When art collectors Esohe and George Galbreath look around, they’re reminded that their love is kismet. And it overflows into the love they have for building and documenting an arts and collectors’ community.
Their home in Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill neighborhood is warmed by the works of a range of contemporary Black artists, from sculptor Kevin Cole to painter Dizzy Dain to textile artist Big Chief. Nearly every inch of their walls is adorned by a painting or 3D work, each with a special meaning behind it.
“We’re proud to say these pieces are by artists we know or have met or have some connection to,” says Esohe (pronounced es-SO-hey) Galbreath. “Artists we’re inspired by.”
Adds George Galbreath: “These all exemplify relationships and experiences and stories.”
Photo by Melissa Alexander
Photo by Melissa Alexander
The couple began their 200-piece art collection a little more than a decade ago, their first works being Cole’s sculptural canvases, “Shady Green Faith” and “Shady Green Hope.” The collection is a vivid snapshot of this era in Atlanta’s art history, a mix of emerging creators and those who have decades of experience.
It is captured in the Galbreaths’ latest venture, a catalog titled “The Galbreath Collection: A Decade of Collecting Atlanta.”
The book features photos of 100 works by nearly 70 Black artists, each with roots in or ties to Atlanta. It’s their way of not only documenting their collecting journey but also preserving the stories of the artists represented.
“I know how important documentation is for an artist’s career,” says George, a lifelong visual artist who specializes in urban landscapes. “At some point, the digital world will be all that’s left. There’s so much talent in Atlanta, we gotta remember it and record it, or else it’ll be gone.”
But the couple is not simply telling Atlanta’s art story. With their knack for turning ideas into social impact, they have also become a critical part of that story.
Two things led them to their place within the art world, Esohe says: “God and serendipity. We use our imaginations, we put in the work, but God gives us something greater than we could have ever thought of on our own.”
Photo by Tremain Hamilton
Photo by Tremain Hamilton
Esohe was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and was ready for something new after graduating from the University of Kentucky with an electrical engineering degree. Her father had lived in Atlanta during her high school years, and her sister attended Georgia Tech, so she already knew the city and made it her home in 2003.
George, a Columbia, Missouri, native, made his way to Atlanta after finishing his art education master’s studies at Howard University. He wanted a happy medium between his hometown feeling and the energy of the big city that he had experienced in Washington. He found it in Atlanta in 2004 when he interviewed for a teaching position at Westlake High School in southwest Atlanta. Cole, who launched the school’s fine arts department a year prior, hired him to start the graphic design program.
George and Esohe found their way to each other in 2009. A fellow teacher invited George to a neo soul concert so that her little sister, Esohe, wouldn’t feel like a third wheel. It was that teacher’s last year there, so she had gotten to George just in time.
“It was the last day before summer break, so that’s the last time I would’ve seen her,” he says. “I’m glad she asked because it led to the best blind date in history.”
In another close call, Esohe’s travel-heavy job almost kept her from making it back from Louisville in time for the concert. Her manager wouldn’t budge when she asked to end her trip a day early, so Esohe was pulled off the project. But she was perfectly fine with that.
Two weeks — and a dinner date, pool party, rooftop party and coffee date later ― George was all in. Esohe came home to flowers and a card outside her garage.
“When I opened the card, it said, ‘I hope this doesn’t feel too stalkerish,’” Esohe says. “I was glad he wrote it, because that’s exactly how I felt getting in at 10, 11 o’clock to see he brought this all the way to my house in Alpharetta.”
George adds: “From Camp Creek!” And they laugh.
“I just liked his company. He was so decisive in the moment, and I was attracted to his creativity,” Esohe says.
In 2011, they were married by the Rev. Raphael Warnock at their home church, Ebenezer Baptist.
With her fearlessness and analytical mind and his quirkiness and creativity, “We’re a good balance,” George says.
Photo courtesy of the Oak Park Black Film Festival
Photo courtesy of the Oak Park Black Film Festival
Their balance has served them well in their arts ventures.
They’re just past the 10-year mark of the establishment of ARTiculate ATL, a nonprofit organization that promotes and celebrates various forms of artistic expression in Black culture, which they dreamed up with Atlanta natives Courtney Ware Lett and Brandon Ball in 2013. They’re also preparing the next generation of artists, curators and collectors through their Youth Artist Program. And they’re amplifying the talent of dozens of artists through casual conversations and interviews on their YouTube channel, which includes the podcast “On the Couch with the Galbreaths.”
George is in year 19 at Westlake, and Esohe’s boutique consulting business, Sohé Solutions, has grown into a go-to for creatives seeking guidance on financial preparation and career sustainability. When she was overworked, underappreciated and “felt the corporate world sucking the life out of me,” she says, she left her job in 2012 and launched her business full-time. The foundation had been laid many years earlier as she helped her mother with the business side of her creative work. She helped George with the same as he grew into promoting his creative work.
These days, they speak on art panels, co-curate exhibits and take young people on tours of various galleries to which they might otherwise not be exposed, as a component of the Youth Artist Program. Participants have come from Westlake, Langston Hughes and Tri-Cities high schools and Sandtown Middle School. Aside from the tours, the students are also part of the production team for ARTiculate ATL.
The organization’s annual art party brings a night of art, music and networking that spotlights 30 to 35 emerging artists and gives them a place to professionally showcase their work, hear from other artists and gain critiques.
“We want people to dance and have a good time, but the focus is the art,” Esohe says. “We’ve realized that it’s also become a space for emerging collectors to meet these emerging artists and build their collections.”
The Galbreaths didn’t track the first year, but the second year yielded $16,000 in sales. In 2024, the total was $87,000, and artists keep 100% of their sales.
They have mixed feelings about ARTiculate ATL operating this long. They’re happy to have found this niche, but they also think the lack of such opportunities for artists shouldn’t still be so dire.
“Industry and government haven’t shown up for artists in the way they need to,” Esohe says, reflecting on Georgia’s low public arts funding. According to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Georgia has ranked at or near the bottom of state arts funding for more than 10 years. “But Atlanta artists are really creative, resourceful people. They’re gonna make it happen. Black people are really resourceful, creative people. They’re gonna make it happen. So in a place like Atlanta, artists are definitely gonna make a way. I just wish it wasn’t still such a problem.”
The Galbreaths have art at the center of their lives. And it finds them anywhere they go.
“We’ve made so many connections and relationships that we cherish,” George says. They describe the joy of seeing a 16-year-old Youth Artist participant grow into an established artist for whom they’re now curating a show; and helping establish arts entities such as the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta, where Esohe is a founding board member. Their book cover features a black circle representing their full-circle journey in building a community of artists, collectors and art enthusiasts.
“I’m starting to realize that there’s a movement here, and we’re literally a part of every step of it,” George says, “I don’t think we intended that initially, but we’re grateful for it all.”
The Galbreaths have plenty to keep them busy. And while working together might be challenging for some, they say trust, communication and a mutual love for everything they do keeps them thriving.
George recently closed a solo show, “To Castleberry, With Love,” at Old Rabbit Fine Art Gallery. And Esohe is always thinking of ways to embrace her creativity.
“I hesitate to call myself a curator because I know that takes training,” Esohe says. “But I am producing an atmosphere, an experience, and there’s creativity in that. It may not be something tangible, but it’s certainly an experience that I hope lives with you beyond you being in the space — just don’t ask me to draw nothing.”
They are exploring a second book down the line, but they’ll likely start with publishing a few booklets that highlight their collection by year. Encouraging art collectors is always the goal, they say.
“We want people to know and believe that art is accessible to everybody. There’s somebody that you can support at every single level,” Esohe says.
“People have family members who are artists. You got neighbors. You got kids … We look at an exhibit like “Giants” [focused on Black artists from the collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz] at the High Museum, and it’s gorgeous, but you can start where you are. We have pieces of artwork that we paid $60 or $75 for, and every purchase means so much to the artist.”
ArtsATL
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ArtsATL (artsatl.org) is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. ArtsATL, founded in 2009, helps build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.
If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
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