www.lisaalembik.com

www.instagram.com/lalalembik

Lisa Alembik is an artist, curator, and associate professor of art at Georgia State University's Perimeter College. For over a decade, she was the gallery director at Agnes Scott College. She is currently a PhD student in Art at the University of Georgia. Her work centers on how cultural and political ideas of home and nature often rest heavy on the female body. She is interested in how the minor, intentional gesture can address imbalances of power. In her most recent body of work, "From Ruin," through the process of painting her grandmother's vase in considerable iterations, along with meaningful props, Alembik reflects on diaspora, community, and the repercussions of war.

www.laylaamar.com

www.instagram.com/layla.amar.art

Layla Ali Amar (b. 1998) is a Palestinian folk artist and journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. They create multi-layered pieces using mediums such as ink, fiber, pastel, and paint. Their work uses abstract mark-making alongside Indigenous art practices to archive the essential history of their homeland. Their practice investigates the intersection between inherited trauma, archival history, and their Palestinian ancestry. Amar's work has most recently been exhibited at the Auburn Avenue Research Library (Atl, GA), South River Arts Studios (Atl, GA), The Dalton Gallery (Atl, GA), Rusha & Co. (LA, CA) Firehouse Arts Center (Bham, AL), and Atmosphere 251 (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). They have attended residencies at Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Jentel Residency, Volatile House, and Elf School of the Arts. Amar is a recipient of the Fulton County Arts and Culture Distinguished Fellowship.

www.zenithgallery.com

www.williambuchananart.com

William Buchanan attended Jackson State University in Jackson MS. and LeMoyne College in Memphis, TN. He also studied painting, drawing and design at The Peninsula School of Art In Door County, WI (University of WI. Ext. School at Green Bay).

William's work has been shown in selected group exhibitions throughout the nation, including Atlanta Life Insurance Co., Atlanta, GA, Homecoming: 20th Century African American Masters, City Gallery East, Atlanta, GA, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA, National Black Fine Art Show, New York, N.Y., M. Hanks Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, University of Texas at Tyler, TX,The Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN, Moorehead-Graham Fine Art Gallery, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, AR, 36th and 37th East Pilsen Artist Open House, Chicago, IL, The Hammonds House Museum and Resource Center, Atlanta,GA,14th Annual African American Art Exhibition, Louisville, KY, Depth of Meaning, A juried International Exhibition, Caladan Gallery, Boston, MA. and The Hambidge Center Exhibitions and Auctions, Atlanta, GA.

William's nature-inspired work has earned him multiple awards including a Hambidge Center
Fellowship and first prize painting in the 10th Annual National African American Exhibition,
Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Atlanta, GA.
William currently teaches private painting and drawing classes to young students, and reviews
art portfolios of art students seeking acceptance into the Governor's Honors Program at Georgia
Southern University.

www.antoniodarden.com

It is enervating to exist as a multi-racial man in America's South. In 1978, Antonio Darden's Indo-Trinidadian mother entered the United States by way of New York. With this action she exchanged her Caribbean/East Indian heritage for a less conspicuous pseudonym. Darden's mother met his African-American father at a funeral, fell in love and relocated to North Carolina. His mother bumped her ends, assumed a drawl, and traded curry for soul food. In 1990 she persuaded her family to migrate farther south to a suburb outside of Atlanta.

Spawn was a socially aware interdisciplinary artist that was raised by a concoction of Sloppy Joe and Memphis rap. Darden's work spans disciplines and ideologies, embodying popular culture, belief systems, and unmistakably, grief. Satire is his digestive and his research is in the response. As a lapidarist specializing in the onyx that is black family, Darden mines his own memories. He reconciles realities by redefining narratives and the splicing together of fragmented truths. He uses constructed objects, video, sound and performance to create experiential installations. Left is a diorama of Darden's mind and thought processes. He has been known to be the most vulnerable person in the room.

Darden earned his BFA in Sculpture from Georgia State University and his MFA in Sculpture from the Milton Avery School of Graduate Studies at Bard College. His work has been exhibited in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.

In the summer of 2022 he was named the Southern Prize State Fellow for Georgia by South Arts. He thereafter was named as finalist for the Forward Arts Foundations Edge award for 2024. His work has been collected by the City of Atlanta - Office of Cultural Affairs, the Atlanta University Center, and several other private collections. Darden's work has been reviewed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ArtsAtl.com, Burnaway.org, and The New York Times. He currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.

www.sandlerhudson.com/maggie-davis

www.maggiedavisart.com

Storytelling has always had a role in art, from the earliest cave paintings to contemporary realism. As long as there has been an identifiable image the potential for creating a narrative is present no matter the subject of the work.

Kandinsky was the first to recognize the potential of abstraction as a way to connect people to their feelings. He aligned his painting practice with the equally abstract role of music suggesting that color, shape, line and texture could generate similar emotional responses. Many of his early compositions were titled as musical works.

In 2009 while I was trying to solve a large-scale painting on canvas that was covered in competing color and marks, I discovered the narrative potential of abstraction. By scaling down the work I found myself imagining the interaction of marks, color and texture in the smaller works as a conversational process. I saw a parallel to the relational aspects of living life in general and how small narratives could be created with abstract elements.

My painting practice focuses on the narrative potential of abstraction. The compositions are constructed to imply relationships across the surface and through an ambiguous and fluctuating space. Exchanges between and among elements take place in a lively relational debate. Tension between the small vignettes and the overall painting confounds a rational reading of the work.

Lush vibrant color operates against a ground that fluctuates irrationally. Unexpected spatial shifts challenge readabilty and serve to open the mind to other possibilities.

www.renswork.com

Ren Dillard is a multidisciplinary creative who uses curation, oil paint, precious metal, spoken word, and collage to convey rich, often complex philosophical ideas through his work. An affirmed contemporary black artisan, Dillard critically examines the western canon, the works of old masters, the traditional notions of authorship and mastery.

Represented by Mason Fine Art

www.JulieFordhamArt.com

Julie Fordham is a mixed media painter living and working in Tucker, Ga. With the birth of her child, she began to explore embroidery and adding it into her already established painting practice. She instantly fell in love with the repetitive, deliberate way of leaving color and texture on her paintings. The work she creates is autobiographical with a strong focus on relationships and mental health. She studied at Rhode Island School of Design and has shown around the city of Atlanta, Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance and the Book as Art show hosted by the Decatur Arts Alliance.

www.whitespace814.com

www.matthaffner.com

Matt Haffner is a mixed-media artist whose gritty and aesthetically graphic artworks range from documentary style photography, to large-scale installations to diminutive works on paper. His urban and mythological themed works are made from combinations of humble materials including; wheat-pasted paper, cardboard, newsprint, salvaged street signs, rusted metal, and spray paint that pay homage to his roots as a street artist and to his interest in the city's periphery. He often combines his drawings with video projections and photographs that explore ideas about multilayered vision and investigate the dynamic between the static and moving image.

Matt's works are in a variety of public and private regional, national, and international collections. He has won countless awards and grants in support of his work, including a National Endowment for the Arts Project Award, MOCA Georgia's prestigious Working Artist Award, and a Forward Arts Foundation Award. His works additionally, have been published in a variety of books, magazines, web pages, and periodicals. His work is represented primarily by White Space Gallery in Atlanta.

Mr. Haffner is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is an Associate Professor of Photography and Video at Kennesaw State University. He has his BFA in photography from the University of Akron and his MFA from the Tyler School at Temple University.

www.instagram.com/sageimanihall

https://www.chiommani.com

Sage Hall is a Black, queer, disabled, and neurodivergent teaching artist and writer who creates trauma-informed, community-centered arts programming. They specialize in using art as a tool for personal and collective healing, with a deep commitment to disability justice, financial empowerment, and transformative social change. Through their work, Hall fosters inclusive, accessible spaces where creativity intersects with activism, and where individuals and communities are empowered to express their stories and reclaim their narratives.

In addition to their community work, Hall offers consulting services specifically designed to support BIPOC artists in advocating for themselves and their creative practices. With a focus on disability advocacy, financial empowerment, and fostering authentic self-expression, they help artists navigate systemic barriers, address financial exploitation, and create sustainable art practices rooted in their lived experiences. Through workshops, coaching, and collaborative projects, Hall empowers artists to use their work to communicate deeper truths, challenge societal norms, and foster both personal and cultural transformation.

Grounded in Black feminist theory, embodied activism, and social justice, Hall is committed to supporting artists and communities alike in building more equitable, healing-centered futures. Sage is a graduate of the Bartol Foundation's training in Trauma-Informed Practice for Teaching Artists and the Trauma of Money Method. They live in the occupied land of Mvskoke, also known as Atlanta. When they are not creating, you can find them in the most spacious corner of your neighborhood bookstore, library, or park.

www.AnnaJensenArt.com

www.instagram.com/AnnaJensenArt

Anna Jensen's paintings are a synthesis of classical and abstract figuration. Her body of work is inspired by both trauma and exaltation. They are the fruit of years of rigorous research conducted in her home of the American South. With immense drive and rare sensitivity, Anna demonstrates the power of an individual to prevail through challenges via creative transfiguration. She is mostly self taught, yet has exhibited internationally to great acclaim over the past twenty years. "My paintings are psychological landscapes and emotionally complex narratives. I combine references to art history, pop culture, natural science and personal chronicles to represent the conflicts of life. The titles are important elements. Like me the stories are at once funny and sad." Anna has an extensive exhibition April 10th - May 23rd at Sun ATL (vinsonart.com/the-sun-atl) with paintings celebrating her husband Kevn Kinney's lifetime of songwriting, both as a solo artist and frontman/lyricist of legendary Atlanta band, Drivin n Cryin.

www.studioswan.com

www.johnsonlowe.com

Matriculated from Parsons School of Design in 1980, with a Master of Fine Arts, in the first MFA program Parsons offered, after graduating from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Exhibiting continuously for the past 40 years in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Fe I've had 24 solo, over 75 group exhibitions and been included in 8 museum exhibitions. With two hardcover exhibition catalogs, I've also been featured in over 55 lifestyles and industry magazines. My artwork can be found in public and private collections across the US, in Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and the Caribbean. Created with a range of traditional materials, recombined in methods and ways that looks to American color field painting from the 70's, the Romantic aesthetic of the Sublime, 19th C Japanese screens, current Pattern and Design, my studio practice represents the continuation of bringing the natural world to the forefront of the cultural dialog about who we are, who we want to be; it promotes ideas of beauty and idealism, encouraging the consideration of ways to contribute to a more Balanced world.

www.maggiejonesboudreauxart.com

www.instagram.com/maggie.jones.boudreaux.art

"My CONSISTENCY, IS INCONSISTENCY" I love all things, am naturally curious and enjoy exploring all things to do with color, line and shape. My work varies as life varies. I enjoy creating abstracts, landscapes and botanicals. I find joy working in bright vibrant rich colors and find peace in soothing, calming neutrals. I cant't ever imagine sticking to one palette nor one subject matter. I believe it would take the joy out creating for me. My enthusiasm comes from creating from the various inspirations and moments life send me. What's next? I am unsure... It is my aim to put one foot in front of the other and create based upon my daily experiences and blessings brought my way. This is my spark. My Joy. I am forever grateful to be who I am, where I am. My work is an expression of my gratitude.

I am located in Ruston, Louisiana. A quaint little artist community in the piney hills of North Louisiana. The local university, Louisiana Tech, has had one of the strongest art departments in the south for many years, fostering a community that posses an unmatched enthusiasm for the visual arts for many generations. I am blessed to say, I Am A RUSTON ARTIST~ thank you Ruston!

My formal training is as an artist and as an educator with a BFA degree in painting and drawing with an emphasis in printmaking. I additionally hold a MED in art education. My collegiate career consisted of multiple majors and multiple universities. I began as a journalism major due to my father's strong writing influence in my life. A few years in, I switched my major to studio art after returning home from a trip to Europe. I am blessed to say I did have the privilege of beginning my first quarter of my art degree at Louisiana Tech as well as finishing my last year here. These classes at Louisiana Tech were by far my most formative years as a young artist. I had the privilege of studying under Tech's greats, Peter Jones, Ed Pinkston & Charlie Meeds. The knowledge these teachers passed on to me is still the foundation of my daily studio life. I will be forever grateful for their influence. The middle years of my BFA were from the former South West Texas University in San Marcos and Austin Community College. In these years, I gained cultural influence and knowledge from various Austin artists and professors. In between my undergraduate and graduate degree I spent over a decade and a half traveling and living out west in Colorado, Montana and California

www.lonnieholley.com

Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley's sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events. His work is now in collections of major museums throughout the country, on permanent display in the United Nations, and been displayed in the White House Rose Garden. In January of 2014, Holley completed a one-month artist-in-residence with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva Island, Florida, site of the acclaimed artist's studio.

http://www.juliefordhamart.com/

Julie Fordham is a mixed media painter living and working in Tucker, Ga. With the birth of her child, she began to explore embroidery and adding it into her already established painting practice. She instantly fell in love with the repetitive, deliberate way of leaving color and texture on her paintings. The work she creates is autobiographical with a strong focus on relationships and mental health. She studied at Rhode Island School of Design and has shown around the city of Atlanta, Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance and the Book as Art show hosted by the Decatur Arts Alliance.