A tlanta’s art scene is on the verge of something significant — teetering between mak-ing it and breaking it. Long

regarded as a creative hodgepodge, the city’s poets, artists and madmen have worked tirelessly in the last year to help redefine the city’s artistic identity. They attracted international attention with the colossal grassroots street art conference Living Walls, improved our public art profile with gloATL and Art on the Belt-line, and cultivated the kind of TV- and filmmaking-friendly environment that’s allowed for the conversion of Lakewood Fairgrounds into a Hollywood-worthy soundstage, and the local filming of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

So what does the future hold for the arts in Atlanta? Can we build on the mo-mentum we’ve recently gained? Judging from the last year’s creative outpouring, the scales are tipped in the right direction.

— Debbie MichauD

POETS,ARTISTS &MADMEN

GLOATL: Critics Pick for Best Dance Company

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Best trend in the artsAtlanta’s art scene has experienced a changing of the

guard over the past couple of years: The collective has be-come king. And while the twenty- and thirtysomethings behind the city’s nascent art co-ops, galleries and organi-zations have displayed remarkable entrepreneurial savvy, and ushered in a new generation of nonprofits, they’ve also shown that they know how to party. ART PARTIES such as Dashboard Co-op’s launch event at the cavernous Blue Tower Gallery, Dodekapus’ mad art show-cum-ice-sculpting-rave, BurnAway’s fundraising extravaganza, and round two of the underground local art and music fest ARTlantis are a mere sampling of the past year’s social calendar. The parties ring with the energy of those who are making up the rules as they go. What’s more, the art is good and just keeps getting better. We’re not saying an art show has to have fire dancers to be fun … but it sure as hell doesn’t hurt.

Best neighBorhood for artists

There’s a fairly reliable life cycle applicable to art-ists’ neighborhoods: In the beginning, no one gives a shit about them, not even the artists. The architecture is likely old and neglected or, alternately, comprised of strip mall ghost towns begging for someone to reclaim the forgotten corporate landscapes. That’s when the artists sneak in. Spots such as the sprawling artist co-op B Complex, the CoLaboratory and the mammoth Metropolitan warehouses in Atlanta’s WEST END, which house dozens of studio and gallery spaces, offer large spans of square footage on the cheap. Add to the mix historical-turned-right-now-relevant spaces such as Hammonds House and the Wren’s Nest, and — bam! — the latest intown art mecca is born.

Best emerging visual artistLUCHA RODRIGUEZ’s examination of the body as a

web of thoughts and organs manifests itself in the ethereal delicacy of her voluminous hand-cut paper installations and the sinuous tangles and gelatinous surrealism of her “Creaturettes.” She’s also got a penchant for the color pink — her artful autopsies bleed it. The Venezuela-born artist, who has a BFA in graphic design from the Art In-stitute of Atlanta, and an MFA in printmaking from the Savannah College of Art & Design, wowed this year in Encore Series at the ACA Gallery of SCAD and in Spruill Gallery’s LatinGA. Last May, Rodriguez was awarded the Forward Arts Foundation’s 2010-11 Emerging Artist Award, which includes a $10,000 grant and a solo show at the Swan Coach House Gallery. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. www.love-lucha-now.org

Readers Pick for Best New Trend in the Arts: The Beltline. See more Readers Picks, p. 42

MIkE GERMON

eat, and humans are consuming technology at a ferocious pace. In Significance slowed its audience down enough so it could take a deep breath and chew on notions of origin, evolu-tion and interaction. 1011-A Marietta St. 404-892-5477. www.kiang-gallery.com.

Best photo finishIt’s safe to say that the last five years JU-

LIAN COX has spent as the curator of pho-tography at the High have been some of the museum’s most productive, and arguably its most impressive. Exhibitions such as Harry Callahan: Eleanor in 2007, 2008’s Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Move-ment, 1956-1968, and most recently, Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer have raised the museum’s profile and helped pad its per-manent collection. For the “Picturing the South” series, Cox wrangled commissions from photographer Alec Soth, which now call the High home. Among the best of the nation’s photography scholars, Cox was appointed as Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Chief Cu-rator of the de Young Museum in July. We’re sad to see him go, but thanks to his diligent efforts at building the museum’s permanent collection in truly meaningful ways, we have plenty to remember him by. 1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4444. www.high.org.

Best local male actorA mainstay of Kenny Leon’s True Colors

Theatre Company, E. ROGER MITCHELL proves the best kind of utility player by put-ting fresh spins on vivid roles from Ceremo-nies in Dark Old Men’s urban operator Blue Haven to Gem of the Ocean’s bereft Citizen Barlow. Perhaps Mitchell’s most impressive

Best collective artis-tic “oh, hell naw!”

When artists, arts organizations and their supporters first learned last April that the Georgia House of Representative’s proposed state budget for 2011 eliminated funds for the Georgia Council for the Arts, the response was swift. The arts community sprang into action to oppose the cuts, including circulat-ing a petition that gathered more than 2,000 signatures in a matter of days. The protesting culminated in a MARCH ON THE CAPI-TOL April 19 comprising several hundred people, complete with pithy signs, dancing, music, singing, speeches and generally color-ful commotion. The following day, the Sen-ate Appropriations Committee modified the budget, which was later approved, allotting approximately $890,000 for the GCA. It was a wake-up call for members of the local art community, who learned the hard way that you’ve got to fight for your right to be arty.

Best art exhiBit in a gallery

Atlanta artist Pandra Williams presented a complex and meditative study in the biol-ogy of technology (and vice versa) with her moody installation “Radicis,” one of the standout pieces in her exceptional joint show IN SIGNIFICANCE with Annette Gates at the Westside’s Kiang Gallery last spring. “Radi-cis” — a pulsing combination of handmade porcelain sculptures, laminated mulberry paper, 465 LED lights, solar panels and a bat-tery bank — was arresting in its tranquility. Gates and Williams’ collaborative piece “Para-dox” was a three-dimensional romp through the circle of life. They say you are what you

Best reason to navigate the urBan jungle

Forget gallery walls, this year artists have been vying for representation in pub-lic spaces, most significantly as part of the sprawling, multidisciplinary project ART ON THE BELTLINE. Intended to boost awareness of the size and scope of the proposed 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit, and its potential impact on you and me and our fair city, the multipart exhibit has featured everything from a poignant performance art and installation piece by Hormuz Minina to Jeffry Loy’s glowing steel flower pods. www.beltline.org

Best puBlic art event

In August, more than a dozen of the world’s most prolific and noted street artists descended on Atlanta for LIVING WALLS: THE CITY SPEAKS, a week-end-long grassroots street art conference that included the installation of murals, posters, and wheatpastes all over Atlanta, along with lectures on urbanism, a gal-lery show, and general art trouble/mer-rymaking. If Living Walls doesn’t incite Atlanta art vandals to step up their game and keep us on the international street art radar, then fuck it — we’re moving to Berlin. www.livingwallsconference.com

Best puBlic art performance

Working with an old house in the historic Old Fourth Ward, a softball field, a vacant lot, and a growth of kudzu be-hind a strip mall, JOHN Q’S MEMORY FLASH uncovered Atlanta’s queer histo-

ry in the most typical of places. Oral his-tories from Jolly Twelve member Freddy Styles, drag queen Billy Jones, and soft-ball players from the Atlanta Tomboys informed Memory Flash’s installations and performances, and created an unfor-gettably resonant connection between the past and present. www.fluxprojects.org

Best use of Krog street tunnel

As BP’s busted well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico nearly two months after the Deep Water Horizon’s “blowout preventer” failed to deliver as promised on April 20, a couple of locals took to the Krog Street tunnel to voice their frustration, painting “fu bp” above the DeKalb Avenue entrance. The best part, though, was the FU BP TIME-LAPSE VIDEO that circulated the fol-lowing day. It showed the pair working from the middle of the night into the wee hours of the morning, ducking for cover as cop cars pass, and quickly accumulated upward of 11,000 views on YouTube.

Best graf writerCasting a critical eye at graf writ-

ers is a little counterintuitive. We’re not about to impose a set of rules where they clearly don’t belong, but we do think HENSE’s works on overpasses, old buildings, railroad cars, rusty signage, and billboards over the past 15 years deserves recognition. The veteran street artist always turns out graceful, lively interactions that leave each urban surface he appropriates looking truly appreci-ated, including his bold — and autho-rized — Beltline mural off Ralph McGill Boulevard. www.hensethename.com

Public Art ... our favorite open-air creativity

POETS, ARTISTS & MADMEN

MARCH ON THE CAPITOL: Critics Pick for Best Collective Artistic “Oh, Hell Naw!”

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quality is his ability to take a sketchy charac-ter, such as The Sunset Limited’s saintly ex-con, and invest it with dignity and gravitas. Mitchell can reliably make mediocre material strong, and strong material masterful.

Best local female actor

In recent years, Atlantans have been short-changed the charms of PushPush Theater co-founder SHELBY HOFER, primarily due to her having a child. Hofer renewed her cre-dentials as one of Atlanta’s best comic actresses with PushPush’s one-woman show 101 Hu-miliating Stories by Lisa Kron. A tour-de-force of shameful admissions and self-conscious be-havior, Stories provided a showcase of Hofer’s spot-on timing. PushPush extended Stories several times, but really, could continue to show it every week without it getting old. www.pushpushtheater.com

Best stage directorActor’s Express artistic director FRED-

DIE ASHLEY benefits from the law of aver-ages in this category: He’s such a prolific di-rector that if you’ve seen a vivid or imagina-tive production recently, odds are he helmed it. Ashley’s coming off a particularly fulsome season that included the memory-haunted musical Grey Gardens, the intimate musical A Catered Affair, and the showbiz satire-turned-fightfest Slasher. In Ashley’s shows, the actors make graceful transitions between power-ful emotional beats without ever letting the snappy pace flag. Here’s hoping Ashley keeps up the pace as well. www.actors-express.com

Best playIronically, Alliance Theatre Kendeda

Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist

FAIR USE proved to be more felicitous and satisfying than any of the Kendeda’s storied winners to date. Actor’s Express’ Freddie Ashley snapped up Sarah Gubbins’ inge-nious and witty examination of workplace romance and intellectual property, which demonstrates its own points by turning into a nimble riff on Cyrano de Bergerac for the online, gay-friendly age. Fair Use proves that a play doesn’t need historical settings or heavyweight subject matter to explore rich ideas and the nature of relationships.

Best guest actor to throw money around

Powerhouse monologist MIKE DAISEY took the Alliance Theatre by storm last spring. Marrying the verbal and thematic ingenuity of the late Spalding Gray with the volcanic indignation of Lewis Black, Daisey took on money and materialism with The Last Cargo Cult, then trained his incisive eye on the problems of contemporary stagecraft with his one-night performance of How Theater Failed America. Atlanta may have literally gotten more out of Daisey than he put in. In Cargo Cult, Daisey conducted a sociological experiment by converting his fee for each per-formance into cash and giving it away to his audience as they entered. At the end of the show, Daisey politely requested the money be returned. His Atlanta run left him more deep-ly in the red than any other city. If that makes Daisey reluctant to return, we have only our-selves to blame. mikedaisey.blogspot.com

Best theater companyPerhaps something’s in the water in

Lawrenceville. Since AURORA THEATRE debuted its new playhouse there in 2007, the

LUCHA RODRIGUEZ: Critics Pick for Best Emerging Visual Artist

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once-tame suburban theater has seen increas-ing creative dividends. In the past season, Aurora debuted the Georgia Gwinnett College Lab Series of innovative scripts at its new black box theater, where you can see the likes of the funny, quirky boom and the intriguing The Circumference of a Squirrel, starring Daniel May. The programming has branched out from familiar theatrical warhorses and included such coups as the regional premiere of A Catered Affair with Glenn Rainey, and hit a high water-mark with Tranced, a twisty political thriller on a par with the best work of Actor’s Express, Horizon Theatre and Alliance Hertz Stage. Aurora strikes just the right balance between pleasing its audience and challenging its artists. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222. www.auroratheatre.com.

Best local comedianIt’s been said that the best comedy comes

from pain. If that’s really the case, then somebody must have kicked the shit out of ANDY SANDFORD. Whether performing alone, or as one fourth of the comedy quar-tet the Beards of Comedy, Sandford’s dark demeanor and eerily annunciated delivery only help to highlight the greatest asset to his comedy — his writing. Sandford is a skill-ful linguist who carefully plays with pitch, tone and timing to spice up his jokes about everything from mugging a man for his suit, to his love of fast food: “Wendy’s is very near and dear to my heart … problems.” www.myspace.com/sandfordcomedy

Best dance companyThe emergence of dancemaker Lauri Stall-

ings’ GLOATL over the past year has been the artistic equivalent of a fire alarm going off

in the middle of the night. Stallings and her troupe are interlopers; invaders of public space and consciousness. Their method of attack is rooted in Gaga, a performance technique pioneered by Israeli choreographer Ohad Na-harin. Gaga’s so-called “movement language” has a balletic herky-jerkiness that bursts with athleticism and emotion. With gloATL, Stall-ings has eschewed the traditional stage format for venues such as Lenox Mall, the streets of Castleberry Hill, and the Woodruff Arts Center campus for her 360-degree audience/performer experiences. gloATL’s 2009-10 sea-son concluded with the epic multimedia per-formance Roem, setting the stage (so to speak) for the company’s largest public work to date, scheduled for this fall. www.gloatl.com

Best sign that atlanta’s a new mini-hollywood

Between Tyler Perry’s Atlanta-based media empire, Georgia’s financial incentives for film production, and Screen Gems’ new deal to convert Lakewood Fairgrounds into a sound-stage, the A has increasingly raised its profile as a destination for making movies and television shows. Perhaps no project could do more for the city’s cachet than the local filming of “THE WALKING DEAD,” American Movie Classics’ undead miniseries developed by director Frank Darabont and based on the cult graphic novel series of the same name. AMC is essentially the new HBO, boasting such critically acclaimed fare as “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” If “The Walking Dead” lives up to those shows when it debuts in November, it could boost our cool factor by several orders of magnitude. Ei-ther way, it’s always fun having zombies around. www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead

ANDY SANDFORD: Critics Pick for Best Local Comedian

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Best galleryWith its exposed brick walls and

airy, modern layout, Susan Bridges’ In-man Park carriage-house-turned-gallery WHITESPACE is at once nostalgic and modern. The same can be said for the art Bridges welcomes into the space: Stand-out shows of the past year include local husband-and-wife team Whitney and Micah Stansell’s multimedia collaboration Past. Perfect. Continuous., and the Caroline Lathan-Stiefel-curated adventure in color and texture Seepages. 814 Edgewood Ave. 404-688-1892. www.whitespace814.com.

Best gallery spotlighting local artists

Throughout its nearly five-year exis-tence, Poncey-Highland hole-in-the-wall BEEP BEEP GALLERY has been a ma-jor factor in transforming Atlanta’s un-derground and emerging art scenes, from shows featuring local talent such as the Plastic Aztecs or Matt Relkin to found-ing the subterranean arts fest ARTlantis to partnering with local java joint Aurora Coffee on any number of art/music extravaganzas. 696 Charles Allen Drive. 404-429-3320. www.beepbeepgallery.com.

Best underground art space

Tucked away in the nether regions of the Sampson Street Lofts, MINT GALLERY makes itself known with an unassuming orange door. The artist-run nonprofit gallery is practically ground zero for projects from Atlanta’s emerg-ing creatives. Owners/operators Erica Jamison and Mike Germon maintain a frenetic pace conceiving of inspired art-ist collabos (Joe Tsambiras, Sam Parker and the Paper Twins’ Here We Hide); killer group shows (Solid Gold); and hosting hot-shit guest curators (Ben Goldman and Jason Travis), while co-

founder Andrew Bellury acts as liaison for MINT exhibitions at other venues around town. 684-B John Wesley Dobbs Ave. mintgallery.blogspot.com.

Best Black Box theater

An intimate venue even by the mi-nuscule standards of black box spaces, DAD’S GARAGE TOP SHELF offers an incubator of raw local talent, notably Griefers, written by and starring Randy Havens and Christian Danley, as well as the latest work from artists such as Steve Yockey, Alison Hastings, Erin Burnett and Matt Myers. Bonus: It’s easy to drink beer there. 280 Elizabeth St., Suite C-101. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com.

Best BlockBuster theater

The corporate name may not be in-spirational, but every other aspect of the COBB ENERGY PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE never fails to impress, from its sleek exterior to its luxurious lobby to the comfy seats and fine acoustics and sight-lines of the 2,750-seat auditorium. Plus, the Centre’s logistical ease puts the audi-ence focus where it belongs: on artists like the performers of the Atlanta Ballet and Atlanta Opera. 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway. 770-916-2800. www.cobbenergycentre.com.

Best movie theaterNone of Atlanta’s slick corporate

cinema chains feels as much like a picture show by and for the community as the 71-year-old PLAZA THEATRE. The scruffy but comfy movie house currently specializes in new art-house films, cre-ative events such as Silver Scream Spook Show, and monthly screenings of the cult hit The Room. At the Plaza, the love of film practically fills the air, like the smell of popcorn. 1049 Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-873-1939. www.plazaatlanta.com.

Art Spaces ... our favorite galleries and theaters

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Best poetUsing his own experiences as a quad-

riplegic, PAUL GUEST explores the way any of us — all of us — can or can’t move and feel in this world. His poetry often conveys a flippant, cynical tone: “As you can already see, everything is fucked./I re-ally can’t remember why,” he says in “Au-dio Commentary Track 1” from 2008’s My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowl-edge. His insights, however, are anything but superficial. He published his calm, lu-cid memoir, One More Theory About Hap-piness, last May. paulguest.blogspot.com

Best fiction authorScorch Atlas author BLAKE BUTLER

doesn’t just write fiction, he creates inter-locking worlds, apocalyptic visions raining gravel or glass or glitter. His thin volumes swell to the size of several books as you read them. Catch him locally at his Solar Anus reading series, where he’s usually introducing other talents from small and independent presses. www.gillesdeleuze-committedsuicideandsowilldrphil.com

Best nonfiction author

After reading MARA SHALHOUP’s vivid and kaleidoscopic exploration of the Black Mafia Family, BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family, you’ll never be able to look at Atlanta’s streets, Buckhead’s mansions, or a line of cocaine the same again. Whether she’s recounting the

bright lights and big heads at a high-end nightclub or parsing the machinations of a Byzantine federal investigation, Shalhoup is a sure-footed investigator of organized crime. www.bmfbook.com

Full disclosure: Shalhoup is CL’s editor in chief. Arts freelancer Wyatt Williams chose Shalhoup for this award and wrote the blurb. We trust that Wyatt was in no way influenced by Shalhoup’s role at CL when he made this selection.

Best playwrightAs artistic director of Essential The-

atre, PETER HARDY has been Atlanta’s de facto midwife of new local plays. In the summer of 2010, however, Hardy put the spotlight on his own script, Sally and Glen at the Palace, and the nostalgic dramedy packed enough punch to upstage many of Essential’s productions going back for years. www.essentialtheatre.com

Best graphic novelist

Terms like “subtlety,” “innocence,” and “whimsy” seldom describe con-temporary graphic novels, but of all the creators in our lively, local comic book scene, Lilburn’s ANDY RUNTON pro-duces the most persistently impressive work with his dialogue-free, kid-orient-ed title Owly, which gives “cute” a good name. Move over, Winnie the Pooh. www.andyrunton.com/comics.html

Scribes ... our favorite writers of the year

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Best new trend in the arts&Best puBlic artwork&Best puBlic art eventThe BelTlinewww.beltline.org

Best neighBorhood for the arts&Best neighBorhood art walkCasTleBerry hillwww.castleberryhill.org

Best estaBlished visual artistFahamu PeCouwww.fahamupecouart.com

Best emerging visual artistmelissa Payne Bakerwww.melissapaynebaker.com

Best advocate for the artsWonderrooT982 Memorial Drive. 404-254-5955. www.wonderroot.org.

Best street artkrog sTreeT Tunnel

Best art partyArt PAPers arT auCTionwww.artpapers.org

Best indie crafter(Tie)BeCky sTriePewww.glueandglitter.comAndChrisTy PeTTersonabardis.wordpress.com

Best photographerryan PurCellwww.ohsnapkid.com

Best museumhigh museum oF arT1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4444. www.high.org.

Best galleryyoung Blood gallery & BouTique636 N. Highland Ave. 404-254-4127. www.youngbloodgallery.com.

Best gallery spotlighting local artistsBeeP BeeP gallery696 Charles Allen Drive. 404-429-3320. www.beepbeepgallery.com.

Best underground art spaceeyedrum arT & musiC gallery290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.E., Suite 8. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

Readers Picks

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arT on The BelTline: readers Pick for Best new Trend in the arts, Public artwork and Public art event

Readers Picks

Best opening&Best art exhiBit in a galleryHere We Hide at MINt Gallery684 John Wesley Dobbs Ave. www.mintatl.org.

Best art exhiBit in a museumTHe Allure of THe AuTomobileHigh Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4444. www.high.org.

Best local male actortyler Perrywww.tylerperry.com

Best local female actoralIsoN HastINGs

Best stage directorKeNNy leoNwww.truecolorstheatre.org

Best local playwrighttoPHer PayNewww.topherpayne.com

Best playSpoon: THe muSicAl at DaD’s GaraGe tHeatre280 Elizabeth St. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com.

Best touring playTHe pHAnTom of THe operA at Fox tHeatre660 Peachtree St. 404-881-2100. www.foxtheatre.org.

toPHer PayNe: readers Pick for Best local Playwright

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Best theater company&Best improv group&Best sketch comedy troupe or venueDaD’s GaraGe tHeatre280 Elizabeth St. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com.

Best local comedianJoe PettIswww.joepettis.com

Best venue for stand-up comedylauGHING sKull louNGe878 Peachtree St. 877-523-3288. www.vortexcomedy.com.

YOUR FUNNY VOTESBest new trend in the arts: calling everything “epic”— “katarinj”

Best museum: GA Crime Lab — Has the shaved monkey from the alien hoax of ’53— “grantonious”

Best local male actor: Blondie— “MotS”

Best local female actor: Your girlfriend— “thiefmagnet”

POETS, ARTISTS & MADMEN

Readers PicksBest dance companyAtlAntA BAlletwww.atlantaballet.com

Best dance performanceKoru By DAnce 1012480 Briarcliff Road. 404-542-3887. www.dance101.org.

Best local poet&Best local spoken word artistKoDAc HArrisonwww.kodacharrison.com

Best place to hear spoken wordJAvA MonKey425 Church St. 404-378-5002. www.myspace.com/javamonkeydecatur.

Best Book eventDecAtur BooK FestivAlwww.decaturbookfestival.com

Best local authorHollis Gillespiewww.hollisgillespie.com

Best Book By a local authorThe help By KAtHryn stocKettwww.kathrynstockett.com

Best place to see a movielAnDMArK MiDtown Art cineMA931 Monroe Circle. 404-879-0408. www.landmarktheatres.com.

Best film seriessplAtter cineMA At plAzA tHeAtre1049 Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-873-1939. www.plazaatlanta.com.

Best film festivalAtlAntA FilM FestivAl 365www.atlantafilmfestival.com

Best local arts BlogBurnAwAywww.burnaway.org