Published: November 06, 2009 02:32 pm      

Award-winning art exhibit coming to Gainesville

Fifty-eight award-winning pieces of art from 50 disabled artists throughout Georgia will be on display Nov. 5-Dec. 3, 2009 at the Georgia Artists with Disabilities, Inc.'s 25th annual statewide tour and exhibit at The Arts Council’s Smithgall Arts Center, 331 Spring St. SW, Gainesville.

The entries in the 2009-10 tour and exhibit include paintings, photographs, clay pottery, mosaics, textiles and other mediums considered fine art. The nine-city tour kicked off in Macon in October and ends in Tallapoosa in July 2010.

“Georgia Artists with Disabilities continues to be an avenue that allows hundreds of disabled artists to achieve recognition and commercial opportunities for their unique pieces of art,” said Angela Brown Gillis, GAWD chair. “We’re proud to be an advocate for the disabled in communities across Georgia and honored to put their art on display every year for the public to see and enjoy.”

Judging the exhibit entries were John Delves, well known expert in the world of art and artisans in Cobb County; Kathleen Brewer, founder of the Fayette County Art Center who mastered basic photography, took art classes, and continued her creative endeavors by writing screenplays and doing manipulated photograph transfers featured in some prominent bank buildings and art galleries; and Vanessa Hewitt Grubbs, gallery director of arts management and assistant professor of art and design at Brenau University.

Georgia Artists with Disabilities, Inc. was founded in 1985 by the Pilot Clubs of Metro Atlanta and is supported by Georgia District Pilot Clubs. The goal of the Pilot International Foundation is "full citizenship for people who are disabled.”

The mission of Georgia Artists with Disabilities is to provide avenues through which Georgia artists with disabilities can display their artistic accomplishments in all disciplines of the arts, and to create public awareness of the artistic skills these artists have developed by overcoming the obstacles of their disabilities. Georgia Artists with Disabilities, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization. For additional information regarding Georgia Artists with Disabilities contact Angela Brown Gillis, chair, Georgia Artists with Disabilities (404) 691-009 or Ann Brooks, tour coordinator (770) 851-2585.

Gallery hours for the Georgia Artists with Disabilities exhibit at the Smithgall Arts Center are from 9am to 5pm Monday thru Friday. The exhibit is free and open to all. The Arts Council Smithgall Arts Center is handicapped accessible. Visit our website for directions at www.theartscouncil.net.