Spring Break
Athens' galleries showcase a plethora of arts
BRIANA GERDEMAN
Issue date: 3/19/09 Section: Athens Living
Athens is well-known for its music scene, but the visual arts have a strong presence as well. Many shops in downtown Athens and the surrounding area double as art galleries.
Aurum Studios on Clayton Street has been open since 1975 and combines a jewelry store and an art gallery.
"In that time frame, quite a few galleries have opened and closed," owner Tricia Ruppersberg said. "I think it's a hard financial go if you're just a gallery, so we really pay the rent with the jewelry, and the gallery is just a wonderful side benefit."
Aurum displays mostly paintings, photography and some pottery and sculptures amongst its jewelry cases.
"What we're showing is the working of talented people making pretty paintings. Not tritely pretty, but paintings that have wide appeal," Ruppersberg said.
Elements Art Supply brings together a gallery and an art supply store. Originally located on Baxter Street, the store had a separate gallery space, but it has combined both in a new store on South Milledge Avenue, which owner Irene Dodge said has helped.
"We sell so much more work here now," she said. "For a gallery to try to stand on its own in Athens is very difficult."
Dodge said her goal is to educate people on the value of original art: "It's happiness, it's nirvana, it's nice. There's nothing like it."
She said she also hopes to help the artists, both local and otherwise, whose work she displays.
Good Dirt doubles as a pottery studio and a gallery that displays mostly functional pottery as well as smaller amounts of sculpture and jewelry. Owener Rob Sutherland said that the art is "made by hand, not mass-produced."
But this doesn't limit Good Dirt.
"Someone who wants to see world-class pottery can, and someone who wants to buy a new mug can," he said.
Where: 125 East Clayton St. Athens, GA 3060
Phone: 706-546-8826
What: Elements Art Supply Where: 2026 S. Milledge Avenue Athens, GA 30606
Phone: 706-546-1310
What: Good Dirt
Where: 510-B North Thomas Street Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-355-3161
What: Mercury Art Works
Where: 160 Tracy Street
Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-338-0548
What: Athica
Where: 160 Tracy Street, Unit 4 Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-208-1613
What: Lamar Dodd Galleries
Where: 270 River Road
Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-542-0069
For those looking for the opposite approach, it can be found at stand-alone galleries such as ATHICA and Mercury Art Works, both located about a mile from downtown Athens in the Chase Street Warehouses.
Mercury Art Works was founded in 2001 and originally had monthly exhibits, but now the gallery only has periodic events and is open by appointment.
Mercury differs from other galleries because it is "really trying to help foster the careers of artists," said co-owner Chris Wyrick, also an artist. "We needed a place where artists could be professionally represented."
ATHICA, the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, is a nonprofit gallery and was completely volunteer-run before receiving a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
"A nonprofit gallery is not a store; it's a place to experience art. Our product is the experience," Lizzie Zucker Saltz, the artistic director and founder, said.
Past exhibits have included voodoo dolls in George W. Bush's likeness and a gravestone with bits from Fox News.
"We're here to show the challenging and innovative projects that artists cannot often find a space for," Saltz said.
The Lamar Dodd School of Art Gallery on River Road is a part of the University.
"Its primary objective is to support the education of the students here by exposing them to artwork that they normally wouldn't see," gallery director Jeffery Whittle said.
But the gallery is not only for art students.
"We encourage the public to attend," Whittle said. "Since we're noncommercial, we can show art that's at times provocative, that can question what art is."
Aurum Studios on Clayton Street has been open since 1975 and combines a jewelry store and an art gallery.
"In that time frame, quite a few galleries have opened and closed," owner Tricia Ruppersberg said. "I think it's a hard financial go if you're just a gallery, so we really pay the rent with the jewelry, and the gallery is just a wonderful side benefit."
Aurum displays mostly paintings, photography and some pottery and sculptures amongst its jewelry cases.
"What we're showing is the working of talented people making pretty paintings. Not tritely pretty, but paintings that have wide appeal," Ruppersberg said.
Elements Art Supply brings together a gallery and an art supply store. Originally located on Baxter Street, the store had a separate gallery space, but it has combined both in a new store on South Milledge Avenue, which owner Irene Dodge said has helped.
"We sell so much more work here now," she said. "For a gallery to try to stand on its own in Athens is very difficult."
Dodge said her goal is to educate people on the value of original art: "It's happiness, it's nirvana, it's nice. There's nothing like it."
She said she also hopes to help the artists, both local and otherwise, whose work she displays.
Good Dirt doubles as a pottery studio and a gallery that displays mostly functional pottery as well as smaller amounts of sculpture and jewelry. Owener Rob Sutherland said that the art is "made by hand, not mass-produced."
But this doesn't limit Good Dirt.
"Someone who wants to see world-class pottery can, and someone who wants to buy a new mug can," he said.
ART GALLERIES
What: Aurum StudiosWhere: 125 East Clayton St. Athens, GA 3060
Phone: 706-546-8826
What: Elements Art Supply Where: 2026 S. Milledge Avenue Athens, GA 30606
Phone: 706-546-1310
What: Good Dirt
Where: 510-B North Thomas Street Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-355-3161
What: Mercury Art Works
Where: 160 Tracy Street
Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-338-0548
What: Athica
Where: 160 Tracy Street, Unit 4 Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-208-1613
What: Lamar Dodd Galleries
Where: 270 River Road
Athens, GA 30601
Phone: 706-542-0069
For those looking for the opposite approach, it can be found at stand-alone galleries such as ATHICA and Mercury Art Works, both located about a mile from downtown Athens in the Chase Street Warehouses.
Mercury Art Works was founded in 2001 and originally had monthly exhibits, but now the gallery only has periodic events and is open by appointment.
Mercury differs from other galleries because it is "really trying to help foster the careers of artists," said co-owner Chris Wyrick, also an artist. "We needed a place where artists could be professionally represented."
ATHICA, the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, is a nonprofit gallery and was completely volunteer-run before receiving a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
"A nonprofit gallery is not a store; it's a place to experience art. Our product is the experience," Lizzie Zucker Saltz, the artistic director and founder, said.
Past exhibits have included voodoo dolls in George W. Bush's likeness and a gravestone with bits from Fox News.
"We're here to show the challenging and innovative projects that artists cannot often find a space for," Saltz said.
The Lamar Dodd School of Art Gallery on River Road is a part of the University.
"Its primary objective is to support the education of the students here by exposing them to artwork that they normally wouldn't see," gallery director Jeffery Whittle said.
But the gallery is not only for art students.
"We encourage the public to attend," Whittle said. "Since we're noncommercial, we can show art that's at times provocative, that can question what art is."
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