3 Atlanta Museum Shows You Won’t Want to Miss

Seeing the regular exhibits at a museum is all well and good, but the real reason you’d want to come back time after time is to see all the new exhibitions and special events that bring something truly unique to the area. Here are some of the upcoming shows at Atlanta, Georgia museums that anyone local to the region won’t want to miss.

The Center for Puppetry Arts

Puppetry is about much more than just socks with googly eyes and felt hand puppets. It includes every sort of human figure you can manipulate by hand, such as marionettes, shadow figures, and much more. And while puppets are mainly used to entertain kids, an expert puppeteer can also captivate adult audiences with truly stirring performances.

The Center for Puppetry Arts, located just off the I-75/I-85 turnpike on Spring Street, covers the whole spectrum and delves into the art form’s history. Last November, the Center reopened after renovations that let them display the world’s largest collection of Jim Henson puppets, and until September 2017 they’ll have a special exhibit that celebrates the 30th anniversary of his movie Labyrinth.

The High Museum of Art

The High Museum is just a couple blocks down from the Center for Puppetry Arts, over on Peachtree Street. Like the name implies, the High Museum is Atlanta’s premier art museum, with a permanent collection that includes artwork from three continents, modern and contemporary pieces, photographs, and a long list of rotating exhibitions that spotlight different artists, sculptors, and photographers. At the moment, you can see wood sculptures by Gordon W. Bailey until October 30, interactive sculptures by Jaimie Hayon, and the art of children’s illustrator Eric Carle.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights

The Center for Civil and Human Rights documents the struggle both in America and throughout the world of oppressed peoples as they try to get the right to make their governments hear their voices and to live without fearing for their lives and their property. Most of the galleries in the Center stay the same year after year, but one gallery features new exhibits regularly, exhibits that tell the story of people as they struggle throughout the world.

Right now, the rotating exhibit is “Every Line Is a Song Each Shape Is a Story,” a piece about the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy that points out that terms like “American Indian” and “Native American” refer to hundreds of different tribes and populations, each with their own independent history. This exhibit will only be around until January 2017, and you can find the Center at the north end of Centennial Olympic Park, which is where you can also find the World of Coca-Cola, the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Atlanta is a city with plenty of culture to spare, a place where you can find museums and other centers of high art, popular art, science, and history standing shoulder to shoulder. If one museum doesn’t interest you, you’ll probably find something that will just a short walk away.