High Museum of Art Honors Spelman Museum Director with Driskell Prize

Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, was honored by the High Museum of Art as the recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize.

The High Museum of Art honored Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee as the 2013 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize on Saturday in the High Museum of Art’s Wieland Pavilion. An Atlanta resident, art historian, curator and writer, Brownlee is the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the only U.S. museum dedicated to visual art made by and about women of the African Diaspora. "It's humbling. It's an honor, and it really means a lot to be recognized for my work," Brownlee told Patch. The Driskell Prize recognizes a scholar or artist in the beginning or middle of his or her career whose work makes an original and important contribution to the field of African American art or art history. The annual award is named for the renowned …

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Time is Ripe for 21st Annual High Museum Wine Auction

After two decades, "the time is ripe" for the country's largest wine auction benefiting the arts.

The white tents went up earlier this week at Atlantic Station, and now, the time is ripe for the High Museum’s 21st annual Wine Auction, which kicks off Wednesday and culminates with the grand finale live auction on Saturday. The event, which raised more than $1.9 million in 2012, is the top charity fundraiser in Atlanta, the fifth-largest wine charity auction in the nation and the top wine auction benefiting the arts, according to the High Museum’s website. Over the last two decades, the Wine Auction has raised more than $20 million to benefit the High Museum by helping bring in special top-tier exhibits and providing educational programming, which has drawn about 90,000 children in just this year alone. So what’s up for auction this year…

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New at the High - "Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting"

The High Museum of Art will be the only U.S. venue for this exhibition, which is accompanied by a full-color catalogue. The exhibition opened Thursday and runs through May 12, 2013.

The High Museum of Art has delivered yet again. After securing major exhibitions in recent years featuring famed artists including Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol and Picasso, the Midtown-based art museum is now featuring more than 75 artworks from Mexican modern artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Called "Frida & Diego," the exhibition is set to run from Feb. 14 to May 12, 2013. The High is the only U.S. venue for the display. "Frida & Diego marks the first time important work by two influential Mexican artists will be shown in the Southeast.” Michael E. Shapiro, the High's director, said in a release. Here's more about the artists from the High: Few artists have captured the public's imagination like Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) …

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Bank of America's Museums on Us February 2-3

Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders can observe National African American History Month with free admission on February 2 and 3 to the Atlanta History Center and High Museum of Art.

Weekend Midtown Atlanta Arts Abound

Lots to culturally experience this weekend in Midtown.

Another weekend is almost upon us and as usual, it will be another arts-filled one in Midtown Atlanta. Want to have your arts event featured at Midtown Patch? See this easy-to-follow video tutorial here that shows users of any Patch site how to post an announcement and/or events, including full press releases, by using the tools available to all users on the Patch. And it’s FREE! _______ The Atlanta Opera’s 24-Hour Opera Project Showcase is this weekend as selected composers, lyricists, stage directors and opera singers – randomly put into teams – will have 24 hours to compose, stage and rehearse a 7-10-minute opera. The composers and lyricists will have 12 hours to write the opera. At the end of 12 hours, the pieces will be assigned to a …

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Atlanta artist invites viewers to "draw near"

Nearly one hundred of Susan Cofer's abstract drawings are currently on display at the High Museum of Art in Midtown Atlanta

Staff Report The High Museum of Art is currently presenting the first career survey of drawings by Atlanta-based artist Susan Cofer. For more than three decades, the longtime Buckhead resident has been recognized in the Southeast for her painstakingly delicate, abstract drawings. Susan Cofer: Draw Near features nearly one hundred drawings dating from 1975 to the present day. The exhibition opened on Oct. 27, 2012 and will run through Jan. 27, 2013. Susan Cofer works with colored pencils in a labor-intensive process, slowly "carving" away the white surface of a sheet of paper with short, vertical strokes. Images inspired by nature often emerge from the resulting network of pencil lines, evoking organisms in embryonic stages of development …

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In Memoriam: Gudmund Vigtel (1925-2012)

Former director of the High Museum of Art oversaw the Midtown museum for almost three decades

Editor’s note: The following was posted by the High Museum of Art. The family-placed death notice for Gudmund Vigtel can be found here.   Gudmund Vigtel July 9, 1925 – October 20, 2012 The board and staff of the High Museum of Art honor the extraordinary life of our friend and mentor Gudmund Vigtel. Vig, as he was commonly known, served as the director of the High Museum of Art for 28 years, from 1963 to 1991. Gudmund Vigtel's official title was director, but in the early years, he handled everything from curatorial duties and development to volunteers and local artist encouragement. Vig took the helm at the High in the year following the tragic 1962 plane crash at Paris's Orly airport, which took the lives of 122 Atlanta arts patrons. …

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Woodruff Arts Center Welcomes Tech Students for Free Thursday

Students invited to attend this semester's Georgia Tech Night at the Woodruff Arts Center and visit the High Museum and enjoy a performance at the Alliance Theatre

Amid midterms, exams and projects, some Georgia Tech students may overlook all the cultural and arts opportunities that exist outside their dorms around Atlanta. For the third year, the Woodruff Arts Center is making it easier for students to enjoy its offerings with a night dedicated to Tech students enjoying its various offerings for free. On Thursday, Sept. 27, students may attend this semester's Georgia Tech Night at the Woodruff Arts Center and visit the High Museum and enjoy a performance at the Alliance Theatre. Due to recent negotiations between the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Musicians' Union, there will be no symphony performance, but there will be an opportunity for a backstage tour of the ASO. Alliance Theatre …

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Tweetup at the High, Peter Pan in the Fox sky

Midtown is the epicenter for arts, culture and music in Atlanta, so share your upcoming events, no matter how big or small, with Midtown Patch.

There's never a shortage of wonderful arts and cultural events to attend in Midtown and on the westside alike.  As a reminder to our Midtown Patch readers, click here for a quick and easy-to-follow video tutorial that shows users of any Patch site how to post free announcements, including full press releases. It’s so simple, a great way to promote your event and often times will be distributed via the Midtown Patch social networks. Let us know what's going on! The High Museum of Art is hosting a free Tweetup event Thursday, Aug. 9 from 5 to 8 p.m. Bring your smart phone and come explore the entire Museum. Use #hightweetup to tweet your impressions of Rising Up: Hale Woodruff's Murals from Talladega College, Picturing New York/Picturing the…

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Midtown Arts For Free

There are several opportunities to enjoy free cultural arts events in Midtown and West Midtown this week

Love a teacher? Hate a teacher? Know a teacher? Then you’re going to want to see the Essential Theatre’s world premier of “Evelyn in Purgatory” this week. And if you’re an educator, you can see it for free on Thursday, July 5 at West Midtown’s Actors Express, located at 887 W. Marietta St. Oh, and you can receive a complimentary glass of vino, too. The play from Atlanta playwrite Topher Payne is premiering this week and teachers with a valid ID will be admitted free (plus the glass of wine) to Thursday’s preview show at 8 p.m. Essential isn't taking reservations, so interested teachers should come early. Self-described as "The Breakfast Club for teachers," the play follows a small group of teachers stuck in the "Reassignment Center" in New…

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