{"id":10844,"date":"2018-10-24T16:54:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T20:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atl.com\/?p=10844"},"modified":"2018-10-24T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T21:10:51","slug":"atl-becomes-second-home-and-inspiration-to-self-taught-artist-and-airport-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/atl-becomes-second-home-and-inspiration-to-self-taught-artist-and-airport-employee\/","title":{"rendered":"ATL Becomes Second Home and Inspiration to Self-Taught Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jennifer Ogunsola<\/b><\/p>\n

Communications Manager<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

For many people, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is more than an airport \u2014 it\u2019s home. With more than 60,000 employees, ATL is a place where careers begin, friendships are forged and dreams are supported, recognized and fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Atlanta, Erin Foster\u2019s first time in the Airport was eight years ago during a job interview with Hojeij Branded Foods for a hostess position at SweetWater Brewhouse<\/em>. At 18 years old, Erin graduated from high school and was looking to make enough money that would allow her to take care of herself while pursuing an art degree at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).<\/p>\n

Foster was hired, and little did she know that ATL would become a second home to her and support her passion for art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was in the first grade that Foster began coloring and drawing, and she loved it, but so did the other kids in her class. It wasn\u2019t until the fourth grade that she began to draw people and they were recognizable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I remember my grandmother saying, \u2018Okay, she can really draw,\u2019 so she always made sure that I was in art programs in school,\u201d Foster shared.<\/p>\n

As she got older, she became an extremely talented artist, which led her to SCAD. As Foster was looking to start work before school began, she was introduced to the restaurant business at the Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw how much money servers could make and I thought that it would be perfect for taking care of myself and helping me while I was a student at SCAD,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Within the first year of working at SweetWater<\/em> on Concourse A, which was her very first job, Foster discovered the Airport\u2019s annual Employee Art Exhibit, a program led by the National Arts Program. The program encourages ATL employees and members of their immediate families to participate in a professional visual arts exhibition and offers cash prizes for top works.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During her first year as an employee, she entered the Employee Art Exhibit and won second place. Foster has entered every year since then, and while she hasn\u2019t reached first place just yet, she has sold every art piece entered except for one.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old self-taught artist, whose focus is primarily pointillism portraits, seems to be doing pretty well, as most of her artwork is commissioned by individuals. To date, her most expensive piece has sold for $500. In this year\u2019s annual Employee Art Exhibit, her framed pointillism portrait of an African American woman titled, \u201cLouisiana Nights,\u201d sold quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought that I would be here eight years later,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to the Airport to make a living as I worked to put myself through art school, but to my surprise the world\u2019s busiest airport had an employee art program that has allowed me to also pursue my passion of art with fellow Airport employees who are extremely talented and love art as much as I do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

After her first semester, she left SCAD because the tuition proved to be a little more than she could handle, and focused more on work. In that year, she began to make a name for herself in the Airport, proving to be reliable, hard-working and a quick learner.<\/p>\n

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Today, Foster works as the assistant manager of InMotion Entertainment<\/em> on Concourse A as well as a part-time server at Papi\u2019s Cuban & Caribbean Grill <\/em>on Concourse T.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud to work at Atlanta\u2019s airport,\u201d Foster shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that I get to meet new people who walk through this Airport every single day, and each one has a unique story or a situation that they are facing, and I get to, if only for a moment, add joy to their day\u2026 you can meet and talk to someone for 15 minutes, and that interaction can completely change your mindset and feelings towards something or theirs, and I think that experience is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Foster is back in school and thinking of working towards her master\u2019s degree so that she can become college art professor, she appreciates that she can work for a company that appreciates art and contributes to her growth as a professional as well as an artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe employee art program at the Airport has definitely opened my eyes to different types of art and throughout the years I’ve seen this program evolve into a beautiful mixture of talent,\u201d Foster shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople would be surprised that there is everyone \u2013 from award-winning sculptors to art students to retired Delta employees \u2013 who do art on the side and work here at the Airport. This airport doesn\u2019t have to focus on art, but they do, and they have built an art community that is about coming together and supporting, sharing and celebrating everyone\u2019s talents, and I am proud to be a part of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Jennifer Ogunsola Communications Manager For many people, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is more than an airport \u2014 it\u2019s home. With more than 60,000 employees, ATL is a place where careers begin, friendships are forged and dreams are supported, recognized and fulfilled. Born and raised in Atlanta, Erin Foster\u2019s first time in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":10848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atlstories","category-employees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10844"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10878,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10844\/revisions\/10878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}