www.goldfinchdesigncompany.com

Sculptor & jewelry designer, Kelly Aker, is driven by creating unique pieces of adornment that are best be called "sculpture to wear". More than jewelry, Aker's jewelry is a palpable representation of the journey that she has been on as a sculptor for over twenty years. Each of the handmade pieces are bold statements. Driven by a deep appreciation of handmade art & the value of skillfully crafted design, Aker is influenced by the textures, colors, & landscape of the natural environment around her. When you purchase a piece of Aker's Jewelry, you are selecting a piece of art that has been created with care & the exact depiction of a true artist's vision. Everything in the collections, unless noted, have been meticulously designed, crafted, and finished by Kelly herself in her home studio in Clayton, Georgia. Pepperdine University - Bachelor of Arts 2008; Savannah College of Art & Design - Masters of Fine Arts, Sculpture 2012

www.mitchellbiggio.com, @mitchellbiggio

Mitchell Biggio (b. 1991 Salem MA) is an artist living and working in Atlanta area. He graduated with a BFA in Sculpture from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015. His work has been exhibited in a number of galleries including a 2023 solo show "Forms in Exchange" at Echo Contemporary Art in Guardian Studios and the 2021-2022 "Gathered" juried exhibition at MOCA GA. His studio practice focuses on creating architectural wood sculptures, abstract works on panel and furniture. Along with his own practice, Biggio works with other local artists in creating public and private large scale sculpture and installations

www.antoniodarden.com

In 2006, Darden earned his BFA in Sculpture from Georgia State University. He co-founded The Art Officials in 2009 and exhibited work in the US, UK, and Mexico. He won MOCA GA's Juror's Choice award and the Southern Prize State Fellowship for Georgia in 2022, and recently opened two solo shows in Atlanta. He lives and works in Atlanta.

www.lesliedrennan.com, @_drennanb

Leslie Drennan is a sculptor and visual artist from the American South. Drennan's work searches for new ways to define home through a materials-first approach. She often fuses the intimate details of her life with the larger story of environmental change happening at a global scale. Drennan graduated with a BS in psychology from the University of Georgia in 2016 and is currently completing an MFA in sculpture at Georgia State University. She was selected by the Welch Foundation at Georgia State to participate in a residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts in Rabun Gap, Georgia, which she attended in May of 2023. Her work will be included in the upcoming Little Things exhibition at the Swan Coach House Gallery in November 2023 and the upcoming group exhibition Interconnect at Echo Contemporary Gallery in early 2024.

www.instagram.com/flagmountain.studio

Angela Eastman is an artist and teacher from Hillsborough, North Carolina. She holds an MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and completed the Core Fellowship program at Penland School of Crafts, and has participated in numerous residencies, including at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts (GA), MASS MoCA (MA), Vermont Studio Center (VT), the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild (NY), Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (OR), Talking Dolls (MI), the Ragdale Foundation (IL), and SIM and Nes residencies in Iceland. Angela is currently the Artist-in-Residence at the John C Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. In addition to sculptural work, Angela creates jewelry, baskets, furniture, and other home goods through her design business Flag Mountain Studio. Angela also teaches art workshops to adults and youth. She is an advocate for craft education as a vital component of understanding the material world we live in.

www.Thaddeuserdahl.com, @tjerdahl

Thaddeus Erdahl has been creating and teaching art for over 25 years, working predominantly with the human figure sculpted in clay. He was born and raised in the small midwestern town of La Porte City, Iowa. His art and background in education started at the University of Northern Iowa where he received his BA in Art Education and a BFA in Ceramics. Thaddeus went on to receive his MFA in Ceramics from the University of Florida where he was a University of Florida Alumni Fellowship recipient during his three years of graduate study, from 2006-2009. He was selected as a 2010 Artist In Resident at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and he was a recipient of the American Craft Council Emerging Voice in Craft Award in 2015. Currently he is a devoted studio artist, teaches workshops across the country and is showing work nationally and internationally. Along with his many creative journeys in life Thaddeus is also the head roaster and owner of ZAGGS Coffee a boutique coffee roasting company in Clarkesville GA. One of its missions is to help bring art to students through a scholarship program at national arts and crafts centers.

www.instagram.com/jayburnz/ www.instagram.com/freaughouse/

Julia Burns, a Georgia native, graduated from Georgia State University where she received a BFA in Ceramics in 2015. Growing up in a creative household she knew from an early age that art would be a way of life for her. She is known for her work with animal sculptures. In 2016 she was awarded a studio assistant position at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center where she began to focus on atmospheric firings, including soda and salt firing, teaching classes, and leading workshops on raku and saggar firing. She has taught ceramics at Abernathy Art Center, and South Fulton Art Center, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Oxford Emory. DK Contemporary Gallery represents Julia.

Eddie Farr is an artist focused on physical and digital technology living in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a graduate of Georgia Southern University where he received a B.A. in Music and an M.M. in Music Technology. As a musician and composer, he has performed internationally and throughout the U.S. As a visual artist, he has shown works throughout the Southeast. Farr is a Hambidge Fellow and an inaugural cohort of the Fulton County Futures Lab, a residency program designed for technology-based artists in Atlanta, Georgia.

www.thesignatureshop.com

Charles D. Gandy, a TKGA Master Knitter, learned to knit at the age of four from his mother, a designer and shop owner. A two-time winner in Knitter's Magazine "Think Outside the Sox" contest, three of his designs are featured in the book of the same name: "Dread Sox", "Snake in the Grass" and "Pedicure Polka Socks". His own book, The Embellished Sock: Knitted Art for the Foot" features eighteen creative patterns and numerous techniques and is available in yarn shops worldwide. His latest collections "Crazy Socks" and "MORE Crazy Socks" for REGIA Yarns have been received worldwide. He is a popular teacher at workshops and conferences worldwide. BEYOND THE SOCK, Knitted Art by Charles Gandy, featuring 28 one-of-a-kind sculptural socks was shown at The Bascom, A Center for The Arts in Highlands, NC from March 12 - June 12, 2016. His work placed as a semi-finalist in the 28th Annual World of Wearable Art in Wellington, New Zealand and later was on display at the 7th Wearable Expressions at the Palos Verdes Art Center in California. In February of 2022, HIDDEN FACES: Knitted Masks premiered at Atlanta's Signature Contemporary Crafts Gallery

Www.rachelkgarceau.com, @rachelkgarceau

Rachel K. Garceau is a studio artist living and working in the Atlanta, GA area, and has been recognized as a 2015 Emerging Artist by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts and one of 2017's Women to Watch by the Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She utilizes slip-cast porcelain forms to construct site-responsive installations. Her work is often born from a curiosity about an object or a place and a desire to come to a deeper understanding of it. Rachel received a BA in Fine Arts from Franklin Pierce College in 2003 and went on to pursue her education through studio assistantships, workshops, and residencies. In 2013, Rachel completed the two-year Core Fellowship at Penland School of Crafts (NC). She has received residencies at Vendsyssel Kuntsmuseum (DK), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), All Is Leaf (MA), and the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences (GA). Her work has been shown nationally and has been published in Studio Potter, Ceramics Monthly, and NCECA Journal, and also appears in CAST: Art and Objects Made Using Humanity's Most Transformational Process.

Www.lindahallart.com

Linda got her MFA from university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a practicing artist in Tallahassee. Her sculptures, performances and paintings have been shown regionally, nationally and internationally. Her work is also in several museum collections in the South. Her works have been featured in publications such as Oxford American, Five Points, Raw Vision and New American painting. She maintains a studio in the Smokey Hollow neighborhood in Tallahassee

www.hawkceramics.com, @Hawk.Nest

Danielle Hawk was born in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2016 Hawk received bachelor degrees in Art Education and General Fine Arts. She currently teaches ceramics for Baltimore County Public Schools and Towson University. In 2022 Hawk received her MFA in Studio Arts with a concentration in ceramics from Towson University. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions nationwide and was recently published in Studio Potter.

www.sculpturethings.com, @sculpturethings

Julia Hill is an artist based in Atlanta, GA. She was born and raised in New Orleans and received her BFA from Tulane University in 2005. Julia spends a lot of time playing in, cleaning up, and observing nature. She loves exploring urban forests and wastelands, waterways, and wild spaces. Her ecological studies and interests are reflected in her work through abstracted natural forms and animal representations. Objects salvaged from her wanderings often inspire the eventual works. Twisted and weathered steel bits, old bed springs, concrete rubble, and other found detritus is an increasingly dominant component in her body of sculptures. Over the years her studio practice has incorporated installation, puppetry, public art, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, printmaking, and painting. Through her business Sculpture Things, she manages projects including custom fabrication, installation services for public art, creative project facilitation, and art direction.

Click here for an article about the artist.

(b. 1938 - d. 2023) Born in New York City, Kempler received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Brandeis University. She later studied architecture at Harvard University. In 1963, she moved to Atlanta with her former husband, Bernhard Kempler, and established a ceramic studio in their home. She expanded her craft at Penland School of Crafts and through extensive travel, particularly in India. Her work has been exhibited in dozens of solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the Nexus Art Center (now the Atlanta Contemporary), the Swan Coach House Gallery, AIR Vallauris Gallery in France, Wheeler Seidel Gallery, American Craft Council Craft Fair and Greenwich House Gallery in New York, the Albany Museum of Art in Georgia and many galleries throughout the country. Her work is in the collections of MOCA GA, The American Craft Museum and the Museum of Art and Science in Macon, among others.

www.thesignatureshop.com, @signature_atl

My work evokes a place between the metamorphosis and the evolution of substance. I use material modified and hybrid as a metaphor for amorphous communication and the struggle for psychological interaction which is associated with circumstances. My work attempts to reveal persuasive reflection on the essence of the subconscious and its connection with objects, nature and creatures. Born: 1976 Daejeon, South Korea. Education: MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Ceramics, Chicago, IL (2015); MFA, Graduate School of Arts in Ceramics, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea (2006); BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics & Glass, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea (2004)

www.thesignatureshop.com, @signature_atl

My work evokes a place between the metamorphosis and the evolution of substance. I use material modified and hybrid as a metaphor for amorphous communication and the struggle for psychological interaction which is associated with circumstances. My work attempts to reveal persuasive reflection on the essence of the subconscious and its connection with objects, nature and creatures. Born: 1976 Daejeon, South Korea. Education: MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Ceramics, Chicago, IL (2015); MFA, Graduate School of Arts in Ceramics, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea (2006); BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics & Glass, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea (2004)

www.marciawoodgallery.com

www.georgelongart.com

George Long has been a working artist in Atlanta since 1990. He recieved his BFA from the Atlanta College of art and has shown throughout the us and internationally. This work is part of an ongoing series that explores how we catalog our lives.

www.graceleelawrence.com, @gleeleelawlee

Gracelee has attended twenty residencies in the US and abroad and opened her second solo show in New York at Postmasters in June 2022 with a glowing review by Roberta Smith in the New York Times. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University at Albany, SUNY. Recent exhibitions include Peter Gaugy (Vienna, Austria), PRIOR Art Space (Barcelona, Spain), Patrick Mikhail (Montreal, CA), Kavi Gupta (Chicago, IL), Turley Gallery (Hudson, NY), and more. She has installed large-scale outdoor sculptures at the Upstate Immersive (Poughkeepsie, NY), Wave Hill (Bronx, NY), Museum of Museums (Seattle, WA), Franconia Sculpture Park (Shafer, MN), Mary Sky (Hancock, VT), and others. In 2017 she returned from 15 months as a Visiting Professor in the Multidisciplinary Department of Art at Chiang Mai University and assistant to artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook on a Luce Scholars Fellowship. She is a member of the collective MATERIAL GIRLS, a recipient of the 2021-22 Individual Artist DEC Grant, a 2019 Jerome Fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park, a 2016-17 Luce Scholars Fellow, a recipient of the 2015 UMLAUF Prize, 2013 Eyes Got It Prize, and the 2011-12 Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant. Press for her work includes The New York Times, The New Yorker, ArtNet, Hyperallergic, Artspace, The Creative Independent, and MAAKE Magazine, among others. She is an enthusiastic dancer, a lifelong horsewoman, and a passionate gardener.

www.michellelaxalt.com, @michellelaxalt

Michelle Laxalt is a multidisciplinary artist working in ceramics, textiles, and on paper. She holds an MFA from Georgia State University and BFA from the University of Nevada, Reno (her hometown). She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Laxalt has had recent solo exhibitions at Oats Park Art Center (Fallon, Nevada), Hi-Lo Press (Atlanta, Georgia), and whitespec (part of whitespace, Atlanta, Georgia). She was an artist-in-residence at the Hambidge Center in 2022 and 2019, and at Vermont Studio Center in 2016. Her artwork is in collections at the Center for Contemporary Art (Minsk, Belarus), Georgia State University (Atlanta), and Oats Park Art Center (Fallon, Nevada). In addition to her studio practice, Laxalt is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History and Curatorial Studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she resides.

www.cynthiamorelli.com, @cmorelliclay

Cynthia Morelli, a 2020 Rasmuson Foundation Fellow, lives and works in Homer, Alaska. In 2021, she hosted a six week artist-driven residency at her studio with three ceramic sculptors from around the US. In autumn 2022 Morelli was an artist in residence at Hambidge Center in north Georgia. Again in spring 2023 she hosted a sculpture residency with one invited collaborator, Isabell Daniel of Georgia. Since 2013, she has primarily fired her abstract sculpture and functional wares in an anagama style wood kiln that she designed and built. After receiving her BFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, she lived in Japan for five years, with a Cultural Visa to study Butoh and calligraphy for three of those years. She resumed working in clay upon moving to Homer in 1993. Morelli exhibits her sculpture and drawings in Alaska and the lower 48, most recently in her June 2022 exhibit titled Core Reverberations at Bunnell Street Art Center in Homer, Alaska.

www.cynthiamorelli.com, @cmorelliclay

Cynthia Morelli, a 2020 Rasmuson Foundation Fellow, lives and works in Homer, Alaska. In 2021, she hosted a six week artist-driven residency at her studio with three ceramic sculptors from around the US. In autumn 2022 Morelli was an artist in residence at Hambidge Center in north Georgia. Again in spring 2023 she hosted a sculpture residency with one invited collaborator, Isabell Daniel of Georgia. Since 2013, she has primarily fired her abstract sculpture and functional wares in an anagama style wood kiln that she designed and built. After receiving her BFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, she lived in Japan for five years, with a Cultural Visa to study Butoh and calligraphy for three of those years. She resumed working in clay upon moving to Homer in 1993. Morelli exhibits her sculpture and drawings in Alaska and the lower 48, most recently in her June 2022 exhibit titled Core Reverberations at Bunnell Street Art Center in Homer, Alaska.

www.andynasisseart.com

Andy Nassise received his BFA from Adams State College of Colorado and his MFA from the University of Colorado. Nassise taught at the University of Georgia as a ceramics professor and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Georgia Council for the Arts, and a research grant form the University of Georgia. His work has been exhibited at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA; Ashville Art Museum in Ashville, NC; Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, AL; and numerous other institutions throughout the United States.

www.carolrobinsongallery.net

www.jolesart.com, @john_oles

John Oles was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and holds a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Massachusetts (1998) and an MFA from Tulane University (2008) in New Orleans, Louisiana. John taught ceramics at Loyola University from 2008-2013. Currently, John is Associate Professor of Ceramics at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, AL.

www.instagram.com/phaemonae.555

PhaeMonae she/her/they/them is a mother of two Echo and Free , a movement engineer, creative HMUA, and Designer. Originating from the chocolate city, Washington D.C. and P.G. County Maryland. The voyages to Atl in 2015 began to propel forward in following the creative itch to make and shake. PhaeMonae loves to explore multiple mediums that feel transcendent of their personal joys and creative layering. A human who shape shifts as a form of expression and protection with deep connections to her ancestral realms and future selves. Collaging and turning trash to treasure can be key describing words to PhaeMonae's style and approach to art-making. Landscape research and jovial sparks of inspiration to encourage folks to be their most authentic selves. If i don't know anything about myself one thing i know is "I will DIE FLY". PhaeMonae has presented her designs in a multitude of presentations like "Birth of Pleasure" in 2019, "Pink Booth Confessions" 2022 , "Barbie in a Box" at the Windmill with Fly on the wall 2022, Common Thread fashion show 2023 with The Bakery and Elevate ATL, "Form" in Sub-itch gallery 2022 and "Bridezilla" 2023, Witnessing a light bath in 2023 at No Tomorrow, Patchez Circus fashion Show 2023, "Untitled" at Auburn research library and For Keeps Bookstore 2023. The birth of PhaeMonae's Adornments came to conception by way of her last commissioned wardrobe engineering "Untitled" choreographed by Anicka Austin. PhaeMonae has just taken the leap of faith to LLC their designs and is beginning to sell to a larger audience.

www.philproctor.com, @philproctorsculpture

Phil Proctor is a professional sculptor practicing in Atlanta since 2003. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from East Carolina University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Southern Mississippi. His permanently installed public art works can be found across the southeastern United States and Eastern Europe. Proctor has developed a professional reputation in the public art community by his involvement in the infrastructure of public art. Some examples are: his role as a committee member for the development of a public art master plan for the city of Suwanee, Georgia and his initiatives leading to the first annual temporary outdoor sculpture exhibition in the city of Decatur, Georgia. Phil Proctor works in his studio in South Atlanta where he generates his sculpture and other specialty metal work. His company is Nucleus Sculpture Studio LLC, where he designs, engineers, fabricates and installs custom projects for designers, architects and other artists.

www.lisasettegallery.com

www.atoribeiroart.com, @ilaama99

Ato Ribeiro (b. 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist working in a variety of media including sculptural installation, drawing and printmaking. He was born in Philadelphia, PA. and spent the formative years of his life in Accra, Ghana before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, where he is currently serving as a 2022/2023 MOCA GA WAP Fellow. He was a 2022 Atlanta Artadia Awardee, MINT 2021 Leap Year Artist, and has received Fellowships at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Madison, ME. His work has been exhibited at Lisa Sette Gallery (Phoenix, AZ), Nubuke Foundation (Accra, Ghana), Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, MI), the Johnson Lowe Gallery (Atlanta, GA), the Rozsa Center (Houghton, MI), and Anastasia Tinari Projects (Chicago, IL) among others. He earned his B.A. from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and his M.F.A. in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

www.davidrobinson.website, @davidrobinson1979

David Clayton Robinson grew up in the 1960's in a typical dysfunctional family in a small town on an Alluvial plain in the Mississippi Delta. On one hand, the rural south was idyllic, with woods, lakes, and open fields to explore. On the other hand, it was also a time rife with deeply entrenched racism, homophobia and the ubiquitous hand of Christianity. The contrasts and conflicts of this time and place contributed greatly to Robinson's growth as a person and artist. Largely a self-taught artist, Robinson's education was supplemented with a variety of workshops over the years including classes at Georgia State, Callanwolde, Arrowmont, and Penland. In addition to an undergraduate degree in English and French, Robinson also has a graduate degree in Instructional Technology from Georgia State University. Robinson had a solo show at {Poem88} in 2021and currently has work in Houska Gallery in St. Louis, Chauvet Arts in Nashville, and The Archie Bray Gallery in Helena, MT. Robinson currently enjoys participating in art residencies around the US and world. He has been honored with invitations to Hambidge (Georgia), The Archie Bray (Montana), Anderson Ranch (Colorado), Gaya Ceramic Arts Center (Bali, Indonesia), and Guldagergaard (Denmark).

Spaldingnixfineart.com

www.Corrinasephora.com, @corrinasephora.metalartist

Corrina Sephora is a multi-media Atlanta-based artist specializing in metal sculpture, painting, and public installations. Through her repetitive symbolic images Corrina utilizes nautical and celestial atmospheres to explore emotion, memory and ritual. Corrina's work considers these themes as personal and universal. Her artistic practice includes art-making, storytelling, teaching, and executing public and private commissions. Corrina holds a BFA in Metals & Sculpture, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, 1995, & an MFA in Sculpture from Georgia State University, 2005. She has completed multiple residencies throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her public installations are located at: The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park, Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and Atlanta Jewish Academy, and in permanent collections such as Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia, and King and Spalding Contemporary Art Collection, and featured in private collections, notably Sir Elton John. Among her most recent accolades, Corrina received the Judith Alexander Foundation Relief Fund for Visual Artists, & Fulton County Arts and Culture Virtual Arts Initiative. She was selected through a national call to create a public installation at the Freeport Art Museum's Arts Plaza, Freeport, IL, in 2023. She received the Honorable mention award from the City of North Charleston.

www.mikestasny.com, @EXTREMELY_MICHAEL

Inspired by the intrinsic learning achieved by a state of childish "flow" while at play - Mike Stasny often refers to his work as "the same thing I was doing at 4, but on the scale of a 42-year-old". He is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, producer and curator from the midwest working and based out of Atlanta for the past 10 years. His primary focus is "creative place making" or "creative space design" in which he activates under-utilized locations with imaginative experiences that activate community in time, culture, the economy, and space. Mike's current primary focus is MOM SAID IT'S FINE gallery - an ever changing immersive experience of past and present projects acting as an open studio, showroom, and space for creative collaborations in historic Underground Atlanta.

dkgallery.us

thinkgreatly.com @thinkgreatly

Lauren Pallotta Stumberg (b.1981) is a muralist, painter, sculptor, and arts advocate. Her work honors the human experience through abstracted portraiture and symbolism, where patterns and forms coalesce to create a distinct vernacular. Much of the nuanced motifs in her work derive from experiences living and working abroad over the course of several years in the Marshall Islands and Sicily. In both places, learning the respective culture and language translated into abstract painted narratives. Tattoo patterns in the Marshall Islands have strong underpinnings in her artwork's storytelling; the rich landscapes and word origins in Sicily inspired investigations into new ideas and themes. Since moving to Atlanta in 2012, Stumberg has used her creative offerings to engage with community. She started Think Greatly with a mission to facilitate neighborhood projects as part of her social practice and to curate female-driven collaborations and narratives. Stumberg's work has been awarded grants from Living Walls, Fulton County (GA), the City of Atlanta, and Georgia Council for the Arts; public and private commissions of her work can be found in neighborhoods across metro Atlanta and cities outside the perimeter such as Suwanee, Norcross, and Canton, Georgia. Stumberg is one of two local artists to receive a 2017 Emerging Artist Award from the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs. She is a Hambidge Fellow, and represented by dk Gallery in Marietta, GA. "The symbol I use most frequently in my work is an abstracted magpie. This bird is fascinating to me because it is cloaked with superstition. Magpies are described in various folklore and historic literature to be thieves, chatterboxes, gossips, and ominous creatures. In fact, a group of magpies is called a "mischief." Cultural lore also translates one's fortune based on the number of magpies one sees, and to salute the first magpie one sees as a sign of respect and wish for good fortune. It is this perception of the magpie that inspires my work - the bird is an omen of change, and change, good or bad, is invaluable. In this way, the presence of the magpie is a calling to enter a crucible of the spirit. It asks you to rethink social norms, to shift perspectives, to be open to personal transformation

www.themwgallery.com, @themwstudio

Themes of technology, connection, and compulsion characterize Matthew White's work. Exploring intersections of contemporary and new media art, White's multidisciplinary practice is informed by professional and educational paths in web, communications, and information technologies. White was first featured as an emerging artist in publications such as Art Takes Miami and Fresh Paint Magazine. Always looking to stage projects differently, his 2011 Moon Phase event at King Plow Arts Center in Atlanta combined photography, mixed media works, crowd-responsive sound installation, and live rock performance. The 2015 #StopInfluenceNow Atlanta Branch Office installation was housed in Atlanta's Ponce City Market in a similarly unorthodox manner. This mock office installation included a variety of works and performance. In the waning days of the pandemic, White began staging shows in his Atlanta area studio's walk-in vault, safe : space, including For The Ear / Eye and Rearranging Borders. His additional contributions to the arts ecosystem include co-hosting the Brain Fuzz podcast with painter Joe Camoosa, where they explore the creative life, art, music, and more with various art world guests. White is a Hambidge Fellow, and his work is in both corporate and private collections in the United States and Europe.

www.jwpaclipan.com

Jeffrey Wilcox Paclipan received an AA degree in 1989 from International Fine Arts College in Miami, FL. His gallery solo and group exhibitions include Hathaway Contemporary Gallery, Mason Fine Art, Galerie Tew, Bill Lowe Gallery, Mammal Gallery, MINT Gallery, Life on Mars, NY, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, NY. Atlanta-area exhibitions and installations in museums and public institutions include MOCA GA, Slotin Folkfest, Chastain Arts Center, Fulton County Arts and Culture Acquisition Program, Fulton County Aviation and Community Cultural Center, Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, High Rise Show with ShowerHaus Gallery, The Atlanta Financial Center, Lenox Square, ARTFIELDS 2020, ArtPrize 2022. Paclipan's mixed media collage submission "Salvador Del Mundo" was highlighted in a Miami Herald art review of the 36th Hortt Museum Exhibition in 1994. Recent group exhibitions in 2020 include MINT Gallery, Mariette Cobb Museum of Art, Studio Artist in Resident at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center 2020/23, Atlanta, Ga and was a featured artist represented by Jennifer Balcos Gallery at Scope Miami Beach, Art Basel 2021. Jeffrey is a multidisciplinary processed based artist compelled to create objects with marginalized and discarded materials imbued with greater meaning. His development as an artist has followed the same path as his ongoing quest to coherently embrace his definition of self. He was born in the Philippines and lives in College Park, GA.

www.kehindewiley.com

This limited edition, 2023 leather basketball features Kehinde Wiley's 2008 painting Morpheus, reimagined from the Jean-Antoine Houdon 1777 marble sculpture of the same name. Featured in the 2008 exhibition "Down" at Deitch Projects, the series references and re-conceptualizes classic pictorial forms of heroism in the face of death. Morpheus features a model from Brooklyn, lain across a white sheet while florals from the background spring into life around his body. Unlike its 18th century counterpart, he addresses onlookers with direct eye contact and a seductive look of invitation, with the repeating floral background protruding into the foreground.

Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977) is a portrait painter based in New York City. He is known for his realistic portraits of contemporary Black subjects that heavily reference paintings by the "Old Masters" Wiley received a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and an MFA from Yale University in 2001. In 2017, he was commissioned to paint the portrait of President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Wiley's work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide, and his paintings are included in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, Columbus Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, LACMA, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Seattle Museum of Art, the Studio Museum of Harlem, among others.

www.instagram.com/@thecarvingstudio

Born in Atlanta, Ife Williams began her formal training in the arts at Interlochen Arts Academy in Northern Michigan, receiving a BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing from University of Michigan's School of Art and completing coursework for a Masters of Arts in Museum Studies at Syracuse. Over the last three decades she has worn many hats within the arts community: Sculptor-in-Residence at the Paul Abrams Endowment Project, NEA Distinguished Fellow at The Hambidge Center, Grant Writer for Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Collections Manager at the Henry Art Gallery at UW-Seattle, Public Art Coordinator and Deputy Director at the Fulton County Arts Council and Executive Director at The Hudgens Center. She currently serves as Deputy Director of The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA and sits on the Board of Directors of NCECA