CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS ARE ON VIEW IN UNEXPECTED PLACES!
Atlanta is fortunate to boast a wealth of art, be it in museums, galleries or shops. But our love of artistic expression isn’t only indoors. Stroll through community parks, commercial districts and main thoroughfares, and something colorful is likely to catch your eye. Even some of our parking decks provide the perfect concrete canvas where artists have brought visual excitement to what is often an otherwise drab interior. Here’s a small selection of outdoor artworks to explore.
4600 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs
This work of art in the Chastain Market shopping center is the brainchild of Westside’s Lenia Castro. Two years ago, she launched Upper Westside Murals and has been busy painting the town, be it buildings or houses, ever since. This Welcome to Sandy Springs design on brick was inspired by the city’s struggle for independence, she says. “I was told that some people said it would become a city when pigs fly, and that stuck in my brain,” she says. “And I thought it was funny!”
@upperwestsidemurals
3372 Peachtree Road, Buckhead
Milton artist Deanna Sirlin has been working on large-scale public art projects since 1999; one of her firsts covered the front of the High Museum in Midtown. Pre-pandemic, she was contracted by the company constructing the Icon apartments next to Maggiano’s to produce a piece of art for the building’s exterior. The vision was specific, she says: “They wanted it to be about connections and repurposing, and I named it The Distance Between. Now it represents more of an urban grid.” The rectangle of rainbow colors began as a small-scale collage and transformed into a 50-by-30 foot-piece printed on digital vinyl by mixing software and technology.
@deannasirlin
5665 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Sandy Springs
Alison Hamil’s work covers the gamut from graphic design and chalk art to watercolor and acrylic paintings. She’s noted for using bold colors, elements of nature and a signature sunburst in many of her works. Employees at Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital get a boost from the five murals she created inside the parking decks, including Hands of the Healer that showcases her style while giving a nod to the hard work the staff performs. Hamil also created the We Are All Together mural for the city of Brookhaven. Look for it on Peachtree Road north of the Brookhaven MARTA station.
@alisonhamilart
3699 Lenox Road, Buckhead
Yes, the tacos, dips and skillet dishes at CT Reforma Taqueria are worth a visit, and so are the steps leading up to the restaurant. The colorful entrance was created by Colombia native and SCAD grad Diego Peñuela, who touts himself as an illustrator, background painter and muralist who’s happy to step outside the box on occasion. In the case of the painted steps, he worked with the client to come up with a range of shapes and colors that link to the idea of technology, communication, connection, community and multiculturalism. The result is a burst of inspiration— all done with spray paint.
@diegoillustration
