Currently Inspired By...

Each artwork in our latest look book seems to pulsate with vitality, each piece a celebration of life's ephemeral beauty. Amidst the turbulence of today's world, this collection reminds us to find joy in living, particularly as Spring unfurls around us. Through a kaleidoscope of colors and textures, the artworks convey resilience and optimism, urging us to embrace the fleeting moments of delight and immerse ourselves fully in the world that surrounds us.

Currently Inspired By...

Our last look book of the year has us focused on interconnectivity. The world has felt so fractured as of late, leaving us searching for those elements that can make us feel connected. The artworks here reflect our relations to humanity, and the natural world surrounding us, counteracting some of the emotions we have felt this past year. We hope you feel the same as you flip through our latest selections.

Currently Inspired By...

As the summer draws to a close, our collective sentiments begin to shift. Vibrant, hot days give way to crisp, cool nights. Light shifts, colors fade, and the excitement for a new season sets in. There is a bit of a paradox, however; while we happily anticipate all that the new season brings, we still try to hold onto that sense of life we feel in the warmer months. We invite you to view some selected artworks that have evoked these feelings within us - that bittersweet space where something ends and something new begins. 

Currently Inspired By...

Color!

Movement!

Flowers!

Sun!

Our latest look book centers on everything Spring. We can’t help but feel a sense of levity and cheer when viewing these artworks. Nature is the ultimate source of artistic inspiration, and the artists featured here have interpreted it in such unique and varied ways. From works on paper, to sculpture, to murals, these works remind us of the endless possibilities in art. We hope you pull from these pages a renewed sense of optimism, spring-boarding you into a new and colorful season.

Currently Inspired By...

The new year is always such a transitional time, invoking thoughts of beginnings, change, updates, newness. Certain pieces that have caught our eye lately are no different, providing us with a fresh perspective on what art can be, redefining boundaries and showcasing new possibilities.

Whether sculpture, painting, photograph, or ceramic, each of the pieces here stretches our eye outside of the status quo. Embroidery isn’t always for grandmothers and handkerchiefs; pottery is not always a perfectly round vase thrown on a wheel. Symmetry, color, and composition are often thrown off kilter, subsequently provoking us to question just what we really need to find balance and harmony.

In 2023 we are welcoming this disruption, using it as a catalyst to explore more and experience concepts previously unknown to us. We hope you are granted with the same feeling as you peruse our latest inspiration board, and are left with a renewed feeling of possibility and novelty for the upcoming year.

Currently Inspired By...

Summer is officially here, and we are all in. We wanted to showcase some pieces that represent the sights, sounds, and emotions we are experiencing this season. Vibrant colors, radiant patterns, and bold dimension abound in these pieces, evocative of the joy we feel being outdoors with family and friends.

We hope you enjoy this bite-sized selection of sunny inspiration. Happy Summer!

Currently Inspired By...

We dipped a toe into texture, color, fiber, and structure with our last inspiration board, and this time we are diving in head-first. Spring is officially here, and as the landscape explodes around us, it only fuels a desire in us to see more of the same through art.

These pieces are literally vibrating with bright colors, bold shapes, and textures that are anything but smooth. Our energy has been bottled up during these long years of isolation, and we are ready to experience life (and art) with gusto.

We are excited to share these pieces with you, and hope you discover new artists you may not have known before.

Currently Inspired By...

There is something about being cooped up the past winter (some might even say the past two years) that makes us want to get out and feel a physical sense of connection to the world around us.

It’s a new year, and a new season is starting to awaken. We wanted to explore the tactile nature of Spring in our latest inspiration board; artworks that use texture, color, fiber, and structure to deliver to the viewer a tangible sensation.

We hope you enjoy our first Inspiration Board of 2022. We are excited to see what else the year has out there for us.

Currently Inspired By...

After a busy year with lots of dimensional, off-the-wall art selections, this collection is a return to more classical eye-candy. Continuing to find great color but reveling in these calm, classic modern pieces.

Please enjoy our last Inspiration Board of 2021.

I know we are all looking forward to what the new year will show us!

Words with Friends | Erika Lee Sears

Erika Lee Sears: An artist from whom we can always expect the unexpected

Mallory Johnson (APP) for Amy Parry Projects

Erika Lee Sears is an artist out of Portland, OR whose work you may have seen on Portlandia or covering Lana Del Rey’s book, Violent Bent Backwards Over the Grass. Her work is made magical by her bold, expressive color palette, the way she captures the shimmer and shine of objects such as disco balls or the flame of a candle atop a birthday cake, and the nuance and contemporary feel she brings to her paintings.

Like many of us, she enjoys true crime podcasts and spending time with her family, and like very few of us, she makes art every single day. Her artwork encourages us to romanticize our own lives and to look differently at the objects all around us.

APP: Have you ever had a moment where you wanted to stop making art every day and if so, what motivated you to continue?

ELS: The reason I create an original piece of art every day is that after the birth of my son I wanted to stay creative on a daily basis. I started when he was just six weeks old. I don’t know what I was really thinking, but I look at it as my time for myself. It is a lot different from when I first started; at first, it was always about 10 or 15 minutes that I would spend making a piece. Even the pieces I made over the weekend were 10- or 15-minute pieces, so they’re not always super lengthy in terms of time. You’re making something and it doesn’t always have to take several hours or all day; sometimes it can just be an expression of what’s happening in the world. It’s more like documenting my journey through creativity.

APP: What is the most difficult thing you’ve encountered as a self-taught artist?

ELS: I think when you learn something on your own it’s different. I’m an oil painter, that’s my discipline, and there’s a lot of opinions around oil painting. If you know any oil painters, or if you join a Facebook oil painting group you know that they can argue about things like the type of brush for days. I’m not that kind of painter, so I kind of had to dive in and figure out what worked best for me. Maybe that’s true in a lot of art-making. Being self-taught just makes me feel like I need to work harder. Also, as far as oil painting, I feel like it has come a long way. The way that they’re making oil paints is a lot different than it was 20 years ago, so a lot of the rules might not even apply anymore. There’s a lot of different ways to do one thing; you may not have to do it the same way it’s taught.

 

APP: How do you balance being a mom and a full-time artist? Do your kids help or inspire you? Do y’all make art together?

ELS: They love to be creative and they always have a place in my studio, but I’m not super strict about teaching them. My daughter’s really creative and she loves to draw, but right now she’s really into learning Procreate and coding and how to take her drawings and transfer them onto the computer in order to make eight-year-old gifs. For example, she’ll draw a puppy and put it into the code that makes it dance. I’m getting her Skillshare for her birthday, but I don’t want to push her into professional stuff too soon. I want her to enjoy being a kid.
 

APP: I only ask because I feel like kids can bring such a unique, unclouded perspective to really everything, but art especially that can be fascinating.

ELS: Oh yeah, I always think of this quote “stay hungry, stay foolish” and that’s kind of where you want to keep your mind.
 

APP: Has your background in finance benefitted you as an artist?

ELS: Well, I know how to answer a lot of emails at once! It is helpful, it’s just different. The only thing I learned from having a conventional job is how much I enjoy being self-employed. I think I’ve been self-employed for 9 or 10 years, and the longer I am, the more it feels like I’m supposed to be here.

APP: How do you choose your subject matter?

ELS: Right now I’m painting for an upcoming show in San Francisco. With this project, and really with whatever projects I have, I’ll start thinking about my series, but I can’t paint the same thing over and over. I can’t say, “okay I’m just gonna paint this one series” for five or six days in a row. I tend to take breaks so I can paint other stuff too. That’s the thing I like about making art every day: I can paint whatever I want and I don’t feel like I have to do something in particular. I can paint whatever happens to be inspiring me that day.

APP: What attracts you to other people’s art? What are your art and design aesthetics?

ELS: I follow so many different kinds of artists and so many different kinds of designers. My favorites are the unexpected ones. In my work, I always try to put in a surprise. I think that’s my favorite thing to see and to have that reaction of, “Oh oooo” when you encounter something really surprising. That can apply to the subject, color, proportion or perspective.

 

APP: I love the still-life aspect of a lot of your work. I feel like a contemporary still-life is so telling of the world around us. For instance, I never would have thought of a peanut butter jelly sandwich as painting subject matter. How did you come to this?

ELS: I think about what is happening around us. We’re surrounded by objects, things and everyday life and thinking, “What does all of this say about us? What does that say about our footprint right now?” I feel like artists are documenting our time right now and what’s happening in our world at the present. Even though I do a lot of still lifes, these are the things we’re holding onto today.

APP: I find a certain lightness in your art. Do you ever feel called by the world around you to go darker with your work?

ELS: I was talking to someone at a gallery and she told me I need to be painting lighter, and that my work is starting to get dark, haha!! I have to always paint from my shoes and my viewpoint on the world. I think people are going through the journey of expressing themselves. I’m just authentic to my journey, my light, and what’s happening with me. I’m just trying to survive in my own life; I think we all are.

 

APP: I think what people started to realize recently is how much of a debt they owe to creative people for basically every source of entertainment. I find it impressive how enduring artists and other creatives have been this past year.

ELS: I think we’re lucky as artists that people are paying more attention to people online. It’s this weird place like you said before where you can’t celebrate the wins because the world is going through so much; that’s what’s hard. We’re all in this weird place of survival. Should you celebrate the wins? Yeah. Are there a lot of people hurting and going through a whole lot? Yeah. I think the world is a lot more sensitive to what people are going through and that’s definitely a good thing.

APP: You mention on your website that you are always finding something extraordinary in ordinary moments. What makes the ordinary extraordinary in your opinion? Do you have a moment that sticks out to you?

ELS: That happens all the time. I mean even on my post from the other day, I did a painting of a cheetah because my son asked me, “Where do Cheetos come from and what part of the cheetah’s body do Cheetos come from?” He’s pretty wild. It’s just stuff like that. Or my peanut butter and jelly series started because I cut my son’s sandwich wrong and he was mad at me for cutting it in a triangle and not a square.




APP: That’s great. Keep painting, we love it!

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Learn more about Erika by visiting her website.

Hippies in Midtown

The Great Speckled Bird and Counterculture’s Impact on Atlanta  

Mallory Johnson for Amy Parry Projects 

A counterculture movement in the Deep South, Atlanta’s first drag bar, and a notorious nightclub; you might be surprised to find the connecting threads meet at 551 Ponce, the current location of the boutique Wylie Hotel.

Take a stroll around Little Five Points and you’ll see “hippies” outfitted in Free People and their favorite thrifted finds, lining the block waiting to access their local crystal shop (mind you, I’m often one of them). Hippies in Atlanta are no new phenomenon, but it is the originals, the ones whose political motivations aligned with their unkempt style of dress who gave us The Great Speckled Bird publication. The name came from a song of the same title by Roy Acuff, the first living member inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Great Speckled Bird, a moniker that nods to the newspaper’s Southern-ness, soon became colloquially referred to as just “The Bird.”

“Printing the news you’re not supposed to know” reads the tagline of the underground hippie newspaper. Brought together by frustration with conservative Atlanta news outlets, The Bird’s founders created something unique that addressed both politics and the counterculture. Anti-Vietnam war sentiments were interspersed with cheeky graphics, making a truly relatable newspaper that also filled a void in media at the time. The Bird grew quickly from the date of its first publication on March 8, 1968; in six months it had transformed into a weekly publication. For 15 cents, an Atlanta resident with an interest in gay liberation, the women’s movement or the Black Panther Party could purchase a copy of The Bird. This meant that a vendor who chose to sell papers for The Bird in the “Hip Community” or to out-of-towners could turn between a 5-10 cent profit and never risked losing money; by all accounts this was a rare opportunity at the time. It was Atlanta’s first underground paper and by the time 1970 rolled around it was also the third-largest weekly newspaper in Georgia with 22,000 copies circulating.

The Great Speckled Bird could be depended on for honest reporting and it also served its readers who were able to use the publication to find other like-minded individuals. It gave many people a voice and a place to publish their artwork or poetry. The Bird’s internal structure was even reflective of the Leftist politics their paper was known for; instead of abiding by a traditional hierarchical structure, staff members would switch in and out of editor positions. Articles that went to print were also determined by popular vote, ensuring the paper maintained a fresh perspective and a very high quality of journalism. A collective with a shared interest that fed the community the news they were looking for, the grittier low down on things that actually mattered to 20 and 30-somethings with a propensity to smoke, attend rock concerts and fight for social justice. That it got its start on the Emory University campus and was originally intended to be a multi-campus underground newspaper makes The Bird’s growth all the more impressive.

In 2018 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution answered an inquiry about what ever happened to the alt-weekly paper. In their coverage of the rise and fall of The Great Speckled Bird they cited Senator Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) one of The Bird’s founding members, who described what the paper meant to people. Orrock stated, “The Bird became Atlanta’s meeting place for progressive thought.” This quote followed discussions of just how badly Bird staffers thought the mainstream media was lacking. It was intensely ironic that the AJC, the very same media outlet (back before it took on the J) that was frequently under fire in The Bird for editor Ralph McGill’s open support of the Vietnam War, was now a source for information on the long-since active weekly paper.

In any given issue of The Bird, you might find an article on The Jimi Hendrix Experience with a critique on Coca-Cola alongside a note to “go fuck yourself.” As far as The Bird’s more irreverent content a good example takes the form of a Where’s Waldo style drawing appearing on the “Puzzle Page” of the January 5, 1970 issue. Readers are asked to find the “six pigs hidden in the image” before JoJo and Loretta can, devoid of narc paranoia, light up their joint in the park. This kind of funny, shameless, anti-establishment content was what came to be expected from The Bird.

Counterculture movements don’t often go unnoticed or unchecked by the powers that be and the same held true for The Bird. Reliant on a network of volunteers to distribute the paper in locations such as college campuses, high schools, and street corners - those selling copies of The Great Speckled Bird were met with harassment from authorities. The arrests ranged from charges as weighty as distribution of pornographic material to minor offenses like jaywalking. The Bird was also investigated by Dekalb Police for “obscenity” and their headquarters, the Birdhouse, was even firebombed at one point. It was discomfort that drove these attacks and a distaste for the way this underground movement held sway in the minds of young people; it was also the way they left no-one off limits from the Mayor to a corporation such as Georgia Power. Their Dekalb printer ultimately refused to continue printing their paper, causing the group to move the printing process into Montgomery, Alabama. No one closer was willing to be associated with printing a paper that was getting so much pushback from the police and local government officials.

When the counterculture movement in Atlanta faded so too did The Bird, releasing its final issue in October of 1976. Despite its discontinuation, reverberations of The Great Speckled Bird’s impact on Atlanta can still be felt today. On its 50th anniversary back in 2018, The Bird was receiving renewed press, and an event was held by Sing Out Defiance with the theme “Media then and Now.” Many interviews with staff members have been documented in recent years and are available to the public through Georgia State University’s library website. This careful remembrance lends credence to the deep mark left by the publication. Outside of the news and academia, one of the places you may encounter remnants of The Bird is in The Old Fourth Ward at the recently opened Wylie Hotel.

Pixel Design Co asked Amy Parry Projects to art consult on this important renovation project. The corridors of the Wylie Hotel now display reproduced covers of The Great Speckled Bird. Since 551 Ponce is a building with such a storied history and connections to the underground counterculture in Atlanta, these newspaper covers serve to remind visitors of Wylie’s past. In the 1990s, years after even the failed attempt to restart The Bird in 1984, Wylie’s basement was home to MJQ. In the 90s, MJQ was an underground club that “snobbishly” fought off gentrification to uphold its status as a place for cool people and those on the fringes of society. It was the happy host to “cross-dressers, artists, thugs, club kids and urban intellectuals.” The way hippies were treated in the 1970s parallels the treatment of the types of people who flocked to MJQ and before that, who frequented Mrs. P’s Tea Room, which was listed in the 1969 edition of the International Gay Guide. Mrs. P’s Tea Room was another former resident of 551 Ponce de Leon Avenue; safe haven for members of the LGBTQ community and home of the first drag bar in Atlanta - Mrs. P’s was active during the same time that The Bird was reporting on the beginning of Atlanta’s gay right’s movement.

The issues addressed by The Bird for its 8 years are concerns near and dear to our hearts to this day, issues that we are still fighting for and that are still on the line. Fighting against systemic racism and hate, and fighting for women’s right to safe and legal abortion and gay rights are all still relevant issues since The Bird’s inception over 50 years ago.

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more on 551 Ponce from the Wylie Hotel website:

A revival of the original 551 Ponce, this boutique hotel retains the property’s legacy as a well-appointed, homelike bed-stop for locals and passer-throughs. With gentle charm and assured regulars, comfort is certain to seek you out in this home away from home. These well-appointed, bespoke rooms boast Ponce City Market views, Beltline walks, and a quick jaunt to Georgia Aquarium, downtown and midtown Atlanta areas.

Those who remember Mrs. P’s Tea Room, home of Atlanta’s first Drag Show, will delight in the news of Mrs. P’s Bar & Kitchen, a dignified but approachable dining lounge offering southern eats and inventive drinks. A building personified, Wylie is a friend to anyone who crosses the threshold.

No need to tell stories when the story finds you.

www.wyliehotel.com

551 Ponce prior to it’s reincarnation as the Wylie Hotel, 2019

Currently Inspired By...

As we enter the summer of 2021, it seems we are all breathing a little easier and enjoying a collective return to life after all the difficulties + hardships surrounding the pandemic. With this inspiration board, we aim to reflect the shift in mood by offering vibrant images full of texture and color.

We have been deeply inspired by the artists who used the quarantine to truly contemplate and explore their subjects - the artistic attention to detail is clear. You will also find glimpses of nature and cool landscape vistas that celebrate what the world looks like out there. We are certainly ready to start exploring again!

Words with Friends | Mike Black

Mallory Johnson for Amy Parry Projects (APP) + Mike Black (MB)

Lively, creative energy permeates the studio of Atlanta artist Mike Black. We sat down to discuss some of the projects he’s working on, his background, his technique and much more. At the same time, following in their father’s footsteps, his kids used nontraditional materials to create their very own works of art. In this case, transforming sticks into samurai swords with painted designs.

Known for his happy colorful paintings which incorporate textured sculptural elements, these recognizable works hung side by side with stunning black pieces; a clear shift from his commission work.

His work underwent some changes this past year when he was able to devote more time to his art and as it reflected his disappointment at the state of racial injustices in our country.

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APP: We have loved following your practice over the years and have been dying to place your work. Wondering about your recent spackle technique; what inspired you to start doing that? 

MB: Ace Hardware is my art supply store you know, so basically, I would walk around and look at things and figure out how I could incorporate this or how I could use that or what it could do for the work. I’m really into textures and things of that nature so I thought drywall spackle - let’s see what I can do with that. I like to work in not-your-basic medium and to make work with materials we’re all familiar with. It was really just a trial-and-error thing. 80% of the work is trial and error. Nobody taught me how to take the drywall trowel and make all that nonsense. The same thing’s true with pouring resin on stuff and seeing what the resin’s gonna do. You take the stuff you learn in art school or wherever and use it as you will. You have to learn the rules to break the rules type of deal.
 

APP: Did you come from a blue-collar background, is that another reason you incorporate some of those kinds of non-traditional art materials into your work?

MB: My family growing up were all blue-collar; they were longshoremen in Seattle. It’s a very hands-on physical type of job and I guess that bled through into my art-making career. I steered towards making things with my hands, towards more tactile, structural, big things as opposed to fine paintings and whatnot. I was really more inclined to build stuff and I think that really came from the blue-collar upbringing I had.
 

APP: That was something that interested me in your art: the line between fine art and more graffiti inspired street art. Has that always been something you incorporated?

MB: I guess that’s where it all started. The street art graffiti type stuff has always caught my eye since I was a little kid, then I went to art school and learned “fine art” and I took what I could from that and then kind of steered away from it. I wouldn’t consider myself a fine artist whatever the hell that means. I like to make stuff. To me you can cross the two, the highbrow with the lowbrow graffiti and street stuff and to me it's all art; it’s all the same. 

In an ideal world, I would make pieces and just put them out there, paint a building or just put a sculpture out somewhere and just leave it, graffiti style. I have a project in mind for these big blue tubes where I would make the piece and just go put it out somewhere like it’s a tag that someone threw out in the middle of the night because I think that is how it should be done. You shouldn’t have to go to a gallery or have to go to a museum because lots of time people won't do that. Your common, everyday folk may not want to go to a gallery. Maybe they've never even been to a gallery. I just want people to see the work and feel it and if you like it then you like it if you don’t then you don’t, that's fine. Just as long as it’s out there for people to see, you know?

APP: One of my favorites is the one with that big, gilded frame. I’m really loving that idea of using such a traditional fine art element and then spray painting over top of it.

MB: Oh yeah, I’ve got plans! I got that frame from a friend and that’s a legit heavy frame so I’m gonna take a mold of it. I’ll take it apart and make a mold of one of the sections and then make 10 foot sticks of that out of foam so it’ll look just like that. Once I paint it gold, it will look legit but won’t weigh 5,000 pounds or be super expensive. I just like to have it here so I can stick pieces in it and see what it looks like. I like the street art vibe with the hoity toity frame. 

APP: That’s such a smart idea to use foam, because you’d never know but it still achieves the same effect.

MB: Yeah, you would never know and I’m also a big fan of treating things as what they are material-wise. At the end of the day, that’s just a piece of wood with some concrete, drywall spackle, tape and some spray paint. If something happens to it or I take it a step too far and I don’t like it as much anymore it’s like, “you know what? That’s just a piece of wood with some paint on it, it's not a big deal. It’s fine.” With the foam frame it’s like if I screw them up it’s just a piece of foam who cares. Or if my kids decide they want to spray paint something and it's the wrong thing to spray paint, then it’s no big deal.

APP: It seems like the Black Lives Matter movement has a real place within your work.

MB: It’s just important in life really. I feel really strongly about the racial issues in our country, and the way people are treated. I have a whole series of black pieces now because of what was happening this summer and not just what was happening this summer but what has been happening systemically since black people were brought to this country. I came home and all the paintings were these bright vibrant things that I made because they’re happy things and I could make these pieces with these colors in mind because it’s supposed to evoke these good feelings and I want people to be happy. Well, I came home from a little trip and shit was all going down this summer and I was sitting in the studio looking at my work and thinking I’m not happy right now, people aren’t happy, so I painted everything black. I took all my paintings and painted them all black.

If you look at this one (above), you can see what it was underneath. I didn’t feel all bright and happy and the world wasn’t all bright and happy, so I just said “fuck it” and painted all of my shit black. Black is beautiful, there are lots of different layers to it. I ended up with like every different type of black paint. I got that black pigment paint you can buy now that’s like the blackest of the blacks. I went to every spray paint supply place and got textured paint, flat, glossy, semi-gloss just any kind of black I could get my hands on. It was actually pretty fun, a whole new adventure in my art making practice.

APP: How has Covid had an effect on your work this past year?

MB: Covid has had a huge impact on my work in a positive way. I was off from my “real job” in the film industry. I'm constantly working on movies and stuff which totally takes away from this whole thing. Then the pandemic happened and for seven months straight I was just painting and painting and painting. I was able to just sit and be with the work; I actually had time to walk away and come back instead of working project to project. Over the pandemic, I just painted stuff to paint stuff for no other reason than to paint stuff and I got a lot of really good feedback from the public thanks to social media. I sold a bunch of paintings, made a bunch of new connections, and had some shows in New York. Some people I did a project with a few years back were putting together a show in Brooklyn regarding the pandemic and artists persevering through the pandemic. Due to all my social media posts and my constant output of artwork they asked me to be part of the show.  

APP: Do you have any other collaborations coming up?

MB: I actually have a couple of collaborations in the works with a few local artists. My favorite thing is to collaborate with people, because everyone has their own thing that they do, and we can all teach each other some things. I recently reached out to Emily Mann because I love her work and wanted to see if she was interested in working together. We’ve never even met in person; we’ve just been chit-chatting back and forth. One night I was in here and she posted something, and I was like “Jesus Christ, I love her work! Why don’t I just ask her if she wants to make something and she was like, ‘I love your work too!’”. So, we have no idea what we’re gonna make but we’re gonna make something big.

MJ: So looking forward to seeing what y'all come up with!

APP: Lastly, we were excited when we saw your digitally created mural, do you have something like that in the works for a real building?

MB: I was kind of just fishing with that. I put it out into the ether to see and a few people have hit me back up being interested in me doing that. It hasn’t officially been signed off as a project that’s gonna happen, but it looks like it will be in the near future. I’ve got a few different places that I’m in negotiations with that want me to do it.

APP: Can’t wait!

Currently Inspired By (end of 2020 edition)...

Closing out 2020 with the year’s final Inspiration Board. We hope that you find delight and joy in your transition to the new year. Please call on us when you need unique, inspiring artworks in 2021.

With all the best from Amy Parry Projects, enjoy!

APP Says Goodbye to 2020...

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There really isn't another way to say it: 2020 was rough. The places and spaces we select art for were largely empty - travel was suspended and gatherings were skipped. Despite it all, Amy Parry Projects is proud of the work we did this year: several multi-year projects finally came to fruition and we began work on a couple of very exciting new ones. Hospitality design will continue to adapt and inspire and we will all undoubtedly gather again. As we turn the corner into 2021, we must reflect on the great collaborations and awesome imagery that have come out of this unprecedented year, and continue to count our creative blessings.

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2020 Highlights:

Addition of Sarah Knight Davis, our Visual Design Director

5 Inspiration Boards

Custom Angie Jerez mural for Kabbage Inc. Conference Room

Production of a custom print for the Grand Rapids Canopy guestrooms - interview with Ken Wood here

Opening of the world’s first Reverb by Hard Rock with art package created exclusively by APP

Installation of two Multi-Family projects in our home-base of metro-ATL with Cooper Carry Interiors

Large-scale murals and textile work with Lacey Longino

Nike Commercial filmed at The People’s Entrance, State Farm Arena

Our first “auto gallery” curation with a custom print by Fabian Oefner - story here

Upgrades to the Crowne Plaza Jax Airport with DesignONE Studio - cinematic history theme

Georgia Tech Conference Center Hotel - new art for all guestrooms, suites and fitness center

Upgrades to the Marriott Marquis Atlanta Restaurant SEAR including custom textile by Sonya Yong James

Art Curation for another elegant, residential-style hotel on Ponce - Wylie Hotel is forthcoming!

Art Curation for the forthcoming Bellyard at the Interlock, a Marriott Tribute Hotel

Began work on major hotel project in Lake Nona, FL with Tavistock + Specified Agents

Started sharing a series of Case Studies starting with Pier2620, AMLI Lenox and LylaLila

Purchase of countless accessories

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Please enjoy a quick glance at some of our favorite projects and art memories…

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May the new year bring you peace, health + happiness,

Amy Parry Projects

Partner Highlight - Methane Studios, ATL

In honor of the world’s first Reverb by Hard Rock (opening today in Atlanta, GA) we would like to highlight this custom Fender Stratocaster screen-print. This beauty was drawn up by local, award-winning illustration/design team Methane Studios specifically for this new music-centered hotel.

Since the summer of 2018, Amy Parry Projects has been collaborating with Gensler Atlanta and the Hard Rock team on the entire Reverb art package. It has been a fun challenge to design with genuine, hard-core music fans in mind - no matter their age or preferred genre. Located in the heart of downtown in walking distance to a number of amazing concert venues, Reverb is a cool place for these fans to stay and bask in the vibe.

As a nod to the rich history of concert “gig posters” APP was asked to provide an authentic print option for the Reverb guestrooms. From pared-down early rock-n-roll flyers to wild and complex psychedelic images, gig posters are works of art in and of themselves. They advertise the show, outlining all the “when and where” details and then later, they become relics of the good times we had.

Methane Studios definitely came through as the collaborative partner on this print-run. Their work is the real-deal epitome of hand-crafted. After reviewing a few different compositional sketches, we settled on a central guitar image with a surrounding array of southern flora and fauna. As we moved through the design process, Hard Rock wanted a Fender so the guitar naturally became a Stratocaster. The colors were informed by Reverb ‘s overall design palette and the inks were custom-mixed by Methane before they hand-pulled the prints.

While Reverb’s opening today is not technically a concert event, it’s a moment worth remembering in 2020 - a brand new Hard Rock hotel for a city that truly loves its music. As concert venues begin to open back up, Reverb will be there to give fans a place to crash before and after the show. The APP + Methane Studios print appears in each guestroom and will also be available for purchase if guests want to commemorate their Reverb experience.


For more information, please visit:

www.reverb.hardrockhotels.com | www.methanestudios.com

Reverb by Hard Rock - Downtown ATL on Centennial Park Drive opens December 15, 2020

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything...”

— Plato

Case Study #3 | Sonya Yong James for Lyla Lila

Our third Case Study gives a little more detail about the custom indigo spoon installation that APP commissioned last year for Atlanta restaurant Lyla Lila. Created by local artist Sonya Yong James, this piece perfectly complements the passion of Chef Craig Richards and the interior design by Smith Hanes Studio.

It all started with a bit of synergy - the kind that only occurs during a great studio visit.



Please flip through the Case Study below, or review our initial overview of the project here.

Announcing Our New Visual Design Director - Sarah Knight Davis

AP Projects is excited to announce that Sarah Knight Davis has recently joined the APP Team as our Visual Design Director - a brand new position within our firm. 

Thank you to AD PRO for including this news in your weekly roundup)

Sarah is an artist, illustrator and designer who moved to the Atlanta area in 2019. As our Visual Design Director, she will be overseeing all of APP’s visual output prior to production. Sarah provides computer-aided skills for quick in-house designs as well as working to elevate and render art options to move our projects forward more expediently. In short, Sarah's talent is taking us up a notch (or two).

You can read more about Sarah on the About Section of our website.

In addition to telling you about her, we would like to show you what kind of art makes her happy. Please enjoy another new Inspiration Board (put together exclusively by Sarah)!

Ashley Longshore | Women's History Month

A little @ashleylongshoreart for your Friday! If you haven’t already noticed / remembered, March is #womenshistorymonth - commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in #americanhistory. Thank you Rosa, Greta, Anita, Florence, Mother Teresa + Malala.

Happy Valentines Day from Amy Parry Projects

Much love from all of us at Amy Parry Projects today (and every day)!
Image courtesy of our friends Greg + Jim of Lost + Found Creates. See more of their amazing photography work here.

#love #friendship #forever #valentines #greatphotography