VIDEO ONLINE
Sculptor Tristan Al-Haddad discusses "Stealth": http://on-ajc.com/1LJVWbw
Atlanta, meet the soon-to-be most-Instagrammed spot in Midtown: "Stealth."
The 33-foot-tall concrete sculpture by Atlanta native Tristan Al-Haddad has been in the works for two and a half years and is approaching completion.
The work was commissioned by Cousins Properties for Promenade II, across 15th Street from the Woodruff Arts Center at 1230 Peachtree St. N.E.
Al-Haddad said “Stealth” was purposefully designed on the site, of the site and for the site.
He drew inspiration from Promenade II’s surrounding architecture, such as the vertical lines from the High Museum of Art. The reinforced concrete sculpture weighs about 68,000 pounds above ground. The piece is made from a special mix of concrete that includes stone and crushed sands made from Adairsville granite to give “Stealth” its blue-black sheen.
Al-Haddad, a 25-year Midtown resident, is also the owner and creative force behind Formations Studio. In the other half of what Al-Haddad calls his "double life," he is also on faculty at Georgia Institute of Technology School of Architecture.
“Stealth” was nothing more than a 3-D model for a year and a half. After about 200 drafts, 10 full-time studio staffers worked for eight months to cast and create it. Finally, the Formations Studio team moved to the site in May to install the sculpture.
“It’s certainly gone longer than we have anticipated, but honestly, when you do something so experimental and radical … you can’t anticipate everything,” Al-Haddad said. “It’s been a lot of that sort of figuring things out in the field.”
Al-Haddad estimated “Stealth” will be completed and officially unveiled to the public by early November.
The Georgia Tech graduate said “Stealth” is not a narrative piece in that his goal with it was not to tell a story but instead to create and provoke an emotion in the viewer.
“If the piece is really about creating a kind of visceral effect, and a visceral emotion, then I think we’ve succeeded,” Al-Haddad said. ERICA A. HERNANDEZ
VISUAL ART
Photographer’s evocative ‘Alphabet’ results in book, exhibit
Louisiana photographer Debbie Fleming Caffery is known as one of the South's top documentary photographers, especially for her book and related exhibit, "Carry Me Home," about her home state's last generation of workers to harvest sugarcane by hand.
Her newest project sounds like something of a departure, the book “Alphabet,” just published by Atlanta’s Fall Line Press, except that the black-and-white images corresponding to the 26 letters were culled from the photographer’s deep archive. It includes an introduction by High Museum of Art photography curator Brett Abbott.
Jackson Fine Art will host a book launch party at 6 p.m. Oct. 20, during which an exhibition of the “Alphabet” prints will go on view (through Nov. 8). Caffery will speak about the work and sign copies of the case-bound edition ($45).
3115 E. Shadowlawn Ave. N.E, Atlanta. www.falllinepress.com. HOWARD POUSNER
EVENT
A gift of ‘Love’ to combat domestic violence
Most Atlanta Ballet regulars know Alessa Rogers as a dynamic difference maker onstage. Now the dancer is quietly becoming one off stage, as well.
She's the organizer behind "Project Love ATL," a first-time collaborative performance tapping top Atlanta music, theater, dance and visual artists for a show Oct. 27 at Park Tavern that will benefit Atlanta's Partnership Against Domestic Violence.
“I believe that as artists we have a unique position to effect positive change in our communities, and it seems this is a sentiment shared by many Atlanta artists based on the overwhelmingly positive response I’ve received from them,” Rogers told the AJC. “All the artists I spoke to — I knew about half personally and the other half I reached out to based on their reputation or having seen them in shows — have been incredibly generous and eager to do whatever they can to make this a success. It’s been very inspiring.”
Performers will include actress Randi Garza and actor Chris Kayser; Serenbe Playhouse; Atlanta Ballet dancers Heath Gill, Devon Joslin and Benjamin Stone; Atlanta Opera’s Rolando Salazar; cellist Charae Krueger; poet Jon Goode; artist Cassidy Russell and more.
Silent auction at 6:45 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Drinks and food will be available for purchase before the show. $25 advance via www.projectloveatl.com; $30 door. 500 10th St. N.E., Atlanta. HOWARD POUSNER
ARTS
13 honored with Governor’s Awards for the Arts, Humanities
Three Atlantans were among those honored recently with Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities presented by Gov. Nathan Deal.
The fourth annual awards recognized 13 individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to Georgia's civic and cultural vitality, including Atlantans Susan V. Booth, Alliance Theatre artistic director; Brenda Bynum, actress and retired Emory theater studies faculty member; and Mausiki Scales, musical director-keyboardist for Common Ground Collective and a Georgia State University adjunct professor in African-American studies.
The Office of the Governor presents the awards in partnership with Georgia Council for the Arts and Georgia Humanities. Full list of honorees: artsculture.blog.ajc.com. HOWARD POUSNER
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