Hush Y'all: Libraries combine so many of my favorite things: books, microfiche, free Internet access, women in glasses, people being quiet. The Top of the Stairs Gallery adds rotating art shows to this already impressive list, with exhibits traveling from the Peachtree branch of Atlanta-Fulton County to the Athens-Clarke County Library every month. Currently on display are three seriously beautiful works on paper by Rebecca Brantley. Brantley, a recent graduate of the art history masters program at the Lamar Dodd School of Art and an instructor in local universities, has led a secret double-life as a compelling painter for some time. The pieces on display at the library combine so many of my favorite things about abstraction: thin and delicate washes of color, a meandering, quirky sense of line, an unforced and natural biomorphism, and not-so-subtle references to the human body. I vividly remember a show of Brantley’s I encountered over two years ago in the now-defunct Clayton Street Gallery above Frameworks, where over a dozen similar works surrounded viewers in all their lush intensity. If only there were space for more than three at the Top of the Stairs—Brantley’s luscious paintings sing and demand to be heard.

At the Top of More Stairs: This time at Speakeasy on Broad, are quite a few of Will Eskridge’s paintings. A combination of landscapes, still-lifes and figurative oils on canvas, there’s something here for everyone. Particularly nice, and which I personally found myself drawn to, were the pieces foregrounding figures. They’re rendered with such a wonderfully strange sensibility that they’re somehow absorbing. The landscapes and still-lifes, although boldly and vibrantly executed, were somehow lacking in the unique visual language of Eskridge's figurative work—nice, but not necessarily demanding of one’s full attention. At least, that’s what I thought when turning to leave and was stopped dead in my tracks by a thick painting of shrimp on a plate to the left of the bar. The piles of paint sitting wetly on top of the small canvas were somehow so utterly… shrimpish that I couldn’t stop looking at it. You’ll have to see it for yourself and get back to me on this one.

Seconds, Please: If you happened to read my recent retrospective of the Athens art highlights of 2009 in these pages two weeks ago, you may remember the praises I generously heaped upon Athens painter Andy Cherewick and his show at ATHICA this past September; it was a stunner, believe me. Those works, coupled with several new pieces, are currently on display again downtown at the Last Resort Grill—lucky you! Granted, the clean white walls and tall ceilings of ATHICA prove ultimately to be a more optimal venue for viewing Cherewick’s work, but great paintings are, after all, great paintings, no matter the setting. The verdict? Go for the salmon and grits, but stay for the brushwork and subtlety of color shifts.

Two Lines Converge: I was unfamiliar with Hudson and Rand Lines, two brothers whose photographs I went to check out at White Tiger Gourmet on Hiawassee Avenue. The show, entitled “Morning Gravy” features entirely square-format photographs, each isolating a single moment in mostly unpopulated landscapes, to create small windows of silence. I have a confession to make about photography: I have little language to discuss it formally, as I personally know almost nothing about its technical processes. Furthermore, I aim to keep it that way—so that I can continue to enjoy a medium which is, and shall remain, a complete mystery to me. That said, the Lines brothers' photographs are intimate and beautiful snapshots that held my gaze despite the rapidly growing lunch crowd around me. A focus on a singular event inside each landscape somehow negates the landscape’s specific place —these photographers are clearly able to capture moments of this sort wherever they may be. I was surprised to learn, on examining the tags, that these locations include Athens, Brooklyn, Maine, Iceland, etc. Despite the disparity of place, not to mention the fact that these are photos by two different people, the unity of vision is astonishing. The exhibit’s website (morninggravy.com) cites the fact that "Morning Gravy" is the brothers' “first, and probably last, exhibition together.” Please guys, don’t let this be the case.

Other Events of Note: Collaborative artists Amy Flurry and Nikki Salk have designed a series of gorgeous paper wigs and headgear that are steadily making their way all over design blogs across the Internet, not to mention in high-end boutiques Jeffrey Atlanta and Jeffrey New York. Follow their progress via the project’s website www.paper-cut-project.com.

A number of Athens artists are currently showing their work in "Professori di Cortona," an exhibition on view at the Chastain Arts Center in Atlanta. The work represents various art faculty who have taught for the 40-year-old UGA study abroad program in Cortona, Italy. This show corresponds with an exhibition of student work from the past year, all created in Cortona, on display at the Lamar Dodd School of Art.

Also, this coming Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. ATHICA curator Lizzie Zucker Saltz will be joined by essayist Mary Jessica Hammes for a walkthrough and discussion of "Nurture," the current exhibition of Amy Jenkins video and photography on view at ATHICA. Admission is free and open to the public, and more information is available at www.athica.org. Look for a review of the show in the next edition of Art Notes. But in the meantime, be sure to see it yourself.

Brian Hitselberger