For our anniversary show we invited all the artists we’ve done a major show with over the past 15 years to participate in a retrospective and celebration.  We wish we could have invited every artist we’ve worked with to join but after doing the math, that would have been 1200 people!  Below is the invitation we sent to the artists and a trip down memory lane.

Thanks to you, our supporters, for making this all worthwhile and hope to see you at there.
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Please reminisce with us.

Fifteen years ago: 1997 was the year Princess Diana was killed in a car crash and Mother Teresa died. The year Notorious B.I.G. was shot dead. OJ Simpson was found liable for the murders of Ron Goldman & Nicole Simpson. Tyson was banned from boxing for biting Holyfield’s ear. It was the year smokers needed proof they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in the U.S. A gallon of gas was $1.20. Clinton was president. The first genetically cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, was produced. Google did not exist.

In Atlanta, the Olympic fever had passed, and downtown’s hastily built parks meant to spruce up the city were becoming overgrown with weeds. Woolworth’s closed its remaining store. Freaknik was banned. Outkast and Goodie Mob gave rise to the “Dirty South,” and “crunk” was catching on. Kids through out the city were trying to perfect the Bankhead Bounce (in memory). The city played host to an active punk rock and DIY scene with well-attended house shows common in the still-gritty neighborhoods of Home Park and Grant Park. Peachtree St. was still home to the 24-hour dance club Backstreet, the Stein Club, and underage transtitutes. Atlanta art galleries were mostly limited to Buckhead and Midtown, and a career as an artist was specialized and rare. Art exhibits for young, local artists were even more rare.

Young and motivated by the DIY lifestyle, we went to Kinko’s that year and made black and white copies of our first artist call, inviting any and all artists to participate in a show to be hosted in our West End neighborhood living room.

In the 15 years since, you all have been what’s kept Young Blood going. We aimed to make Atlanta a more vibrant city, and thanks to you, we think we have!  It’s been a challenge, and there have been times when we’ve asked ourselves what the hell we were thinking. But the fact is, we love what we do and hope for 15 more years.

This October we’d like to host a retrospective exhibit that includes all the artists we’ve ever done shows with, and we invite you to participate. The show opens on October 6th, so we need one piece by October 1st.  We expect the show to garner a lot of attention and have plans in the works for an extra special opening night.  One of our goals is to show off our artists’ progress, so please send a piece that you’re extra proud of.

If you’d like to be involved, please respond to this e-mail and let us know you’re in. We’ll send more details soon after.

We hope you all are doing well, and we’re grateful that you’ve been a part of our gallery. We haven’t talked to some of you in a long time and look forward to seeing what you’re up to!

Love,

Kelly and Maggie