Empire Arts Gallery in Kirkwood is a woman-owned and operated tattoo studio, art gallery, and boutique known for presenting stellar exhibitions alongside masterful tattoo work. This year, in celebration of Women’s History Month, they are welcoming “Making Our Mark,” a group exhibition of works curated by Elaine Stephenson, artist, designer and muralist.
I had the opportunity to speak with Stephenson and find out more about how this show came about and her inspiration to found the artist collective ATL ART GALS. The collective is dedicated to curating shows and public art projects that highlight women and non-binary artists in the Atlanta area.
Hi Elaine, thanks for taking the time to chat with me today. How did you come up with the theme for the upcoming “Making Our Mark” exhibition at Empire Arts Gallery?
Stephenson: The idea to have a show centered around celebrating Women’s History Month came to me as I was thinking about how I would love to see more shows focused on the work of women artists. It seemed like a perfect time to highlight these artists during a month meant to celebrate women.
I picked the show title “Making Our Mark” to highlight the contributions these artists are making to the Atlanta art community, in addition to literally making their marks on canvases and walls.
You’ve been steadily building a network of artists through your work with ATL ART GALS for a while now, can you tell me how that group came about? Why is it important?
Stephenson: ATL Art Gals evolved from a monthly meetup group I created in 2021 as a way to create a local community of women artists. I was new to working exclusively in the art world so I wanted to make more connections and find artists who wanted to support each other on our journeys.
A core group of artists started participating on a regular basis and we found a good connection working together. So we have pivoted the meetup group to be more of a collective where we can create collaborative public art projects together, as well as involve the larger artist community in exhibitions.
Groups like ours are important because it helps artists to have more agency in their careers, working together to create their own opportunities. It’s also important to us to have trusted artists by our side that we can turn to for advice when we need it.
Partnering with Empire Arts Gallery seems like a perfect fit for this exhibition, can you tell me what it’s like working with this gallery and their staff?
Stephenson: I held my solo show at Empire Arts Gallery in 2022 and it was a wonderful experience so I was looking for an opportunity to work with them again. I love the idea that a woman-owned art business is the host of this show, and all the tattoo artists that work at Empire are exhibiting in it as well. They have been very accommodating and open to my ideas about the show!
Can you explain a bit about the limitations on the size of the works in this show – why 8×8″? What do you see as being a benefit of curating a size limited show?
Stephenson: For this show the gallery wall space is limited and I had a vision of including 50 to 100 artists to really show the depth of talent here. So to be sure there was enough room I set a size restriction on the work.
I also wanted a consistent look across the gallery since we would be displaying art in many different styles and mediums. The size helps to unify them a bit more, and it’s interesting to see what each artist does differently constrained to the same amount of space.
Finally, I heard from some of the artists that working on such a small scale was a challenge, and I think it’s good to stretch ourselves creatively now and then and do things outside of our norm.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, what do you think are some real, tangible ways that our readers can support local female and nonbinary artists?
Stephenson: To support women and nonbinary artists, readers can interact with them on social media sharing their content and commenting appreciation on posts. Words of encouragement go a long way as it’s common to experience a lot of rejection as an artist.
Refer women and nonbinary artists to people looking to hire artists whenever you can. Not all support has to be monetary, but if you can afford to collect artwork, think about how much of a difference your purchase makes in the life of an artist, instead of a purchase that goes to a corporation.
In your day-to-day work as a muralist and independent artist, you probably work solo more often than not. Can you tell me what it’s like to break from that and work in groups, or in leadership positions as a curator and arts organizer? How does it benefit your independent arts career, if it does?
Stephenson: As an independent artist I do work by myself a lot, whether it’s at home working on design or admin or painting on site. I really enjoy when I get to work alongside others, so I hire assistants whenever I can.
It’s also nice being part of ATL Art Gals and sharing struggles and wins as a group. It validates what you’re going through and usually we end up learning a lot from each other.
I’ve never been a fan of ‘networking’ to further my career, but I do enjoy making real connections with other artists and arts professionals. Being in a group or leading the curation for a show strengthens relationships among my peers and others I may meet.
I’m not sure where my career is going to go, so I like exploring different avenues and making unexpected connections to help figure out my path.
Lastly, if you had to pick one female or nonbinary artist you look up to the most, who would it be and why?
Stephenson: Picking one artist is so tough, but I really admire Christina Kwan. It’s been inspiring watching her career unfold and expand, and how prolific she is with both her mural and canvas work. She always seems to be doing something big! You can tell she works really hard at what she does, she’s a mother, and she advocates for artists being paid what they’re worth which is something I’m passionate about as well.
“Making Our Mark” will debut at Empire Arts Gallery this weekend, with an opening reception on Sat., March 1 from 5-9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
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