Case Study #10 | Donna Mintz Custom Commission

Recently we completed a large installation at a private residence here in Atlanta. The home had been in the process of renovation, overseen by designer extraordinaire Mallori Hamilton of Uncommon Studios. She pulled in APP to assist with sourcing some showstopper art for the clients, and we were happy to deliver. We commissioned Donna Mintz, with the assistance of Sandler Hudson Gallery, to create one of her custom gold leaf creations for the dining room.

To learn more about how the artwork developed,
please flip through our latest Case Study below…

Recycled Art!

Hawks x Novelis Recycled Sculpture

We had the great pleasure of contributing once again to the amazing art collection over at State Farm Arena. This time we worked both with the Hawks and Novelis, the world’s largest recycler of aluminum. “Full Court Press,” created by local artist Taylor Means, is a sculpture made up of nearly 404 lbs of upcycled aluminum cups and cans in the shape of the Hawks Logo. Please view the video below to see how this amazing piece came together!

Case Study #9 | Peter Ferrari Mural at Mabra Law Firm

We have been thrilled to work with Ronnie Mabra on the further development of the already amazing art collection he has amassed at his Blandtown law office. One recent commission we assisted with was a custom mural by Atlanta artist Peter Ferrari. The piece pays homage to the work Ronnie does, and serves to enlighten and empower his employees on a daily basis.

To learn more about how the artwork developed,
please flip through our latest Case Study below…

Case Study #8 | Voco Sarasota Custom Mural

In this quickie of a case study, we wanted to give a glimpse into how we developed and executed an amazing custom mural for the Voco Sarasota Hotel’s restaurant and bar. Artist Kipper Millsap used IHG’s brand standards, particularly the avian theme, as a jumping off point, conscientiously developing it into something that felt on-brand for both the hotel and the artist. To keep with the hotel’s timeline, artist Kayleen Scott was brought in to install the mural, using a fully planned out template made by Kipper. The result speaks for itself! A memorable and “Instagrammable” moment for customers and the hotel."

In the Paint

State Farm 100 Year Anniversary Gift

APP has had an amazing relationship with the Atlanta Hawks over the years, providing artwork for the team’s home at State Farm Arena. When the Hawks were considering a gift for State Farm’s 100 year anniversary, they knew it had to be something meaningful, unique, and unexpected. APP was honored to be tasked with developing a special installation piece with the Hawks Studio for the State Farm headquarters in Sandy Springs.

APP engaged numerous local Atlanta artists, along with Atlanta Hawks employees and children at the State Farm Good Neighbor Clubs, to design the balls. Each artist was assigned a basketball to personalize in their style, and commemorate the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm’s community impact. Certain balls were designed to represent and highlight key moments in their joint giveback efforts, from the Hawk’s Season of Giving celebration to the Arena’s Zero Waste initiative.

One hundred balls were designed for the installation, representing each year of State Farm’s history. With such a large undertaking, APP enlisted the help of local artist and Atlanta native Taylor Means to assist with the organization and assembly of the installation. Taylor not only worked out the logistics of the piece, but personally designed and created many of the balls as well out of his studio in Avondale.

Other Atlanta artists, including Jermaine Clark, Kyle “Black Cat Tips” Brooks, Lillian Blades, Stacie Rose, and Zerric Clinton, to name a few, contributed their own unique artistic styles to the balls. The combined grouping is a kaleidoscope of color and texture, representative of the rich relationship and collaborative efforts between the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm over the years. We here at APP are truly honored to have been a part of such an impactful project, one that will be enjoyed and treasured for years to come.

Case Study #7 | The Memphian Hotel

We love a unique project, and The Memphian Hotel in Memphis, TN certainly fit the bill. The hotel’s owner is a Memphis native, and she gave a keen directive to pay tribute to the lively history of the neighborhood, but with an eclectic twist. Armed with a treasure trove of vintage photographs, APP set to work on creating pieces that married the bright and eye-catching decor of the hotel with the nostalgia of Memphis’ Overton Square.

To learn more about how the artwork developed,
please flip through our latest Case Study below…

Case Study #6 | Aaron Whisner

In 2018, Amy Parry Projects was approached by Gensler to create a youthful and music-centric art package for a new hotel developed by the Hard Rock brand. REVERB was meant to be a hotel for today’s young music fan, with a modern and tech-savvy approach to design. APP worked with artist Aaron Whisner to create a custom piece for the hotel’s co-working area, instilling the space with the artist’s street art sensibility, and creating a memorable “Instagram Moment.”

To learn more about how the artwork developed,
please flip through our latest Case Study below…

Case Study #4 | Caroline Bullock

We recently completed an elegant redesign of Boca West Country Club with the designers of Larson Nichols. Among the selected artwork was a custom commission by local Caroline Bullock - this package was definitely an Atlanta creation!

To learn more about the project and Caroline’s fascinating process behind
“Everything is Blooming Most Recklessly”
please flip through our latest Case Study below…

Slow Dancing in the Light

Courtyard Mural at Bellyard Hotel

Still in awe of the brilliant courtyard mural recently completed by Lacey Longino for the Bellyard Hotel, Atlanta, GA. This custom mural was commissioned nearly three years ago before Bellyard broke ground. The location’s history as a railway intersection and stockyard inspired much of the art inside the hotel. The courtyard mural honors the same rail and brick legacy while mirroring the vibrancy and excitement of the Interlock project that has evolved there. Lacey began her work only after the hotel property opened, allowing the hotel staff and guests to watch her inspired process as it unfolded. This mural will bring undeniable joy for years to come.

Please enjoy reading the artist’s thoughts below…

I want this space to bring joy and remind people to celebrate what was here, but also what is here now. Where they are and what path they are on. We go so fast that we forget to slow down and be truly present with those around us. Let’s celebrate and make new memories. Remembering the past, learning from it, making the changes that need to be made and being better all around. This space is all about bright, bold futures. Finding ones’ light and existing in it. Sharing that light with your neighbor. It’s about dancing through life and spreading that light…

IMG_4534.JPG

Love walks through city parks
With the love of my life on a hot summer night
Fresh picked flowers along the way
Love radiating from every petal
Following the yellow brick road
In the morning & the evening
As the seasons change
Walking & talking
Enjoying ones presence
& truly being present
Hello yellow brick road
Or goodbye
Cue Elton John album
Why a yellow brick road?
Because we are all searching for ours
So many yellow brick roads
One leading to greatness
One leading to sadness
One leading to chaos
One leading to light
It’s okay to change tracks
Trust the path you’re on
Be present with each step
If your path becomes broken or weary
Rebuild it
Grow from the tracks that led you off track
Choose love & light & joy
Dance it out like these little flowers
Let the light of love into your life
Flow on over to your new track
Love others along the way
Be kind to yourself
Have grace for you & them
Walk slow & drink a lot of water
Believe in magic
Lay it out brick by brick
And pay attention to when your light shines the brightest along the way
One day you will arrive
And slow dance so fearlessly in the darkness that the light will pour in
And you will be home dancing in your own light

— Lacey Longino, 2021

Design by Uncommon Studios | Art Consulting by Amy Parry Projects

Special thanks to Mallori Hamilton of Uncommon Studios ATL for her creative vision and collaborative spirit throughout this entire Bellyard Project.

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.

hippies.jpg

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.

Picture 1.jpg

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.

Picture3.jpg

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.

IMG_4181.jpg
Speckled Bird collection.JPG

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.

MJQ history.jpg

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.

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

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

Case Study #2 | AMLI Lenox Conference Room Installation, Atlanta, GA

This is the second Case Study we are sharing in hopes of giving you a glimpse into our process and hands-on approach to creating custom pieces of art for hospitality projects.

At the beginning of this year, we wrapped up work on an art package for the new AMLI Lenox  in Atlanta. This fantastic apartment complex needed unique art to complement its exciting, high quality amenities and shared spaces. We provided art for the Coffee Lounge, the VIP Clubroom, the Wine Bar, the Makerspace and Theatre Room. Perhaps our favorite piece, however, was the sculptural installation that was created for AMLI's Conference Room, outlined below.

Please let us know if you have any questions or an upcoming project in need of our ideas! We would love to work with you.

Final Installed.jpg