The 30th annual Hambidge Auction has transformed the entirety of the 15th floor at The Uptown into an immersive art experience. (Photographs by Isadora Pennington)
The Hambidge Center, a rural artist residency located on 600 acres in rural North Georgia, will present its 30th annual art auction this month. The team has been hard at work transforming a 30,000-square-foot space — the entirety of the 15th floor of The Uptown Atlanta — into an immersive art destination that will soon welcome crowds of art lovers during the official auction on Saturday, September 13.
ArtsATL was invited to get an early look at some of the installations and auction items on view at The Uptown, and we learned a bit about what’s new this year.
First, the setting. While the annual auction has taken place at the Uptown for several years, this is the first time it will occupy an entire floor of the building instead of the ground-floor atrium. This wide-open industrial setting, combined with sweeping views of the Atlanta skyline, offers a blank canvas for the imaginations of artists to run wild.
This year’s auction features installations from 11 incredible Georgia-based artists, including Grace Kisa, Marryam Moma, T.W. Pilar, Paul Stephen Benjamin, Mike Black, Maxwell Blankenship, Scott Ingram, Greg Walker, Charlie Mitchell, Roberto Navarrete, Carol Santos and Joel Silverman.
One of the first artworks visitors encounter on the scene is Carol Santos’ Poetry in the Sky, featuring hundreds of handcrafted kites that hang overhead and flutter delicately in response to the movement of patrons below. The installation was inspired by childhood memories of her father creating kites for her and her brother, and all kites on view were made by him for this installation. Santos crafted six new wooden reels for the piece, and the final work was put together with the help of her family, making this a true family affair.
Carol Santos’ Poetry in the Sky.
On an adjacent pillar, A Coupling Constant by Grace execution presents an innovative take on string theory, a cosmological theory of connection that can permeate space, time and matter. Kisa was inspired by the Ghanaian story of Anansi the spider-man. Through his webs, he weaved connections between all of existence, and Kisa plays with that concept through the combination of science and cultural traditions.
A Coupling Constant by Grace Kisa.
The central hallway of the space features all streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full (2025) by Joel Silverman. This immersive installation invites visitors to walk atop a projection of Betty’s Creek, a stream on Hambidge Center’s property, while surrounded by a lenticular image of the woods, with an urban setting visible from the other side. A live soundscape plays audio of the stream from Hambidge — a good 112 miles away — and multisensory additions of fog and the scents of hemlock and sassafras further root the installation in its connection to Hambidge’s rural home. Serving as one half of a portal, visitors to the Spring House at Hambidge in Rabun Gap will hear live sounds of the bustling streets adjacent to the Uptown.
all streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full (2025) by Joel Silverman.
Marryam Moma’s WUNDERLAND NOIR: Reimagined occupies two adjacent walls in the space, with the entry point framed by oversized paper flora. A mural and playing-card-inspired art piece are complemented by paper butterflies that seem to be frozen in time as they flit from one scene to another. Connections to Moma’s Tanzanian heritage, and combined with concepts of Afrofuturism, the installation seeks to explore rest, healing, self-preservation and reprieve within the context of Black life.
WUNDERLAND NOIR: Reimagined by Marryam Moma.
Meet Me on the Dancefloor is a hand-tufted installation that offers a joyous splash of color and playful characters portrayed in a rug, wall hanging and oversized boom box. Artist Maxwell Blankenship explores queer identity via texture and storytelling, all through the art of tufting. “It invites you to take up space, move without apology and feel the power of joyful self-expression,” said the artist in a statement. “Whether you’re here to look, bid or just vibe — welcome. Let’s dance.”
Meet Me on the Dancefloor by Maxwell Blankenship.
Mike Black presents Dukkha, an oversized tangle of ductwork reminiscent of early 2000s-era screensavers. Painted a cheery bright blue and looming over the heads of visitors, the piece speaks to the interconnectedness of life through shared suffering. Inspired by dukkha, a term often used in Buddhist teachings that can be described as “the suffering of suffering,” this piece encourages viewers to find tranquility amid the chaos and pain of life.
Dukkha by Mike Black.
Roberto Rafael Navarrete, a first-generation Peruvian-American artist who now resides in Atlanta, is the artist behind Boveda. This series of fabric-wrapped columns glows from within, presented as bovedas — or altars — that represent the different paths laid out before us through life, particularly for those who are, like him, children of immigrants. “Artists imagine or see what we are meant to create and are gifted enough to materialize that idea,” said Navarrete in a statement. “Making us both — artist and shaman.”
Roberto Rafael Navarrete’s Boveda.
T.W. Pilar’s Synthetic Grove: social ecology 01 offers a mirrored forest where the reflections of viewers and the urban setting are framed by prints of regional flora. Occupying forms that range from 6.5 to 9 feet tall and inspired by abstracted silhouettes of pine trees, Pilar insinuates that the viewer is not actually outside of nature but rather an integral part of “ecological memory and built environments.”
Synthetic Grove: social ecology 01 by T.W. Pilar.
Several bold pieces — including Bleau by Charlita, which features cobalt blue neoprene-wrapped wooden forms; Untitled Installation #34 by Gregory Walker and Scott Ingram, which appears to be a sort of deconstructed portion of the wall and floor; and Black by Paul Stephen Benjamin, whose artist statement says only one word: “Black” — defy traditional approaches to fine art. These pieces pose more questions than answers and inspire a longer and more inquisitive approach to the works. No doubt there will be many conversations sparked by these works during the auction.
Stayed at CHARLITA.
Untitled Installation #34 by Gregory Walker and Scott Ingram.
Another change to this year’s event is a smaller quantity of $200 works, which are offered on a first come, first served basis, with bidding to open on the night of the auction. “Because the work is unframed, you get a lot of unexpected finds,” said Hambidge Deputy Director Ife Williams as we walked through the space.
The auction itself, which features display after display of work, has an increased quantity of art forms represented. Crafts, clay, fiber and multidisciplinary works offer a wide variety of subject matter, message and approach. The starting bids for all works in the auction are set at 70% of the artist’s value, which is higher than the national average. There are also some collaborative pieces this year, which is a new option available to artists.
The 2025 Hambidge Auction offers a variety of styles and mediums.
Beyond the scope of the 2025 Hambidge Auction, the team plans to continue exhibiting in and utilizing the space at the Uptown. With programming planned during the Atlanta Art Fair — featuring works by Lonnie Holley and Gavin Bernard in their booth — and Atlanta Art Week, the team is putting together a full slate of workshops, exhibits and events. One upcoming exhibition will feature MFA students from University of Georgia and Georgia State University. The Hambidge team hopes to diversify the offerings available in the space and keep it active for weeks and months to come.
“This is a space for the fellows in Atlanta to come together as a community,” said Development Director Kathryn Derryberry as we paused to take in the sprawling floor, not yet teeming with party-goers. This year’s program will offer even more diversity of thought, concept, production and medium than in years past, presenting an expansive vision of Hambidge’s evolving connection with artists in Atlanta and beyond. “It’s missional for Hambidge to showcase emerging to established artists,” she said.
Learn more about the Hambidge Hive and the 2025 Hambidge Auction by visiting its website..Auction items are available for bidding now, so don’t wait to score your favorite new artwork before it’s too late.
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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.
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