Art and Education
Athens-based muralist brings community issues to life with ‘Large
Art Dreaming’ exhibit at the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art.
Albert Einstein once said,
“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”
WINTER 2021 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 27
A
| in the gallery |
STORY AND PHOTOS BY TIA LYNN IVEY
This is advice Athens-based artist and activist Broderick
Flanigan is taking to heart. Flanigan has crafted his
art career around teaching others, especially children,
the empowering and courageous nature of creativity.
This focus was born out of Flanigan’s own experience
as a child discovering art as a way to overcome difficult
circumstances and later, discovering art as a path to
reach others.
“I had a pretty tough life growing up and I used art as
a coping mechanism...Later, I used art to connect to the
community,” says Flanigan.
This philosophy most recently landed Flanigan in a
unique partnership with the Steffen Thomas Museum of
Art in Buckhead. Currently, an original mural by Flanigan
has been painted across one of the STMA walls for a
special exhibit, “Large Art Dreaming,” which opened in
October and will run through January 2022.
The exhibit also features murals created by Flanigan
with the help of middle school students from Athens in
an effort to expose young minds to the rewarding process
of creating art.
The main mural features a scene depicting a joyous
silver-haired African-American professor from the
University of Georgia reading to a group of eager children
against a clouds-in-the-sky backdrop. The mural
pays homage to Flanigan’s summer reading program in
Athens to help under-resourced students improve their
literacy skills.
Flanigan was drawn to the STMA due to its namesake’s
overarching vision known as “The Brotherhood of Man,”
Broderick Flanigan
spent weeks this fall
painting a mural on
the gallery wall of
the Steffen Thomas
Museum in Buckhead.