A Glimpse of Athens
Organized by students in Dr. Callan Steinmann’s Introduction to Museum Studies course, this special pop-up exhibition featured works drawn from the museum’s permanent collection that offer a glimpse of Athens past and present. The split-level class includes both undergraduate and graduate students, who worked on the exhibition as part of a semester-long project. The Introduction to Museum Studies course is a foundations class for the Museum Studies Certificate Programs at UGA, and the students represent many areas of study across campus, including art history, historic preservation, art education, history, classics and studio art, among others.
Students worked in groups to select works of art from the collection, research the art and artists, and write an extended label for each object. They also determined thematic groupings for the exhibition: Natural and Built Environments of Athens, Evolving Urban Landscape, Home and Sounds of Athens.
The pop-up exhibition was organized by Zoe Alvarez, Percy Autera, Hannah Beam, Jay Boyd, Lauren Butler, Hampton Campbell, Naia Cookson, Jamie Fjelstul, Keith Halcomb, Sarah Harrison, Molly Hayes, Lyn Hemmingway, Kara Henderson, Sophie Johnson, Christine Kegel, Adolfo Martinez, Angelica Millen, Adam Miller, Jasmine Milligan, Bonnie Moore, Grace Moorman, Julietta Nogales, Robert O’Connell, Ana Ortiz, Sophie Prescott, Alexis Schnupp, Rachel Weber, Hannah Weissinger and Charlsie Wemple.
The Natural and Built Environments of Athens
Natural landscapes have inspired artists for as long as humans could pick up a paintbrush. Athens’ natural scenery appears in mid-20th-century art, from the sketches of a 1940s unidentified artist to the works of William D. Paul Jr. These artists took part in the formation of Athens’ landscapes by choosing which sights to render into art. Their scenes reflect humans’ desire to change the landscape even when aiming to preserve it.
As Athens grew following the Civil War, the nature of its landscapes began to change. The university attracted new industries which brought new residents searching for employment. Modern technology also steadily came to Athens. Railroads cut through brush and water towers rose above trees. Urban and industrial environments constructed by humans began to replace natural ones.
The landscape of Athens has shifted and changed as humans have left their mark on the land — from lush greenery to downtown bar crawls.
Cartoonist Patrick Dean was known for his weekly comic and numerous covers for Flagpole magazine, Athens’ alternative newsweekly, which he drew from 1997 to 2006. As a Georgia native and longtime Athens resident, he often focused on life in Athens and current events. Dean’s spirited style was characterized by detailed and populated scenes that often featured monsters. This cover is a good example of his cover art for Flagpole, showing university students stumbling into the “wrong part of town” and meeting some Athens locals.
Patrick Dean’s work has been shown at the Georgia Museum of Art before. Click here to see the 2020 exhibition “The Monsters are Due on Broad Street: Patrick Dean.”
William D. “Bill” Paul Jr. is an important figure in the Athens art scene as an artist, art professor, avid art collector and former director of and the first curator at the Georgia Museum of Art. He is often inspired by the natural world around him, noticing varied shapes of the different tree species around Georgia. This nature-centric viewpoint can be seen in works like “Georgia Hills and Storm.” Paul shows a simple scene using dramatic linework that captures the energy of the moments before a storm.
Katherine McGuire is a graduate of the University of Georgia (MFA ‘08). From 2012 to 2016, she ran Double Dutch Press in Athens alongside fellow artist Amanda Burk. There she sold many of her original prints, including this one. Here, she highlights an overlooked area of Athens, with a water tower in the background. In the foreground is a long and winding railroad track. McGuire captures both natural landscape and developed city.
This sketchbook shows the natural beauties of Georgia over 37 pages. This page shows the Oconee River, which passes through Athens. The artist immortalizes it and other natural environments of Athens. Some of these environments are still intact, but others are gone as a result of human expansion.
Click here to check out a “town film” that shows places and people around Athens in 1947. The film is in the collection of the UGA Brown Media Archives.
What has changed in the 75 years since the video was first recorded?
Evolving Urban Landscape of Athens
At the turn of the 20th century, the small Georgia town of Athens celebrated its centennial with a population of over 10,000 people. By its bicentennial in 2001, the population of Athens grew tenfold. The works of art selected for this exhibition show the urban expansion that has occurred in Athens. Created between 1939 and 1962, these four works show Athens from the beginning of World War II up to the beginning of the civil rights movement. As Athens grows and the landscape changes, its residents have grappled with growing
urbanization. While the mediums used by each artist vary, the ever-changing character of the city shines through in each work. From downtown to the outskirts of Athens, the city has captured the imagination of many artists.
What changes can you see in the city throughout the exhibition? How do these depictions compare to the Athens you see today?
Click here to access “Athens – Layers of Time,”(opens in new tab) an interactive story map created by a team of researchers and students at the Center for Geospatial Research in the department of geography at the University of Georgia. The project includes historical maps, aerial photographs and satellite images to tell the story of the changes to the physical landscape of Athens over the last 200 years.
Gudmund Vigtel came of age in Europe, moving from Austria to Norway to Sweden, where he first studied art. In 1948, Vigtel received a scholarship from the Atlanta Rotary Club to enroll in Atlanta College of Art, then another scholarship for the School of Art at the University of Georgia. There he studied under Lamar Dodd, whose work is also on display in this exhibition. Produced during this time, “View of Athens” depicts a pastoral landscape from outside the town. Vigtel said in reference to his own work that “the world didn’t need another bad painter.” Instead, he served as director of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art from 1963 to 1991.
In this study, Lamar Dodd captures Athens as an industrial community, with train tracks and smog in the sky. He sees the skyline of this developing city as one resembling his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia. Both cities were agricultural at their beginnings and began industrialization in the mid-1900s. This sketch is the study for the painting “View of Athens,” which Dodd displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Dodd was the head of the art department at UGA from 1939 to 1972. The Lamar Dodd School of Art was named after him in 1996.
Roy Ward graduated from the University of Georgia with a master’s degree in chemistry. He then practiced medicine in an office behind the county courthouse in downtown Athens. Here, he shows Clayton Street, a few blocks over from his office, in an image that encapsulates what Athens looked like almost a century ago. How does this view of Clayton Street differ from our own in 2022?
Howard Thomas was an Ohio native and often painted the picturesque and aesthetically appealing features of small towns and cities. Here, he blurs the background and foreground to create a color-block pattern representing buildings and streets. He paints Athens as a sprawling cityscape that moves and changes on its own. Some of the buildings around the edges are less detailed, allowing for the continued alteration and expansion of the city. Thomas taught at the University of Georgia from 1945 until 1965. He painted this work after two decades of watching the city grow and change.
Home
The word home has a different meaning for everyone. For some, it is the place they grew up or felt safe; for others it might mean the warm feeling they get around friends or family. Athens is currently home to 127,315 residents and 38,091 UGA students. The University of Georgia houses 9,000 students on campus with the slogan “home is where the arch is.” For students, Athens provides a home for the years that they are growing into adulthood and pursuing an education. It is a place to enrich them both inside and outside the classroom. For permanent residents, Athens is a place to build families and communities.
Locals and travelers alike have often found ways to express the importance of Athens as a home for them. The works highlighted in this section of the exhibit focus on the many ways in which the sense of home can be expressed. Whether it is full of life, a comforting invitation, a temporary stay or part of a strong community, the concept of home takes many shapes. What does home mean to you? Where do you find home in Athens?
Martha Odum was a prolific Athens watercolor painter. Her husband was Eugene Odum, a renowned ecologist. Together, they traveled the U.S. and the world, as Martha painted watercolors of the places they visited. She completed over 300 paintings that capture an “essence of place” as much as the physical landscape. That term, coined by Eugene Odum, highlights the feeling of home. She shows this unique home with warm, inviting light and crowds of people visible in the windows.
Virginia McLaws was a Georgia artist known for her southern landscapes. “Southern Street” reflects her familiarity with the impressionist style, capturing the mood of a specific moment in time. Here, McLaws uses soft, pastel colors to create an inviting space. In the foreground, we see a Black mother and child on a leisurely stroll, seeming relaxed and comfortable in the environment. Their ease makes you wonder if they were able to create a sense of belonging in a community that may have been filled with racial tensions. Is this home for them?
This photograph shows Marianne Brumby, a substitute teacher who studied education in Athens. She was not related to Anne Brumby, for whom UGA’s Brumby Hall was named. That residence hall is home to 900 freshmen each year. Throughout Athens, streets and building names are powerful indicators of the city’s rich history.
Roy Ward was a Watkinsville native and a longtime family doctor in Oconee County. In addition to his medical practice, Ward was well-known in the area for his talents as a painter in oils and watercolors and a documentary photographer. After the artist’s death, a few friends helped to preserve his art and created a scholarship in his name for Watkinsville students, who wanted to help support local artists in the town Dr. Ward called home.
A view of downtown Athens from the northeast features two landmarks: the red brick historic bank on the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton streets and the lighter colored building to the left. Down the hill is a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown. In the early 20th century, there were many neighborhoods like it. The growth of Athens and the university led to the demolition of several “outdated” neighborhoods around the city in the name of urban renewal, such as Linnentown. The neighborhood was most likely demolished shortly after Perkerson made the painting, leaving only memories.
What similarities do you notice in the landscape today?
Sounds of Athens
What song would you use to define Athens? The city holds many different sounds that are personal for each resident that lives here. For some, Athens’ live music scene comes to mind, as it is home to many artists who found their start here. Their history is tied to the city with songs devoted to Athens. Others find the sound of Athens in the famed school spirit of the University of Georgia. School chants become anthems that students carry with them far past their college years. Georgia boasts its own unique sounds in nature that can only be found in its humid climate, bringing about memories of summer nights in Athens. Through the years, the people of Athens have pushed past prejudices to foster diversity in the community, and these voices add to the sound of the city. All these perspectives come together to define the culture that has molded Athens into the unique city it is today. The soundscape of Athens has created a community in which each person can find a sense of belonging.
Tate Foley designed this two-color handmade poster based on the art of musician Will Hart. Athens was the final stop for on the North American tour of experimental German band Faust in 2009. Faust performed a sold-out show at the 40 Watt club and a workshop at arthouse movie theater Ciné. Viewing this work brings to mind the history of live music in Athens. The town is full of venues that offer diverse live music.
On a summer night in Athens, if you step outside, you’ll be able to hear the sound of night life–not only music and people, but also crickets and cicadas. These sounds are essential to warm Georgia nights and are often peaceful and comforting. Athens photographer Rosie Brock, a graduate from and an instructor at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, likes to tell stories with her photographs, especially stories of the South. This photograph is part of Brock’s series “Interlude,” in which she tried to focus on cinematic storytelling. She was not trying to document reality but to create her own narrative. The cicadas in the jar and the clothes of the subject might bring a southern summer to mind and feel familiar and nostalgic.
Alan E. Cober made this print of two drag queens during his time as the Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair at UGA. The Boybutante Ball has been held in Athens for over three decades as a fundraiser for the Boybutante AIDS Foundation, founded in 1989. A key feature of Athens’s LGBTQ community, these balls are known for their inclusivity, joy and energetic drag performances. This work, although simple, captures this liveliness with energetic mark making and a focus on the two eye-capturing figures.
Yatika Starr Fields is known for his brightly colored murals inspired by a graffiti aesthetic. His works combine traditional styles with innovative contemporary ones. They also explore themes of community and cultural diversity. In 2022 Fields came to UGA as an artist in residence and created this print. Fields invokes the legacy of the Indigenous people who lived in Athens and the history of their forced removal by the U.S. government. The bulldog could represent the school spirit that is prevalent in the Athens community and overshadows this history of colonialism. Viewers may associate this iconic symbol of UGA with the cheering fans in the stadium of a football game on a Saturday afternoon.
Whether you are walking downtown on an average Friday night or are listening to WUOG 90.5, you’re bound to hear an up-and-coming Athens band. Jason Thrasher is an Athens photographer who focuses on the diverse music scenes in the Southeast. The image is from his 400-page book “Athens Potluck,” which features 33 Athens musicians. The late Ross Shapiro was the leader of the Athens band The Glands. In his book, Thrasher explored the Athens music scene by photographing a musician then asking them to pick his next subject. He develops a narrative of the interconnectedness in the Athens music scene and the finding of community within it.
This link is a news article by Holly Roberts from the Red and Black newspaper, focusing on Jason Thrasher, his art collection, and a “behind-the-scenes” look at the creation of his “Athens Potluck” book project.
