Athens Treasures: A Bicentennial Celebration by the Athens Historical Society at the Georgia Museum of Art spans two centuries and four galleries—a visual celebration of the fine and decorative arts during Athens’s bicentennial.
Located in the heart of Georgia’s piedmont region, Athens is renowned for its classical architecture, its exciting arts scene and its university. University and town have collaborated on projects such as this exhibition since Athens was founded in 1801. The town literally grew up around the University of Georgia, which had been chartered in 1785.
On view until March 18, the bicentennial exhibition includes a wide range of decorative arts. Vernacular furniture—often termed primitive—will be shown in a grouping that is typical of objects used by early settlers in Clarke County. At a time when university professors were holding the first classes outside on a hill above the Oconee River, residents of nearby log cabins were using items such as the mid-18th-century cradle or the small saddle trunk or blanket chest on view in the exhibition.
Of particular interest is a rare example of early 19th-century Southern needlework, a sampler made by Martha Strong in 1818. Items used for cooking include an iron trammel, made by a local foundry and used to raise and lower cooking pots in the hearth.
In the 1820s, building in Athens began in earnest, often in the antebellum architectural style still to be seen on the university’s historic North Campus and in the imposing Greek Revival houses nearby.
The 20th-century gallery focuses on the city’s growing arts movement, which has produced an unusual number of accomplished local artists in the past 100 years. Included in that company are Ann Orr, Lucy May Stanton, Martha Odum, Josephine Wilkins, Earl McCutcheon, Lamar Dodd and Alfred Holbrook.
Items of historical interest will also be on display, including two carbines and a rifle made in the 1860s by the local Cook and Brother Armory. The 1936 Olympic gold medal won by Forrest Grady “Spec” Towns at the Berlin Olympics will also be on view.
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