A few months ago, I asked Cheryl Hicks to do something for me. Actually, I just broadly hinted, saying I wished some talented artist would play around painting a picture of cornbread in Georgia O’Keeffe style. I thought that would be fun to see, and might stir up interest in the play we were bringing to Malakoff during the Cornbread Festival. She responded immediately and did something absolutely wonderful for me and my project.
She painted the huge, magnificent “Beans, Greens, and Cornbread,” which I’ve written about numerous times here, and just flat out gave it to us. Told us to do whatever we wanted to with it. I was astounded. Cheryl is one of the top artists in this area. I was hoping she would paint something O’Keeffe-like, and let us look at it, but I didn’t expect her to turn around and give it to us. It was an amazing gift, and I believe had a lot to do with igniting the tremendous interest that developed for the play. And it will be the banner for the Cornbread Festival from now on.
Last week Cheryl asked me to do something for her. She wanted me to give her a two-sentence quote for an article she was writing promoting 211 Gallery in Athens. I told her I wasn’t feeling well, but if she would give me a couple of days, I would think of something.
Then I promptly forgot it. Well, not promptly. I did try for a little while to put my feelings about 211 Gallery into a couple of sentences, but they wouldn’t fit, so I thought if I put it off till tomorrow I could think of something good. Then I forgot it.
So now I’m thinking about it again, and I still can’t do it. I can’t tell you how much I love 211 Gallery in two sentences. But if I’d thought of it then I could have said this: It is my favorite place to go when I want a lift. There is life and creativity and a generous welcoming spirit in that place.
Maybe the best thing for me about bringing “O’Keeffe!” to Malakoff was getting to know the folks at 211 Gallery. My excuse for going there so much was to promote the play, and they really did help spread the word about it. But the wonderful thing about going there was, and is, getting to hang out with tremendously creative and just plain fun people. Cheryl has her studio there, as does Christi Barrett and five other really talented artists. Professional photographer Deb Wood kind of runs the place as best I can tell, since she is usually there Thursday through Saturday, the stated “Open” days. But I can often find Christi and Cheryl there other days, working away creating new stuff and making one another laugh. One day I caught them having lunch there, and I swear the food on Cheryl’s plate was arranged in such a way it could have been photographed and displayed as abstract art. She hadn’t even noticed.
During “open” days they’ll usually offer you some coffee, and maybe a cookie, and maybe even a little wine if it is that time of day. Neat people drop by and set and talk about interesting things.
I’ve been telling you about how good it feels to go there. I haven’t really mentioned the art, which is what the place is there for. Twenty to thirty top notch area artists show their work there. You don’t have to be in the market for a piece of art just to look—they encourage lookers. Of course they hope some people will buy, and they do. They sell quite a bit. And if you would like a piece of original art but think you can’t afford it, think again. They have some very reasonable small pieces, and when they have a sale, the prices sometimes get plumb ridiculously low.
A good time to take a look at this wonderful place is when they have a show, and if you go to opening night, you’ll get to meet most if not all of the artists, and feast on good goodies, and maybe hear good music. The opening night for the current show, “Red,” is past, but the exhibit will remain there till mid September. It is an amazing show. The next show will be titled, “In Flight.” Any artists who are would like to submit work for this show should look at the Gallery’s guidelines at http://www.artgallery211.net/.
I strongly urge, no, I insist that you go by and meet these folks and enjoy their absolutely excellent art. I’ll bet you will be as impressed as I am.
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