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Best Of Atlanta 2008 Poets Madmen Large


Poets, Artists & Madmen

Atlanta artists fight the good fight. In the past year they’ve responded to the national call for public art in A (new) Genre Landscape, crossed cultural divides with the Atlanta Ballet’s big and remained committed to the cause of a Tony Award-caliber theater scene at the Alliance. Never ones to sit idly by, our poets, artists and madmen are always looking to the future, ready to rethink tradition. Denise Lira-Ratinoff’s obscure and wondrous photography exhibit in a 16th Street loading dock; Haverty Marionettes’ sublime performance of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying; and the Plaza Theatre’s transformation from movie house to arts and entertainment center all illuminate a community never satisfied with the status quo. The high level of participation in Best of Atlanta voting and official CL exit polls reveals a diverse support base for the arts that insists on having its voice heard. And thank goodness for that, because otherwise the terrorists would win.

– Debbie Michaud

Best Advocate for the Arts BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Lisa Cremin
When it comes to standing up for the arts in Atlanta, the key is putting your money where your mouth is. No one is in a better position to do that than LISA CREMIN, founding director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. Supporters cite her uncanny ability to target specific needs among specific artsmore...
When it comes to standing up for the arts in Atlanta, the key is putting your money where your mouth is. No one is in a better position to do that than LISA CREMIN, founding director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. Supporters cite her uncanny ability to target specific needs among specific arts organizations – more often in the small to midsize range – to prevent an arts community polarized into the haves and the have-nots. The feather in the cap: As a board member of the national Grantmakers in the Arts, Cremin was instrumental in helping bring the organization’s annual convention to Atlanta in mid-October. Throw in MAAF’s doling out $4.1 million to more than 60 Atlanta arts groups, and you have a true advocate for the arts. www.metroatlantaartsfund.org. less...

Best Art Event BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
At First Sight II
We were blown away by the chutzpah of Denise Lira-Ratinoff’s AT FIRST SIGHT II – a series of light boxes and videos displayed not in a pristine white-walled commercial space, or some too-hip-for-words underground grotto, but in a loading dock off 16th Street in Midtown. The one-night affairmore...
We were blown away by the chutzpah of Denise Lira-Ratinoff’s AT FIRST SIGHT II – a series of light boxes and videos displayed not in a pristine white-walled commercial space, or some too-hip-for-words underground grotto, but in a loading dock off 16th Street in Midtown. The one-night affair was appropriately chilly for Lira-Ratinoff’s photographs depicting the vanishing glaciers of the far, far south – Patagonia, to be exact – in stunning, ephemeral beauty. Engulfing darkness and a haunting soundscape completed the mood. Chances are you missed it; most did. But we wish others would follow Lira-Ratinoff’s lead and create small pockets of magic here, there and everywhere. www.openmade.com. less...

Best Art Exhibit in a Museum BOA Award Winner

Year » 2008
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2008 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art (Featured)
CINEMA REMIXED AND RELOADED at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art did pretty much everything right. The massive, two-part exhibit brought together a frequently overlooked set of artists – black women working in film, video and other time-based media – and finally offered the perspectivemore...
CINEMA REMIXED AND RELOADED at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art did pretty much everything right. The massive, two-part exhibit brought together a frequently overlooked set of artists – black women working in film, video and other time-based media – and finally offered the perspective and critical analysis that’s been due since about the early ’80s. In a curatorial tour de force, director Andrea Barnwell Brownlee and Valerie Cassell Oliver (of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston) brought together Wangechi Mutu, Lorna Simpson, Xaviera Simmons and two dozen other artists who’d never shown together before. Excellently installed and smartly presented, Cinema Remixed was a show of national importance, and we’re glad we had it in our own back yard. less...
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