Current Events / 2024
THIRD THURSDAY at ACE / FRANCISCO
ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery will be open for
3rd Thursday Athens Art Walk
Thursday, November 21st and
Thursday, December 19th
6PM to 9PM
Both MURMUR TRESTLE by Jason Thrasher in the Main Gallery and GRIT PORTRAITS by Toby Cole in the Upstairs Gallery will be on view.
Current Exhibitions / 2024
MURMUR TRESTLE
Photographs by Jason Thrasher
September 19 - December 30, 2024
ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery • 675 Pulaski Street • Suite 1500 • Athens, GA
The back cover of R.E.M.'s influential 1983 album Murmur famously features an image of the wooden Trail Creek Trestle. Over time the aging nineteenth-century train trestle in Athens, Georgia, became known as, simply, the “Murmur Trestle,” a global pilgrimage site for fans of the band. Removed in 2021 to make way for a pedestrian bridge and bike path, the trestle has been captured for the ages in this new collection of photographs by Jason Thrasher.
Thrasher spent six years focusing his lens on an immersive exploration of the Murmur Trestle, photographing it within its changing natural environment. His contemplative images encourage readers to engage in a visual meditation, urging them to closely observe and appreciate the details of the decaying subject. Thrasher’s keen eye and patient observation reveal the wonders of details large and small and the harmonious interplay between wood, light, nature, and the seasons.
Together with a foreword by Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers and “Reason by Rot,” an original poem by MacArthur Fellow J. Drew Lanham, these images speak to the trestle's significance in the community, the region, and the world. Murmur Trestle encourages wanderers to find solace in the gentle rhythm of nature through the passage of time and to embark on personal journeys of introspection and connection with the world around us.
Jason Thrasher’s latest book, Murmur Trestle, published by UGA Press is available for purchase at Avid Bookshop in Five Points.
Murmur Trestle Book Release / Athens Potluck Variety Show
Saturday, September 21, 2024 at the Fabulous 40 Watt in Downtown Athens, GA
7PM Doors:
GRIT POTLUCK
Come early and bring your favorite Grit Cookbook homemade dish to get an “Eating Wristband” and to join in on the Potluck!
8PM Show:
ATHENS POTLUCK VARIETY SHOW
Hosted by Master of Ceremonies Don Chambers, featuring performances by many of the musicians in the Athens Potluck Book including Dave Marr, Mike Mantioni, Hardy Morris, Vernon Thornsbery, Charlie and Nancy Hartness, The Darnell Boys, and more...
The evening is a benefit for Nuçi's Space with all proceeds going to this incredible non-profit.
UPDATE:
This event raised $3,670 for Nuçi’s Space! Thank you to the University of Georgia Press, Avid Bookshop, the Fabulous 40 Watt, our beloved, now-retired GRIT, and Athens, Georgia!
GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART PANEL DISCUSSION
In Conversation:
Jason Thrasher and Caitlin Peterson
Thursday, October 24th
at The Georgia Museum of Art Theater
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Join Athens photographer Jason Thrasher and Chicago-based photographer Caitlin Peterson for a conversation in conjunction with the Georgia Museum of Art’s exhibition “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed” and the museum’s coda exhibition “The Artist as Witness.”
A piece from Jason Thrasher’s Murmur Trestle body of work was recently acquired by the Georgia Museum of Art and is currently on view in the exhibition, “The Artist as Witness.”
In the UPPER GALLERY at ACE / FRANCISCO
September 19 - December 30, 2024
ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery • 675 Pulaski Street • Suite 1500 • Athens, GA
IN THE UPPER GALLERY:
GRIT PORTRAITS
Paintings by Tobiah Cole
Toby Cole is a painter who resides in Athens, Georgia. In 2005 he received a Master of Fine Arts with distinction from the Lamar Dodd School of Art. His work has shown at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, The Georgia Museum of Art, the Fay Gold Gallery, the Bill Lowe Gallery, and the Ty Stokes Gallery. GRIT PORTRAITS is a series based on his time at The Grit, a beloved and now-gone Athens, Georgia vegetarian treasure.
During the show’s run, ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery will have available for purchase a limited edition fine art print of an image from Toby’s MAINE series of landscape paintings. Stay tuned here for more information.
The artist will be present at the opening.
Through December 20, 2024 at UGA
ART AROUND TOWN
If you missed this wonderful opening, the show will be up through December 14th at the Hargrett Library Gallery. Gallery Hours are: Mon/Weds/Fri: 8–5
Tues/Thurs: 8-7
ATHENS POTLUCK at Special Collections
Thursday August 8th, 2024
6PM-8PM
Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Libraries Building
300 S Hull St, Athens, GA, United States, Georgia 30602
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
This exhibit is an adaptation of Jason Thrasher’s book, Athens Potluck, offering a glimpse into the Athens music scene spawned decades ago by R.E.M., Pylon and the B-52s. It displays images and selected stories from Athens Potluck alongside loaned items from the featured musicians and items from the music collections of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
In 2017 photographer Jason Thrasher published Athens Potluck, a book that tells a story about the Athens music scene. He selected the first musician to be photographed, asked a series of questions, and then asked the subject to select the next person he should visit. Following this pattern he photographed 33 musicians at home or in the studio. The series veered from the E-6 Collective to rock, to traditional old- time music, to punk, to country and back to indie again, with musicians driving the project forward as they passed the baton from one to the next. Thrasher owns the ACE FRANCISCO Gallery with his wife and business partner, Beth Hall Thrasher.
ABOUT THE OPENING
Join the Hargrett Library and UGA Special Collections on Thursday, August 8 from 6PM to 8PM for an evening of live music from Charlie and Nancy Hartness, drinks, and hors d'oeuvres to celebrate the opening of the new exhibit “Athens Potluck.” Dress in your favorite band merch and enjoy live performances in the gallery. This event is free and open to the public; parking is available in the Hull Street Deck.
Past Exhibitions / 2024
Benares Boatman, 2023 - Jason Thrasher
January 18 - August 19, 2024
Jason Thrasher
KASHI WASHI
Closing August 19th
In November 2023, photographer Jason Thrasher embarked on a journey to Benares, India to revisit a specific street corner where he had spent two weeks in 1998. As with any community, people he met in 1998 had aged, passed away, or relocated, but a notable number of shop owners and boatmen were still actively working and living in Benares. The term “”Kashi Washi” refers to the individuals who live and work along the riverbank in this sacred city.
Visit our Instagram @acefranciscogallery for additional gallery news and special hours. You may also see the current show at other times by appointment.
Benares Boatman, 1998 - Jason Thrasher
Past Exhibitions / 2023
September 28 - December 31, 2023
J. Grant Brittain
80s Skate Photography
OPENING RECEPTION
at ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery
THURSDAY
September 28, 2023
6PM-9PM
Artist Will Be Present:
J. Grant Brittain
Opening Night will be catered, thanks to Big City Bread Cafe
San Diego-based Brittain, known for his 60+ covers of Transworld Skateboarding Magazine, countless iconic images of the skate greats, and his recently published ‘80s skateboarding photography book, PUSH, inspired generations of young people to pick up a camera, or a skateboard— or flat out move to California. We are literally stoked that he has agreed to come to Athens to show this incredible work at ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery from September 28, 2023, on view through December 21, 2023 by appointment or see our Instagram for special hours.
Also be sure to come to ACE / FRANCISCO to see this show for the Third Thursdays Events 6PM-9PM (October 19, November 16, and December 21).
Join us at ATHICA @ CINÉ Gallery
SATURDAY
September 30, 2023
6PM-8PM
for J. Grant Brittain’s ARTIST’S TALK, Slideshow,
and Book Signing
Additional work by Brittain, curated by ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery
will also be on view at Ciné— from September 1- October 25
in cooperation with
ATHICA @ Ciné Gallery, the Willson Center, and Avid Bookshop
Books will be available for purchase at the event, for signing, thanks to
Avid Bookshop.
J. Grant Brittain has generously signed a limited edition of fifty show posters featuring Natas Kaupas and printed on museum-quality paper with archival inks, to help ACE / FRANCISCO bring artists like this to Athens. A portion of the proceeds of poster sales will be donated to the Concrete Jungle Foundation. You can save shipping cost by picking up in ATHENS, or you can have one shipped anywhere in the Continental US (please note, holiday cut-off for on-time shipping has passed, but we can send you a small lo-res photo to print and wrap until the real signed, limited edition print arrives):
Thank you to our generous sponsors and collaborators on the J. Grant Brittain exhibitions and events in Athens, GA:
San Diego Magazine on Brittain.
Pictured below, just a few of Brittain’s cover shoots over the years:
April 20 - June 29, 2023
Karen
Graffeo
OPENING RECEPTION
Hearts in Repair:
The Necessity of Seduction
April 20, 6PM-8PM
Karen Graffeo
Karen Graffeo is an active multi-media artist in photography, performance, and installation. We are thrilled that Graffeo will be creating two unique installations across two galleries in the Leathers Building in downtown Athens, Georgia at
ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery (Suite 1500) and OX Fine Art (Suite 1700).
SPECIAL EVENT:
GALLERY TALK with the artist
Thursday, June 29, 2023 at 6PM
at ACE/FRANCISCO and OX Fine Art
Check the Ace Francisco Instagram for hours and events during the show’s run
A few of the photographs and multi-media works on view at ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery, from Graffeo’s Hearts in Repair
Graffeo has had numerous national and international solo exhibitions. She is a Professor Emeritus of Art and has directed the photography program at the University of Montevallo. She is the recipient of a Tanne Foundation award for humanitarian documentary projects within her art practice and was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar appointment to Romania. In 2005 she was named University Scholar at the University of Montevallo for her long term (1999-present) documentary photography work in Roma communities and refugee encampments in Europe. Her work was published in Aperture Magazine and is included in public and private collections in Japan, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, and Birmingham, Alabama. Her work is currently on display at the Museum of African History in Havana Cuba.
Karen will be creating two special installations for Athens. Her newest Hearts in Repair work will be installed at @acefranciscogallery in Suite 1500 of the Leathers Building; and work inspired by her time in Cuba will be installed at @oxfineart in Suite 1700 just a few doors down. Come to this special joint opening between ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery and OX Fine Art.
This show will only be up through June 29th with limited weekend hours in June. Be sure to come to the Gallery Talk on June 29th at 6PM with Karen Graffeo.
From Graffeo’s recent show at the ECHO Gallery in Atlanta— some of which is on view at OX Fine Art in conjunction with ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery
Past Exhibitions / 2022
October 20 - December 18, 2022
Heaven 4
the Young
Painting, Sculpture and Film by
Heaven4theYoung aka Frances Thrasher
OPENS October 18th, 2022
From 6PM to 8PM
Heaven4theYoung
Work completed from 2000-2022
ACE / FRANCISCO presents new work in watercolor, oil, ceramics and film by Frances Thrasher. This work is an honest expression of one teen’s experience with isolation and loneliness during the Covid era.
Twenty-nine of the thirty original Heaven4theYoung artworks sold during the show’s run. We will have several Heaven4theYoung prints available for purchase in our online shop, soon.
“Serene smiles guarded by sinister eyes. Faces full of color and intrigue, juxtaposed against subtler and more hypnotic backgrounds. Fear, love, pain and beauty. Frances Thrasher, also known by her artistic handle, Heaven4theYoung, has dedicated herself to creating a world of subversion and surprise that viewers cannot help but be swept up in.”
September 22- October 15, 2022
The View from Here
Three Master Painters Consider the Landscape:
John Cleaveland, Julyan Davis & Philip Juras
This show comes to ACE / FRANCISCO direct from The Morris Museum of Art
OPENS SEPTEMBER 22, 2022
6PM to 8PM
at ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery and OX Fine Art
ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery is pleased to present The View from Here: Three Master Painters Consider the Landscape from September 22nd through October 15th, immediately following its run at The Morris Museum of Art. The View from Here features the work of John Cleaveland , Julyan Davis & Philip Juras, and will be on view at ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery in Suite 1500 of The Leathers Building, with additional work from this show on view in the new OX Fine Art in Suite 1700.
Check the gallery instagram for last minute updates and hours.
CLOSING TALK:
October 15th, 2022
SATURDAY
6PM-8PM
All three artists— John Cleaveland, Julyan Davis and Philip Juras— will be present to talk about their work.
Arrive at 6PM, each artist will talk for approximately twenty minutes, then stay to visit after.
From the Morris Museum of Art Catalog:
“Highlighting the work of three consummately skilled contemporary artists, this exhibition addresses the distinctly different ways that each of them views the subject of landscape. They have this in common with landscape painters of the past: underlying their work are themes related as much to self-discovery and self-exploration as they are to the examination of topography.”
Philip Juras, Pulling Away, Upson County Georgia
John Cleaveland, The Nature of Remembrance
At the ACE / FRANCISCO opening of The View from Here, there will be a rare opportunity to purchase signed Fine Art Prints from these two artists. A portion of the proceeds of Cleaveland’s and Juras’ print sales will be donated to The Atticus Gift. To purchase online: John Cleaveland Fine Art Print • Philip Juras Fine Art Print , or you may come to the gallery to purchase and save on shipping and handling costs! Print sales at ACE / FRANCISCO aid the gallery in its mission to hold art shows, to provide part time jobs for student artists and recent arts graduates in the gallery, and to help support student arts organizations in the south.
Artists Featured in The View from Here, photographed by Jason Thrasher:
John Cleaveland
Julyan Davis
Philip Juras
About the Artists featured in The View from Here:
John L. Cleaveland, Jr., earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Georgia and held a graduate assistantship in the UGA Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. His work has been widely exhibited and collected. He says that his “paintings are specific expressions of places I’ve been to that I love, that I’m connected to, or that I’m pushed to some expression by. . . . I’m looking for a feeling—something that might tell a greater truth but in a very simple way.” He lives and works in Farmington, Georgia, where he creates the epic views of the landscape that are on display here.
https://www.johncleaveland.com
English-born Julyan Davis, based in Asheville, North Carolina, was trained at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. In 1988 he traveled to the American South on a painting trip that was fueled by a keen interest in the history of Demopolis, Alabama, and the Bonapartist exiles who settled there. His work, widely exhibited, is included in many public and private collections. He is represented here by The Beidler Triptych, an offshoot of a collaboration begun in 2018 with the South Carolina poet Glenis Redmond that was inspired by the legend of the cymbee, a water spirit, hidden in the swamps and springs throughout the Lowcountry.
Philip Juras earned a bachelor of fine arts and master of landscape architecture degrees from the University of Georgia. His MLA thesis examined grasslands that flourished in the Southeast before European settlement, a subject that continues to inspire his artwork. He lives in Athens, Georgia, where he explores the rich aesthetics of a wide range of ecologically intact natural environments. He is here represented by several of his “burn paintings,” the result of his direct observation combined with study of the natural science and history of the place depicted.
August 18- September 10, 2022
Ouida Williams
A New Perspective
OPENS AUGUST 18, 2022
from 6PM to 8PM
After completing her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Georgia in the mid-60s, Ouida Williams became more interested in non-figurative elements. Her imagery became increasingly suggestive, referring less and less to specific subject matter. Light, color, space, shapes and forms became the focus of her work. Viewers may find references to bodies of water, landmasses, horizons, islands, shadows, reflections etc., but ultimately, the subject matter is dependent on the viewer’s personal interpretation.
“What continues to interest me most in painting is the purely visual,”Ouida explained. “Describing or referring to particular subject matter challenges me less than preserving a sense of openness and mystery. My paintings are primarily explorations of the power of color and compositional relationships.”
From 2005 to 2020, Ouida’s painting studio was located in the space now occupied by the ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery and Thrasher Photo + Design. We were so honored to be able to hold space for Ouida’s friends and family and to celebrate her work with this exciting and very colorful show of ten larger abstract paintings.
Limited Edition Fine Art Prints of four of Ouida’s paintings, in editions of fifteen, will be available for purchase online, shortly. A portion of Ouida Williams print sales will benefit the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Untitled #3
from Ouida Williams: A New Perspective
Ouida Williams in the studio, circa 1985
Untitled #10
from Ouida Williams: A New Perspective
Gallery Guides for Ouida Williams / A New Perspective:
Please direct all serious inquiries about Ouida’s Original Art to ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery.
Contact the Gallery
In the UPPER GALLERY at ACE / FRANCISCO
Photography by Jason Thrasher 2000-2022
August 18- October 15, 2022
May 19- July 24, 2022
Vernon
Thornsberry
New Works in Painting and Sculpture
OPENS May 19, 2022
6PM to 8PM
Vernon J. Thornsberry is a fine artist who lives and works in Athens, Georgia. Thornsberry is originally from New Orleans, where he was mentored for many years, along with Robert Mapplethorpe, in the painting studio of George Dureau.
Vernon Thornsberry photographed by George Dureau, from the permanent collection of the OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART
Vernon Thornberry before the opening of his show at ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery
Gallery Guide from Vernon’s Show at ACE / FRANCISCO
Our first opening at the ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery for Vernon J. Thornsberry on May 19, 2022 was an event to remember.
Thank you to Vernon for sharing his art with the Athens community at the ACE / FRANCISCO Gallery.
Big thanks to Cat Bobon, Mark Babcock and Karen Graffeo for additional photography, to the rock-n-roller Paige Cole for managing original art and print sales and for being Vernon’s liaison to everything, to our favorite art and design mavens Harper Calhoun, Olivia Daniel and Franni Thrasher for helping with the event, and to Shiraz in The Leathers Building for catering. After all of Vernon’s Fine Art Edition Prints have sold, we’ll be making a donation to Clarke Central High School’s student-run arts organization, the iliad literary-art magazine. To inquire about purchasing Vernon’s original oil paintings, please contact the gallery.
Fine Art Editions
On the Opening Night of each ACE / FRANCISCO show, a limited edition of of signed and numbered prints will be available for purchase at the gallery- and for the duration of the show at a special Athens-only price; after each show’s closing, prints will be available online while editions last. Tax, fine art handling and shipping costs within the continental United States included in the online price of $275. Sales of Fine Art Editions help ACE/FRANCISCO in its mission to promote fine artists in the real world by hosting artists’ shows and by supporting art students and recent graduates through part time jobs at the gallery, and by sponsoring art-related student organizations in the Southeast.
J Grant Brittain / Natas Kaupas / Limited Edition Signed Fine Art Print
ACE / FRANCISCO Limited Edition Show Poster for the J. Grant Brittain Show in 2023. Printed on museum quality paper, SIGNED by the artist, in a limited edition of 50.
Only 9 remain in this edition.
OUIDA WILLIAMS: A New Perspective / Limited Edition Fine Art Prints
Ouida Williams / Untitled Number 3
Ouida Williams / Untitled Number 1
Ouida Williams / Untitled Number 9
THE VIEW FROM HERE: Three Master Painters Consider the Landscape / Fine Art Prints
These two editions have SOLD OUT.
John Cleaveland / The Nature of Remembrance
Philip Juras / Pulling Away, Upson County Georgia
VERNON THORNSBERRY: New Works in Painting and Sculpture / Limited Edition Signed Fine Art Prints
Vernon Thornsberry
Ruth Anne
Vernon Thornsberry
Self Portrait
Vernon Thornsberry
The Silly Girls
Vernon Thornsberry
Still Life with Clay Pot