As I was traveling mindlessly down Highway 53 towards the outlets a sudden sign caught my eye.
Frenchy Fry Land. 3 miles.
Look. French fries are one of my main food groups. Just typing the words "french fries" is making me hungry. Needless to say, if I hadn't been running late I would have stop and started trespassing.
But I was almost laaaatteeeee to an appointment so I kept going... but I kept my eyes peeled for more signs. And later, I began my investigation. And to my delight, the results were instant gratification.
Frenchy Fry Land wasn't a lone and singular sign. There were more!
The man behind the sign is BlackCatTips, or Kyle Brooks. He's an Atlanta based artist with some North Georgia ties and he left us a few things to play with over the summer while he was living up this way.
"At the root of it all, it's just something fun, something a little different, make them wonder or hopefully laugh or smile. I have had some people get upset they couldn't find the Frenchy Fry Land, maybe deep down I wanted a basket of frenchy fries too."
Inspired by two old posts on the hill, Brooks got to work assembling something to fit the spot.
"I don't know exactly how I came up with Frenchy Fry Land. I just try to paint and sometimes these words just pop in my head. And I don't try to judge myself, I just try to develop and idea. But I kept driving past those posts and I made that sign just for that spot."
The Frenchy Fry Land sign on 53 was one of several Brooks put up while he was up in the North Georgia mountains. Two others included the "Welcome Back Jack" sign in front of Mincey Marble and the "Hot Fish" sign that was also along Browns Bridge. Those two signs he says have since wandered off.
Not to worry, though. Brooks said he has a little rule not to leave an area he visits without making something to leave behind. He has an art residency coming up in 2017 and said there might be a little trail of breadcrumbs in the works.
He told me there are still a few pieces up that way, off 400. You may recognize his work if you've ever been to the Atlanta Beltline - which features a very large mural and several other works by Brooks - or the Rabun County Library, where a mini-mural is on display. And if you have a Samsung phone with the Weather Channel app, you've probably seen his art too.
"This year, earlier, I had met with a company called Edgar Allen. They had teamed up with the Weather Channel. At first I was going to make a mural for them," said Brooks. "The Weather Channel liked these things I put out, the street folk art, the things I make that are interacting with the environment they're in the middle of."
Brooks said they wanted to capture the weather and how it feels with his art.
"We started out making a whole lot of different kinds of pieces, some things on wood, some things on signs, all sorts of painted pieces, and then we put them out and photographed them in several spots here in Georgia."
Another thing Brooks works with is poetry. Some of his roadside art are little poems tacked to power poles or old sign boards.
"I used to write music... and then I began concentrating more on my art. And the art is connected to words and I think there's a power in words and I like to, for most things I paint, put some sort of words in it. Usually these things are just things that might run through my head while I'm painting.
Over the last few years I've developed what I've called street poems. Most of them are one to three or four fence slats or strips of wood. I write out words and then I like to lay 'em out and see which ones go with which ones and see what interesting connections I can start out with. Then, I'll put 'em up on an old telephone pole or some old post by the road."
Brooks said he makes batches of them and then goes and puts them out.
"Different people can connect different things to it. Like, a mom and a kid will see one and they'll have a little story they talk about on their way to school. Or maybe it meant something funny to me. I guess it's just a weird conversation starter!"
But most importantly, Brooks wants his art to make those connections.
"One thing I learned about leaving art out in the world is once you walk away, you don't know what's going to happen to it," said Brooks. "Sometimes it has a long life, and sometimes it doesn't stay long for all kinds of reasons. But that's just part of it. I do put them up so people can build a connection or a relationship with the different ones and I hope that they last a while. I'm glad the Frenchy Fry is still up on that hill."
I'm glad it is, too. Maybe I'm just excessively sentimental, but there was something about the Frenchy Fry Land sign made me feel some type of way, especially the more I learned about it. I think one of the cool things about public art is that often, it is fleeting. It must be appreciated now, because you don't know when it will disappear. It begins that cycle of sharing - it doesn't matter if its a conversation with the stranger standing next to you or on an online forum or social media. They almost live and breathe along with us.
This is the last blog of 2016 and in the new year, I'd like to look at more art here on the blog. Art makes me happy. Art brings me a lot of joy. And in North Georgia, we are very lucky to have a lot of art at our fingertips - and local artists who are willing to share their passions with us.
But don't worry if art isn't your thing - I have plans for the quirky, unusual, historical and different too.
Happy Holidays to you and yours and, as always, stay curious.
