Georgia State’s Welch School Presents Exhibition Celebrating Legacy of Artist Larry M. Walker

ATLANTA - The Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University has announced "Where Being Takes Root: Works by Southern Artists From the Larry M. and Gwendolyn E. Walker Collection," a landmark exhibition opening June 4 and running through Oct. 15 in the Welch School Galleries. The exhibition celebrates the artistic vision, mentorship and lasting cultural influence of acclaimed artist, GSU professor emeritus and former Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Director Larry M. Walker (1935-2023), whose personal collection of over 300 works was gifted to the university following his death.

About the Exhibition

Curated by Lauren Jackson Harris, "Where Being Takes Root" considers the South not merely as a geographic location but as a lived experience that shapes artistic methods and ways of seeing. Drawing from the Walker Collection, the exhibition presents works by artists whose practices are deeply rooted in the region's history, culture and environment through clay pulled from red earth, wood shaped by humid climates, textiles bearing the memory of domestic labor and mark-making that echoes the Southern landscape.

The exhibition spans two gallery spaces: a large gallery featuring works from the broader collection, and an intimate gallery dedicated to the Walker family. Artists on view include Charles White, Radcliffe Bailey, Kevin Cole, Bethany Collins, Benny Andrews, David Driskell, Steve Prince and Kara Walker, among many others, and luminaries who were friends, colleagues and mentees of Larry Walker throughout his remarkable career.

The Walker Family Gallery features work by Larry Walker himself alongside pieces by his wife Gwen Walker and children Dana Walker, Larry Walker Jr. and Kara Walker, a MacArthur Fellow and internationally acclaimed artist, offering a rare and intimate portrait of a family united by art.

"'Where Being Takes Root' underscores how the South fosters modes of making that embody storytelling, knowledge and relational exchange," said Harris, the curator. "Through the Walker legacy, the exhibition proposes that being artistic, cultural and communal does not emerge in isolation but is cultivated through sustained engagement from where one is rooted."

"Where Being Takes Root" will open with a public reception June 4 and close Oct. 15 following a reception Oct. 8. Additional programming will be announced in the coming weeks. All events are free and open to the public.

About Larry M. Walker

Born in Franklin, Ga., in 1935 and raised in New York City, Larry M. Walker earned his bachelor's degree in arts education and an M.A. in Drawing and Painting from Wayne State University in Detroit. He joined Georgia State University's faculty and became the first Black director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design, a distinction that reflects both his professional distinction and his lifelong commitment to equity in arts education.

Over decades of teaching, Walker befriended and mentored generations of artists across Atlanta and the Southeast. His practice reflected an understanding of artmaking as both a disciplined craft and a communal exchange of knowledge, an ethos that lives on through the collection he and Gwen so thoughtfully assembled. In 2018, the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia (MOCA GA) hosted a two-part retrospective of his work spanning 1961 to 2017.

About the Collection

The Larry M. and Gwendolyn E. Walker Collection encompasses more than 300 works including prints, photographs, drawings, paintings, collages, watercolors and sculptures accumulated over a lifetime of travel, friendship and artistic exchange. The collection was donated to Georgia State University following Larry Walker's passing in 2023, with the Walker family, including Gwen Walker, Dana Walker, Larry Walker Jr. and Kara Walker, overseeing its careful transition to campus.

The collection supports student education, archival research, curatorial training and public programming at the Welch School. A dedicated interdisciplinary committee of faculty and staff is developing long-term plans for its care and pedagogical use, including a newly established Museum Practices course within the B.I.S. in Arts Administration and B.A. in Art History programs.

About Lauren Jackson Harris

Lauren Jackson Harris is a curator, cultural strategist and the recently announced executive director of Dashboard. She serves as curator of "Where Being Takes Root," having organized exhibitions for institutions including Atlanta Contemporary Art, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair. Her practice is rooted in the relationships among artists, institutions and the communities they serve, with a particular commitment to amplifying the legacies of artists whose work has shaped the American South and beyond.