Unlikely Pair Showcases Art in Oakhurst

By BILL BANKS - For the Journal-Constitution

Published on: 11/17/04

When Jill Alikonis and Bill Bibb met in a photography class five years ago it seemed that, besides for the camera, they had almost nothing in common.

She is now 31, single, and not long removed from her college years at Wake Forest. He is 55, married for the past 31 years, and a Vietnam vet.

RENEÉ HANNANS HENRY / Staff

Jill Alikonis (left), a partner in the Seen Gallery, and April Stephens, its curator, stand with the works of several artists. The gallery opens an exhibit Saturday that features Atlanta landmarks.

"During our first class," Alikonis recalled, "we had to stand and introduce ourselves to the rest of the class. I said, 'My name is Jill and I'm a bartender.' Then he announced, 'My name is Bill and I'm a microbiologist,' and I thought, 'My gosh, I must be in the wrong class.' "

But they wound up becoming friends and ultimately business partners. In October 2002, Alikonis and Bibb opened the Seen Gallery in Oakhurst Village, inside a wing of the old Scottish Rite Children's Hospital.

Into 2,300 square feet they've packed a staggering array of photography, paintings, pottery, jewelry, textiles, metal work, wood work, ceramics and textiles. The Seen currently represents 53 artists whose work it either buys outright or commissions for retail sale.

"We don't discriminate against media," Alikonis said, laughing. "That's more Bill's doing. He's a dreamer, a big-picture guy. I'm very pragmatic and details oriented."

Every month to six weeks the Seen features a thematic exhibition in its main gallery. The current exhibit, opening Saturday and running through Christmas Eve, may prove its most popular. Entitled "Seen in Atlanta," the show is composed entirely of images detailing Atlanta landmarks.

Originally "Seen in Atlanta" was conceived to showcase etchings artist Katherine Linn, whose work includes linocut, or creating scenes by cutting into a linoleum block with hand tools and gouges. By applying ink-covered paper to the linoleum cuts she often produces extremely intricate portraits — for instance, renderings of Ponce de Leon's Majestic Diner and North Highland's Manuel's Tavern are in the current exhibit.

"Seen in Atlanta" also includes work from painters Sherrie Maurer and James Dean. A former Oakhurst resident, Dean's work has received attention largely through his ubiquitous blue feline, Pete the Cat. Dean places Pete in a variety of contexts, in a Volkswagen, for instance, or in a Parisian cave drinking coffee, or smack in the middle of van Gogh's "Starry Night" or, memorably, in the arms of the Mona Lisa.

Additionally, the exhibition features photography from Bibb, Alikonis and the gallery's curator, April Stephens.

Bibb, an immunologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, began photography in the mid-1960s when he was an undergraduate majoring in physics at Georgia Tech. He met Alikonis at a time when she decided to pursue photography full time — she had applied to and been rejected by 26 medical schools over six years.

Bibb had long wanted to open his own gallery, and in Alikonis he had finally found, in his words, "the perfect partner."

Alikonis says she isn't fooled by that flattering description. "When he says we need to do such and such, that basically means I need to do such and such," she said. "Bill loves to do what he calls 'brainstorm,' but meantime I'm trying to handle all his past brainstorms."

In the end, however, they strike a seamless artistic and business balance.

"Everything we have," Bibb said, "is made by hand. That's the bottom line. Artists have poured their passion into this work. And more and more, that's what customers want. They want to get away from the assembly line stuff, from the mundane mall mentality."

— To learn more about the Seen Gallery, call 404-377-0733, or see www.theseengallery.com.