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In Atlanta, a New Arts District Catches On
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By Ben Brazil
Published: The New York Times : Travel
Photographs by Toni Hafkenscheid at the Marcia Wood Gallery. Last year it moved from
the wealthy Buckhead district to Castleberry Hill, home of about a dozen galleries.
Like almost any activity in car-dependent Atlanta, browsing the city's contemporary art
galleries normally involves driving - largely between locations in the wealthy Buckhead
district but also through midtown and elsewhere. Recently, though, the city's core has
sprouted a place to visit a diverse array of galleries on foot: the emerging
Castleberry Hill Arts District.
The roughly three-block wedge is in an increasingly upscale loft district southwest of
the high-rise buildings downtown. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the district
from either of two stops on the Marta rail system (the Garnett station and, slightly
farther, the Dome/CNN/Philips Arena/Georgia World Congress Center station). There are
about a dozen galleries and exhibition spaces - and various artists' studios - in which
art sells from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. Of the nine galleries with
regular hours, six have opened or relocated to Castleberry Hill, www.castleberryhillartsdistrict.com,
in the last two years. Another, the Ty Stokes Gallery, 261 Walker Street; 404-222-9863,
www.tystokes.com, converted from an occasional exhibition space to full time in 2004.
The area's art roots date to the late 1980's, when cheap space in rundown warehouses and
commercial buildings attracted artists. Atlanta's 1996 Olympic makeover accelerated
conversions to lofts - some now hip enough to serve as locations for films and hip-hop
videos. Still, a homeless shelter, a pawn shop, and a smattering of graffiti keep the
ambience urban.
"Everything is not neat and pretty, which Atlanta often tries to be," said Sam Romo,
whose romo gallery, 309 Peters Street; 877-615-3183, www.romogallery.com, has won a
reputation for edgy exhibits (like the otherworldly, often erotic embroidery of Leslie
Kneisel) since its opening in April.
Another arrival is the Marcia Wood Gallery, 263 Walker Street, 404-827-0030;
www.marciawoodgallery.com. Ms. Wood, who relocated from Buckhead in January 2004,
shows established and new artists working in a variety of media.
Castleberry Hill's concentration of late 19th- and early 20th-century commercial
buildings - relics of Atlanta's origins as a railroad town - helped attract Jason
Wertz. In April, he opened Wertz Contemporary, 264 Peters Street; 404-420-4342; on
the Web at www.wertzcontemporary.com. His gallery has been known for exhibitions of
contemporary African and African American art. But Mr. Wertz plans to diversify his
offerings in this new location, a former meatpacking plant and one-time livery stable.
From Wertz Contemporary, a walk beneath Peters Street's crape myrtles leads to
Skot Foreman Fine Art, 315 Peters Street, 404-222-0440, www.skotforeman.com, and
its Picasso etchings, Warhol screen prints, and other works by well-known artists.
Mr. Foreman, who opened the area's first major commercial gallery in 2002, plans to
eventually relocate to New York City, where he already operates a small gallery.
Every four to eight weeks, cosmopolitan crowds show up for the district's Friday
night art strolls - when galleries coordinate exhibit openings and several artists
also open their studios to visitors. At other times, the district can be eerily
quiet - except at Slice, 259 Peters Street, 404-588-1820, a combination pizza
bar/martini lounge. "We're not on the average person's radar," said Mr. Foreman
of the neighborhood. "But this has been one of the biggest differences in the
last couple of years: We've gone from almost underground to the hip, chic place
to be."
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