In 2022, Kendra Walker made a big splash in the Atlanta art scene. By launching the inaugural Atlanta Art Week, she quickly established Atlanta as a city worthy of national and international attention for the arts. 

Now in its third year, Walker is busy preparing for the third iteration of this annual artistic tradition taking place from Sept. 30 through Oct. 6. This year’s highlights include the Coca-Cola Art Collection, Atlanta Contemporary, Spelman Museum, the Atlanta University Consortium (AUC), and Georgia Tech. 

At the Goat Farm, joining this year for the first time, “Site” will feature a variety of art installations, exhibitions, and performances. Another major highlight is the traveling exhibition “Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” which will be presented at the Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art in Kennesaw. 

I recently had the opportunity to learn more about  story and what led her to founding Atlanta’s preeminent city-wide art week celebrating contemporary art. 

Describing herself as a southern belle with southern roots, Walker was born and raised in Warner Robins, Georgia and moved to Atlanta a decade ago to attend Georgia State University. There, she received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and minored in Fine Art. During her tenure, she joined a study abroad program in Europe during her senior year. “That’s where my entire reality shifted as far as what was possible for a career in this space,” said Walker.

After graduating from college, Walker interned with Arnicka Dawkins, owner of Arnicka Dawkins Gallery in the Cascade neighborhood on the westside of Atlanta. In that internship she learned the business side of fine art. Later, she further developed her understanding of artistic careers when she interned at Art Papers.

And then, Covid happened. Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, many art buyers turned to online resources for collecting works which represented a significant shift in the art scene. People stayed home, and as a result the community aspect of art events went into hibernation. 

The idea to launch Atlanta Art Week was inspired in large part by Walker’s extensive travels. When the pandemic eased off and restrictions were finally lifted, Walker was able to resume traveling both domestically and internationally including visits to Ghana, Africa. During this time she took note of how other cities operated and how their art scenes were promoted to the world at large. 

“When I’m traveling around I’m noticing there’s not one of these moments for Atlanta,” explained Walker. “Every time I traveled my friends in other art cities were asking about what’s happening in Atlanta, and this was a way to create that and again just really push Atlanta into having a moment in that art fair calendar. That’s kind of the inception [of the] idea.”

In 2022 Walker, at only 26 years old, launched the first Atlanta Art Week. The inaugural event attracted 2,000 ticket holders and featured more than 20 galleries, institutions, projects, and cultural partners across the city. The event quickly garnered attention from artists, art lovers, and media outlets both locally and beyond. 

“Initially it was just like how can we push the Atlanta community forward in a way that other art scenes and art collectors and enthusiasts find it palatable?” Walker posited. 

Publications such as The New York Times, The Art Newspaper, Galerie Magazine, AJC, ArtsAtlanta, Artsy, and Essence have covered Walker’s efforts to build Atlanta Art Week. Through hard work and a dedication to local artists, Walker has positioned Atlanta as a cultural destination, and established the event as a community celebration centered around art. In addition to her work as an art advisor, Walker is also an arts writer that has contributed much to the conversation around emerging and established Black artists in the Southeast. 

Last year, the week-long offerings expanded to more than 40 galleries, museums, and cultural partners. Building upon the success of the past two years, Walker is now looking ahead at a stacked calendar of artistic experiences spanning the vast metro area. 

The 2024 Atlanta Art Week programming is still in its final stages of development, and final participants have not been announced yet, but if the organization’s growing online reach is any indication, it will certainly be bigger and better than ever. 

To learn more about the event and make a plan to attend this year’s festivities, go online to the Atlanta Art Week website and give them a follow on Instagram.