Shelter Scenes: Spending most of her life in the small town of Tuscumbia, AL, artist Mary Wallace Kirk drew inspiration from her rural surroundings to create finely detailed etchings of a changing Southern landscape. Currently on display at the Georgia Museum of Art through Sunday, Oct. 12, “The Prints of Mary Wallace Kirk” highlights 30 of her works, including printed etchings, drawings, etched plates and watercolors. She was particularly charmed by country cabins, and her scenes show weathered but endearing homes, often shaded by thick, old trees and overgrown vines. Their patched roofs, crooked door frames, slanted floors and splintered fences reflect the hardship of their inhabitants. Influenced by her training at the Arts Students League in New York, the early 20th Century etching revival and the American Scene movement, her works neither romanticize nor exaggerate the poverty they represent, creating an objective pictorial record of a vanished past.
Kirk produced approximately 80 etchings between the late 1930s and early 1950s, at which point she switched her focus from art to writing, completing two memoirs that are illustrated with her etchings, Cabins and Characters and Locust Hill. Though she actively shared her etchings while alive, this is the first exhibition of the virtually unknown artist since her death in 1978.
Museum director William Underwood Elland, who is serving as the in-house curator for the exhibition, will give a gallery talk on Thursday, Aug. 14 at 5:30 p.m. Kirk’s etchings will also be highlighted during the museum’s quarterly reception, “90 Carlton: Fall,” on Friday, Oct. 10. The exhibition is accompanied by an issue of the Georgia Museum of Art Bulletin that features images and an essay by independent scholar Stephen Goldfarb, who has researched Kirk’s life and work extensively and who curated the show.
E6-ers: Several Athens cultural venues are joining forces for Athens Celebrates Elephant 6, a season-long series of exhibitions, screenings and events exploring the arts associated with the long-standing collective of creative spirits behind influential bands including Neutral Milk Hotel, Circulatory System, Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power and more.
GlassCube@Indigo will officially kick off the series with “N [] c t u r n e,” a site-specific installation by Dana Jo Cooley that combines her Appalachian upbringing, her skills in fabrication and her E6 background in prop and stage design. The installation will be on view outside the hotel from Friday, Aug. 1–Wednesday, Dec. 31. Other shows are upcoming at Lyndon House, University of North Georgia Oconee Campus, ATHICA, GMOA and Ciné.
Bold Bodies: If you haven’t made it over to see ATHICA’s summer installment of local, up-and-coming artists in “Emerges VII,” a great time to visit is during “Surfacing: The Art of Body Painting” on Saturday, Aug. 2 from 7–9 p.m. Melissa Biel, along with Cathy Newton and Betina Baily, will transform local models into living paintings by using their skin as canvases. Beil has nine years of experience in body painting and has been featured in the publications Tattoo Time Bomb, Inspire Magazine and Human Canvas. Admission is $5, and the event will involve partially to fully nude models.
Mystical Forces: Following last year’s wildly cool ATHICARDS—ATHICA’s creative playing deck in which each card was designed by a different local artist—the gallery is planning to release a tarot deck this December. ATHENS ARCANA: A Contemporary Tarot will feature 78 cards, each contributed by a different person. Many of the participating artists have already been announced, with the impressive roster including Jim Barsness, Stanley Bermudez, Margot Ecke, Lauren Gregg, Joe Havasy, Christopher Parry, Terry Rowlett and Lindsay Troutman. Decks and booklets can be pre-ordered for $25 at athica.org/shop up until Saturday, Dec. 6, when they will cost $30.
Room on the Broom: In anticipation of the annual Wild Rumpus Parade & Spectacle—taking over the streets of downtown on Halloween night this year—Hendershot’s Coffee will exhibit the first-ever Kids’ Rumpus Art Show throughout the month of October. To commemorate Wild Rumpus’ sixth year of abandon, this year’s theme is “HalloWitch,” inspired by Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac. Ages 6–18 are invited to submit artwork that features a witch in some form, possibly accompanied by a black cat, riding her broom across the moon, cooking at her cauldron, casting love spells or peering into her crystal ball. Since Virgo’s element is Earth, bonus points go to any artwork that depicts a witch working her magic towards the betterment of the environment. To participate in the show, find the event page on Facebook and comment that you have a piece ready to hang. Submissions will be accepted through the end of September. Any questions can be directed towards Master of Ceremonies Timi Conley at wildrumpus13@gmail.com.
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