The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia has announced that it has received a $50,000 gift from the Antinori Foundation in support of the MOCA GA Archives Digitization and Dissemination Project.
Founded in 2000, the Buckhead visual art institution has steadily built a historical archive that now claims more than 150,000 items documenting artists, arts organizations, arts publications and more detailing the arts in Georgia.
Last year, the museum’s Education/Research Center was expanded to 12,000 square feet, creating a dedicated space for exhibitions of the permanent collection and increasing the space allocated for storage of the archives and permanent collection. Items such as sketchbooks, artist’s correspondence, exhibition publications and oral histories are made available for scholarly research for free.
The digitization and virtual publication of the museum's resources is a necessary next step in keeping MOCA GA relevant and to make it materials accessible to an international online audience, MOCA GA President and CEO Annette Cone-Skelton said.
“The MOCA GA Archives Digitization and Dissemination Project embraces the new needs of museum-goers, art lovers and historians from around the world," Cone-Skelton said in the announcement. "It is imperative that MOCA GA continue to preserve this history because without this resource, this history of contemporary Georgia art will be lost.”
The $50,000 grant represents the largest gift to MOCA GA from long-time supporters Susan and Ron Antinori.
The Antinori Foundation also provided $60,000 for the High Museum of Art to acquire the 100-plus works on paper by more than 75 Georgia artists that will comprise the upcoming exhibition "Sprawl! Drawing Outside the Lines." Opening July 18, the show is the sequel to the High's popular 2013 exhibition of Atlanta-based artists "Drawing Inside the Perimeter." (Details: high.org.)
Credit: hpousner
Credit: hpousner
Meanwhile, MOCA GA is readying for its own exhibit by metro artists, "Portalism: new moves by the 2014/15 WonderRoot Walthall Fellows," opening July 16 with a 6:30 p.m. public reception featuring performances. Additional performances will take place along with workshops at a public symposium on July 18 and on July 25.
Launched in 2012 by Reynoldstown arts nonprofit WonderRoot, Walthall is a career development program for Atlanta visual and performance artists at pivotal points in their advancement. The 2014-15 fellows and "Portalism" artists are Steven L. Anderson, Molly Rose Freeman, Sean Hilton, Casey Lynch, Romy Aura Maloon, Masud Olufani, Erin Palovick, Stephanie Pharr, MaryGrace Phillips, Lucha Rodriguez and P. Seth Thompson.
Their works bridge photography, sculpture, video, drawing, installation, participatory performance and dance.
Through Sept. 12. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $8; $5, students and seniors ages 65 and up; free, children 6 and under. 75 Bennett St., Suite A2. 404-367-8700, www.mocaga.org.
