Whether it’s a garden or a street wall mural, there is color all around. Walk in Atlanta—any part of the metro area—and you can’t help but notice all the color. Whether it is a neighbor’s garden, murals found at the BeltLine, MARTA stations, underpasses, and brick walls or grand botanical displays, Atlanta is full of vibrant reds, blues, greens all putting nature’s glory—or an artist’s talent—on display.
Atlanta Botanical Garden
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is the grande dame of botanical gardens in the South, and its 30 acres overflow with color. The trees, flowers, artwork and even the holiday lights offer a variety of colors that you may not even know existed. What’s so exciting is that every month the colors change depending on what’s blooming. Go to the garden’s website and it will tell you, for instance, that for July, the blue-colored Marsh Rattlesnake Master, the plum-colored Miltonias orchids, and the red and oranges of the Plumleaf Native Azalea will add to the garden’s vibrancy.
9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. $21.95 for adults; $18.95 for children 3 to 12; children under 3, free. Piedmont Ave., Atlanta. 404-876-5859, atlantabg.org.
Zen Garden
The Grand Hyatt Hotel Zen Garden in Buckhead doesn’t overwhelm guests and visitors with color; that wouldn’t be very Zen-like, would it? Instead, as visitors enjoy the garden, the bubbling stream, and the 30-foot waterfall. The color of the hydrangeas, azaleas, SunPatiens and cosmos delightedly disrupt the serene atmosphere.
Open 24 hours daily. Free. 3rd floor, 3300 Peachtree Road. 678-853-7934, hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/georgia/grand-hyatt-atlanta-in-buckhead/atlgh.
Cator Woolford Gardens
DeKalb's Cator Woolford Gardens is often the background for weddings and special events, and it's no wonder. The estate, once the home of one of Equifax's founders, is an urban oasis with Italian-style gardens with 39 acres of old growth forest with all varieties of flowers and flowing bushes lining the paths. By appointment only. Free. 1815 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta. 404-377-3836, catorwoolfordgardens.org.
City Color
Of course, while nature provides a palate of natural colors, urban art is its counterpart infusing the landscape with colorful pictures, symbols and figures, and maybe a social commentary or two. Atlanta’s many warehouses and buildings offer block after block of canvases, some of which are painted by commissioned artists and some by local artists whose spirit moved them. Many neighborhoods revel in the creations and colorful work. Walking through Cabbagetown, Inman Park, Little Five Points, downtown, Virginia-Highland, Old Fourth Ward, Castleberry and East Atlanta is a lesson in art, creativity, expression and color.
Perhaps the best-known example of urban color — let’s call it art, not graffiti — is the Krog Street Tunnel that connects Cabbagetown and Inman Park. The concrete walls and pillars are a chaotic mix of words, pictures and messages that are often painted over each other and updated regularly. However, the walls along Wylie Street have commissioned murals that complement the free-form artists who find their way to the tunnel.
Atlanta muralists, such as Hense, whose works can be found on the Beltline and the Westside Cultural Arts Center, and Suwanee-based Michael Moon and whose artistry is on display at the Italia Furniture store in Norcross, Strait Blast Gym in Buford and SunTrust Park, are becoming well-known. Hense’s mural on the BeltLine near Monroe Drive—which consists of blue, pink, purple and yellow blotches—is ubiquitous on Instagram, for instance.
While the BeltLine is a virtual outside museum of art. Among the most notable are Charmaine Minniefield’s “Honoring Carrie Steele, Keeper of Children” on the Westside Trail at Lee/Murphy Tunnel and “Impacting Directions” by Anna Gromova on the Eastside Trail extension by Memorial Drive. Other colorful enclaves include going down Glenwood Ave. to Flat Shoals Ave. to Argosy in East Atlanta Village. There is a variety of work, including some by Shaun Thurston. By the Old Fourth Ward, a full display of color can be found from Decatur and Daniel streets toward Edgewood Ave. down to North Ave.
But color is all around metro Atlanta. Just look around, you’ll see.
WHERE TO VIEW ART:
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