Savannah Galleries

Add lots of creativity to your next visit to this Georgia city.

Art happens amid the lush squares of old Savannah. The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has painted this city in new broad strokes. It's become a major art destination, teeming with galleries.

First Stop

Start your day by exploring shopSCAD on Bull Street, with its intriguing collection of student and alumni work. You'll find handmade cards, jewelry, paintings, photographs, fabric sculptures, and illustrations of the city for sale. And you may get lucky-the art you buy now could one day be valued like a Warhol or Stieglitz. Before setting out across the city/campus, drop by Poetter Hall next door to pick up a school map.

See the Art on the Walls

SCAD runs more than 10 galleries in Savannah (plus one in Atlanta and one in Lacoste, France). One of the best spaces, Pinnacle, fills the ground floor of an 1895 Queen Anne-style building on Liberty Street. Works by world-renowned artists rotate with those of SCAD grads and professors. Pinnacle has exhibited pieces by artists such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, William Wegman, Romare Bearden, Dale Chihuly, and Annie Leibovitz.

Putting It in Perspective

Put the finishing touches on your tour by stopping at the Earle W. Newton Center for British-American Studies, housed in an 1856 three-story Greek Revival on Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard. There you'll find a collection of photography that includes works by Mathew Brady, Eudora Welty, and Gordon Parks. Other rooms show off an antique map collection and 15th-century prints. Upstairs (like many historic buildings, there is no elevator), more galleries rotate shows.

You'll discover other great spaces as you wander through the historic district. And in each place, you'll see SCAD's colorful new palette upon Savannah. ANNETTE THOMPSON

Savannah College of Art and Design: (912) 525-5000 or www.scad.edu. All SCAD galleries are free and open daily. For information on other independently owned galleries, visit www.savannahvisit.com.

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Another way to enjoy SCAD's works is to join the free gallery hop on the first Friday evening of the month (September-May). Shuttles run loops between the showrooms and studios, where you can sample hors d'oeuvres and beverages while looking at the art.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Jan 2006
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved