Atlanta--Georgia Aquarium, Mason Murer, and Atlanta's High Museum of Art

Hi Everyone,

I'm finally doing a post about our trip to Atlanta.   It was a fun, family trip.  Atanta is only a few hours a way from us, but it always gets put on the back burner when we plan out trips.  But, since we moved to Alabama we knew we wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium before it was time to move again.  The Georgia Aquarium is the World's largest aquarium and has been open since 2005.  I also wanted to visit Atlanta's High Museum of Art and the Mason Murer Gallery.

The Mason Murer Gallery was first on the agenda.  I always get a little intimidated when I go to a gallery, don't ask me why.  As we we were looking for Mason Murer, my husband asks "Are you sure we're at the right place?"  The gallery is located next door to a tortilla factory in an industrial area.  After we entered the gallery we understood why they were in this industrial area.  The gallery is gigantic and very much like an art museum.  I had an agenda and a list of fellow blogger/artists works that I wanted to visit and hoped that their talents would rub off a little:)

Me standing next to Alvin Richard's "Crayolas and Marbles in Mason Jar"

Alvin Richard is a favorite artist of mine.  I just drool when I see his work and he was my main motivation for making the trek to Mason Murer.  He has 2 pieces there right now, and I was thrilled to see them in person.  In addition to Alvin being a fabulous artist he is a very kind and supportive blogging buddy.

I also was excited to see a painting by M.Collier, another artist that I am in awe of.  Neil Hollingsworth and his wife Karen are also there.  Their work is unbelievable!  I also was introduced to Sally Tharp's work.  I've heard her name but wasn't very familiar with her work.  I fell in love at first site.  Her paintings are spectacular and if you ever get to see one in person do so.

At the same time that I was falling in love I was also a little deflated.  There on the wall were several large paintings of mason jars.  I had just finished a photo shoot of mason jars and was super excited to paint them.  And there was my idea hanging on the wall.  I really had to think hard about whether I should abandon my project, so I did a search on-line for mason jar paintings, and as it turns out LOTS of artists have painted this subject.  It all seems a little silly now but I didn't want to feel like a copy cat, even though they are my photographs and of course will not end up looking like Sally Tharp's compositions I still worried.  It always brings me back the topic brought up in my senior design class in college, "Is there an original thought?"

Steven and Sam and some fish:)

This tank was in the gift shop of the aquarium, it was pretty spectacular, there are blown glass elements suspended and of course fish.

We made it through the aquarium which is impressive to say the least, super crowded, but impressive. 

And of course we visited the Atlanta High Museum of art.  It's always inspirational.  Here are a few of my favorite paintings

Left "The Blue Mandarin Coat" By Joseph DeCamp not sure the name of the other 2, I was using my voice memo function to capture names and guess I didn't hit record, oh well.

Red Blue chair by Gerrit Rietveld, Marshmallow Settee by George Nelson, Diamond Chair by Harry Bartoia

Above are classic furniture pieces which I had to include because of my absolute love of great design and funky chairs:)

Hope you have a great week, I'll post again on Friday.

Carrie