Gov. Nathan Deal and First Lady Sandra Deal announced today that nine Georgia communities have been selected to host the state’s first traveling art exhibit.

Featuring 28 pieces from Georgia’s state art collection, the exhibit is sponsored by the Georgia Council for the Arts in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Tourism Division and the Georgia Humanities Council.

“The traveling exhibit is an opportunity to use the state art collection as a springboard for additional arts and culture activities that serve to celebrate and increase awareness for the local cultural community and to increase tourism,” said Deal. “Sandra and I hope that this collection will inspire visitors and local citizens to learn more about Georgia’s artistic heritage and current artists, and to Explore Georgia.”

The state art collection, owned and managed by the Georgia Council for the Arts, is an extensive, vibrant chronicle of work created by Georgia artists from the 1970s to the 1990s. The new exhibit, “Inspired Georgia: 28 Works from Georgia’s State Art Collection,” is the first of its kind in decades, and highlights the diversity of styles, media and techniques in the collection. Original works from some of Georgia’s iconic artists including Benny Andrews, Lucinda Bunnen, Herbert Creecy, Howard Finster,
Ruth Laxson and Nellie Mae Rowe are featured in the exhibit.

Over the next 14 months, the following Georgia communities will host the exhibit for six to eight weeks:

• Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville
• Monroe Arts Guild in Monroe
• The Currahee Artists Guild
• Paradise Gardens in Summerville
• Dogwood City Art Gallery in Tallapoosa
• Arts Clayton in Jonesboro
• Dublin Laurens Arts Council in Dublin
• Georgia Museum of Agriculture Art Gallery in Tifton
• Camden County High School, Fine Arts Academy in Kingsland

These nine communities were selected through a competitive application process, which focused on strong local collaboration between a downtown development authority and a local arts entity. The Georgia Council for the Arts, the Georgia Tourism Division and the Georgia Humanities Council will offer additional arts programming to each community participating in the project through collaborations with the Georgia Museum of Art, Living Walls and gloATL.

Advocating “Strength Through Unity” at the local, state and national level, ArtsGeorgia is Georgia’s strategic leader in arts advocacy,delivery of the news and reliable communication options for the Georgia arts community. http://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2013-09-11/governor-first-lady-announce-state-art-collection-tour