Jessica Smith

Jan 29, 2025 | flagpole.com | Jessica Smith

Painted by Florida-based muralist Steven Teller, “A Blossoming Ode to Georgia’s Musical History” depicts several of the state’s most influential artists singing and creating sound in unison. Recently completed in the lobby of the new Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center, the mural pays homage to luminaries who have paved the way for the musical landscape that exists today.

Jan 22, 2025 | flagpole.com | Jessica Smith

When the Georgia Music Hall of Fame shuttered in 2011, the future of its thousands of artifacts, sound recordings, instruments and documents representing the state’s rich musical heritage was uncertain. Located in downtown Macon, the 48,000-square-foot building that had served as the state’s official music museum since 1996 faced financial difficulties due to decreasing revenue and low attendance.

Jan 17, 2025 | flagpole.com | Jessica Smith

AthFest Educates has selected local painter Will Eskridge to be its 2025 theme artist, a role that is responsible for creating a cohesive aesthetic theme to use across a variety of merchandise and promotional materials for the nonprofit’s two flagship fundraising events, the AthFest Music & Arts Festival (June 20–22) and AthFest Half Marathon & 5K (Oct. 11–12).

Jan 17, 2025 | flagpole.com | Jessica Smith

Athens death rockers Tears for the Dying take Dolly Parton’s forlorn country hit “Jolene” into darker, gothic territory with their new cover and music video. The song has personal significance for singer and guitarist Adria Stembridge, whose uncle, Chip Young, played the iconic finger-plucked guitar parts on Parton’s original recording. Flagpole: Can you tell us more about your Uncle Chip and his musical background? Were you two close, and did he inspire you to become a musician at all?

Jan 15, 2025 | flagpole.com | Jessica Smith

Athens artist Noah James Saunders is best known for his large-scale, three-dimensional portraits shaped from everyday wire. Often suspended so they are free to gently spin or sway, these prism-like sculptures cast an infinite number of shadows resulting in the illusion of subtly shifting expressions. His latest body of work, “Ode to a Watering Hole,” represents his expansion as an artist, shifting in both scale and dimension to further push the limits of wire as a medium.