Artists Among Us

Harrison Blazes Trail from Greenville to Marietta

April Harrison is a featured artist at Avisca Fine Art gallery with a true story of grit and tenacity.

April Harrison isn’t your typical struggling artist; she worked a professional career for 25-years in another industry, developed her craft in the arts for several more years and was eventually solicited by a gallery owner to begin her professional career—all without any formal training. Harrison, born and raised in Greenville, SC, was exposed to the arts in a rather unique way early on. She says her father would create original coloring books, freehand sketching characters on paper, and then give them to her and her siblings. As well, her mother worked in ceramics on the side while maintaining a full-time job. Even with the creative influences within her home Harrison says she grew up with the understanding that art was a good thing to do…

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Deronte' Smith

2:41 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011

Thanks Helen! Keep up the great work you do as well!   more ›

Artists Among Us

Madden’s Career Soars in Artistic Rebirth

Tamara Natalie Madden fought the odds battling back from a life threatening disease to become a hot commodity with Avisca Fine Arts in Marietta.

Like most artists pursuing their talent professionally, Tamara Natalie Madden is no exception to any number of struggles artists face. And as each artist’s struggle is specific to him or her, Madden’s is unique in that she realized success after getting a second lease on life at the age of 25. Born in Manchester, Jamaica, Madden says she was the little girl “climbing ackee and orange trees,” reflecting on her upbringing in rural Jamaica. Though she could often be found with a pencil and sketchpad in her hands during her youth, Madden says she took a hiatus from drawing from the age of 17 to 21. Madden says a move with her mother to Milwaukee, WI, as a pre- teen and the birth of her daughter were life occurrences and detractors from …

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African American Fine Art Finds Its Way to Marietta

Gallery owners Byrma Braham and Lynn Porter bring a blend of African American, Caribbean and Hispanic fine art to Marietta arts scene.

Byrma Braham, co-owner and gallery director of Avisca Fine Art near Marietta Square, may have built a solid name and reputation for herself in Marietta and New York as a top tier art dealer and curator, but she is a long way from home. Born in Linstead, Jamaica, Braham grew up in a family of seven with two brothers and two sisters. She is quick to note, her parents always emphasized education in their home as they expected she would eventually become a teacher. Braham’s exposure to art was limited, but the interest was always there in the background. “I always sketched and drew figures in my book as a child,” she says. Her creative interest took root in high school where she pursued exploration of the arts more but not enough to consider …

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Deronte' Smith

12:52 pm on Monday, October 3, 2011

Thanks Helen. You should definitely stop in. Also, they work with all artists, not just African American.   more ›

Artists Among Us

Reeves Turns Over New Leaf

Wayne Reeves Jr. left the print industry to pursue his passion for wood turning, where he finds the ultimate satisfaction.

What Wayne Reeves Jr. has in common with others in his industry is probably less than you might think. Reeves is a self-styled wood turner born and raised in Marietta; but that isn’t what makes him unique. After the downturn in the economy, Reeves took an interest he had in wood work and went for broke starting a new business venture without any prior experience. Reeves grew up on Chicopee Drive—a historic neighborhood built in the early 1900’s, only blocks from Marietta’s square. Reeves recalls his mother's efforts to expose he and his two younger brothers to nature trails, parks and Kennesaw Mountain in his youth. “I became very aware of the beauty in the world around me because of her [his mother],” Reeves says affectionately. …

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Artists Among Us

Sober Hepler Helps Others Through Addiction

Chad Hepler writes about his life as a privileged kid going from ideal to the sobering reality of jails, halfway houses and rehab centers to rebounding with a new outlook and fresh lease on life.

If second chances came only once in a lifetime, Marietta’s Chad Hepler would say he’s had four or five lives as he’s battled to overcome a seriously debilitating condition—addiction. Hepler, 25, never had ambitions to write as a kid but has penned two books Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin and Beyond Intervention, offering insight into the self inflicted hardships and battle scars often associated with the disease. Hepler says he was your typical suburban kid: parents made good money, he had a nice stable upbringing, he never wanted for anything and he made decent grades. Even as a privileged kid, however, he always felt less among his circle of friends, Hepler says. No matter what he did, he felt as though he was in the shadows or …

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Artists Among Us

Turning Pain to Sunshine, Grant Passes the Blessings

Eveleaner Grant puts the tragic events of her life under the microscope to offer hope and encouragement to anyone who is treading where she has been.

Cobb County resident Eveleaner Grant has a very real story behind what seems a rosy message in her book "Pass the Blessings: Ready, Set, Go." Grant offers kind words of humility, inspiration and transformation for downtrodden women in the first book of her three volume set, which she currently teaches to the congregation at Zion Baptist in historic Marietta.  Life was tough for Grant, born in the projects of Macon when the South was undergoing its transformation with civil rights and educational equality for blacks. Grant was one of eight children who lived in a small apartment where her mother worked as the sole provider for the family. “I didn’t see a father in the (projects') households, and I saw lots of young teen girls, some of them …

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Artists Among Us

Technician to Wood Turner, Tyndale Finds His Calling

Bill Tyndale, a Vietnam veteran, retires from 32 years of service with Bell South/AT&T to rekindle a former passion—wood turning.

Cobb County native Bill Tyndale is a digital technician turned wood turner since his retirement with AT&T, formerly Bell South, nearly two years ago. Tyndale enjoys his days returning to the initial love of his life—wood working. Like most kids during the 1950s, Tyndale enjoyed playing outdoors with his pals and using their imaginations to occupy their time. He says in a sense his wood working days began early, as he and his friends built a number of basic tree houses in their youth. However, they were lucky if the structures stayed up. Though his father was an architect, Tyndale says there wasn’t much by way of the arts that influenced him as a child. It wasn’t until his freshman year at North Fulton High through a shop class that he …

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Artists Among Us

Master Quilter Puts Marietta on Map

Stacy Michell's quilting business is the feature of popular Japanese quilting books, thereby putting Marietta on the map and weaving her into the story of Dispatches: The Changing American Dream.

This Artists Among Us story also is part of Dispatches: The Changing American Dream, Marietta Patch's occasional series on the different ways people are adapting to life in the 21st century and pursuing success. Who knew quilting for a living could be so much fun—and lucrative? Stacy Michell, that’s who. She's a talented professional quilter in the Marietta community with the inside scoop. With a studio based in the Artisan Resource Center, Michell occupies 3600 square feet with her fabric dyeing business, Shades Textiles. Her success shows that a college degree today often is less important than a family tradition, a knack for foreign trade, talent and tenacity. Michell had a considerable jump-start on her competition growing up in a home…

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Deronte' Smith

1:03 pm on Saturday, August 27, 2011

Denise - thanks for the comment. Not sure when Stacy will be on the west coast but you might want to reach out to her via her website. Don't be a stranger!   more ›

Artists Among Us

A Potter and a Marietta Arts Advocate

Ann Wallin spent a lifetime finding her passion; now she is passionate about others having an opportunity to find theirs.

Marietta-based pottery artist Ann Wallin, like many artists, took an unconventional pathway to where she is today. Wallin has spent a lifetime on her journey to create art from a place of peace and harmony. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia Wallin says she was an active little sun-drenched girl playing at the beaches as often as she could. Availability of fine art in her area was limited, though she did study ballet, tap dancing and piano. It wasn’t until she attended Radford College in Roanoke that she received her initial exposure to fine art. Wallin took a sculpting class, where she was bitten by the ‘artistic bug.’ She recalls the euphoric feeling of molding a lump of clay into something as beautiful as a bust while in class. “I found …

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Deronte' Smith

3:28 pm on Friday, August 12, 2011

Thanks John! And we appreciate the re-post too!   more ›

McDonald Discovers Her Chi Through Pottery

Cerie McDonald becomes a pottery artist in her 'second life' after successfully navigating the corporate minefields into an early retirement.

The pathway to an artist finding their inner chi is unique and specific to that artist – occurring only when both time and circumstances are aligned. Such is the case of Cerie McDonald, whose work is being featured at the Avery Gallery near the Marietta Square. McDonald’s journey began in a rural community of south Georgia–Statesboro. Growing up on a farm, her two brothers make five generations of farmers tilling the soil of her parents' land.  She said they grew mostly row crops like cotton, tobacco and peanuts. “Sure it was a hard life but they [her parents] made a good living at it,” said McDonald. Southern days were filled with creative play, as kids had to entertain themselves. Absent in the small rural community was exposure to the …

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