Cat Eye Creative lights up the night with ‘illumine’ at Oakland Cemetery

For the second year in a row, Adam Crawford of Cat Eye Creative is making magic in a most unusual place — the cemetery. On Thursday, April 16, illumine will once again transform the lush, manicured grounds of the Historic Oakland Cemetery into an immersive arts experience with installations, projection art, live music, a pop-up shop and refreshments.

Crawford, who grew up in Atlanta and has had his own relationship with the cemetery since he was a kid, says that curating this event is particularly exciting for him as an extension of his gallery work. “I’ve had some history here, but an event like this is super special because it makes you highlight parts of the cemetery you haven’t been to before or haven’t thought about, and it takes curation outside of a white box gallery into more of an installation and immersive experience,” said Crawford. 

“Coming back [for] our second year and [taking] the feedback we had from the first year — what kind of experiences do people want to see: more interactive, more immersive, colorful, sculptural — and then pairing that with the right places in the cemetery, both for placement but also for the artist’s ideas,” he explained is a bit like assembling a puzzle. Illumine is a fundraiser for Oakland Cemetery, which supports the Historic Oakland Foundation’s commitment to preserving, restoring and beautifying the cemetery, which is also one of Atlanta’s oldest greenspaces. 

This year, Crawford is bringing in a few returning artists as well as newcomers to participate. In the planning, he has to consider several factors to bring to life a successful curation in this unusual space. The safety of the patrons, which can number 1,200 to 1,500 per night, plus the placement of the installations, the ways in which the experiences overlap or interact with one another and the flow of the event are all important to the overall success of the event.

Visitors can expect to traverse the original 6 acres of the cemetery, as a nod to the Historic Oakland Foundation’s 50-year anniversary; this year it is focused on the concept of foundations. The self-guided tour will wind through the historic Jewish Hill section of the cemetery and adjacent to some of the cemetery’s most famous residents, including golfer Bobby Jones and former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell, as well as Kenny Rogers’ iconic black granite monument. 

Patrons will experience suspended installations by local beloved artists such as Eddie Farr’s technology-infused light sculpture and Christina Kwan’s innovative painting translated into an explosion of brush strokes coming out from a tree. VAYNE, an artist who is perhaps most known for his style writing and graffiti skills, will also return for the second year and will be creating a faux mausoleum inspired by the idea of a graffiti artist’s legacy. Meanwhile, Atlanta-based artist and educator Marcia R. Cohen was inspired by her Jewish heritage to unite traditional death practices through puppetry work in the Jewish Hill section of the route. 

Other work to look out for include an interactive LED lighting display by Jordan Oleson-Graves, Daniel Phelps’ large-scale projection titled Elementālis on the historic entry archway, a two-part wooden panel mural that explores how literal and figurative roots can pass down through history by Vanna Black and Fabian Williams’ 3D sculpture and hologram of DNA called Generations. The High Museum of Art will also join the festivities, featuring a retrospective of the late photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard, whose works are now on view in the museum through May 10.

Also new this year is the inclusion of The Neon Company, founded by Gregg Brenner in 1983, to provide unique directional lighting for the event. Known for its neon art, gifts and signage, the company has developed a longstanding reputation for excellent neon craftsmanship which has even landed them in major motion pictures and television spots. Calling its installations “neon candy,” Crawford commended Brenner and his team for their professionalism and collaborative spirit in developing a plan that is functional and safe for the historic property.

While the event is intended to be viewed at night over the course of two weekends — running from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, through Sunday, April 19, and again on Thursday April 23, through Sunday April 26 — Crawford says there is a different perspective that can be gained by visiting during the day throughout the run of the installations as well. Additionally, visitors are invited to climb into the historic bell tower to get a view from above, offering the curious a unique birds’-eye view of the works below. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, head over to the Oakland Cemetery website. Pro-tip from ArtsATL: There will be a free piece of artwork hidden somewhere in the cemetery on each night of the installation. “It’s a really great way to experience the cemetery in a different light,” said Crawford. And, yes, he means that literally.

Isadora Pennington is ArtsATL’s senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.