Show #21: The Art of Education

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This month Sidewalk Radio presents both a radio show and an art show that journey along the path to discovery in Atlanta’s arts and culture realm.  The radio show delves into the world of education as told through an arts critic, an arts collector, and an architect who specializes in design for student life.  The art show, by way of The Sidewalk Art Project, is the end product of a creative partnership between Sidewalk Radio and SCAD Atlanta that exhibits student work about our history and culture.  What we learn through our exploration is that education is both in itself an art form and a producer of art, how it is constructed many times parallels the path of the student.

Thornton Dial (b. 1928). In the Roosevelt Time: Penned In. 2003. Pencil, acrylic, and watercolor on paper. 44 X 30 in. Photo credit: Tinwood Media.

Art collector and explorer, Bill Arnett, is Founder and Chief Curator at Tinwood Media.  While extremely accomplished, being perhaps the foremost collector and educator about the art of the southern black slave tradition, Arnett is himself “self-taught”.  Joining Gene in the studio this month to talk about his journey toward knowledge and the unorthodox route he took, Bill enlightens and educates about discovery in the arts and within the individual.  AM 1690 has extensive coverage about Arnett’s work, and can be further enjoyed by listening to an interview done by “The Voice of the Arts” own David Lewis in his interview.

Colorado State University Student Center. Rendering by Perkins+Will.

Jeff Stebar is an architect and student life expert with Perkins+Will.  Jeff joins Gene to talk about the future of education from both the built environment and from life outside the classroom.  Since the students for whom Stebar is now designing are only in the 6th and 7th grade presently, predicting how they will learn and where they will learn when they get to college makes the work he and his team embark upon interesting and a challenge.  What our discussion uncovers is that buildings are being designed not to predict the future, but to adapt to it.  The interests of the students and the advancements in technology are highly considered as is the new reality of having to recruit in higher education.

Guests of The Sidewalk Art Project Gallery Show enjoy art and The Atlanta Preservation Center’s charming appeal.

Cathy Fox is a long-writing Atlanta arts critic and founder of ArtsAtl.  While Cathy does not have a focus on arts education per se, she is certainly one of Atlanta’s top voices when it comes to covering the arts.  Her interview is in part to educate upcoming artists such as those who participated in The Sidewalk Art Project about how to and where to learn, and in another way meant to take a critical eye on education within the arts.

“Miss Winter (Juniper)” by Elizabeth Castaldo. 32 x 25 inches. Silkscreen.

“Knights Armor, Palisade, Lucky Penny” by Nate Kamp. 18 x 17 inches. Photogravure.

And, speaking of arts critique, we must take a moment to recognize our Juror Panel who helped select “Best In Show” for the art show portion of this month’s exploration.  Special thanks to Spalding Nix, Ronnie Land, Bruce McEvoy, and Stuart Horodner.  Each of these individuals are big in Atlanta arts, and dedicated their time and expertise not only to help the SCAD students learn more in the way of exposure to success in the arts, but also to learn themselves about the students and their work.

Congratulations to the two students selected “Best In Show”, Elizabeth Castaldo for “Miss Winter (Juniper)” and to Nate Kamp for “Kights Armor, Palisade, Lucky Penny”.  To see their work and read the artist’s statement visit us on Sidewalk Radio’s Facebook Page.

ART STROLL: BOOK IT.

Mary Murphy is not your typical librarian (she’s a with-it, stylish, Visual Resources Librarian) and the books in SCAD Atlanta’s ACA Library are not your typical books.  In this excursion of Art Stroll, Gene sits down with Mary to talk about why some books are better off being on the coffee table instead of on the tablet.  In fact, some of the books in the collection (like ones created by Tauba Auerbach) are the size of a coffee table, measuring nearly 3 feet long and retailing for $550.00.  Now that’s a book!

The ACA Library features over 2100 “artist books” that encourage interaction.  You can make an appointment to view these amazing and touchable works of art anytime, but if you head over to SCAD through April 13, 2012, you can see everything that Mary helped collect over the past year.

Tune in Monday, March 12th (host Gene Kansas‘ birthday, by the way!) to hear this show.  Email Visual Resources Librarian Mary Murphy at mmurphy@scad.edu to schedule a visit.  Book it and enjoy!

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Show #5: Peachtree Street

Peachtree Street circa 1875

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On Sidewalk Radio’s February show, the phrase “street smart” takes on new meaning as some of Atlanta’s brightest minds share their expertise and insights about our city’s icon, our connective landmark, the history laden, world famous Peachtree Street.

There is Broadway in New York, Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Sunset in LA, and Bourbon in New Orleans, but Peachtree Street is more than famous, it is a living, breathing, archeological diorama of Atlanta’s history told through its transitioning neighborhoods and ascending architecture.

Join host, Gene Kansas, as he explores the history, lore, legacy, culture and character of a street whose name really came from a pine tree.  See, it’s already getting interesting.

To discuss the past, present and future of urban planning, transit and architecture is David Green AIA, LEED AP, and Senior Urban Designer with internationally renowned architecture and design firm, Perkins+Will.  In addition to his applied professional chops, Green also adds a professor’s point of view, gained from more than 20 years of teaching at Georgia Tech, helping to educate us about how cities develop and why Peachtree is so important to Atlanta.

Perkins+Will took extra steps to make 1315 Peachtree not only beautiful and environmentally friendly, but also connected to the street, a move that limited their parking, but added to the appeal for Peachtree and Atlanta.

Preservationist Mark McDonald, President & CEO of The Georgia Trust, enlightens us about the street that boasts such treasures as The Georgian Terrace, The Temple, The High Museum, and The “Fabulous” Fox Theater, saved from certain destruction through a grassroots effort in 1974.  McDonald also discusses important places we’ve lost and “Places in Peril” that we need to protect.

Lowe’s Grand Theater was site of the 1939 premiere of Gone with the Wind. It was built in 1893 and lost to fire in 1978.

Adding some real legs to our tour along this famous route is Atlanta Track Club’s Executive Director, Tracey Russell, in charge of putting on The Peachtree Road Race.  In its first year, 110 runners finished the race.  41 years later, on July 4^th 2011, 60,000 participants will take part in the world’s largest event of its kind, and Russell runs down a long list of impressive stories and statistics that will have you entertained and intrigued from start to finish.

And, very much a place-maker, Shannon Powell, COO of The Midtown Alliance, rounds out the guest list taking us back 15 years to shed light on a neighborhood that at one time was so unsavory you would not have walked down Peachtree at night, but now is thriving with the arts, restaurants, residences, and the promise of incredible street level retail that one day soon will be on par with its Midwestern cousins along “The Magnificent Mile”.

shopSCAD’s “Pop Up” Shop at Atlanta History Center’s 990 Peachtree Street.

Peachtree has come a long way, both literally and figuratively, growing and developing in parallel with the city, and spawning 71 variations of its name along the way.  And, just like in the treaties of the Creek Indians that inhabited our land before Peachtree, the “pitch” still holds us together, symbolizing the vows that we have to history.

AND, A SPECIAL “THANK YOU” TO OUR SPONSOR, PERKINS+WILL.