A rural Rembrandt? An accomplished folk artisan in north Georgia displays his wares. Photograph by Will Van Overbeek

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If nature is the art of God, then northern Georgia is an artistic place. But the art of nature is not what has drawn me to the Peach State. I’m slowpoking along the back roads seeking out folk art, the art of the people. In the last decade, art lovers have raised American folk art to a stature it hasn’t enjoyed since the heyday of Grandma Moses. The area between Atlanta and Georgia’s northern border is a hotbed of rural art. Here the biblical and supernatural merge with natural beauty and natural disaster, flavored by everyday life. You can drive a loop starting and ending in Atlanta that takes in the regional beauty while connecting the homes of numerous folk artists, most of whom welcome visitors.

Roadside stops offer respite, and old-time ambience, to travelers on the folk art trail in north Georgia. Photograph by Will Van Overbeek

I’m no expert on folk art but I’m becoming a fan. I marvel at its twin visions of harmony and apocalypse, its humility and humor, its garish colors that should not go together but do. What these artists lack in formal training they make up for in sense of wonder. Their art is shaped by their culture, which is bound to the landscape around them—the mountains, lakes, valleys, and waterfalls, the farmland, and the defiant wilderness.

Excerpted from “In Search of Georgia’s Rural Rembrandts” by John Morthland. Read the complete article in the March 2000 issue of TRAVELER.