SPRING 2025
Innovative, large-scale fiber works once filled the lobbies and atriums of Atlanta’s most iconic buildings. But you won’t see them today. They aren’t merely gone; they have disappeared, many without a trace, taking the stories of their creation with them. With few exceptions, the fate of these artworks remains unknown, as do their original production circumstances. In this talk, Susan Richmond discusses her work with Jess Jones to map the locations and stories of Atlanta’s public textile history, with particular attention to John Portman’s projects. The intersection of large-scale weavings, architectural site-specificity, and corporate interests is an understudied component of the fiber art movement in the United States. Richmond and Jones’ “Lost Weavings” project connects a newer generation of artists, scholars, and craft communities to this rapidly disappearing craft history and its central role in Portman’s vision for Atlanta’s built environment.
Fall 2024
Lecture/Workshop Series (Fall 2024)
Christina Crawford, “Interior City,” September 16
Heather Ligler, “On Space Within Space: The Language of John Portman’s Entelechy I,” September 23
Lindsey Walsworth, “Historic Preservation in America: Mt. Vernon to the Dana Fine Arts Building,” September 30
Scott Anglin and George Pineda, “On History, Materiality, Responsibility,” October 7
Jess Jones, “Paper Plaiting: Dimensional Fiber Weaving,” October 9
Building on Dana Project, “Creativing and Collaboration: Open Classroom and Gallery Talks, ” December 16
HORTICULTURE HAPPY HOUR
TRELLIS HORTICULTURAL THERAPY ALLIANCE, “SEEDS FOR DANA GARDENS,” SEPTEMBER 13
Dana Art Library & Reading Room
Opened September 15, 2024 A generous grant from Jeanne ’55 and Carroll Berry, which includes their library of books on mid-century abstraction, has allowed us to recreate the reading area that was original to the building, on the south side of the first floor. The Berrys’ collection focuses on the Irascibles, the eighteen abstract expressionist painters who signed an open letter protesting the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition American Painting Today – 1950 for its omission of “advanced painting.” The collection adds to Agnes Scott’s scholarly resources on mid-century abstract art; the subjects in the library complement the modern aesthetic of Portman’s building.
The collection is housed on shelving and furniture that honor the mid-century aesthetic vision of the building and of the Irascibles themselves. The library serves a range of purposes, providing inspiring visual resources and imagery, augmenting available research materials as well as restoring and maintaining our historically significant building and furnishings to renew a thoughtfully-designed, shared space for Agnes Scott’s community.
