BAML Studio & Gallery: a rural arts collaborative

When I was growing up in rural southwest Georgia, on Stewart County farmland, my three siblings and I had free access to Historic Westville, what was then a mid-nineteenth century living history museum in Lumpkin, and it wasn't just because we were the director's children.  At the time, the museum offered free admission to all Stewart County locals, and we all proudly took advantage.  It was _the_ thing to do in what many might call our "remote" region, and we took all of our friends and family members for gingerbread and lemonade at the McDonald House, wagon rides, blacksmith and shoemaker visits, candle making, basket weaving, and of course, visits with our friends The Hawks Family at the potter shop.  After a devastating and sad battle with a more urban community nearby, we lost our historic village and much of our communal identity just a few years ago.  For some of us who have moved away from home, it often feels as though we can never truly go back home because there are no more May Pole dances, dulcimer festivals, or yule log ceremonies to attend with everybody.  There is in our community a real, collective sense of questioning, "Who are we now?"

That's why I decided to start the nonprofit called The Reimagine Home Project and open our headquarters at BAML Studio & Gallery on the historic Lumpkin square in front of the Stewart County courthouse. The mission of the nonprofit end of our organization is to provide public access to quality arts and educational programming, and to preserve and document local history and culture. On the studio and gallery side of things, our mission is to curate an inclusive art environment, focusing our exhibits on self-taught, regional, and contemporary art and highlighting work by women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and BIPOC. In addition to continuing to fundraise for public art installations, we will also offer regular public arts and educational programming and sell local fair trade coffee from Cafe Campesino in Americus, GA, and local farmer-backed beer by Pretoria Fields in Albany, GA, to raise funds for more and future programming. And all of it will be free. Well, except for the coffee and beer, but the art will be free and open to the public. 

Please help us reach our goal!

***PRESS RELEASE***

Dear Stewart County, GA, and other SOWEGAns—

I write this letter to you on behalf of The Reimagine Home Project, a new nonprofit headed by women who are local, formerly local, and interested public scholars and farmers committed to serving SOWEGA through public arts installations, education, and preservation. We hope to open a public studio and gallery on the Lumpkin square once some construction work is completed in our space, designated by the generosity of the Stewart County Historical Commiss

The mission of The Reimagine Home Project (RHP) is to restore public access to the arts and education for all Stewart Countians, and to preserve and document local history and culture. We have many projects to share with you, including one or two you are already familiar with:

1.     The Georgia Council for the Arts Christopher Johnson Lumpkin mural on the square: Who else remembers the dedication for Johnson’s amazing work the last day before the world shut down for the pandemic on Saturday, March 14, 2020? ROTC member Makayla Dent did a beautiful job singing “The National Anthem” that afternoon, and I’m happy to say we’ll be bringing her back for…

2.     The Georgia Council for the Arts Lonnie Holley mural dedication: Also rejoining us: local DJ and MC extraordinaire, Jimmy Gaddy; local 4-H members selling food and beverages; and introductions and speeches. The great artist who designed the mural, Lonnie Holley, will also be present with special free gifts for any and all children who show up. The dedication is scheduled for Saturday, July 24, 2021, at 11:00am on MLK Dr. on the square. Hope to see you there! Register here: Lonnie Holley Lumpkin Mural Dedication

3.     Collaboration with Kennesaw State University and El Refugio Ministries: This is a very important and exciting project indeed. Local charity El Refugio Ministries has been collecting correspondence with those being held in immigration detention at Stewart Detention Center since they were founded eleven years ago, and for this project, we’re working with graduate students at KSU to document for historical purposes and translate the letters into English. A few art and history museums and galleries across the southeast have expressed interest in this project.

4.     gloATL partnership: You’ve all no doubt seen the neon “Gentle Human Thank You For Coming” installation on the square by now. This was the result of a new partnership between RHP and the Atlanta-based modern dance troupe, gloATL, who performed in Lumpkin a few years ago to a small crowd as part of a grant I wrote for St. EOM’s Pasaquan in Buena Vista, GA. I’m happy to say that glo plans a return visit to deliver play kits to our local children and teach virtual dance classes.

5.   NOW: CFA to design Stewart County Mural. Email [email protected].

6.    COMING SOON: BAML Studio & Gallery: This would be our public headquarters for RHP, and there we would have a changing exhibitions gallery, a permanent collection gallery, a permanent artist in residence, monthly art classes from Andrew College professor and muralist Christopher Johnson, monthly classic film screenings, Café Campesino coffee, Pretoria Fields libations, and a gift shop. We’re going to have to start small, though, so we’re currently trying to meet our fundraising goal of $10,000 to get us off the ground. If you are able, please donate below. Donations of all sizes will be greatly appreciated.

We have a big organizational goal at RHP: to transform Stewart County back into a major tourist destination, and we’ve got big future plans to match. We’re envisioning as many murals in our communities across Stewart County as possible. We just need walls and matching funds from the community, and we will write at least one grant per year for murals for as long as RHP is around. Our organization is full of ideas for future exhibits, free educational programs, events, local partnerships, contests, fundraisers, etc., and we are immensely grateful to the Stewart County Historical Commission for this once-in-a-lifetime chance to realize the dream of bringing high quality public arts programming to Lumpkin, GA

Let us all now come together in service of finding our post-Westville tourism identity, and giving back to the children of our beautiful county, who have missed out on the glory that Westville once was to us all. RHP and BAML are for everyone.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Annie Moye