Hagedorn Foundation Gallery has two exhibitions up at the moment which were reviewed by Cinque Hicks in the current issue of Creative Loafing.

“Both exhibitions are affiliated with the National Black Arts Festival, the annual summer multi-arts fest whose visual arts offerings this year hit and miss in equal measure. Curating a show around an identity element inevitably risks ghettoizing its artists and oversimplifying its subject matter. But Hagedorn nimbly sidesteps this trap by chronicling timeless themes of relationships and the people with whom we share our space.”

LaToya Ruby Frazier @ Hagedorn Foundation Gallery

Athens photographer Carl Martin opens at Opal Gallery on August 20th.

Jerry Siegel‘s new show “Now and Then: Snapshots of the South” opens at the Columbus Museum on Thursday night, August 13th.

See jacksonfineart.com for more info.

Recently profiled in the New York Times (“Trolling for Strangers to Befriend“) Alec Soth’s new exhibition “Black Line of Woods” at the High Museum opens this Saturday, August 8th. Mr. Soth spoke as part of ACP’s Lecture Series in 2007. (Here’s an interview with Mr. Soth on the evening of his ACP lecture.)

Mr. Soth’s exhibition will be on view in October, during ACP, and the show at the High is the first event in this year’s ACP Festival Guide, which will be ordered by date this year. Are you ready for more than 150 events this fall? ; )

From the Times:

“Today Mr. Soth, who lives with his wife and two children in Minneapolis, projects an affable kind of Midwestern demeanor beneath a thick beard and baseball cap. He said he felt fortunate to have found success doing the thing he loves, but also discomfort with the glare of exposure.

That ambivalence plays a role in his new exhibition, “Black Line of Woods,” opening next Saturday at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which explores the idea of retreating from the world through the habitats of monks, hermits and survivalists. It’s part of the museum’s “Picturing the South” series, for which photographers are invited to make a body of work responding in some way to the region.

The High’s curator of photography, Julian Cox, said he had thought Mr. Soth would be a natural for the commission based on the lyrical sensibility of his pictures from the Southern leg of “Sleeping by the Mississippi” and approached him in 2007. “He follows his own nose without a carefully choreographed plan, which is reflected in most every project he’s done,” Mr. Cox said. “His work doesn’t betray any direct influence of Robert Frank or other major figures in that idiom of the American road trip, but it’s a huge part of how he operates.”

Alec Soth
American, born 1969
F. P., Resaca, Georgia, 2006
Inkjet print
Commissioned with funds from Photo Forum and the Friends of Photography, 2009.16
© Alec Soth

Great to see two shows opening at Hagedorn Foundation Gallery tomorrow night, at 5pm. Documents: City Life, featuring Dawoud Bey, Paul D’Amato, Wayne Miller & Malick Sidibe; plus The Notion of Family, from LaToya Ruby Frazier. Later this fall, Frazier will be giving an artist’s lecture on Sept. 24th, a participating event in Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

Nicole Akstein is going to Brazil to teach children photography, and is having a fundraiser this Saturday night, at Pal’s Lounge. Click the image for details. Questions? Ask kim@nomadmarketingagency.com

Opening Reception: Saturday July 18th 2009, 7-10pm
Followed at 10pm by live music from ILL
http://www.compositiongallery.com/

At APG on 7:30pm Wednesday, July 15th, a discussion with Chip Simone.

“Although this conversation is open to all, the topic is intended primarily for those who have made, or are considering making a, serious commitment to creative photography as a life-long pursuit. This conversation, the first in an occasional series, will speak to the nature of the search for a personal vision, the emotional and personal risks involved, and the issues of artistic evolution. The discussion will be candid, frank and revealing. It may even get intense.”

Octane Coffee is seeking submissions for its “iPhone aRt sHow” to benefit ATAC.

Snapdragon Photography Gallery

Local photographer Bill Chamberlain, who exhibited during ACP 10 at A Novel Experience in Zebulon, has an exhibit currently up at the Buckhead Library through July 2nd, and he’s giving an artist’s talk this Saturday, the 27th, with a reception at 11:30am.

June 5-July 2, 2009
W.A. Chamberlain – “Fading Fast – Disappearing Southern Rural Architecture”
Photography Exhibit at the Buckhead Library

June 27, 2009, Sat. Reception 11:30 – 1:30
In the Library Community Room
Artist presentation – 12:15PM
“Legacy of Eudora Welty, Walker Evans & Contemporaries”

Library Address: 269 Buckhead Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30305
Tel. 404-814-3500
Hours: Mon. & Wed. 10AM – 8PM, Tues & Thurs. 10 AM – 6PM
Fri. & Sat. 11AM – 6PM, Sunday Closed.

July 9th, and July 11th, Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier teaches two classes at the Center for Lifelong Learning at Emory about discovering art in Atlanta, specifically at MOCA GA

Evening at Emory is a program of the Emory University Center for Lifelong Learning committed to nurturing the timeless passion for lifelong learning through innovative, sophisticated personal enrichment classes for adults. Since 1951, the program has encouraged personal growth in an atmosphere that fosters creativity, discussion, and intellectual exploration.

Art: Discovering Atlanta (MOCA GA) Course Description: Georgia boasts artists who have risen to the pinnacle of the art world. Learn about who they are at a lecture and discussion on Thursday evening and then see their work on Saturday at the fabulous Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. We will tour the facilities of MOCA GA and take a sneak peek at the museum’s permanent collection. We will visit the ateliers of some of the many artists housed at TULA. If you don’t know who the artists are, then here is your chance to learn about the wealth of creativity in the Peach State. Come and learn about the wealth of Georgia’s artistic talent and their amazing art work!

Lumière‘s latest exhibition “The Color of Light”, opens on Thursday night, June 25th, with rare, vintage color work from the estate of Wynn Bullock (all shot on the newly-decommissioned Kodachrome), color photographs from Al Weber (who’s known best for his black-and-white work), and contemporary photographs from local photographer Laura Noel.

Wynn Bullock is widely recognized as one of the 20th Century’s most innovative photographers. His interest in the visual arts began in Paris in 1929. The work of the French Impressionists, Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray redirected his concert singing career to photography. He had over 100 one person exhibitions from New York, Chicago and San Francisco, to Tokyo, London and Paris. His images are widely collected and have been the subject of five books. Bullock’s “Color Light Abstractions” is premiering in this Lumiere exhibition.

Al Weber’s career spans six decades. He is internationally recognized for the breadth of his work and contributions as a teacher and mentor. Weber’s images have been shown in over 200 exhibitions. An accomplished commercial photographer, his commissions include work for Time-Life, Fortune and Holiday magazines. Corporate clients include Dupont, Kaiser, International Harvester, Eastman Kodak, Polaroid and Hasselblad. His photographs are in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, M. H. de Young Museum, UCLA, Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Ansel Adams Collection.

Laura Noel makes contemporary photographs that are inspired in part by the color work of notable photographers active in the street photography scene of the 1970s and 80s. Through much of her fifteen year career, Noel has explored symbolism in the American cultural landscape and addressed ideas about the national identity. Her work has been shown in over 50 group and individual exhibitions and is held in private and public collections.

A new exhibition from Deidra Tyree, Marlene Hawthrone Thomas, Karen Schacham, Yi-Hsin Tzeng opening on June 26th, at Studioplex.

Emerging Artists 2009 @ Spruill Gallery opens June 18th, from 6-9pm, featuring Jonathan Bouknight, Meg Aubrey, Susan Ryles, Rory Golden, Jason Kofke, Rylan Steele, Tina Han and Danny Paulette. ACP’s glad to see two participants (Rylan & Jonathan) from the ACP Portfolio Review have been included in this show!

© Jason Kofke

“Landmarks” opens at Opal Gallery on June 25th, and there will be a group artist’s lecture, moderated by Andy Ditzler, at Eyedrum on Wednesday, June 24th from 7-9pm.