Column: Bright City outdoor exhibit kicks off Friday in downtown Macon

Stroll down Second Street Lane this First Friday – the alleyway between Poplar and Cherry streets – and see new illuminated photography displayed as part of the ongoing Bright City outdoor exhibit celebrating aspects of Macon’s culture, community and history.

This year’s exhibit, “Fanning the Flame,” is a natural progression from last year’s titled “Rekindling the Flame.” Last year’s provided Indigenous photographers the opportunity to explore their experience of returning to ancestral lands around Macon, including the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park.

It reflected what had been happening in Macon: the genuine welcoming of Muscogee (Creek) citizens back to their traditional homeland by city-county officials and the wider community with a greater number of Muscogee (Creek) making the bittersweet pilgrimage here for things like the Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration at the Mounds and new Fire Starters Indigenous Festival.

That was then. The new exhibit brings into view the vision of both visiting Native American and local photographers.

“A year later, the photographer’s work is about coming together, meeting one another, getting to know one another and learning from one another,” said Tracie Revis, director of advocacy for the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative and citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation who now lives here. “It’s really about beginning to see people as people.”

An open call for photographers’ work was narrowed down and a plan to pair their work was made to reflect Macon, its community and the Native American community. But first, there were discussions between them. Vision and ideas were clarified – and at times corrected – as they got to know one another and began producing their final work.

The 10 resulting photos, paired as Native and non-Native, are what you’ll see down Second Street Lane.

How well does it reflect what’s happening in the wider community? Look and be the judge. Or better, let the photographs speak, inspire and teach something.

Though it might have been the right idea at one time, what you’ll see goes beyond “an Indian standing in front of a mound.”

Revis, who curated the exhibit, has her own feelings about the results.

“What I found interesting was the effect conversations photographers had with each other on their thoughts and work during the project,” she said. “I think their work came to be celebrations and realizations we’re more alike than different. I think there’s a lot of looking past racial barriers to see commonalities. However we each work toward it, we all want to bring healing into our communities.”

Abigail Vega is art program coordinator for Dashboard, a national, non-profit, creative organization that handled logistics, installation and other services for the show.

“It’s exciting seeing how ‘Bright City: Fanning the Flames’ brought artists from throughout the nation to collaborate with Macon artists to create something beautiful and something that continues the conversation about Macon and those who once called the area home,” she said. “There’s the age-old saying that art reflects life and ‘Fanning the Flames’ does a good job of that. The photos and collaborations exceeded what we were expecting.”

“Bright City: Fanning the Flames” includes Muscogee artists Victoria Tiger and Harmony Apel and local Macon photographers Mike Young, Diana Davenport, Sarah Lemon and Matthew Odom.

The First Friday exhibit officially opens today from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. following a 6:30 p.m. reception at exhibit sponsor NewTown Macon, 555 Poplar St. It’s right around the corner from the alley exhibit. It’s free, open to the public and there are complimentary refreshments. “Fanning the Flames” will be displayed roughly through this time next year.

First Friday also starts the weekend’s All Hands Art Festival, held this year in the parking lot next to the Grand Opera House, 651 Mulberry St. A celebration of art made with clay, glass, metal or wood, it runs through Sunday with art vendors, exhibitions, demonstrations, live music, food trucks and a pottery competition.

“It’s our second year and it’s bigger and better,” said Melissa Macker, director of the 567 Center for Renewal which sponsors the festival along with Visit Macon.

“We’ll have food trucks, our art vendors and other activities right in the heart of downtown so it’s also a chance to get around downtown with all it offers.”

Macker said the festival features 25 art participants from three states with their wood, glass, metal or clay works on display and for sale. That means things like woodturning, jewelry, pottery, wood burning, glassware, stained glass, blacksmithing and more.

“And the weather’s going to be just beautiful – a great Georgia early fall weekend to enjoy,” she said.

Heidi Clinite is a local artist who’ll be at the festival showing her wood-burned art, including her children’s book created through her artful wood burning.

“I’ve been practicing pyrography – wood-burning art – since 2015 and my booth will feature jewelry and crafts, my wood-burned children’s book, ‘Sassy Susie Sasquatch,’ and my cabinet of nature-inspired wood-burned art. I’m really grateful The 567 and Visit Macon organizes All Hands for three-dimensional artists to showcase their work and process.”

The Festival begins today with a 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. meet-the-artists VIP reception. The $35 VIP passes can be purchased online until 5 p.m. and include the VIP party, festival admission all weekend and access to a VIP lounge in The Grand. VIP and the festival’s $7 day-ticket and other information are at www.the567center.org/allhands.

Startup Studio, 1055 Riverside Dr., will host an All Hands after party Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. celebrating festival artists. Food and drink are free. Studio information is at www.facebook.com/startupstudiosmacon.

Prior to the VIP reception, The 567 will have its regular, free, First Friday gallery opening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for its “Form & Function” exhibit. Exhibiting artists will be on hand, including Clinite.

Other First Friday art includes the ongoing “Ocmulgee to Okmulgee” exhibit at the McEachern Art Center, 332 Second St., from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. which features Muscogee (Creek) artists Randy Kemp and Bobby C. Martin. See www.macmacon.com.

At the Macon Arts Alliance gallery, 486 First St., see “3 Looks,” the first-ever gallery furniture show with work created by Ric Geyer of Triangle Arts/Val-kill Furniture. It’s open from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and displays throughout the month. Information is at www.maconartsalliance.org and www.facebook.com/valkillfurniture.

Take note: the sixth annual Full Dome Film Festival begins Thursday and runs Oct. 12-14 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in the Mark Smith Planetarium. More to come next week, but information, ticketing and other links are at www.masmacon.org.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.