The Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) recently launched a new website dedicated to the Georgia's State Art Collection, an extensive chronicle of work created by Georgia artists from the 1970s to the 1990s. The website is an interactive "Internet home" for anyone who has a connection to the arts.
This website is the first to be hosted by a state arts agency that focuses exclusively on visual artists of the state and offers curriculum-based lesson plans that correlate to national and state standards.
For more than a year, the Georgia Council for the Arts worked with technology partner Georgia Public Broadcasting to photograph, digitize and archive more than six hundred pieces of art created by more than three hundred Georgia artists. Many of these names are easily recognizable by patrons of the arts: Benny Andrews, Ed Moulthrop, Howard Finster and Lamar Dodd. They are just a few of the artists whose roots originated in Georgia but have gained national recognition.
Visitors of the website can view actual footage of many of the artists and listen as they discuss what motivated a particular piece, observe the texture of a piece close-up that details brush strokes or weaving patterns, learn more about the artist through biographical content that includes exhibit locations and educational background, and download lesson plans that connect the art work to relevant curriculum.
Georgia's State Art collection hasn't always been as easily accessible to art lovers and scholars. In the 1960s, the collection existed as two separate collections in the Georgia Art Bus Program and the Georgia Art Acquisition Program, and it could only be viewed on the Art Bus or in state government buildings across the state.
In the early 1990s, the two programs combined and the Georgia State Art Collection was formed. It can now be viewed in person and online, and clients of Georgia Council for the Arts are able to borrow the art work from the State Art Collection.
Visit the Georgia State Art Collection.
