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High Museum of Art to Debut Alex Harris “Picturing The South” Commission

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North Carolina–based photographer created new works focused on independent filmmaking in the South for the High’s collection 

The High Museum of Art will debut more than 60 new works by North Carolina–based photographer Alex Harris in the latest exhibition for its “Picturing the South” series: “Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris” (Nov. 29, 2019 – May 3, 2020). Established in 1996, “Picturing the South” is a distinctive initiative that asks noted photographers to turn their lenses toward the American South to create work for the High’s collection. For his commission, Harris made photographs on independent film sets throughout the South to explore how the region is seen, imagined and created by contemporary visual storytellers. 

“We are delighted to acquire Harris’ work for the collection as part of our ‘Picturing the South’ series. Over more than two decades, the series has demonstrated our dedication to photography and to celebrate the region’s diversity, beauty, and unique character,” said Rand Suffolk, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director. “We are excited to recognize Harris’ distinguished career through this commission and to share these new photographs with our audience.” 

Born and raised in Georgia, Harris is a founder of Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies and lives and works in Durham, North Carolina. A dozen years ago, having documented contemporary Cuban society, he was asked to photograph on the set of Steven Soderbergh’s film “Che” (2008). Inspired by that experience, Harris decided to explore current narrative cinematic representations of the South by chronicling productions of contemporary independent films set in the region. 

“One of our main goals for ‘Picturing the South’ is to allow the photographers to explore a new creative route or dig deeper into a topic that inspires them, so we are thrilled that Harris went this direction with his commission,” said Greg Harris, the High’s associate curator of photography. “Ranging from intimate portraits and quiet moments to sweeping landscapes and atmospheric scenes, the photographs in the exhibition not only showcase Harris’ ingenuity and skill as a photographer but also will offer our visitors an opportunity to see the South through the eyes of innovative filmmakers.” 
 
Over the past two years, Alex Harris has traveled around Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas capturing both the scenes constructed for film productions and the activity that unfolded around and adjacent to the sets, often blurring the lines between staged storytelling and real life. With the South’s diverse topography as a backdrop, he strings together impeccably lit and instinctively composed images to build an intuitive narrative that vacillates between deep sorrow, explosive anger and mundane anticipation. Though he leaves clues, Harris never fully reveals which pictures are contrived for the cinema and which are documentary happenstance. 

 
“I began this project believing that, by photographing on contemporary Southern film sets, I might, through the visions and imaginations of these filmmakers, show the South in a new light,” said Alex Harris. “Over the last two years I found myself approaching these imagined dramas much in the same way I took on earlier, more traditional documentary projects, following my instincts and editing my photographs not to tell a particular story — or to be faithful to the plots of individual films — but to discover the story my photographs have to tell. Gradually, I became interested in seeing how my pictures from widely different film productions resonated with each other. Now, in mounting this exhibition with curators at the High, I see a cumulative portrait, not only of these productions and of the South, but of an idea that has long been celebrated in literature, explored in science and conveyed by philosophers — that is, the ways in which we are all actors in our own lives, creating our sets, practicing our lines, refining our characters, playing ourselves.” 

“Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris” will be on view in the Lucinda Weil Bunnen Photography Galleries on the Lower Level of the High’s Wieland Pavilion. The “Picturing the South” commission was made possible by the generous support of the H.B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust. 

About Alex Harris 
For over 40 years, Harris (American, born 1949) has photographed across the American South and in locations as disparate as the Inuit villages of Alaska; the streets of Havana, Cuba; and the fish markets of Mumbai, India. He has taught at Duke University since 1980. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography, a Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship and a Lyndhurst Prize. Harris’ work is represented in major photographic collections, including those of the High Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His photographs have been exhibited widely, including in exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. As a photographer and editor, Harris has published 18 books. His book “River of Traps” with William deBuys was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. Most recently, he published “Where We Find Ourselves: The Photographs of Hugh Mangum, 1897–1922”with Margaret Sartor. 
 
About “Picturing the South” 
The High began its “Picturing the South” initiative in 1996 both to provide a contemporary perspective on Southern subjects and themes and to expand its collection of contemporary photography. The commissions have benefited the Museum as well as the artists — Sally Mann’s commission in 1996, for instance, helped support her shift to landscape work and resulted in the first photographs in her “Motherland” series. The other commissions range from Dawoud Bey’s over-life-size portraits of Atlanta high school students to Emmet Gowin’s aerial photographs of aeration ponds and paper mills. Photographer Alex Webb captured the drama of Atlanta’s street life and nightlife, and Richard Misrach used a view camera to reveal the beauty and pathos of the industrial landscape along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, an area known as Cancer Alley. In the most recent completed commission, Mark Steinmetz focused on air travel and Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport —closely considering the activity and interactions that make the airport the crossroads of the New South. 
 
About the High’s Photography Department 
The High Museum of Art is home to one of the nation’s leading photography programs. The Museum began acquiring photographs in the early 1970s, making it one of the earliest American art museums to commit to collecting the medium. With more than 7,500 prints that span the history of the medium from the 1840s to the present, the collection has particular strengths in American and European modernist traditions, documentary and contemporary photography. Holdings include the most significant museum collection of vintage civil-rights-era prints in the nation as well as important holdings by Harry Callahan, Clarence John Laughlin, William Christenberry, Ralph Gibson, Richard Misrach, Walker Evans and Peter Sekaer. The collection also gives special attention to pictures made in and of the South, serving as the largest and most significant repository representing the region’s important contributions to photography. 

Exhibition Organization and Support 
“Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris” is organized by the High Museum of Art. This exhibition is made possible by Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.; Exhibition Series Sponsors Northside Hospital and WarnerMedia; Premier Exhibition Series Supporters the Antinori Foundation, Sarah and Jim Kennedy, Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot, and wish foundation; Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporter Anne Cox Chambers Foundation; Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Tom and Susan Wardell, and Rod Westmoreland; and Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Lucinda W. Bunnen, Marcia and John Donnell, W. Daniel Ebersole and Sarah Eby-Ebersole, Peggy Foreman, Robin and Hilton Howell, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Margot and Danny McCaul, Joel Knox and Joan Marmo, and The Ron and Lisa Brill Family Charitable Trust. Generous support is also provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Isobel Anne Fraser–Nancy Fraser Parker Exhibition Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, and the RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund.  
 
About the High Museum of Art 
Located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs. Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 17,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from pre-history through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper. The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process. For more information about the High, visit www.high.org

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Mike Schleifer to Leave Alliance for Lincoln Center Theater

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A middle-aged man wearing a dark suit jacket, white shirt and grey and blue tie. He's smiling and looking at the camera in front of a dark grey background

After leading Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre through two major renovation projects, a global pandemic and more than 100 productions over 11 years, Managing Director, Mike Schleifer, will leave the Alliance at the end of the year to become the managing director of Lincoln Center Theater in New York.

As managing director of the Alliance, Schleifer oversees all operational, marketing, financial, fundraising and shared services activities. In his new role, Schleifer will oversee LCT’s financial and operational health and ensure long-term sustainability and growth. He will also work to align strategic planning with artistic goals, manage the theater’s union relationships, lead budgeting, marketing and capital planning efforts and identify and develop new revenue opportunities.

“While it’s rare to find a managing director who is equally brilliant at the operational and financial part of the job, it’s simply unheard of to find one who excels on those fronts and leads with such unabashed heart, vision and humor,” said Jennings Hertz Artistic Directors Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses in a joint statement.    

“For the past 11 years, we had the unfathomably good fortune to have all that and more in Mike Schleifer. Mike’s willingness to bet on our mission and invest in the extraordinary talent of the Alliance staff allowed us to realize aspirational dreams we never would have dared to dream without his encouragement and faith. We’ll miss him daily but cannot wait to witness the joy he’ll bring to the Lincoln Center Theater.”

During his tenure

During his tenure with the Alliance, Schleifer led the administrative and producing teams on over 100 productions and moved four shows to Broadway, including last season’s “Water for Elephants” and this season’s “Maybe Happy Ending.”

He spearheaded the $36 million renovation of the award-winning Coca-Cola Stage and is currently leading the $26 million renovation of the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families. Under his leadership, the Alliance more than doubled its operating budget, tripled its endowment and continued to lead the country in work developed for young audiences. 

“It’s been a true honor and privilege to work, lead and learn at the Alliance Theatre for the last eleven years,” said Schleifer. “I’m deeply grateful to the staff, artists and audiences of the Alliance Theatre and Woodruff Arts Center who have made this journey so rewarding.”

“We’ve achieved remarkable milestones — from moving productions to Broadway to completing transformative capital projects,” he continued. “I’m excited for what’s next, but I won’t be leaving until we cut the ribbon on the new Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families — a project that reflects the Alliance’s deep commitment to the next generation of theatergoers, both with the physical theater space and with the endowment we’re raising to make the work on that stage financially accessible for all.”

Additional roles

In addition to his work at the Alliance, Schleifer serves on the boards of the League of Resident Theatres and True Colors Theatre Company. In 2018 he co-founded Volute Partners, a theatre consultancy focused on capital projects and the subsequent operational support and budgets needed to sustain them.

“We are immensely grateful for Mike’s leadership and tireless dedication to the Alliance Theatre. His vision, passion, and expertise have left an indelible mark on this organization,” said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Woodruff Arts Center. 

“We take great pride in seeing him step into this well-deserved opportunity, knowing he will make a lasting impact at Lincoln Center Theater.”

New leadership

The leadership of the Woodruff Arts Center, with support from members of the Alliance Theatre Board of Directors, will conduct a national search for the Alliance’s next managing director, led by executive search firm, Corps Team.

“On behalf of the Alliance’s board of directors, we want to thank Mike for more than a decade of service to the Alliance and Atlanta community,” said Kendrick Smith, Alliance Theatre Board of Directors chair. “He oversaw a period of unprecedented growth with a spirit of collaboration and unwavering commitment to the theater’s artistic vision.”

“As we begin the national search for his successor, we remain dedicated to the theater’s mission of expanding hearts and minds, on stage and off.”

About the Alliance Theatre

Founded in 1968, Alliance Theatre is the leading producing theater in the Southeast, reaching more than 165,000 patrons annually.  

The Alliance is led by Jennings Hertz Artistic Directors Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses and Managing Director Mike Schleifer and is a recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award® for sustained excellence in programming, education and community engagement. 

In January 2019, the Alliance opened its new, state-of-the-art performance space, The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre.

Known for its high artistic standards and national role in creating significant theatrical works, the Alliance has premiered more than 140 productions, including eleven that have transferred to Broadway. 

Additionally, the Alliance education department reaches more than 90,000 students annually through performances, classes, camps and in-school initiatives designed to support teachers and enhance student learning.

The Alliance Theatre values community, curiosity, collaboration and excellence and is dedicated to representing Atlanta’s diverse community with the stories they tell, the artists, staff and leadership they employ and the audiences they serve.

For more information, visit alliancetheatre.org.

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Fantastical Creatures in Fernbank’s WildWoods

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Fernbank Spirit Guides exhibit promotion with colorful wooden animal sculpture in a grassy area with lots of trees and bushes.

Encounter mythical creatures in a natural landscape when “Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles” opens March 29.

Immerse yourself in a breathtaking outdoor exhibit that intertwines Mexican cultures and contemporary art when “Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles” opens at Fernbank Museum.

From March 29 to August 3, guests can enter a supernatural world as they walk alongside towering, brightly colored and richly patterned sculptures in the natural landscape of Fernbank’s WildWoods.

Presented in both English and Spanish, this collection of brightly-colored fiberglass sculptures depicts imaginary hybrid animals and offers visitors an unparalleled journey into an imaginative take on the spiritual landscape of southern Mexico’s Indigenous traditions.

Inspiration and legend

In creating “Spirit Guides,” artists Jacobo and María Ángeles were inspired by an ancient Zapotec stone calendar. Indigenous to southern Mexico, Zapotec culture is deeply connected to plants, seasons and animals.

Large colorful sculpture of a winged mythical creature on an open patio in a wooded garden.
photo credit: Scott Dressel-Martin

“Spirit Guides” beckons visitors to travel into the spiritual landscape of Mexico’s Indigenous traditions through these animal sculptures that act as both spirit guides and astrological embodiments of human character.

Some of the hybrid animals depicted include a combination of a deer-butterfly or a coyote-fish. These larger-than-life sculptures depict patterns and designs that symbolize different aspects of Zapotec life and culture, such as happiness, fertility and community.

The artists have previously stated that, according to a Zapotec legend, when you are born an animal comes to you to serve as your protector in this world. This animal is your tona, a being that shares your destiny and soul.

Large colorful sculpture of a howling fish-wolf mythical creature in a wooded garden.
photo credit: Scott Dressel-Martin

Along with your tona, you also have a nahual, which is assigned based on the year of your birth. This spirit animal embodies characteristics that mirror your own personality.

As guests stand before the sculptures in WildWoods — some of which stand nearly 8 feet tall and 9 feet wide — they are made conscious of the profound connection between the natural and cosmological worlds.

About the Artists

Jacobo and María Ángeles are a married artist team based in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Joyful, fanciful and distinctively patterned, the Ángeles’ animal sculptures embrace both contemporary art and folk-art traditions. They employ and teach more than 100 artisans in their workshop, which has created artworks shown in museums around the world.

Exhibit details

By drawing inspiration from the Zapotec calendar and their own imaginations, the Ángeles team sculpted their own mythical creations.

This exhibit features eight towering, vibrant fiberglass sculptures of hybrid animals, intersecting art, mythology and identity. The sculptures were designed through a multi-step process that included conceptual sketches, small wooden renderings and papier mâché molds before casting the fiberglass.

A team of artisans then helped to paint the sculptures with striking colors and intricate geometric patterns inspired by Zapotec and other Indigenous designs, each with their own unique meaning.

Organized by Denver Botanic Gardens, “Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles” is on view from March 29 – August 3, 2025. The exhibit is included with General Admission at Fernbank Museum and is free with CityPASS.

It will also be on view select nights when the museum is open, including during Fernbank After Dark and Fernbank … but Later.

For more information, please visit fernbankmuseum.org.

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Around Atlanta

Fernbank Museum Roars with Excitement for New Exhibit

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Dinosaur skeleton on display at a natural history museum

“Ultimate Dinosaurs” will run from February 8–May 4, 2025

Ultimate Dinosaurs,” a special exhibit that explores the fascinating species that evolved in isolation in South America, Africa and Madagascar, stomps into Fernbank Museum from February 8 to May 4.

Through the exhibit, guests will experience an impressive blend of skeletal displays and augmented reality as they learn about the changing prehistoric landscape of dinosaurs in a new, modernized way.

Journey through the Mesozoic

Based on groundbreaking research from scientists around the world, “Ultimate Dinosaurs” highlights dinosaurs typically unfamiliar to North Americans and seeks to answer the question: why are the unique and bizarre dinosaurs in the Southern Hemisphere so different from their North American counterparts?

Dinosaur skeletons on display at an exhibit at a natural history museum
photo credit: Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Starting with the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, “Ultimate Dinosaurs” takes visitors on a journey through the Mesozoic Era (250-65 million years ago) and shows how continental drift affected the evolution of dinosaurs during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

“We are excited to have “Ultimate Dinosaurs” here at Fernbank and explore the unique ways that dinosaurs have evolved in isolation,” said program manager, Maria Moreno. “This exhibit combines rarely seen specimens with interactive stations for patrons of all ages to enjoy.”

“It is also very exciting to have an exhibit highlighting our mascot, the Giganotosaurus, one of the largest land predators to have ever lived,” Moreno added.

Dino displays and hands-on activities

Guests can view a variety of full-scale dinosaur displays from the Eoraptor, Malawisaurus, Suchomimus, Rapetosaurus and more, including 14 dinosaur skeletons. One highlight is the Giganotosaurus skeleton, which is also on view in Fernbank’s permanent exhibit, “Giants of the Mesozoic.”

An older couple reading information in front of a dinosaur bone display at a natural history museum exhibit
photo credit: Denver Museum of Nature & Science

This special exhibit will include several real fossils, some of which will be available to visitors to touch. Additionally, “Ultimate Dinosaurs” features several hands-on activities, one of which involves exploring the physical characteristics of dinosaurs’ stride patterns, crests and frills.

Another activity uses augmented reality to transform intricately detailed skeletons into moving, flesh-and-bone creatures.

To celebrate the grand opening of “Ultimate Dinosaurs,” Fernbank is hosting a family-friendly Dino Day on Saturday, February 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is included with general admission.

Additionally, the giant screen film, “T. REX 3D,” will be showing through May 16.

Two smiling, young boys holding toy dinosaurs at a dinosaur exhibit at a natural history museum
photo credit: Denver Museum of Nature & Science

There will also be a lecture with Anthony (Tony) Martin, professor of practice in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University, titled “On Frozen Ground Down Under: Polar Dinosaurs, Insects and other Cretaceous Fossils of Australia” this spring.

The details

Presented by the Science Museum of Minnesota, “Ultimate Dinosaurs” is open at Fernbank from February 8–May 4. The exhibit will be included with general admission tickets and is free with CityPASS.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit fernbankmuseum.org.

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