ArtScape: I love Augusta’s art community

(ArtScape is a column, and columns often contain opinion)

I love Augusta.

And I love Augusta’s art community.

 On Thursday, my heart was full.

At the Greater Augusta Arts Council’s awards event at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion, I found myself in a room filled with amazing creatives. I’ve said it before in print, and I’ll say it again. The sheer number of incredibly talented people in this area blows me away. We are so blessed to have visual artists and performers of this caliber in our community.

Many of them gave me hugs –  a night is not complete without a hug from billy s  – but I also received them from so many other beautiful people – Russell Joel Brown, Scott Seidl, Karen Gordon, Kigwana Cherry and the list goes on.  

I’ve always admired those people who could draw or paint or sculpt. I am not one of them. So, it was humbling to be honored among the visual artists Thursday as an award winner for simply sharing their stories with others.

Brenda Durant received the President’s Award given by outgoing president Rhian Swain.

Brenda has been the organization’s executive director for 27 years and plans to retire after a few weeks after Arts in the Heart of Augusta. I will be sitting down with her in a few weeks to do a story on her. Her accomplishments are many, and I want to highlight them in a story that focuses solely on her.

I will just say that under her Arts in the Heart has expanded exponentially to become one of the premiere festivals in the Southeast with more than 100,000 attendees. But like I said – later.

 I knew other awardees. Drake White who formed the CANDL Gallery, won the arts professional category.

An artist in his own right, White took photographs of many area artists and then held a unique show called Moi Et Toi, pairing his photographs with works created by the artists. I was out of town when he held the opening, but I saw social media posts of people standing outside the building because it was too crowded to get into.

 He also recently held an exhibition of Philip Morsberger’s work in collaboration with the Westbou Gallery.

Pax Bobrow won the Kath Girdler Engler Public Art Award.

Pax was my go-to contact at the arts council for many years. I remember standing with her in the middle of Broad Street on a cold January morning in 2021 when the first sculptures were installed in the initial iteration of the Augusta Sculpture Trail. I watched as Gus and Lina Ocamposilva placed “Unstoppable.”

And we were together on another January morning in 2023 when more sculptures arrived.

Pax also oversaw many of the Golden Blocks public art projects from the murals to the recent sculpture by Ashley Gray. Although soft-spoken, Pax exuded a passion for those projects and their significance.

I don’t know Karen Heid, who won the artist award, and she wasn’t at the meeting. But I do want to do a story on her and the work she’s done at Lake Forest Hills Elementary School.

I just want to say “Brava” to the mural artists who won the Spirit of Collaboration Award for their work on the 5^th Street Bridge, also known as the Freedom Pedestrian Bridge. It’s a glorious scene of color and beauty.

Alexis Foust received the volunteer award. A friend of Brenda’s daughter who was probably volunt-told at one point, she’s found joy in helping with Arts in the Heart of Augusta.

 Herc Rentals received the sponsor award.

And Augusta Good News won the media award.

I had to beg Mike Adams to accept the award with me because of course Mike was taking photos of the event. That’s what a news photographer does.

 I will say this about Mike. He’s an amazing friend and an incredible photographer. His pictures are works of art. He has an incredible eye and knows about composition, lighting and angles to elevate photos without the use of AI or Photoshop.

His sports feature photographs capture the true essence of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. He swept the sports feature category at the recent Georgia Press Association awards as evidence of that.

Also, one more shoutout to Don Rhodes who gave Augusta Good News incredible support.  On June 6, 2023, he sent me his last ever column, and on June 6, 2024, he was inducted into the Georgia Press Association’s Golden Club for his 50-plus years of journalism.

I had the honor of presenting his medal to his sister, Linda Humphreys.

And thank you to Scott Seidl for the beautiful words you spoke. They brought tears to my eyes and thinking about them now just reiterates to me that we never know how we impact someone else’s life. You often say “be kind” on your social media posts, and I see that in an entirely different light now.

Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.