Paper Plane Gallery opens in College Park

A new gallery space finds a home and looks to the future.

The Atlanta arts scene is always changing, from new artists finding a home here to galleries opening and closing. Paper Plane Gallery opened Thurs., June 9, and it’s ready to carve a own niche in the city’s arts scene. The gallery is located in College Park and its inaugural exhibition, New American Works, was a success with more than 200 visitors on the first night.

“Part of our focus is growing the next generation of art collectors,” Jack Michael, owner of the gallery, says. “In some sense, art is a luxury product. But at the same time, there’s no reason that every single person who wants to be an art collector shouldn’t be able to do so.”

Michael and her fiancé moved from New York City down to Atlanta for work last summer and quickly felt attracted to College Park because of its tight community. “We were pleasantly surprised to find a community defined by enthusiasm, dedication to progress, and neighborliness,” Michael says.

CL talked to Michael, the woman behind this new spot, via email about making the decision to open the gallery in College Park, what kind of artists she hopes to attract, and the gallery’s focus on papermaking.


Why College Park?
That enthusiasm, that no-holds-barred, let’s-do-this attitude is why we decided to call College Park home, and open the gallery here. The idea for the gallery started to gel just barely more than a month ago, when some really generous local entrepreneurs offered to let me use the space free of charge for a year to help establish the gallery without the traditional pressure of high overhead. Not only did they offer that, but they also paid for a large part of the structural buildout of the space, helped me with business licensing, the whole works. The city of College Park was very supportive in walking me through the process of doing business. People in College Park believe in and support College Park. When they say they’re going to do something, it gets done. We don’t mess around down here; everyone is enthusiastic about everything, and we all work hand in hand for the win. I’ve lived in cities all across the U.S., but I’ve never been in a place like College Park. This nomad is settling down for good.

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How did the inaugural exhibition go?
Our first exhibition couldn’t have gone better! So many of our neighbors came together to help make it possible with donations of time, wine, furniture, carpentry skill, etc. At the end of the day, it’s great when people buy art, but what made the opening such a success was that people were there, together, talking about the work, talking about future projects, talking about the future of the Southside. People who had never been to an art gallery came, met artists, and learned that they do love art. When they left, most of them hung out on the sidewalk in front of the gallery and kept talking. If we can get even half as many people to come to future events, I’ll consider every day a success. The artists in the show felt the love and support of the community, and of the people who came from out of town — and even out of state — to see the show. To me, that makes our first show a hit, because people cared, people connected — enthusiasm is like wildfire, and I think our opening night sparked something huge.

What kind of artists do you hope to attract to the space?
I’m hoping to attract a truly broad spectrum of artists to the space, from emerging to established, local to national. Our first show met that goal by featuring emerging and established artists from College Park, Atlanta, North Georgia, Portland, Oakland, Maine, and more. I would love to feature some solo shows by artists who are working with paper and print media in non-traditional ways, especially if those artists have a focus on assemblage, site-specific installation, or performance. I feel that those media can engage patrons who aren’t traditional consumers of art in really moving ways because they don’t come across as traditional gallery practices.

What else do you have in the works?
In addition to some truly killer upcoming solo shows from both West Coast and East Coast artists, we’re also launching a program of free professional development talks to help with specific topics like how to apply for blind juried shows, open calls, grant applications, etc. Paper Plane is as much a community resource space for artists as it is a gallery. We’re also hoping to partner with local giants like Sam Flax, SCAD, GSU, Kennesaw State, Danger Press, the Atlanta Printmakers Studio, Fulton County, the City of College Park, and fellow galleries to grow the resource and knowledge base for Atlanta and Tri-Cities artists. Later this summer, we’re collaborating with the amazing Yoyo Ferro to bring an epic piece of public art to College Park — and we hope it’s the first of many for the city’s public art collection.

Paper Plane Gallery, 3731 #2 Main Street. Saturday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m. and select evenings. www.paperplaneatl.com.