On Saturday, May 12, the River’s Edge Retirement Community will host a first-time art exhibition called “Aesthetic Journey.” The exhibition will be the final project thesis for Business Design Arts Leadership graduate student Cassandra Brackett.
This is the first time an art event such as this has been offered in the Southside community. “It was my mission to target the Southside because there are no art venues out there,” Brackett said. “I wanted to focus on bringing works by Savannah artists into an area that is essentially an art desert.”
The exhibition will feature the work of five Savannah artists and include 25 to 30 pieces of sculpture, painting, photography and textiles. “What I was looking for was diversity so each of the artists are of different ethnicities, different philosophies, and the mediums are varied,” Brackett said.
She discovered most of the artists through her job at the Jepson Center for the Arts. At the monthly Family Free days, she would start a conversation with visitors about their art. “Most of the time I didn’t even have to ask them, they would just volunteer the fact they do art at home or that they were a retired photographer or painter,” Brackett said. She met three of the artists at a painting class for veterans. “I liked hearing what inspired their art and I loved collaborating spiritually,” she said.
Brackett had initially chosen The Art Bash Studio as her venue but had to rule it out because she could not host a weekend exhibition there. She discovered the retirement community on her way work. “I take the bus and I’m a typical artsy person that daydreams a lot,” Brackett said. “While I’m on the bus, I just pay attention to locations and it just so happened that I saw the sign [for the community]. It sits off to the back and if you don’t pay attention, you’re going to pass it.”
She called the River’s Edge and introduced herself and her idea. After meeting with her, the coordinator at the retirement community offered the space for her to use for the exhibition.
“The main thing this experience has taught me is how to reach out,” Brackett said. “I’m shy, I’m a introvert, even though I’m a mom and a grandmother. I know how to talk when I need to talk, but I’m just not a networker. I almost didn’t do this program because of my shyness but I felt like it would teach me to have more confidence and to believe in what I’m trying to do. It’s given me strength where I didn’t have any.”
The exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a reception beginning at 3 p.m. River’s Edge Retirement Community is located on 6206 Waters Avenue.
By Elena Burnett
Elena Burnett is the Editor-in-Chief of District. She’s a writing major who will graduate in 2019.
