East Atlanta’s vibrant street art array gets 4 new and diverse mural projects
This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Pop quiz: Which Atlanta neighborhood has the highest incidence of llama sightings? If you guessed East Atlanta, you would be correct!
East Atlanta is not only home to a llama preserve; you can also find llama pub crawls and llamas featured in the annual neighborhood parade, and the animal has also been adopted as one of the neighborhood’s four mascots.
It should come as no surprise that such a quirky and bohemian “hood” would also fully embrace a creative endeavor such as street art. And its collection of murals just keeps on growing.
In the last year, East Atlanta has made four significant additions to its already impressive mural collection — including, of course, one that features a llama. Let’s take a look:
East Atlanta Strut murals
The fourth Friday of each September, the neighborhood celebrates its culture and unconventionality with a festival called East Atlanta Strut, featuring music, artists, contests and a parade. Tracy Munroe from Wit’s End Llama Consortium provides festively dressed llamas — the true stars of the parade.
A building at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Flat Shoals Avenue, considered to be the neighborhood epicenter and a focal point of the East Atlanta Strut parade, used to be covered with unsightly graffiti tags. Michelle Rice, Strut organizer and secretary of the East Atlanta Community Association, worked with artist Chris Makes Art (aka Chris Wright) and building owner Joe Seymour to beautify the corner just in time for the 2024 event.
Wright recruited his artist friends to cover the building in murals. Although there was no overarching theme, the use of primary colors created a unified appearance. The artists that he brought on board for this project include:
- Leah Abucayan, aka Hella Leah, began her art career at 11 making purses, bags and wallets out of duct tape. In this new mural, she depicted her French bulldog and Boston terrier mix named Pepe.
- Eric Nine, founder of the Twisted Circus immersive art experience, painted the latter of a two-part mural series wherein a ballerina comes to terms with being a vampire following a bite captured in the first mural.
- Muralist and graffiti writer Skape Zilla presented a dynamic figure with a steampunk aesthetic.
- Matt Letrs and Classy Streetz adorned the upper level of the building with Letrs’ graffiti piece and Classy Streetz’s larger-than-life spider.
- In keeping with the neighborhood’s quirky qualities, Nick “Turbo” Benson opted to depict a llama-themed mural, complete with spit conveyed via bright blue paint that was applied using a fire extinguisher.
- Chris Makes Art previewed the future function of the building (soon to be Churchill Grounds Jazz Lounge) with a saxophone-wielding musician serenading an enthusiastic audience.
- Fine artist and muralist Liz Webb, known for canvas paintings that feature Atlanta landmarks, presented two underwater scenes on the facade.
- Greg Mike, owner of nearby ABV Gallery, capped off the installation with a giant version of his Larry Loudmouf character.
Outerspace Project
Speaking of Greg Mike, since 2015 ABV Gallery has sponsored the Outerspace Project, which brings some 16 new murals to Atlanta. The event also includes a Big Bang Block Party with music, a live painting competition, a pop-up art gallery and extreme sports demonstrations.
Most recently, in November 2024 the event located 14 of its 17 new murals in East Atlanta. “This neighborhood has always embraced art and creativity,” said Mike, who founded ABV Gallery in Old Fourth Ward in 2008, debuting its present East Atlanta location just last year. “So, concentrating our efforts here just felt right. We prioritize longevity and respect for existing work. We spend months scouting walls, talking to building owners and working with the community to identify fresh spots.”
Only one of its 14 new East Atlanta murals was a paint-over. Want to see what’s new? Check out a few of Outerspace Project’s recent additions:
- Ally Grimm’s large-scale, monochromatic mural on the side of the Dance 411 Studio at 475 Moreland Ave. drew upon the rhythm and flow of human movement for inspiration.
- Chris Veal, master of retro-pop-styled satirical street art, highlighted our sometimes dysfunctional relationship with technology in his mural behind 470 Flat Shoals Ave., in which a human tenderly hugs an android. Note: If it creeps you out, that might just be the point.
- Drew Borders’ joyful piece behind 465 Flat Shoals Ave. tells us: “Even though I feel engulfed in darkness at times, I don’t have to let that dim my light.”
- Max Sansing painted a brilliantly colored mural at 1358 Glenwood Ave. On a closer look, one might notice a tiny key, often found in Sansing’s murals, which symbolizes unlocking the doors to unlimited potential.
Community Over Competition murals
Brooklyn native Eric Nine began his career as a graphic designer and has lived in Atlanta since 2005. Two elements commonly found in Nine’s murals are ballerinas (representing his personal relationships) and elephants (representing the complexities of life).
Following a bitterly disappointing cancellation of a project, he needed a new undertaking to reenergize his career and spirits. The Community Over Competition mural beside 485 Flat Shoals Ave. was that vehicle.
In a fortuitous conversation with King “Fresh” Shands, proprietor of East Atlanta Treehouse, Shands mentioned to Nine that he wanted to have the side of his building refreshed.
Nine painted the wall’s first mural depicting a very young ballerina. The artist has intentionally changed the ethnicity of his ballerinas from wall to wall, and this ballerina is African American. Uncle Bree applied the next mural, reimagining “everyday members of the community as tribal, deity-like figures.”
Uncle Bree brought her very young daughter — who coincidentally bears a striking resemblance to the little girl in Nine’s scene — to the mural unveiling ceremony. Nine’s social media post recounts what happened: “Representation is everything. She looked up, saw herself in my mural and smiled with joy. This moment, that smile, that connection — is the reason I do this.”
Continuing down the wall, one finds:
- Chris Makes Art presents a character and their dog in a somber and contemplative moment that invites viewers to insert their own story into the artwork.
- An orange and white snake by Skape Zilla slithering through a bed of pink hibiscus flowers painted by Lacey Longino. Longino describes her blooms as being “flowy and expressive alongside everybody else’s conceptually detailed murals.”
- Nicole Merizalde celebrates her Greek heritage with a depiction of an ancient statue.
- Pato Muñoz Vázquez’s piece imagines “a moment of invitation between two characters from different worlds, separated by geography but united in spirit.”
- Thomas Ross painted his very first mural — featuring a mushroom, which he says stands “for all the different things it represents in my life — mainly freedom, love and insight.”
ABV Art Yard
Last year, ABV Gallery moved into its 8,500-square-foot East Atlanta Village home, repurposing a renovated church at 1206 Metropolitan Ave. This year, Phase 2 of the project consists of converting the back parking lot into a mural park.
On June 7, ABV held a live painting event that brought 10 notable muralists to paint a 130-foot-long wall that runs perpendicular to the existing art-clad back of the building.
“From the start, we’ve believed art should live beyond gallery walls and be part of people’s everyday surroundings,” Greg Mike said. “When we began renovating the new ABV space, we saw the back lot and walls as this wide-open, blank canvas just waiting to be activated.”
Mike went on to explain the curatorial process for the ABV Art Yard mural walls. “The larger wall (on the back of the building) will be reserved for artists who are exhibiting inside the gallery. For the other walls, we’ll be inviting a rotating lineup of metro, national and international artists from our extended network.”
The current group of 10 murals will remain in place until September and then be refreshed with 10 new murals in time for the East Atlanta Strut. (Hint for photographers: For car-free shots of the ABV Art Yard murals, the parking lot is more likely to be empty on weekends.)
If you haven’t been to East Atlanta recently, all of the new murals added in the past year offer a great reason to visit. For a little added incentive, the Village is also well-known for great restaurants, live music venues, boutique shops and pop-up markets.
While you’re there, don’t miss the next group exhibition, “Locals Only,” at ABV Gallery. The exhibition, which opens Saturday continues through July 13, features 80-plus Atlanta artists.
If You Go
“Locals Only”
Art exhibit opens Saturday with a free 6-10 p.m. reception at ABV Gallery (RSVP at abvgallery.com). Through July 13. 1206 Metropolitan Ave. SE, Atlanta. 404-390-3932.
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Arthur Rudick created the Atlanta Street Art Map in 2017 after retiring from a successful career as an engineer with Eastman Kodak and the Coca-Cola Company. His first experience of art was seeing an Alexander Calder mobile as a child in the Pittsburgh airport. Rudick is ArtsATL’s street art expert and a regular contributor.
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