One of the unvarnished pleasures of following folk art, as anyone who's ever attended the sprawling summertime Folk Fest extravaganza at North Atlanta Trade Center would tell you, is meeting the self-taught makers behind the colorful creations.
The 6th Annual Folk Art Family Reunion, held this weekend at the Around Back at Rocky's Place gallery in Dawsonville, offers a similar opportunity but on a more intimate scale. It's a backyard show featuring 20 artists from around the Southeast selling their paintings, drawings, pottery, constructions and a lot of other things that defy easy categorization.
The big draw is John "Cornbread" Anderson, the former Dawson County sheriff's deputy who's made a national name for himself with whimsical depictions of the critters he grew up observing in North Georgia. But the reunion also offers the opportunity to meet emerging talents such as Douglasville assemblage artist Athlone Clarke and Rik Long, son of the late Folk Fest favorite Woodie Long, who paints with clays and acrylics.
Rocky's Place co-owners Tracey Burnette and Robin Blan launched the Folk Art Family Reunion as a way of helping support the artists whose works fill their two adjoining gallery spaces. The artists get to keep all sales proceeds from works they bring this weekend.
Burnette and Blan also organized an exhibit, "Folk Art Family Reunion Too," just down the road at the Bowen Center for the Arts in downtown Dawsonville. Running through June 30, it features 100 works for sale by 35 artists (334 Ga. 9 North. 706-216-2787, www.dawsonarts.org).
EVENT
Folk Art Family Reunion
6-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Around Back at Rocky's Place, 3631 Ga. 53 East (at Etowah River Road), Dawsonville. Free. 706-265-6030, www.aroundbackatrockysplace.com.
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