A is for Atlanta and Art and Amy

I have another confession. If you’ve read my past columns, you know I have a show addiction. I’m also a nerd. The inner nerd became more hidden with age. In elementary school, I didn’t know that I should tamper it and would always ask my Grandma Peggy to quiz me about various things.

She was a talented, creative art afficionado who later in life became a sculptor. Some of her favorite places were “the Met” (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). “Name that artist” became one of my favorite nerdy games as we would walk around and look at works produced by famous people.

While her artistic talent did not pass along in my DNA, I love art museums and make time to visit the High in Atlanta regularly. If you have never been, the architecture is just as stunning as the art.

My recent visit there was planned months in advance because Amy Sherald’s exhibit “American Sublime” is currently on display until September 27, 2026. If you are an art lover and have not been yet, you won’t want to miss it.

According to Webster’s, sublime is an adjective that means “lofty, grand, of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth, tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty or grandeur) or transcendent excellence.”

In art history, the word was most often used to describe the majestic American landscapes produced by the Hudson River School painters in the19^th century. Sherald has redeployed the term for her collection of African American portraits. The exhibit is meaningful and powerful.

Amy Sherald is a Georgia native, born in Columbus and a graduate of Clark Atlanta University. She has been making art her whole life, yet most people (including me) had not heard of her until she painted Michelle Obama’s portrait in 2018.

Like that painting, all her works are very large-scale portraits done in oil. Most are approximately 6 ft by 4 ft. There is a short movie showing on a loop at the end of the exhibit that I found incredibly interesting because it walks through her creative process. She has real-life models pose in the ways she has envisioned, and she takes many photographs as she tweaks the details of their positions. Then, she looks at the pictures as she paints on these huge canvases (used loosely, sometimes she paints on linen or other materials).

All of the paintings in the exhibit portray African Americans. She uses her signature gray-tone for skin color, and vibrant, rich background colors. She is the kind of artist that has such a distinct signature style, you could likely pick hers out in a large collection of works from various artists. Easy points in the “name that artist” game!

But it’s not her technique that justifies the exhibit’s title. It is the content. It is the collection of these paintings together that makes the real impact. Collectively they portray these Americans in ways that art has largely overlooked in the past. There is simultaneously grandeur and simplicity in her work. It took my breath away and at times brought tears to my eyes.  

Amy Sherald is not just a talented artist, she is a masterful storyteller. What’s going on with the woman who has a suntan line where her wedding ring once was? And perhaps the most moving piece in the exhibit, Breonna Taylor wearing her engagement ring even though she was killed weeks before her boyfriend’s planned proposal.

I could write about almost every piece in the exhibit. I can visually remember them so clearly. Instead, if you enjoy art, let me urge you to find time to go walk through the exhibit yourself. Take the time to slow down and truly consume what has been curated for you. Read the intro text on the wall as you enter, take earbuds and use the QR codes to listen to the audio content, really look at each painting, change your angle and look again, and watch the short movie at the end. It will be an afternoon I remember for a long time.