MFA students curate group exhibition for Atlanta Art Week

Organizers of the 2023 edition of Atlanta Art Week invited nine MFA students at the Lamar Dodd School of Art to present the group exhibition Unlisted at The Works, a mixed-use development in Atlanta’s Upper Westside, from October 3 through October 7, 2023. Atlanta Art Week partners with over 20 galleries, museums, and arts institutions in the metropolitan region to spotlight a rich variety of cultural programs. Participating students, in their third and final year of the fine arts graduate program at the University of Georgia, will serve as the first formal link between Athens and Atlanta during this seminal annual event.

Join the artists for an exhibition reception on Tuesday, October 3rd from 5 – 7 pm at 1295 Chattahoochee Avenue NW, Suite 126. Find out more, including gallery hours, at unlisted.studio. An optional RSVP response for the reception can be submitted here.

“One of the premier art communities in the nation is just 60 miles away — our inclusion in Atlanta Art Week puts us in a rarefied position as one of the only partners outside of the Atlanta area to participate, alongside institutions like the High Museum, the Atlanta Contemporary, and MOCA GA,” said Joe Peragine, director of the School of Art who is himself an accomplished artist represented by Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta.

“We are always talking to students about professional practices and preparing for success beyond the classroom. Unlisted positions our MFA students to be in conversation with colleagues in the region who can inform their current body of work as they prepare for their upcoming thesis exhibition in the spring.”

Unlisted is an exhibition that considers unexpected encounters, playfully referencing the mundane strangeness of Craigslist postings, a site notorious for its niches, where serendipitous meetings and missed connections are equally valid. With a range of interdisciplinary work–from objects and garments to text, images, and prints–the curation plays happenstance against intention. Accumulation and proximity reveal alignments, as the artists engage with the looming urgencies of planetary crises, the complexities of connection in the digital age, and the wonder of ecological systems.

The pop-up exhibition’s provisional space echoes the fleeting remainder of time that the artists currently share as colleagues in their final year of a graduate program, while its informality channels the impromptu mundanity of the listings forum. Viewers are invited into an installation in which craft, absurdity, mystery, disaster, and nostalgia swirl around one another. Rather than an advertisement, Unlisted proposes an open-ended space of possibility predicated on looking for the unlikely.

The exhibition includes work by Martin Chamberlin, Meredith Emery, Katie Ford, Yoon Hwang, Lindsey Kennedy, Dylan Lewis, Alejandro Ramirez, Katherine Rutter, and Ashley Wingo.

The Lamar Dodd School of Art will additionally participate in Atlanta Art Week by offering a curator tour of the video installation Paul Pfeiffer: Red Green Blue in the school’s downtown Athens gallery, the Athenaeum, on Sunday October 8 at 4 PM. For more information and to RSVP to this event, click this link.

About Atlanta Art Week

Atlanta Art Week is a new initiative that celebrates the visual arts in one of the fastest growing art hubs in the United States. Founded by Art Advisor Kendra Walker, AAW aims to create a dynamic environment that brings together galleries, artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts to promote cultural exchange, education, economic development, and appreciation of the arts. Our goal is to highlight contemporary art, provide opportunities for growth and recognition, and promote Atlanta on a national level. Learn more at atlantaartweek.co