Automobile Art Exhibit Opens at Railway Museum

“Drove(s),” an art exhibition that looks at the culture of automobiles, our dependence of them and their impact on the environment, opens today (Jan. 12) at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. The art is hanging on the walls of the recently restored 1871 Duluth Train Depot that was relocated to the museum.

The exhibit includes works by local artists and others from around the country. It continues through Saturday, Feb. 11. Current museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. America developed an early love affair with cars and the freedom that they promised. Frequent design changes and new technologies created a sense of disposability and a desire for the newest model.

Demand throughout the 20th century helped drive the American economy, but also led to an overabundance of automobiles and serious environmental impacts, according to an announcement about the exhibit.   The automobile caused dramatic changes in American cities and created suburban sprawl for many miles around urban centers. With the car as the only practical means of transportation, there are often massive traffic jams, and suburban residents face daily commuting along overcrowded highways with auto emissions polluting the environment.

The exhibit features artworks and photographs by Tim Barnwell, Andrew Bush, Bill Daniel, Veronica de Jesus, Brian Dettmer, John Duckworth, Peter Essick, Walker Evans, John Gutman, Brian Holcombe, Lauren Hughes, Michael Koehler, Joey Kotting, Christopher McNulty, Rondal Partridge, Ben Roosevelt, Brian St. Cyr, Chip Simone, Mark Steinmetz, Christian Tedeschi, and Bruce Wrighton.

The Southeastern Railway Museum is Georgia’s Official Transportation History Museum. In operation since 1970, it occupies a 35-acre site off Buford Highway. The museum’s collection  includes about 90 pieces of historic locomotives, passenger and freight cars, and maintenance vehicles. The museum also exhibits historic automobiles, firefighting equipment, and buses from MARTA and its predecessors.