Brenau Galleries Director Gena Brodie Robbins was featured on WABE’s City Lights with Lois Reitzes on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
The show airs on WABE 90.1 FM, Atlanta’s National Public Radio affiliate. Reitzes covers Atlanta culture, including art, food, entertainment and more. City Lights began in 2015, but Reitzes has been hosting on WABE since 1979.
Robbins discussed Brenau’s permanent collection on the show, which includes works by artists such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, as well as the connection between the university and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and Free Art Fridays.
Robbins told Reitzes that the permanent collection was started in 1986 by President John S. Burd.
“He had a strong personal interest in the arts and understood its value to an academic institution,” Robbins said. “That same year, the first dedicated gallery space for the university was created in a small chapel outside the balcony of historic Pearce Auditorium that was converted into the Presidents Gallery.”
In the years that followed, Sellars Gallery opened in Simmons Visual Arts Gallery and the Leo Castelli Gallery opened in the Burd Center for Performing Arts. These three galleries focus on rotating exhibits, including faculty and student works and outside artists.
Later, the Manhattan Gallery opened in the Downtown Center and a gallery opened in the Gainesville Renaissance. Both galleries are on the downtown Gainesville square and showcase highlights from the permanent collection.
Listen to the full segment on the WABE website. More about the galleries can be found here.
