Ever since I was a kid I have always loved art. My earliest memory is of drawing, and that remained a constant passion of mine throughout my childhood.
Growing up, my dad would take me to museums and galleries nearly every week. Being surrounded by art was a normal part of my life, and yet for a long time it seemed like art was something I could only afford to do on the side, as a respite from the daily grind and the work I did to support myself.
When I first moved to Atlanta from Boston in 2007, I wasn’t sold on the city right away. It took me a while to find my footing here, and I was initially introduced to the art scene while working as a server at the Majestic Diner.
There, in between pouring cup after cup of coffee and serving up smothered plates of hash browns, I noticed something– nearly everyone I worked with was an artist of some kind. Whether my coworkers were playing music with their band every weekend, working on paintings for an art show, or writing moody poetry on the back of their guest checks, it seemed like creativity was a normal part of life for many of my peers. I’d finally found my people.
And so, through connections I made at The Majestic and later at small local galleries such as Beep Beep and Young Blood where I interned during my days at Georgia State, I began to really understand the rich variety of artistic expression that is pervasive throughout Atlanta.
Flash forward a decade or so, and I had become part of that creative community. I began my career as a graphic designer working for local newspapers and eventually migrated over to photography and writing for the same publications. A life-long lover of print media, I found the outlet of free local newspapers to be not only exciting but also essential. I was lucky enough to meet Atlanta Intown editor Collin Kelley, and that chance encounter helped me to embrace the next phase of my career as I tiptoed my way into journalism.
Over the years, I…
Read the full article here