artist in atlanta commute to chattanooga (Savannah: home, neighborhood, school)

[ryne]

I just moved to Atlanta,
I have a job 8:30am Tuesday mornings in Chattanooga
What's the best time to leave Atlanta ? (& return Tuesday night after 4:30pm)
Also, as an artist (painter) where can I meet my people in Atlanta?
thank you for any help you can offer.

[netdragon]

Gosh, poor you. You're going to want to leave something like 5:45AM if you want to guarantee you make it there on time and give yourself some breathing room until you get more familiar with the route and can start cutting it closer. I'd start driving home so that you hit Atlanta after rush hour... Maybe leave Chattanooga at 5PM.

Someday... Atlanta - Chattanooga - Savannah maglev :-)

[atlantagreg30127]

Yeah, 3 hours sounds good. You might hit it lucky and breeze through quicker, but if there are any problems it can be hairy. If you want to be extremely cautious leave at 5am. You can always eat breakfast up there if you get there too early.

As far as meeting others, what type? I mean, yeah, you're a painter, but are you an older or younger person? More "old school" artist, or are you body pierced and tattooed? Funky or vanilla? Be more specific about the type of folks you like to hang out with besides just "artists" and folks will no doubt be able to steer you toward some groups or areas of town where they hang out.

[ryne]

ugh! maybe i'll leave Monday night & crash on someone's couch. thanks!
atlantagreg30127, ur so right, i'm not used to writing personal ads, haha,
i'm 41, female, laid back and totally open to all kinds of people, music. i like friendly open-minded radical thinking funny people, i search for cutting edge and also enjoy the classics, i like poetry, reading, great films and finding art in all things and everybody.
my biggest problem is that i've been living in a 'cave' for 15 years....but i'm venturing out & i like to spend time by myself too. Atlanta seems like such a great mix of unique people doing their own thing. i like that.
anyway, thanks for your help w/commute nightmare.

[atlantagreg30127]

You might want to look around on the meet up web site and see if there are any clubs in the area for artists/painters: Meetup: World's largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups! - Meetup.com . If you don't find one, heck, you can start one on that site.

The Little Five Points area is the "funky" neighborhood in Atlanta. It's more heavy on the hippy/goth/hard metal/spiked hair/pierced types, though there are a lot of artists that hang out and live around there. Some like it, others think it's too gritty, but if you like funky that's it. The Midtown and Virginia Highlands area have a fair number of somewhat more traditional artsy types living in the area.

When I moved here long ago at 18, I was (I thought) headed for a career in illustration. I later took up photography which is what I do on the side now. I was kinda discouraged with the arts groups here myself, as I was used to a more "earthy Appalachian" type of people - maybe borderline rainbow child hippy if anything, and wasn't used to the more radical spiked hair tattooed types you find more often than not here. Here it does seem to be the hard core rads intown and the Martha Stewart crafts type in the burbs. LOL.. but you can find others if you look around, too.