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ON THE
AGENDA
The Atlanta City Council meets March
5 and March 19 at 1 p.m. at City Hall,
55 Trinity Ave. For agendas and more
information, visit citycou ncil.atlantaga.
gov.
NPU-E, which covers Midtown, Ansley
Park, Home Park and Loring Heights,
meets the first Tuesday of each month at
6:30 p.m. at Peachtree Christian Church,
1580 Peachtree St.
The Decatur City Commission meets
in open session on the first and third
Mondays of each month at City Hall, 509
North McDonough Street, at 7:30 p.m.
$ A
Concral Atlanta Prepress
Atlanta Downtown Impretfeinant Dfeirfei
Central Atlanta Progress will hold its
annual meeting on March 29,7 a.m., at
Georgia World Congress Center. More
information at AtlantaDowntown.com.
NEWS
MARTA now has free
Wi-Fi on all buses and
trains, plus the transit
agency has announced
plans to replace 25
percent of its bus fleet
over the next six years. MARTA will
introduce 387 buses and 211 Mobility vans
from now until 2024.
Invest Atlanta has received $60 million
in new markets tax credit from the U.S.
Department of the Treasury to provide
gap financing for economic development
projects in low-income areas.
Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Joel Baker
retired last month and First Deputy Chief
Randall Slaughter is currently serving as
Interim Fire Chief.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed an
ordinance that eliminates cash bonds to
secure release from the detention center
following an arrest for violation of city
ordinances. [E
‘Battle of Atlanta’ comes back to life
A sneak peek at History Centers cyclorama
By Evelyn Andrews
In a gigantic room holding the 359-foot-long “Battle of Atlanta”
cyclorama, workers perched along the 50-foot-high painting on lifts
with paintbrushes and iPads. Using old photographs and state-of-the-
art technology, they are bringing the 130-year-old painting back to
life.
The historic cyclorama painting of the pivotal Civil War battle was
moved to the Atlanta History Center from Grant Park last year and
many visitors are eager to see it in its new home. Not many know that
the cyclorama is already hanging on the circular wall of a massive new
exhibit hall for the extensive restoration work that must be completed
before public display.
It’s painstaking work that has already pushed that grand opening
back from this fall to sometime in this winter. But in an exclusive
preview, it was easy to see why.
Having recently finished removing varnish and poor repainting
done in a previous restoration, the museum is gearing up to repaint
the entire sky and pieces removed over the painting’s 130-year history,
Gordon Jones, the museum’s senior military historian and curator, said
during a Jan. 25 tour of the new cyclorama building.
The museum’s main goal is to present the painting as it was
originally intended, correcting several flaws in how it was presented in
Grant Park since 1921, Jones said.
“Nobody that is alive today will have seen the painting the way it
was supposed to be seen,” Jones said. “The whole thing here is restore
the original illusion, which was virtual reality of its time.”
The painting was “hanging like a loose shower curtain,” in the
Grant Park building, ruining the illusion, museum spokesperson
Howard Pousner said during the tour.
The painting, which was first displayed in Minnesota in 1886 and
toured various states before ending up in Atlanta, is now pulled tight,
and in an impressive display covers the circular walls of the enormous
room built to hold the cyclorama. In the center of the room is a raised
viewing platform where visitors will overlook a diorama installed at
the base of painting. That diorama, consisting of 128 soldiers, will be
a restored version of one created for the Grant Park cyclorama display,
Jones said.
Technicians working on the “Battle of Atlanta” so far have
removed varnish and poor repainting done during the 1979 to 1982
A painting conservator works on
the "Battle of Atlanta" cyclorama
painting at Buckhead's Atlanta
History Center on Jan. 25. The
museum plans to open the
cyclorama exhibit this winter,
but must first complete a major
restoration of the painting.
Phil Mosier
restoration. They will next
repaint the entire sky to remove
the numerous fluffy clouds that
were added in 1922 to cover
damage and stains, but ruin the
illusion, Jones said.
“We feel like that is an
essential part of restoring it to
how it looked in 1886,” Jones
said.
Several inches cut off the
top of the painting each time the painting was moved will also be
repainted. The chunks that were removed from the bottom of the
painting in the 1930s after the diorama dirt caused the painting to
mold will not be replaced, but covered by the new diorama, Jones
said.
The experts are also using old pictures as guides to repaint two
large pieces that were removed. One piece was removed after the
collapse of the roof of an Edgewood Avenue building, where the
painting was installed prior to its longtime Grant Park home. The
second piece was removed when the painting would not fit in the
Grant Park building, Jones said.
A ring of lights that shine on the painting to simulate daylight
and assist the illusion will also be used for “dramatic lighting” that will
occur during a periodic show that will explain what is happening in
the painting. The show will be similar to the show at Grant Park, but
include fewer details and be much shorter, Jones said.
Visitors will be able to go behind the painting and read
information about the restoration process, Jones said.
Other related exhibits will be installed in the cyclorama building,
including a historic streetlamp that is part of African American
history, advertisements for the cyclorama from when it first opened
and exhibits detailing how art and propaganda work to influence how
historic events are remembered.
The “Texas,” a legendary locomotive dating to 1856, has been
installed inside a glass enclosure in the museum’s new wing built along
with the cyclorama building. The locomotive was previously a main
fixture of Grant Park’s cyclorama exhibit for 88 years. The locomotive
can be seen from the outside, but the exhibit has not opened yet.
Once it does open, visitors will be able to climb onto the train and
into the cab.
The museum, at 130 West Paces Ferry Road, has been at work
cleaning and restoring the painting since August 2017. It initially
hoped to open the exhibit in the fall of this year, but has pushed that
back to the winter, Pousner said.
The museum raised $35 million to move and restore the painting,
and has set aside $10 million of that for future restorations, which will
constantly be needed, Jones said.
“There will another restoration and another restoration after that.
It will never be done. But hopefully what we do is extend its life and
we pass this on to the next generation,” Jones said. OH
Countdown begins for Super Bowl in Atlanta next year
With the Philadelphia Eagles soaring
to victory in last month’s Super Bowl in
Minneapolis, the City of Adanta was officially
handed host responsibilities in a ceremony on
Feb. 5 at the Mall of America.
Super Bowl LIII will be played in Atlanta
on Feb. 3, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
in Downtown.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
attended the ceremony, along with members
of the Atlanta Super Bowl LIII Host
Committee, including Executive Director
Carl Adkins and Chief Operating Officer
Brett Daniels, as well as President of the
Atlanta Sports Council and Super Bowl LIII
Host Committee Board of Directors Dan
Corso. Representing the City of Atlanta at the
ceremony was Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
“We are officially on the clock for Super
Bowl LIII and we couldn’t be more excited for
this opportunity to showcase Adanta to the
rest of world,” said Daniels. “We are already a
full year into our planning process and know
everyone will feel the incredible passion and
pride of our city as we intend to put together
the best Super Bowl experience ever.”
The Adanta Super Bowl LIII Host
Committee introduced a video at the
press conference titled, “We Are ATL,”
featuring popular Atlanta musician, actor,
philanthropist and devoted NFL fan,
Ludacris. The video also included Atlanta
residents in locations around the city
describing what the words ATL mean to
them. Watch the video below.
Commissioner Goodell delivered a
ceremonial NFL football to the Adanta Host
Committee while unveiling the official Super
Bowl LIII logo.
For more information, visit
atlsuperbowl53.com. [d
8 March 2018 | [El
AtlantalNtownPaper.com