In honor of celebrating fifteen years of bringing creative life to downtown Macon, we’re sharing fifteen stories of people whose lives have been impacted through The 567 Center and its programs.
Heatherly
Being an artist has long been part of Heatherly’s identity. But changing jobs, motherhood, and the closure of another community art space took her away from working with art. For a time, she forgot that part of herself. Through The 567, Heatherly found her way back to being an artist. In 2020, staff at The 567 asked Heatherly to make mall pieces for an art scavenger hunt. She agreed, and began to carve out a small amount of space and time at home to make art. Once she finished her fifteen, she kept making them. Soon, her artwork took another turn.
She enjoyed making ceramics in college, but hadn’t made any pottery since then. When she attended a pottery event one night at The 567, she immediately fell back in love with it. Shortly after, she joined The 567’s pottery studio. The studio not only provided her with access to ceramics equipment, it gave her a place to be an artist, and gave her a new community. It gave her a place to be herself. As she began to make art again, she realized she didn’t have room for it all at home—so she planned an art exhibit! The exhibit was a goal for her to work towards. It helped her to stop putting art on the back burner. It also meant a lot to her to have it at The 567’s gallery, a place that felt like a safe and inviting retreat to her for so many years. The community loved her exhibit, too—and many people bought her paintings, sculptures, and mugs to keep. Now, she can’t stop making art!
2. Malissa
Malissa became a resin artist sort of by accident. She was a creative person who dabbled in a few art mediums and enjoyed taking classes at The 567 Center--everything from oil painting to photography. Then one day, a friend gave her a resin kit, and she immediately fell in love with resin. She still lacked confidence, though, and didn’t consider herself an artist. Our fine art director reached out to Malissa and asked her to consider selling her resin craft at the All Hands Art Festival. Through her experience selling her work, Malissa realized that her work was aesthetically pleasing. For the first time in her life, she felt good about saying, "I'm an artist."
After the festival, she was excited about making more art. She also wanted to share her passion with others by teaching classes. Her small home studio wasn't really conducive to either. Her completed works were taking over her house. To grow as an artist, she really needed more space. Our fine art director reached out to Malissa again, this time asking her to consider teaching. At The 567, she was finally able to give people a way to explore making resin art and find out whether they love it, just like she did. Not only did she love teaching, but it gave her space in another way. Because of the extra income from teaching, Malissa was able to rent her own studio space, a place to store her all of her work and work with resin safely. She became the professional artist she always wanted to be.
3. Dotti
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, many people lost their jobs, including Dotti. She is the kind of energetic person who works hard and loves to stay busy. When she became unemployed, depression could have set in. Dotti’s sister invited her to take a pottery wheel class with her at The 567, and she jumped at the chance. She loved the class so much, Dotti signed up for a pottery studio membership. Membership allowed her to come to the studio to work on her own, and use our tools and supplies. At the studio, she found a place to come and work every day—and people to connect with. The members not only create incredible pottery, they also share what they’re learning with each other and even share their lives. They talk about their families, their favorite music, and current events. It was exactly the creative community that Dotti needed. Dotti also shared her skills by teaching classes!
4. Heather
Heather’s husband suffered a back injury that left him unable to work. Heather had a choice. Would she work a full-time job that would pay the bills but leave her exhausted and unable to make art? Or would she find a way to earn a living through her passion? Through The 567, she was able transform her hobby into a career in a way she never thought possible. Our studio provided Heather the space, supplies, and encouragement to earn income teaching art classes, support her family, and still have time to spend with their four children. Heather was a versatile artist who worked with everything from clay to watercolor paint. The opportunity to pursue her art career also gave Heather the freedom to keep making her own art and experiment with new mediums, such as fumage, which involves making art with smoke. Heather had her first solo exhibit at The 567, which pushed her to create more art, gave her exposure to new audiences, and boosted her confidence as an artist.
5. Sheri
Sheri has had a lifelong love of pottery. She was fascinated by how someone could transform the basic material of clay into something that could be used. She collected and admired pottery for years, but never had the ability to try making it for herself. Then, she volunteered at All Hands Art Festival last year and learned about pottery classes at The 567 Center. She began taking Beginning Wheel and other classes at The 567 and learned as much as she could about making pottery. She loved the process of creating pottery so much, she even bought her own pottery wheel to use at home and joined The 567's studio as a member artist. Not only does she find it rewarding to see what she creates, but the act of creating is also very relaxing for her.
In addition to enjoying learning how to make pottery, Sheri has also enjoyed the connections she's made with other people at The 567's pottery studio. She's formed friendships through the mutual love of creating and appreciates all that she's learned from the instructors. When All Hands Art Festival came back around this year, she used her new skills to participate in the Pottery Olympics alongside her instructors and a classmate. Even though it was technically a competition, it felt more like an exhibition for their shared love of pottery, with hope that others will also find an artistic outlet. Now, Sheri looks forward to making more pottery, growing her skills, and sharing her love of pottery with others.
6. Darlene
Darlene was feeling discouraged and angry about setbacks in her art business outside of her control. Being a vendor at the All Hands Art Festival turned that all around and restored her faith in Macon and its art scene. For the weekend, she felt included and valued as an artist and experienced something magical. She saw the art community come together to make something great. She also was able to sell a lot of her handmade metal jewelry and other artwork at the festival, which helped make up for the recent losses. At that event, Darlene realized she could start her own monthly market for makers and producers like herself and kicked it off a few weeks later. As a result, she started feeling optimistic and excited about her art business again.
7. Beth
Beth launched art classes at The 567 Center as our first Fine Art Director in 2012. She served downtown Macon and the art community in that role for almost 4 years, growing the art gallery and establishing a smooth transition when the gallery moved to First Street. During that time, she was also creating art and growing her art business as both a surrealist painter and a private art instructor offering one-on-one art lessons. In 2016, she decided it was time to pursue her art business full-time. "The 567 and its Executive Director has nurtured and helped me learn the business side of being a professional artist," said Beth. She took what she learned and developed the Cornerstone Academy of Art & Design, which helps young people become artists. She recently exhibited and sold her work in a surrealism exhibit at The 567.
8. Margaret
Margaret started out learning about pottery at a Beginning Wheel class at The 567. She found pottery very relaxing and satisfying, and after several classes she knew it was something she wanted to keep doing. At the beginning of the year, she became a member of The 567's pottery studio. Being able to work in the shared studio made pottery accessible. She also found camaraderie and a community of people who helped her grow by being generous with their knowledge. Now she can't imagine not doing pottery! After several months, one of the other members encouraged Margaret to share a booth with her at All Hands Art Festival, which is organized by The 567 each fall. Margaret wasn't sure if her work was good enough to sell, but she wanted to set a goal and see how it worked out. At the festival, she really enjoyed the experience. She sold more pottery than she was expecting and learned a lot from the experience. Thanks to the opportunities provided through The 567, She finally feels like a real ceramicist. She even started teaching some of our wheel classes at The 567!
9. April
April retired from her career as an elementary school art teacher. She found teaching so rewarding. Even though that job had ended, she knew she still had so much more to give as an artist. April decided it was time to try a new challenge--teaching adults! She reached out to The 567's staff, who was thrilled to bring April's experience and fresh ideas to the center. She started teaching The 567's very first oil pastels class, as well as new acrylic painting classes. Teaching regularly provided her a little extra money to buy art supplies and so much more. "I probably get more out of it than the students do," said April about teaching at The 567. It's been so rewarding for April to inspire adults to pick up a new hobby or just teach them to express themselves in a different way. Through teaching at The 567, April has also been able to build relationships in Macon's art community and make new friends. Thanks to the help and encouragement of The 567's staff, she's been growing as an artist, too. She credits The 567 for making Macon the kind of place she wants to be--a place where people are really interested in art.
10. Brianne
Brianne studied art in college, but lacked a studio space after graduation. She looked for a place where she could create again and found The 567’s pottery studio. Being able to have a creative outlet and do ceramics was again incredibly important to her. Not only that, but the community she found with other artists was pivotal in her artistic career. Through The 567, she met all kinds of creative people--painters, photographers, teachers, and gallerists. Those creative people also gave her the encouragement she needed to try new things as an artist, and the supplies in the studio gave her an outlet to experiment with different materials and techniques.
11. Tyler
Tyler loves downtown Macon and enjoys walking around its colorful streets and alleys. A few years ago, he started taking pictures of the cool details he noticed on the historic buildings and sharing them on Instagram. After a while, it became a personal photography project and a way to enjoy and share what makes our downtown special--details that most people overlook.Then Heatherly, one of our pottery instructors, saw the artistic potential in Tyler's photos. She asked him to do a collaborative exhibit at The 567 Center--he could exhibit his photos in the gallery, and she would create ceramic sculptures with colors inspired by those in the photos. Tyler never had work in a gallery before and was skeptical at first, but eventually warmed up to the idea. Tyler & Heatherly had a month-long exhibit of their work. Tyler was blown away by the enthusiastic response of gallery visitors to his photography. He even sold many of them! Now he's learning to embrace his creative side and starting to accept the idea that he, too, is an artist. He continues to photograph downtown Macon and imagines starting another photography project in the future.
12. Dee
Dee is one of our paint & sip and summer camp instructors. Her favorite thing about teaching is the people--she loves meeting other creative people who share her passion. About The 567 she says, "I love teaching at The 567 Center because they allow me to be the best version of myself while still supporting my creativity." Dee struggles with anxiety, but she deals with it by spreading awareness, positivity, and love. She's a mother of three and a wife, but she always makes time to feed her creative soul with painting, whether at The 567 or at home.
13. Roban
Roban made pottery for many years through another local studio. While she loved creating her beautiful pottery, she was only able to work on her skills one day a week. Then, her husband learned about The 567 Center’s pottery studio from a neighbor. He knew she would welcome the opportunity to work on pottery more often, and he gave her a studio membership as a gift. Being part of The 567’s pottery studio allowed Roban to work on her pottery at any time. With the additional practice she was able to develop her skills and experiment with different techniques. She learned from the other potters in the studio who work together and freely share tips, and she was able to create a larger variety of ceramic work. She also enjoyed being able to sell some pieces through The 567’s gallery.
Around one year after she started her studio membership, a friend and fellow studio member asked her to sell pottery with her at The 567’s All Hands Art Festival. Roban knew she would have to work hard to create enough pieces to make it worthwhile, but she was up to the challenge. When the festival came around, it was definitely worth the work she put in. Roban experienced the biggest sales weekend she ever had since she started making pottery! She loved selling at a festival focused on art made with clay, glass, metal or wood.
14. Johnnie
Johnnie has been helping people make pottery at The 567 Center for several years, whether at Open Studio Night, summer camps, or pottery wheel classes like Beginning Wheel. Johnnie says, "I love teaching at The 567 because of the people. It's a really friendly atmosphere." You might also see her son and budding ceramicist, Jack, with her around the studio. When she's not teaching at The 567, she's teaching art at K. B. Sutton Elementary School in Forsyth. Her experience teaching in elementary school is probably what makes her so patient with her adult students! We are lucky to have her as an instructor, and we appreciate all the ways she helps in the studio.
15. Molly
Molly was nonverbal as a young child, and drawing with her great-grandmother was the way she communicated with the world. At age 6, she started talking, but she never gave up drawing and painting. Two years ago, her passion for art became a profession. She heard about The 567 from a friend and reached out about teaching. She had taught art other places, but she loved how welcoming The 567 was and how easy the staff made it for her to teach. The 567 provides all the supplies and spends time on outreach, so artists can focus more on teaching. She also loves how The 567 attracts people from across Middle Georgia who really want to make art, from beginners to more advanced. Molly loves making art, but she really loves being able to share it with others through teaching, and especially in the community she’s found at The 567.