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Amy Sherald, the Columbus-born artist who painted former first lady Michelle Obama’s official portrait, is on the inaugural TIME100 Art list and is the first living painter to appear solo on the magazine’s cover in 50 years.

Sherald remembers being one of only several Black students attending a private school in Columbus. According to the National Museum of Women in Art, she credits this experience as shaping how she thinks about race and identity in her work.

Paul Pierce, retired producing artistic director of the Springer Opera House, grew up in Rome, Georgia, but his family ties to southern Georgia stretch back seven generations. Pierce’s ancestors moved to Georgia after purchasing land through the 1827 Land Lottery, an act which redistributed native people’s land to settlers. When Pierce moved to Columbus to work at the Springer, he researched his family’s history in the region and met Mac Moye, a local historian and steward of the Singer-Moye Mounds with his wife, Georgia.

A exhibition of Columbus native Coulter Fussell’s art, “The Proving Ground,” her first museum-organized retrospective, is now open at the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia and will run until Jan. 3, 2027.

Coulter Fussell turned a Tupelo, Mississippi, mall T-shirt, beaver tails and a clogger’s petticoat into an entire exhibition, and now it will be displayed at the Columbus Museum. “The Proving Ground,” her first museum-organized retrospective, opens this weekend and will run until Jan. 3.

The Columbus Museum (COMU) will present “Coulter Fussell: The Proving Ground,” opening September 12, 2026. Born in Columbus and now based in Water Valley, Mississippi, Fussell transforms donated textiles, photographs, clothing, and found objects into richly layered quilt-based works that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and storytelling. Organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and curated by Kaegan Sparks, Associate Curator of Exhibitions, “The Proving Ground” is the first museum-organized retrospective of Fussell’s career.

The exhibition brings together more than 40 large-scale sewn collages and mixed-media installations spanning five major series created since 2020, tracing the evolution of her practice from traditional quilting formats toward increasingly sculptural works incorporating upholstery techniques, photography, and digital projection.

Fussell’s materials are gathered through a word-of-mouth network of friends, family, neighbors, and strangers. Bed linens, used clothing, household objects, and other discarded materials become the building blocks of works that explore memory, family, place, and the changing landscapes of the American South.

As Fussell explains, “It’s been lived in, loved on, cast off; it has a history you can see and feel.”

Georgia may be known for its peaches and its Southern charm, but the state’s museum scene is something that deserves far more attention than it typically gets. From Atlanta’s world-renowned aquarium to the quiet brilliance of smaller regional institutions, Georgia has assembled a collection of museums that can genuinely hold your full day’s attention. The variety is remarkable: natural history, civil rights, fine art, western art, military aviation, and more, all within a state that most visitors underestimate culturally. Some of these institutions have achieved national recognition, while others remain hidden gems waiting to be discovered by curious travelers.

Here are ten of Georgia’s biggest and most rewarding museums that we could have explored all day long.

Georgia is packed with museums that turn a regular trip into a story filled art, science, trains, airplanes, history, and hands-on fun for kids, teens, and grown ups alike across the state all year long.
From Atlanta to Savannah, each stop offers something different, so travelers can match their interests with exhibits that feel exciting, surprising, and easy to remember long after the vacation ends back home for friends too.

“From the beginning, this Museum was envisioned as a gathering place—a place where people could learn, create, and connect. Over the past 70 years, generations of community support have helped the Museum grow. In 2024, we completed a transformative $30 million renovation that reimagined the galleries, exhibitions, and public spaces while preserving the historic character that makes COMU so special. This project allowed us to create a more welcoming, accessible, and engaging experience for every visitor, from lifelong art enthusiasts to families discovering the Museum for the first time.”