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That Which Endures: Atlanta’s Folk Art Park
Inside the Arts
H
A quarter century out, the legacy of the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics lives on. The
event, held from July 19 to Aug. 4, marked the anniversary of the Summer Olympics held in
Athens, Greece a century earlier. For any city, designation as the Summer Olympics site is a
significant honor.
One remnant of the Summer Olympics with which many Atlanta residents may be less
familiar is Folk Art Park. Constructed under the direction of the Corporation for Olympic
Development in Atlanta (CODA), Folk
Art Park spans a section of the Downtown
Connector at the intersections of Piedmont
Avenue and Baker Street, and Cortland Street
and Ralph McGill Boulevard.
The park boasts artwork by twelve regional
artists. Among them are prominent names
such as Eddie Owens Martin, R.A. Miller,
James FFarold Jennings, Vollis Simpson,
Archie Byron and FFoward Finster. The initial
proposal for the park won the international
design competition for Urban Spaces in New
American City and was the first public art
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Camille
Russell Love
Camille Russell Love
Love has been
executive director of
the City of Atlanta
Mayor’s Office of
Cultural Affairs (@
atlantaoca) for more
than two decades.
project situated on Georgia Department of
Transportation (DOT) property. The project’s goal was a simple one, sort of—to create a
space that would engage pedestrians and motorists while celebrating the diversity and power
of Southern folk art.
The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico defines folk art as,
“decorative or utilitarian.. .is handmade.. .is learned formally or informally, or is self-taught...
is of, by and for the people; all people, is inclusive of class, status, culture, community,
ethnicity, gender, and religion.” To this dictum, Atlanta’s Folk Art Park is true. The artists
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come from different walks of life and represent various backgrounds. Most were not formally
educated and are self-taught.
Archie Byron (1928-2005), is one such example. Before art, or a tree root, more
accurately, discovered Byron, he owned a security company. In fact, when an assassin’s bullet
killed his childhood friend, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Byron’s company provided
bodyguards and surveillance for Mrs. King and the children. Seven years later, while out on a
security job, he noticed a tree root that resemble a gun. Intrigued, he brought the root home
and his wife challenged him to create something with it. Byron’s career as an artist began in
that moment. And like Byron’s, such stories abound at Atlanta’s Folk Art Park.
The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) recently completed a three-phase
restoration of Folk Art Park. Visitors once again can immerse
themselves in this unique and quintessential Atlanta cultural
environment as it was created 25 years ago. As one OCA
staff person observed, “One thing I love about this array
of monuments is that it communicates something special
about Atlanta — one doesn’t need to walk through the halls of
academia to have one’s voice heard and revered. There is a sort
of transcultural intelligence showcased in this area that speaks
to the ancestral roots within every human.”
A virtual tour of Folk-Art Park can be accessed in the
Google Play store by searching for City of Atlanta’s
Public Art. QH
Back in those days, vinyl was the way to get your music
From the Crates
1
Kelly McCoy
Kelly McCoy
is a veteran Atlanta
broadcaster who
writes about the
days popular music
only came on vinyl
records, which often
were stored in crates.
In past From the Crates columns, I’ve
written about my memories and experiences
at wonderful concerts at some of Atlanta’s
prime venues from back in those days.
Wherever you enjoyed your first
concert, I feel fairly safe in saying that you
were listening to the radio when you first
heard — and heard about — the group
or performer you were going to see. More
than likely, in the 60s or and 70s, their hits
were heard on AM radio, because that was
before FM stations started playing not only
singles, but cuts from albums.
Yes, we actually played 45s on the air!
Chances are they were “stock” copies,
just like the ones you bought and played
at home. But there were special copies
made just for radio station use, too. Those
promotional copies were unusual. Some
had the same song on both sides — one side
had a mono recording, the other was stereo.
Most had “intro times” on them to inform
the on-air person how many seconds they
had to speak over the beginning of the song.
We played records a lot, and after much
use, a hit record often accumulated pops
and scratches that didn’t help the song
quality. If you heard a song broadcast
that had a fuzzy, crackling sound at the
beginning, the term for this noise was “cue
burn.” We had to “cue the record” to the
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