Perhaps it is my affinity for shiny things, like Christmas lights, but I was really charmed when I saw the inventive way The Goat Farm was decorated for Burnaway’s Inaugural Fundraiser. An immobile forklift was turned into part of the DJ booth, the large pillars found outside were placed in a circle and wrapped with tension wire to hang the art, the blue movie chairs were creatively piled with the rusted agriculture tools to create a division wall, and everything was ornamented with lights. The combination of the rustic backdrop of the Goat Farm and the delicate lights created an enchanting atmosphere.
What started out as an exhibit featuring artists’ maps of neighborhoods in Atlanta quickly grew into a fundraiser for Burnaway featuring DJ’s, archival film footage played on a projector, a geo-tagged sound installation, food from King of Pops, Farm Cart and a “Celebrity Bake Sale” with autographed cookies available by Thomas Wheatley. Bake sale favorites included delicious interpretations of streets like Ponce De Leon (featuring shout outs to Murder Kroger and Blondie), and Atlanta mascots like Willy B, Izzy and my personal favorite Bicycle Shorts Man.
Susannah Darrow and Christa Tinsley Spaht curated the show, titled Lot and Parcel: Artists Map Atlanta, which explored the relationship between artists and their neighborhood. Susannah explained that they wanted to use specific areas because of the strong ties that Atlanta residents have to their neighborhoods. They asked artists to portray a neighborhood that was meaningful for them. The show included a number of artists including Karen Tauches, Kombo Capfika, Whitney Stansell, Jane Kerr, People of Resource, Julia Farrill and Allen Peterson. Prints are still available by contacting BurnAway. Some of my favorites included the Misinformation piece by Gregor Turk, Lee Tesche’s interpretation of Edgewood and The Paliofax Legend’s interpretation of Downtown.
Susannah Darrow and Jeremy Abernathy created Burnaway two years ago. After realizing that they all had similar art blogs, they combined forces and created Burnaway. It quickly snowballed into the loved art blog it is today.
Photo Credit: Jason Travis
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