The Athens-Clarke County Library is hosting an exhibit featuring works by Athens natives James Barnes and Broderick Flanigan, which opens on Sunday, December 17 with a reception featuring talks by the artists.
heARTwork, Resilience in the Midst of Struggle will be on display in the library’s Quiet Gallery from Sunday, Dec. 17, through Sunday, Feb. 17, 2018.
An opening reception will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 17, featuring a slide talk by the artists. A light reception will follow the talk.
James Barnes is a local artist who loves to draw—at McDonalds, at Starbucks, on the sidewalk, at the library. James carries his work hanging over his shoulder or rolled up in his backpack, alongside his pens. Hundreds of pens. And stencils—refrigerator magnets, cookie cutters, a scarf hanger in the shape of a rosette. He spreads his canvas, dumps his supplies, puts in his earplugs, and loses himself in his personal graffiti of animals, buildings, words, eyes, and patterns.
Broderick Flanigan grew up in Athens and has made a life as an artist, mentor, and activist. He advocates for the needs of low-income people in Athens, and he mentors teens with weekly art classes.
Flanigan’s Portrait Studio, in the Iron Triangle neighborhood of East Athens, serves as his personal studio and also as a classroom for children and teens to learn about art and chess. His own work focuses on portraiture—of family and of cultural heroes—Malcolm X, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Martin Luther King. His murals are well known throughout Athens, appearing at Triangle Plaza, Food for the Soul, and Hilsman Middle School.
