A new art space is set to debut on Edgewood Avenue. The Sun ATL, a 9,200-square-foot gallery from longtime Atlanta gallerist Shawn Vinson, is scheduled to open Jan. 17 at 399 Edgewood Avenue in the Sweet Auburn Historic District.
Its first exhibition, "First Light," brings together more than 100 original works from 16 artists. Paintings by the late Purvis Young, a self-taught Southern Black artist, are among the featured pieces. So are photographs by Jim Alexander, who has spent decades documenting Black music and culture in Atlanta and who also sits on the gallery's advisory board. According to Vinson, Alexander's work will remain on view as part of the gallery's permanent collection.
The lineup also includes paintings by Ruth Franklin, a British-born artist based in Atlanta; mixed media from Raphael Bahindwa, a SCAD graduate student; and layered pieces by Nashville artist Harry Underwood, who works with house paint and lead pencils.
Vinson told Rough Draft Atlanta he wants the space to feel closer to a museum than a typical commercial gallery. The show's name grew out of the gallery's own: once the team settled on The Sun ATL, they wanted an opening group show that would introduce them to the neighborhood. "First light was really just a metaphor for that; it's an introduction," Vinson said.
A building with several past lives
Beyond exhibitions, the venue will also be available for movie production and private event rentals. The building has housed a range of tenants over the years. Before the gallery, it served as Warnock's campaign headquarters, and before that it was an office for an architect's engineering firm.
The location sits close to Ebenezer Baptist Church and other landmarks tied to Atlanta's civil rights history, and Rough Draft notes that Vinson is well aware of that setting. "You can feel the history here," he said. He is also looking forward to working with the community and taking part in neighborhood happenings such as the Edgewood Stroll.
From Decatur to Sweet Auburn
The Sun ATL is not Vinson's first gallery. Rough Draft described him as an "accidental gallerist" who turned his office beside the Brick Store Pub on Decatur Square into a gallery in 1998. In 2017 he opened Different Trains Gallery near Fellini's in Decatur, which he still operates.
His path to the art world began with photography. He worked as a band photographer, a job that first brought him to Atlanta in the mid-1980s, and later held jobs in real estate, at a martial arts school and as an art handler delivering work to galleries, frame shops and design showrooms. He eventually settled in Atlanta and married Franklin, one of the artists in the opening show.
Opening reception
The "First Light" reception takes place Friday, Jan. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 399 Edgewood Avenue. Admission is free and open to the public.
Reported by Rough Draft Atlanta.