Turbulence

The 3rd annual community exhibition produced by the Decatur Arts Alliance, Turbulence showcases 20 evocative artworks by local talent from the greater Decatur community. With over 170 submissions to this exhibition, a jury of Decatur Arts Alliance supporting members selected a range of artworks that craft a compelling narrative about uncertain times and the human ability to find peace in rough waters.

About the Exhibition

When waves crash from all sides and the air becomes violently choppy, finding the way back to solid ground can seem like an insurmountable feat. For this annual community exhibition, artists are encouraged to consider “Turbulence” as a theme, exploring the trials, troubles, and triumphs we experience when faced with tempestuous circumstances.

Exhibition Run – March 14 – May 4, 2025

Location – Decatur Arts Alliance Gallery • 113 Clairemont Avenue

Gallery Hours – Daily • 10am-4pm

Opening Reception – Friday, March 14 • 6-9PM

Exhibition catalog

Out of an astonishing 171 artworks submitted for consideration, 23 evocative pieces were selected by a jury of Decatur Arts Alliance sustaining members for the third annual community exhibition, “Turbulence”. Find more information about the unique artworks from across the greater Decatur area below.

See an artwork you love? Review the price list and submit a purchase request during the exhibition run using the form below. A Decatur Arts Alliance staff member will be in touch to complete the transaction. Titles with an asterisk (*) indicate that artwork has already been purchased.

Summer Storm

by Lynn Beach

Druid Hills, GA
2024
12 x 16 inches
Collage: hand-painted and printed papers, acrylic paint

This mixed media collage captures the turbulence of paddling through a summer storm. The layering of hand-painted and printed papers creates the shifting landscape and the unpredictability of the weather. The abstracted forms suggest fields, water, and sky, blending together, while splattered and dripped paint evoke the energy of raindrops and the churning river.

Artist Contact

Relentless

by Sioux Campbell

Decatur, GA
2025
30 x 24 inches
Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

A late summer storm looms over rolling hills bordering a golden hayfield. Lightning ignites brief afterglows in the darkened sky, while heavy rain drenches the landscape. The storm hovers, intense and unmoving, casting an ominous presence. In the field below, a determined farmer guides his hay baler through the harvest, undeterred by the tempest. Both the storm and the farmer embody a fierce persistence, locked in a relentless, unyielding moment.

Artist Contact

Take Care of the Younger Ones

by Natalia Cole

Decatur, GA
2024
36 x 36 inches
Oil paint on canvas

In my painting, “Take Care of the Younger Ones,” I explore the inevitable female experience of the urge to protect younger girls from the world. This is in response to the treacherous treatment from society that has become our everyday experience. Inspired by my relationship with a family friend who was raised like my sister, I acted as her nanny, teacher, nurse, and older sister for some time. My painting depicts an older girl getting her sister ready for school. She ties a bow in the younger hair, a symbol of feminine repression and protection in my painting. Their home has tile floors and yellow walls, reminiscent of my old dwellings in Florida. Each sister has inky dark wavey hair, a feature all women in my family have. This painting has a nostalgic, turbulent feeling mirroring my experiences as an older sister.

Artist Contact

The Object

by Abigail Cook

Marietta, GA
2025
24 x 18 inches
Oil paint on canvas

The Object explores themes of censorship, gendered vulnerability, the commercialization of the female body, and the lack of objectification of the white male body. Censorship of the upper body is commonly seen for individuals with boobs, not a chest or pecks. Women and people with boobs are told to cover up, their bodies hidden behind censored squares or paywalls. Yet, this part of the body is coveted in art, featured excessively in the place of men. The manufactured domination of the white male body is a tangled web of untruths that The Object invites viewers to consider.

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proof of life:

by Perlizbeth De Leon

Marietta, GA
2025
Each canvas: 11 x 14 inches
Mixed media on four canvases

Artist Contact

Sons of Paradise

by LaRayia Gaston

Decatur, GA
2018
12 x 19.75 inches
Digital photography

One of the most heart breaking moments was the murder of Nipsey Hussle. It was as though the son of hope had been taken from us. I had been there, in that moment. When everything changed.

Artist Contact

One Step Behind

by Alii Johnson

Stone Mountain, GA
2018
11 x 14 inches
Digital photography

Image of an abandoned shoe at an abandoned construction site in the Arizona desert.

Katy Bar the Door

by Dorothy Love

Atlanta, GA
2025
16 x 7 x 5.5 inches
Handbuilt earthenware

The piece began as a workshop prompt to create a personal guardian. Growing up in Appalachia, I was raised with the phrase “Katy bar the door”, meaning brace yourself for the trouble on its way. And some of my guardians have been grandmothers and great aunts (strong women often in their housecoats) that took the time to get me ready for this life.

Artist Contact

For the People?

by Mary Mattimoe

Decatur, GA
2024
37.5 x 36.5 inches
Original template pieced design, quilted, drapping, deading

The classic New York Beauty quilt block warns us. Who are ‘the people?’ What is a future ‘for the people?’

Artist Contact

Goodbye Uncle Freddie

by Nelda Mays

Atlanta, GA
2022
11 x 14 inches
Digital photography

Photograph of young man throwing the ashes of his late uncle into Lake Superior.

Artist Contact

Mastering Peace

by Joelle Monique

Atlanta, GA
2024
16 x 20 inches
Acrylic on canvas

The dandelion is a symbol of resilience due to its ability to thrive in challenging conditions, representing the strength to overcome adversity and persevere through difficult situations. Like the dandelion blowing through the wind, we too can thrive if we remain steadfast in our faith. As we lean on God, learning to master peace as we go through the storms of life, our light shines brighter empowering others going through their own storms.

Artist Contact

Before the Rain

by Alisha Morgan

Mableton, GA
2024
20 x 20 inches
Acrylic on canvas

“Before the Rain” symbolizes the weight of negativity that can surround you, much like dark clouds gathering in the sky. It captures the feeling of being overwhelmed by others’ pessimism, as if the impending storm is about to engulf you. This imagery conveys the emotional turmoil that often precedes a personal upheaval, highlighting the struggle against external pressures that threaten to pull you down.

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protesting for Troy Davis

by Marla Puziss

Hapeville, GA
2011
16 x 20 inches
Digital photography on archival pigment print

The international defense campaign for Troy Davis marked my life. I participated in almost every march and rally in Atlanta to stop the unjust execution of Troy Davis, framed up and convicted for the murder of a Savannah police officer. Despite evidence of Davis’ innocence and worldwide support for Davis, the Georgia authorities executed him. This photo was taken at one of the final marches held in Atlanta leading up to the execution.

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PrussianBronze_02

by Gina Rowland

Decatur, GA
2017
24 x 36 inches
Acrylic, paper and modeling compound on canvas

I created this piece during a very uncertain period of my life. This work is a vibrant, chaotic but calculated abstraction that deploys mixed media to convey the loss, turmoil, love and fear of everyday upheavals.

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Carbamazepine

by William Rudolph

Decatur, GA
2025
8 x 12 inches (unframed)
Digital photography

My sister has bipolar. This photo represents the confusion, for me, for her, of the disorder. Who am I talking to? Can I ever truly know her?

Ecos al son del galope muerto
(Echoes to the sound of the dead gallop)

by MAURICIO SANTAMARIA

McDonough, GA
2024
48 x 36 inches
Acrylic on canvas

painting with black and natural light effects, deals with the dance of life and death, the eternal but finite game.

Artist Contact

Cognitive Chaos

by Sophie Snodderly

Marietta, GA
2023
41.5 x 31.5 inches
Acrylic on canvas

Cognitive Chaos captures the overwhelming struggle to stay afloat amidst relentless pressure. Disjointed hands reach from every direction, distorting form and stirring a sense of panic, disfigurement, and turmoil. This piece embodies the tension between control and collapse, visualizing the chaos of a mind in distress.

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Dissociate

by Flizzie Thompson

Atlanta, GA
2023
12 x 10 inches
Watercolor painting on woven paper

Dissociate is a hand-woven watercolor piece meant to illustrate my struggles with mental health and feelings of not belonging or existing correctly.

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Evelyn Shen- An Egg Does Not A Woman Make

by Flizzie Thompson

Marietta, GA
2024
17 x 22 inches
Tempera painted eggshells on guilded MDF

As a woman artist from Alabama’s Bible Belt, I’m deeply familiar with debates on abortion. Alabama’s new law classifying frozen embryos as living beings is disappointing but unsurprising, reflecting ongoing threats to women’s bodily autonomy. In response, I’m creating tempera portraits of four women fighting for reproductive freedom, using egg yolk paint on MDF panels I made myself. Inspired by early Renaissance religious portraits, these paintings symbolize how women must forge their own paths. By painting on eggs, I challenge the notion that women are defined by reproduction and assert that religion should not dictate reproductive rights.

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Emblems of a Sisters’ Mississippi

by Jasmin Warnock

Atlanta, GA
2024
18 x 24 inches
Woodcut relief, monoprint, and collage

“Emblems of a Sisters’ Mississippi” explores the shared memories of me and my sister and what we remembered most growing up. The centered bunk beds are ours and portray our close connection, while the objects surrounding the beds symbolize our most prominent and troubling memories.

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Gilded Flames

by Heather Wininger

Sandy Springs, GA
2025
14 x 11 inches
Acrylic on canvas

Inspired by the Los Angeles fires.

Artist Contact

Glue

by Michael Yelton

Avondale Estates, GA
2025
12 x 16 inches
Acrylic on canvas

A 12 x 16 inch acrylic painting, inspired by surrealist art, depicting a scene in which Free Gaza protesters are interacting with an equestrian club in Piedmont Park. This is based on a real event at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in 2024.

Artist Contact

Happy Tears

by Nyala Yvonne

Atlanta, GA
2024
14 x 14 inches
Collage and acrylic paint

This piece, titled “Happy Tears,” is a deeply personal reflection of my journey with mental health and overcoming depression. Through the collage, I wanted to capture the transformation that comes from reevaluating my perspective on life. The vibrant colors and dynamic textures symbolize the shift from a place of darkness to one of light and joy.

The central figure, with tears streaming down their face, represents the profound emotions I have experienced. These are not tears of sadness, but of joy and relief, marking a significant change in my emotional landscape. The mixed media approach, combining collage and acrylic paint, allowed me to layer my experiences and feelings, much like the complex process of healing and finding peace.

Creating this artwork was a cathartic process, helping me to visualize and express the transition from pain to happiness. “Happy Tears” is a celebration of resilience and the beauty that emerges when one can finally cry tears of joy instead of sorrow.

Artist Contact

Purchase Form

See an artwork you love? Review the Price List and fill out the purchase form below. A staff member of the Decatur Arts Alliance will be in touch soon to finalize the sale!