Cover Story - Six events that’ll get ATL’s public art pulse racing

Four Coats Murals Project
After months of hard work, and gallons and gallons of paint, the anticipated unveiling of the Four Coats Murals Project from Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs took place July 30. OCA helped secure the rights to four public walls, which were then curated by local galleries. Now on view for the next year are works by Tommy Taylor (Whitespace Gallery/Inman Park), Andy Moon Wilson (Get This! Gallery/Westside), Sunday Southern Art Revival (Marcia Wood Gallery/Castleberry Hill), and Lucha Rodriguez (Beep Beep Gallery/Midtown). 404-313-5722. fourcoats.wordpress.com.

Living Walls the City Speaks
After a wildly successful inaugural event last year that endowed Atlanta with a series of new murals and created new conversations about public art, Living Walls returns Aug. 12-14 for more street-art goodness. Forty-one artists (26 of them non-ATLiens) are participating in the 2011 event, which also includes film screenings, an art walk bike ride, a lecture series at MOCA GA and a gallery show at the Goat Farm. Free. Aug. 12-14. Locations vary. www.livingwallsconference.com.

Elevate/Art Above Underground
What would downtown look like, feel like, sound like, if its sidewalks, parks and storefronts were filled with public art? Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs aims to find out this month when it unveils Elevate/Art Above Underground, its latest foray into public art. Works from dozens of artists, including Famou Pecou, Martha Whittington, John Tindel, Ruth Stanford, and more will envelop the area around Woodruff Park and the Five Points MARTA station over the course of two months to highlight the arts and inspire growth and change in the area. Free. Opens Aug. 26, 5-10 p.m. Through Oct. 30. Five Points MARTA, 50 Alabama St. 404-546-6819. elevateatlanta.blogspot.com.

Art on the Atlanta Beltline
The 22-mile loop of proposed transit and greenspace will once again come alive with performance and visual art works on Sept. 9, making it Atlanta’s largest public art exhibit. After sifting through 145 submissions, Atlanta Beltline Inc. selected 66 artists for the project, including Sonic Generator, HENSE & Born, Gregor Turk and gloATL. Free. Opens Sept. 9. Through Nov. 9. 404-614-8300. art.beltline.org.

Flux 2011
The one-night only public art event returns to Castleberry Hill Sept. 30. Flux 2011 will focus on active projects that last the duration of the event, which will open with a lantern parade and close with iron fireworks. More than 100 artists will fill Castleberry’s streets and empty buildings with 28 projects ranging from dance, theater and music to puppetry and multimedia installations. Free. Sept. 30. 8 p.m.-midnight. Castleberry Hill, Peters and Walker streets. 404-245-5853. www.fluxprojects.org.

Atlanta Celebrates Photography
Every year, the monthlong event Atlanta Celebrates Photography commissions a public artwork. This year the honor goes to artist Monica Cook. Cook, best known for her paintings, has begun dabbling in stop-motion animation/claymation in the last few years and will exhibit and interactive sound/video installation in different locations throughout the month of October. The applause-activated project debuts Sept. 30 at Flux 2011. Free. Sept. 30-Oct. 30. Exact dates, times and locations TBA. 404-643-8664. www.acpinfo.org.