Like any big city, Atlanta's art scene is vast and diverse. There are many galleries in different areas of the city--some congregated with other galleries, some in cavernous spaces, some specializing in traditional art and some featuring contemporary art. Slightly off the beaten path, tucked behind a church, sits a cottage style building that houses a gallery that, upon opening eight years ago, carved out a niche of the strong Atlanta art market and is doing its own thing and doing it very well. GREGG IRBY FINE ART is in upper Buckhead, the area of the city known to be desirable and quite posh, near Chastain Park. One could drive by 3725 Powers Ferry Road and never see the gallery behind Sardis Methodist Church. The fact that the gallery is a bit hidden hasn't hurt the success of the gallery one bit as Gregg Irby has solidified a reputation as being one of the top galleries in Atlanta.
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| The view when entering GIFA includes paintings by Erin McIntosh, Sara Cameli, Eva Magill-Oliver, Christina Baker, and Kate Merritt Davis |
Greeted by white walls and seagrass mats on the floor and lots of great art on the walls, entering Gregg Irby Fine Art feels so right, so comfortable and welcoming.
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| Immediately to the left of front door hang paintings by Joy Gardner and on the window sill are pieces by Candace Greer and to the right of the window are three pieces by Reagan Geschardt. |
By choosing to focus on emerging artists at a wide range of price points, Gregg Irby is a gallery for all art lovers. No matter what your budget is, there will be work by a fantastic, not just reasonably priced, artist whose work you will fall in love with. Gregg has a brilliant business plan that includes "discovering tomorrow's talents today" by scouting artists even, as in the case of Erin McIntosh, while the artist is still in art school.
Gregg says, "We scour the country for new talents, carefully curating our offerings to bring clients one-of-a-kind paintings by artists who have yet to be widely discovered. It is this deep connection to the up-and-coming art community that allows Gregg Irby Fine Art to source stunning paintings that are for both the aspiring & established collectors."
Also part of the business plan, Gregg Irby does shows throughout the country three or four times a year when she brings her gallery to Charlotte, Nashville, Jacksonville, Birmingham, and Columbus, GA, which is where the next show is on October 8th and 9th. Collectors in those areas look forward to the Gregg Irby Fine Art show each year and know that they will buy a piece or two or three when Gregg comes to town with the paintings by her strong stable of artists. Emerging for the artists represented by Gregg Irby doesn't just mean new to the art scene. Carefully selected, the artists in the GIFA group are from all over the country and "emerging" means new to the Atlanta art scene, as in the case of Joy Gardner and Laurence Young, who are both accomplished artists that Gregg began representing last year and has done a fantastic job of getting their work in the homes of collector clients of GIFA.
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| When standing at the front door and looking right, the view is of paintings by Laurence Young, Sara Cameli, Eileen Power, Erin McIntosh as well as a few other GIFA represented artists. |
And there is Gregg, the Columbia, South Carolina, native and mother of two, who is stylish and lovely and confident about what she is doing in the art world. With an MBA from Georgia State post undergraduate work at Hollins and University of South Carolina, Gregg Irby became a private art dealer in 1996 hosting shows in her home in Atlanta and on the road in Charlotte, Charleston, Nashville, Huntsville, and Houston. Gregg Irby Fine Art (GIFA), the gallery, became a reality in 2005. The media loves Gregg Irby and the artists that the gallery represents. Recent press includes Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, The Scout Guide, Things that Inspire blog, The English Room blog, and House of Turquoise Blog.
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| Image of Gregg Irby at GIFA- from The Scout Guide Atlanta via Things That Inspire blog. |
Most important to the equation of a successful gallery is a strong group of artists and Gregg Irby has 32 of those at the moment. All are great artists but seven are outstanding. This group includes artists ranging in age from twenty something to sixty something, from Alabama to Georgia to Louisiana to New Jersey and Massachusetts, and from works on paper to works on canvas to works on wood and a price range of $ 80 (yes, you read that right) to $ 3,200.
Enjoy these selections by Sara Cameli, Joy Gardner, Candace Greer, Eva Magill-Oliver, Erin McIntosh, Nancy B. Westfall, and Laurence Young and know that there are plenty more wonderful pieces available from GREGG IRBY FINE ART. Spend some time perusing these picks, then visit www.greggirbyfineart.com, and when you are in Atlanta, be sure to go to the gallery at 3725 Powers Ferry Road just off of Roswell Road.
SARA CAMELI:
Atlanta, GA
Although she is known primarily for her paintings of trees and forests, at an opening reception earlier this year Sara Cameli made it clear that her heart is in the abstract paintings that she executes and she would love to do more abstract work. Waters Edge was painted after Sara spent time at a very special place for her, her Grandmother's house and property in the Berkshires.
In a video for The Lovett School where Sara Cameli was an art teacher, she says:
"You really have to go beyond the good part of your painting and then rescue it. And that's when it becomes more. If you were just being safe and making what you initially thought was right or perfect or a great composition then you never know what could have been if you didn't kind of push it, ruin it a little, and then bring it back."
Strong words that ring so true in these fantastic pieces by Sara Cameli:
Sara Cameli
Water's Edge
Oil on Canvas
60" x 60"
$ 3,200.00
Sara Cameli
Summer Abstract I
Oil on Canvas
10" x 10"
$ 200.00
Sara Cameli
Muted Summer
Oil on Canvas
48" x 48"
$ 2,000.00
JOY GARDNER:
Mobile, AL
A colorist who has studied with Wolf Kahn, Joy Gardner has been represented by GIFA since January of this year and her abstract botanical work has been a hit. Currently, three of Joy Gardner's paintings are in a special show at Gallery Walk at Terminus. The show is "part of a yearlong series celebrating Atlanta's vast art gallery scene. Curated by Anne Lambert Tracht, the exhibit is primarily focused on the gallery culture in the Atlanta area and the distinctive identity of each gallery."
In addition to GIFA, Joy Gardner is represented by galleries in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana.
Joy Gardner
Yellow Garden
Oil on Canvas
36" x 36"
$ 1,200.00
Joy Gardner
Summer Garden I
Oil on Canvas, framed
12" x 12"
$ 350.00
Joy Gardner
Summer Garden II
Oil on Canvas, framed
12" x 12"
$ 350.00
REAGAN GESCHARDT:
New Vernon, NJ
This University of Alabama Fine Arts graduate considers Manhattan, a "life line of creativity", now that she lives only 45 minutes outside of the city. Hence, the title of these pieces which are a reminder of the work of some of America's mid-century masters.
Reagan Geschardt
Garment District I
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 30"
$ 850.00
Reagan Geschardt
Garment District II
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 30"
$ 850.00
CANDACE GREER:
Lafayette, LA
Louisiana artist Candace Greer recently did a series of abstract pieces that have been so successful that there are only a few left and GIFA has them. These pieces, which are mixed media on wood panel, immediately bring the serenity and peace that only sitting on a porch looking out at the ocean in mediation during a rain storm can bring.
Candace Greer is represented by GIFA and OASIS in Destin, FL.
Candace Greer
Turquoise Rain
Mixed Media on Wood Panel
16" x 16"
$ 475.00
Candace Greer
The Cool Blue
Mixed Media on Wood Panel
16" x 16"
$ 475.00
EVA MAGILL-OLIVER:
Atlanta, GA
Eva Magill-Oliver's collage pieces are exquisite. Period. At only $ 80 each, it would be easy to assemble a series of four or six or more for a stunning statement in a room. A sense of time and place and movement through nature is felt when looking at this artists work.
From Eva Magill-Oliver's website:
"Nature has always provided me with a source of inspiration and equilibrium, and continues to be a major influence in my most recent body of work. These landscapes are representations of my current transitional state after returning to the United States following several years living abroad in Paris, France. It is an undefined and temporary time in which I feel suspended between two countries, cultures, and languages. These works are a meditation of this phase when the routine of daily life can often seem unfamilar in a very familiar enviroment. They allow me to take account of this interim period and help me to understand its significance."
Eva Magill-Oliver
Collage 2
Mixed Media on Paper
6" x 6"
$ 80.00
Eva Magill-Oliver
Collage 3
Mixed Media on Paper
6" x 6"
$ 80.00
ERIN McINTOSH:
Athens, GA
I have written about this young artist a couple of times before. Erin McIntosh is such an incredible talent that will be huge on the American Art scene soon. Very soon. So the time is NOW to buy pieces by this truly emerging artist. Emerging by definition means "coming into prominence" and that is what is happening for one of Gregg Irby's earliest discoveries.
From her website, Erin McIntosh's artist statement:
"Poetically depicting the nature of human thought, my paintings investigate impermanence, the invisible, and abstraction. Complex, ephemeral spaces “in between,” are curiosities driving my work. “Formlessness” is, in a sense, my subject, as I imagine and visualize space unseen.
A fusion of geometric and organic shapes form the visual language I use to fabricate an image of seemingly empty space. In my current body of work, shapes derivative of architecture, speed-driven organic marks, and layered color populate each picture plane.
As a process driven painter, content is constructed through improvisational engagement with materials and play between intuitive impulse and controlled edits. Navigating a painting in terms of qualitative relationships, I rely more heavily on a visceral response to visual phenomena than to an intellectual one as each painting unfolds through time. Through visual and tactile work with water-based media, formal qualities negotiated transform and reveal themselves as new visual metaphors."
Erin is only 33 years old with a future that is oh so bright.
In addition to representation by GIFA, Erin McIntosh is currently featured in a show at Steffen-Thomas Museum in Buckhead, GA, (the town outside of Madison, GA, not the area of Atlanta where GIFA is) which, in conjunction with the Madison Art Guild, features Erin McIntosh's work along with two other artists. To read more about the show and to make plans to see it before it closes in November, visit here.
Erin McIntosh
Pulse
Acrylic on Canvas
48" x 60"
$ 2,400.00
Erin McIntosh
Threads 2
Watercolor on Paper
11" x 14"
$ 150.00
Erin McIntosh
Connect 137
Watercolor on Paper
11" x 14"
$ 110.00
NANCY WESTFALL:
Atlanta, GA
via GIFA website:
"Artist Nancy B. Westfall likens painting to therapy, seeing within each work, '…what it is that I am thankful for, worried about, or thinking of.' She sees each abstract painting as a self-portrait, expressing her thoughts and feelings through color, line and form. Westfall’s abstract paintings combine organic forms with playful color and texture to create timeless, contemporary images."
The playfulness is appealing and, based on the titles of her pieces, it seems Nancy B. Westfall has a very good sense of humor! "Verbivore" and "Cadywampus", for example. And here are "Fluffaluf" and "We're All Floaties on the Lazy River". The Lazy River of life, perhaps? Sounds like a great way to live, "We're All Floaties on the Lazy RIver".
Nancy B. Westfall
Fluffaluf
Acrylic on Board
15" x 20"
$ 128.00
Nancy B. Westfall
We're All Floaties on the Lazy River
Acrylic on Canvas
48" x 48"
$ 1,488.00
LAURENCE YOUNG:
Provincetown, MA
How many times have I written about Laurence Young? You can read two of those posts here and here. My writings are never enough as this Provincetown, MA, artist is an incredibly talented artist whose paintings, no matter the subject, are deep and moving. Following art school at RISD, Laurence studied with Wolf Kahn, Lois Griffel, and Cynthia Packard. Laurence has become quite an accomplished artist with representation by galleries in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Laurence has been in shows in New York and Rhode Island as well.
From Laurence Young's website:
"Painting is a lot like life, changing at every corner. It is a process and a journey, dedicated to a life of observing. I am fascinated by passages of light, shapes and forms that are abstracted by color."
For now, Gregg Irby only represents the figurative works on paper by Laurence Young. Hopefully that will change soon as Laurence Young's works on canvas are certainly perfect for the Atlanta art market.
Laurence Young
A Sweet Moment
Mixed Media on Paper, Matted
18" x 24"
$ 325.00
Laurence Young
Seated Woman Suite
Mixed Media on Paper, Matted
18" x 24"
$ 325.00
Laurence Young
Strike A Pose
Mixed Media on Paper, Matted
18" x 24"
$ 325.00
3725 Powers Ferry Road building A
behind Sardis Methodist Church
Atlanta, GA
Gallery hours:
Tuesday-Friday, 9-3 pm
and by appointment
404.941.9787
www.greggirbyfineart.com
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