Atlanta’s Youngblood Gallery, Part 3

This is the final installation of my (incredibly frank–thanks ladies!) interview with Young Blood owners Maggie White and Kelly Teasley. Parts 1 and 2 are here and here. In part 3, we learn about Young Blood’s community events, how the gallery navigates corporate sponsorship and finally, the long-awaited True Hollywood Story of Jolene-the-three-legged cat!

Cheree: So what about Jolene? What’s Jolene’s story?

Kelly: I’m a big animal person and I’m involved in rescue, and we all ganged up on Maggie and convinced her that we needed a shop cat. We went to the county shelter here, and we actually wanted to get a kitten but they didn’t have any, so we picked a black cat because there was like seven black cats there, and she only had three legs, so we decided she needed a break.

Maggie: So we brought her onto the island of misfit toys.

Keep reading at Juxtapoz.com.

 

Atlanta’s Young Blood Gallery, part 2

This is the second part of my interview with owners of Atlanta’s Young Blood Gallery, Kelly Teasley and Maggie White. With backgrounds in art and social work, they began Young Blood as a D.I.Y. gallery in their living room in 1997. Following media hype (Lucky magazine and the Handmade Nation documentary, among others) and much community support, Young Blood Gallery and it’s complementary, all-handmade boutique now nestles among a bike shop, a bakery and an all-vegan restaurant in one of Atlanta’s hippest neighborhoods. Part 1 of this interview lives here, and I’ll post part 3, the final portion of the interview, soon.

Jolene, the three-legged Young Blood mascot

Keep reading at Juxtapoz.

Atlanta’s Young Blood Gallery

On one of my recent trips to Atlanta, I had a frank conversation with Kelly Teasley and Maggie White, the co-proprietors of (the charming, fantastic, fairy-dust magical) Young Blood Gallery and Boutique, as featured in the book and doc Handmade Nation. Highlights include how to be a good neighbor, how to found a punk rock gallery and the conflict that comes with transforming that space into a financially sustainable entity, the awkwardness of becoming a recruiting grounds for Urban Outfitters, and the true-life rags-to-riches story of Jolene, the three-legged-cat.

The interview is kind of mammoth, but these ladies were so forthcoming and informative that I want to post it all. So I’m splitting it into three parts. Check back for the rest soon! For now, head over to Juxtapoz to read Part 1.

A Conversation with Michi

A conversation between Ming Donkey and Atlanta-artist Michi Meko at the opening of  Michi and Born’s show, Pure/Surrender, at Atlanta’s Beep Beep gallery. Earlier that night, July 10, Ming Donkey and his Left Field partners had their own opening a few blocks away at Young Blood Gallery.

[Ass First Into Dream by TindelMichi]

This conversation took place around midnight, so everyone was in that late-night state of zealousness triggered by fatigue or alcohol or both.  But I just happened to have my voice recorder handy, so with the permission of all involved, I turned it on. What follows provides insight into the passion and general supportive of Atlanta’s indie-art scene.

Michi, on an artist he met at Art Basel: The kid’s paintings are fucking hilarious, they’re just these candy corns, and they’re singing hip hop, to the hip, to the hop, and I’m just like, I gotta meet this kid…

Austin Healy [print artist and student at Creative Circus]: What’s his name?

Michi: Matthew Rodriguez, Mattie D. We hit it off, putting up stickers on scooters and shit, and I’m just a big fan of that kid. I’ve seen his work before, and it’s funny, you know? Candy corns? He’s just this wiry kid from Texas. He did something for the Deitch Gallery parade…

Keep reading at Juxtapoz.