7 Atlanta Artists To Inspire Your First Weekend of 2021

Meet the masterminds mixing up Atlanta’s art scene.

Mark Boomershine Pop art and Figurative

Boomershine in studio with various works including a recent 13-by-15-foot mural for Spanx corporate headquarters in Buckhead Village

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

I love imagery from the 1960s and 1970s photography and movies. The overdeveloped colors of the old Panavision cameras influence the colors in my work.

How do you think art influences society?

Art can be the zeitgeist of the time. It can reflect both the joy and the happiness that is occurring for a particular culture and/or generation. When looked at years later, the art created by a previous generation of artists can give a feel for the mindset of the time and the future art viewer can have a greater connection with history. @markboomershine

Mark Boomershine, “PEACE” (2017, mixed media on canvas), 48 inches by 96 inches

Twiggy collected for the Whitney Museum’s board of directors

Mark Boomershine, “SUN” (2017, mixed media on canvas), 48 inches by 84 inches

Hannah Manning Chan Lifestyle and Fashion Illustration

Chan in her studio

Why do you create art?

I create art because I have an undeniable urge to mark and document interesting and beautiful people, scenarios and atmospheres that I encounter. I find myself becoming unsatisfied when I abandon an idea, place or situation without recording it through drawings or paintings. Drawing is the best way to document, as it does not involve the distractions of a camera on a smartphone. All focus goes into celebrating a moment when undivided energy is directed toward its drawing. I take a sketchbook everywhere with me, as I have an ongoing expectation to notice something interesting that I will want to document.

What do you like best about Atlanta’s art scene?

Atlanta’s art scene is a huge melting pot, abundant with diversity. The variety of art that is represented in Atlanta reflects the various cultures and backgrounds of people who make up Atlanta’s diverse population. A society with diverse and eclectic backgrounds is most valuable to me, as I am drawn to people with this kind of open attitude toward people from different places. @hannahchan_art

Chan’s favorite work piece, May 2020

Hannah Manning Chan, “Gracie Flower Skirt”

fashion illustration inspired by designer Elise McMurray

unfinished sketches

Anna Michele Moran Figurative Drawing and Painting

Anna Michele Moran

What does art mean to you?

I love the words of Michelangelo when he said, ‘The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.’ To me, art is the pursuit of truth through an honest reach for beauty. The artist uses aesthetic principles as tools to effectively communicate perspective and the soul through beauty.

What is one tool in your studio that you can’t live without?

My charcoal is a very important tool as it helps me to draft the beginnings of movement and shape in an expressive way. It has a natural and messy quality about it, and oftentimes I will fall in love with my sketches and use them as a finished work of art. @theannamichele

Original piece by Anna Michele Art

a look inside Anna Michele Art’s studio

Jamaal Malik Moore Figurative realism

a portrait of the artist

What does art mean to you?

For me, art is a pathway to spirituality. It is the expression of the higher self, a tool to be used in the process of healing. I seek to create beauty while instilling a positive self-image in the minds of those who need it most. I create to inspire knowing that if you seek the light within you will be amazed at what you may find.

How do you begin each piece?

Every piece begins with thorough planning and visualization, and computer software comes into play to ensure a mock-up is in place before painting begins. After that, materials are gathered and staged and the process can begin. @madebymalik_

Nas portrait by Jamaal Malik

Malik in action

George F. Baker III Illustration and Murals

How did you get your start?

I make art simply because I love to make things for people to interact with. My intro into making art really started from following upstart streetwear brands like The Hundreds during my high school years. Their work inspired me to major in graphic design at GSU so I could make my own T-shirts for people to wear. Graphic design then led me to illustration and then, surprisingly, to painting murals. The binding thread is, and probably always will be, making things for people.

How do you begin each piece you create?

All of my pieces truly start with conversations. Whether it’s conversations with the owner of the wall I’m painting or conversations with the community, I like to start off everything I create with good in-depth convos about what is actually needed and wanted. I strive for intentional design in all that I do because I know that’s how you create something that stops being yours and becomes something everyone takes ownership of. @gfb3

George F. Baker III painting the “Too Busy to Hate” mural for the “Making a Way in the A” mural collab; progression of “Too Busy to Hate.”

Adult Swim’s “We All Have a Role to Play” billboard

“Making a Way in the A” mural

Evan Blackwell Abstract Expressionism

artist Evan Blackwell

How do you begin each piece you create?

I generally begin each work by picking a color I want to direct the painting with and a flow of intuitive, gestural graphite marks. This helps break the ice of marking up a pristine canvas or piece of paper and lets me begin to more confidently start the work.

What are your favorite colors to work with?

Currently I am loving really saturated colors like bright tomato red, deep cobalt and turquoise, and pretty much every shade and hue of orange and yellow. @evanblackwell_art

Inside the artist’s studio

Blackwell’s colorful painting studio

commissioned work by Blackwell

Caroline Stroud Figurative and Abstract Painting

Caroline Stroud

What does art mean to you?

To me, art is putting onto canvas the thoughts and feelings and emotions you cannot put into words. Personally, I am not the most eloquent at conveying my feelings through speech, but when I paint I feel like I can perfectly convey the intangibles that I am feeling or experiencing. Art to me is very personal. Each person has their own style and there is no right or wrong. I appreciate how subjective it is, since not many things in life are.

Why do you make art?

I make art because I love the endless possibilities that are in front of you when you start with a blank canvas. I also believe that art is a direct reflection of your innermost being, and I have learned a lot about myself—my interests, my intentions, my likes and dislikes, etc.—since painting almost every day for the past year. @caroline_stroud_art

“Life of the Party”; group shot from Stroud’s Cheers collection series

“Taking a Break”