Last year’s event featured a series of art shows, art collection tours, lectures and panel discussions that highlighted the diversity of African-American artists, collectors, gallery owners and patrons — something Atlanta’s art scene doesn’t always reflect. It attracted 2,000 attendees and inspired a New York-based company to hold art fair in Atlanta in 2024. This year, Walker anticipates increased attendance from an international and national audience.

Credit: Piera Moore

Credit: Piera Moore

New to the organization is an advisory board to lend insight and expertise. The five-member board includes Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman and Shane David Hall of the Fine Art Group appraisal and advisory company, which hosted an art collecting panel last year.

“I was immediately impressed with her tenacity and persistence,” said Hall. “Kendra’s focus of building community within the Atlanta art ecosystem resonated with me deeply. Atlanta is a world class city, and it deserves a world class art market event.”

An advisor to high-profile collectors like celebrities and professional athletes, Hall has his finger on the pulse of the national and international art market.

“I believe that the Southeast — and Atlanta specifically — are on the verge of great change with increased interest in what it means to live here,” he said. “The truth is that arts and culture have always existed here, and collectors have always lived here, but this message was often overlooked by those in cities that consider themselves to be centers of the art world.”

Part of Hall’s role with Atlanta Art Week is to ensure professional standards are met. He and Fine Art Group will also contribute to the education panels taking place all day Oct. 7 at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Credit: Raphael Miller

Credit: Raphael Miller

Key events from last year’s Atlanta Art Week will return, including a ticketed Coca-Cola Company Fine Art Collection Tour and a tour of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Art Collection, the only paid event during Atlanta Art Week.

“My second year feels very much like foundation building,” said Walker. “The first year was very much bootstrapping it. This year feels like, OK, now we’re getting the right people involved. Now we have pictures to show for it, and it’s not like the first year when I’m kind of just trying to sell an idea.”

ART EVENT PREVIEW

Atlanta Art Week. Oct. 2-8. Multiple venues. atlantaartweek.co

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

Atlanta Art Week Highlights

“Black Gaze, Black Bodies”

A passion project from Atlanta artist Fahamu Pecou, the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) will stage a pop-up exhibition at Pittsburgh Yards in anticipation of a permanent exhibition space. Ghanaian curator Essé Dabla-Atikpo will lead a tour of the exhibition she curated for ADAMA, “Black Gaze, Black Bodies.”

Tour and artist talk 6 p.m. Oct. 3. African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta, 352 University Ave., Atlanta. ADAMATL.org

University of Georgia MFA 3rd Year Exhibition

You’d normally have to travel to Athens to catch this annual exhibition dedicated to MFA students at the University of Georgia, but Atlanta Art Week is offering an exclusive peek at nine soon-to-be MFA grads with a special pop up show.

Opening reception 5 p.m. Oct. 3. The Works Upper Westside, 1295 Chattahoochee Ave. NW, Atlanta. 678-974-8534, theworksatl.com

“Richard Misrach & Meghann Riepenhoff: Duet”

One of contemporary photography’s icons, Richard Misrach (whose work can also be seen at the High Museum in “A Long Arc”) teams up with Atlanta-born Riepenhoff, whom Misrach mentored early in her career. Both artists are invested in unique takes on landscape with Riepenhoff creating camera-less cyanotypes around water while Misrach creates similarly uncanny landscapes in his “Notations” work. The pair are featured in a joint exhibition through Dec. 22 at Jackson Fine Art.

Artist talk 5:30 p.m. Oct. 4. Jackson Fine Art, 3122 E. Shadowlawn Ave., Atlanta. 404-233-3739, jacksonfineart.com

“Empowerment Through the Lens: The CreativeSoul Collection”

Atlanta-based husband and wife photographers Kahran and Regis Bethencourt of CreativeSoul Photography have received national attention for their powerful, reverent portraits of Black children that imbue their subjects with a mythic, regal bearing. The couple have scored lucrative book deals with St. Martin’s Press for their photography books “Glory: Magical Visions of Black Beauty” and their latest, “Crowned: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora.” Their work will be featured at the photo gallery Arnika Dawkins Gallery through Nov. 10.

Artist talk and reception 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4. Arnika Dawkins Gallery, 4600 Cascade Road, Atlanta. 404-333-0312, adawkinsgallery.com

Atlanta Art Week Panel Discussions

There’s no better way to dip a toe into the art world than by attending one of the panel discussions covering topics from art world trends and emerging collectors to what it’s like to work and live as an artist. You can pop into one discussion, or catch all four during this day-long summit at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Panel discussions 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 7. Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-4200, woodruffcenter.org

“Alic Brock: Shifting Motifs”

Just a year old, Wolfgang Gallery on the booming corridor of Old Chattahoochee Avenue has built its reputation with a consistently high-caliber series of contemporary painting exhibitions focused on artists from New York, London and Canada. In its latest painting exhibition, “Shifting Motifs,” the gallery focuses on talented Atlantan Alic Brock, whose sleek, airbrushed paintings are compiled from online images of basketball players, musicians and art world references the artist manipulates into his finished work. For this event, Wolfgang offers locals the chance (on a first come, first served basis) to pick up one of 50 T-shirts commemorating Brock’s exhibition. “In an effort to foster young and emerging collectors, we’ll be offering original works on paper by Brock that may be more obtainable than a large painting,” said gallery co-owner Benjamin Deaton. “Our event is designed for everyone to take part in the growing art scene in Atlanta, whether they’re casual enthusiasts or seasoned collectors.”

Gallery event noon, Oct. 7. Wolfgang Gallery, 1240 Old Chattahoochee Ave. NW, Suite H, Atlanta. 404-549-3297, wolfganggallery.com

“We Got the Jazz: The Jazz of a Tribe Called Quest”

Atlanta is probably better known internationally for its music scene than for its visual arts scene, but both of those creative communities give the city its special, unmatchable spirit. Actor Malcolm Jamal-Warner teams up with musician Dashill Smith to pay tribute to the influential hip-hop band A Tribe Called Quest.

Performance 7 p.m. Oct. 7. Buckhead Village District, 3035 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. 404-939-9270, buckheadvillagedistrict.com

“Paul Pfeiffer: Red Green Blue”

A relatively new gallery space in Athens, the Athenaeum has already hosted big names such as artist Kara Walker. The 5,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery affiliated with the University of Georgia and the Lamar Dodd School of Art hosts former UGA professor Paul Pfeiffer. In a new project looking at spectacle, history and sports culture, Pfeiffer documents the UGA Redcoat Marching Band and the Georgia Bulldogs’ stadium as well as the location just beyond its borders of a 19th century cemetery with the graves of Confederate soldiers and enslaved African Americans.

Curator tour 4 p.m. Oct. 8. The Athenaeum, 287 W. Broad St., Athens. 706-542-1511, athenaeum.uga.edu