open with many cozy comers and niches. The outgoing and the wallflowers can feel good in here.


This is the view as you exit the auditorium seeing through the lobby to the lake.


I walked out to see the lake side. But it's so grown up you really can't see the pretty side very well.

Now that you can find your way I suggest you visit next Saturday for a Sacred Harp sing: Community Singing and Potluck Luncheon: Saturday, July 20, 10AM - 4PM. It's free.

Leete Hall 1922 at Carver High

I had no idea! I'd seen it at a distance but never up close until last Saturday. I was returning from Spivey Hall the long way, up Jonesboro Road through South Atlanta. A train blocked Hank Aaron at McDonough at University so I turned in.


This is the view you see in pictures, a Tudor tower on a little rise.

It's over the top in the very best way.



Carver High, George Washington Carver High School, is now the "The New Schools at Carver." But the main building we see today is Leete Hall (1922) designed by Alexander Hamilton and Henry White Jr.. In 1922 this was the campus of Clark University and Gammon College, now Gammon Theological Seminary I think. The colleges moved out of South Atlanta in 1941.


It's like a cathedral.


I was totally alone on the campus. It's not a huge place but I was overwhelmed.


I needed hours to spot the details.


Every corner deserved a closeup.


The backside is better than most front-sides.


Remarkable to see a cross on a school these days.


Now I know.


View Larger Map

Mahmoud Riad Wins 10UP, Shows at End-Of-Days Warehouse

Mahmoud Riad is a 3rd generation architect. After three years with Zaha Hadid in London he's now practicing in Egypt at riadarchitecture. He's @mriad83 on Twitter.


Maimoud won the Atlanta AIA Young Architects Forum's 10UP Award for 2013. The work is in the extraordinary "End of Days" building once used by LinkBelt Corporation.


His "The Dancing Harps"is 10 feet square and 40 feet long. It's a prototype for a musical instrument.


If you win 10UP you get a $1,000 prize and a budget of $4,500 to build your submission. The trick: You have to construct it 24 hours and deconstruct it in 24 hours.

I like it as sculpture. The curved blue "frames" seem weightless, ready to bend, flex, and perhaps leave the building. It would be magic if it made music but that wasn't in the budget.


You can see it for yourself next this weekend June 8-9, 2013 from noon to 6pm.

Lifecycle Building Center
1116 Murphy Avenue, SW Atlanta, GA 30310.
June 8-9, 2013 from noon to 6pm.


I must show you a bit of the building, It's east of the tracks from Atlanta's West End and west of the Adair Park and Capital View neighborhoods. Look east when you take MARTA to the airport.


The mural on the clerestory windows provides the nickname. Our graffiti culture knows this place.


The ground floor is about 50,000 square feet plus there's a mezzanine.


The rail cars came right inside.


Bridge cranes everywhere.


It was hot and cold and dirty and noisy work.


View Larger Map


Congratulations:

• 1st Place: The Dancing Harps, Mahmoud Riad – Cairo
• 2nd place: Cloud Caterpillar Mary O’Malley, Samantha Senn - Ann Arbor, MI
• Honorable Mention: Shining Anemone, Junsang You – Madison, MS
• Honorable Mention: Flux Capacity, Halle Hannaford, Jennifer Trezek, Mayur Patel, and Ian Reves – Atlanta, GA

Thanks to directors Nathan Koskovich and Nghi Duong and jurors Doug Hannah, Brent Amos, Gordon Beckman, Tim Frank, and Chip Clar.

Let's Help Save This Capital View 1903 Victorian Damaged by Fire

It's hard to tell from the street. After 109 years it burned on February 8, 2013. It's at 1474 Metropolitan Parkway at the intersection of Deckner (see the map below). In fact this is the a Deckner House in the Capital View Neighborhood.

Thanks to Pitgrrrl for this, more in the comments: "Hi Terry, thanks for this post! This is actually not THE Deckner house, but it is one of them. The Deckner house is located next door to this one at 1488 Metropolitan Pkwy SW and it was built in 1870, by Charles Deckner..," more in the comments below.


This heroic red roof and curvy porch are welcome landmarks on the mostly grim Metropolitan Parkway, Highway 41 south of the Dome. It's a sign of life, history, and hope for this part of Atlanta.

The Creatives Project was in the process of buying the place, turning it into an art and cultural center: The HeArt House. They are still determined to do it. You can help:

1. Get the word out. Share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Emails.
2. Find out about the The Creatives Project, one of many great things in Atlanta. It's easy on Twitter @creativespro @theHeARThouse and Facebook.
3. Help them out if you can.
4. Visit the house and Capital View in person. I'll go with you and we can explore Pittsburgh, Avery Park, Sylvan Hills, Hapeville, and the BeltLine while we're at it.

There isn't a perfect example of in intact, preserved Victorian. Folks have added on, replaced the rot, and lived here.


Ugh.


This is the view west from the front steps.

These few blocks of Metropolitan are the handsome, somewhat weary public face of Capital View whose quiet streets and parks lie mostly west of Metropolitan.


This is the view if you are heading north. Capitol View Elementary School now closed is on the left of this picture.


When you hear 100-year-old-Victorian, you imagine a preserved gingerbread masterpiece built for the gentry. It's not that kind of Victorian.


As you get close you can see the wear, tear, and repair of the decades.


Getting close enough to see the smoke line is a heart breaker to Architecture Tourists and everybody else.


There's a non-Victorian wing to the south.


The half-moon widow in on the rear of the south addition. The rear (east) side addition looks sturdy and practical.


Some joists and stud walls don't look too bad. I'd worry about the roof structure.


It remains a mighty handsome place. At 45 mph you won't notice the scars.


But you'll certainly enjoy the roof.


Park on Deckner where it T-bones Metropolitan from the west.


You'll be rewarded with  "Young Americans" by Sheila Pree Bright, one of my favorites for Living Walls, 2012.

Find your way:

View Larger Map