Curious about the High’s history? Celebrate 100 years with us by taking a look back at the institution’s evolution, while also looking forward at the next 100 years. Join Associate Director, Institutional Research Julia Forbes and Senior Curator of American Art and Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art Katherine Jentleson for a conversation moderated by WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News Anchor Wendy Corona. Together, they’ll discuss three transformative moments in the museum’s history, their impact on Atlanta, and their implications for our future as Atlanta’s art museum.
100 Years of Art in Atlanta
October 18, 2026 | 3–4 p.m.
Location: High Museum of Art
Registration Required
Ticket includes access to the block party, public conversation, and museum admission.
Ticket includes access to the block party, public conversation, and museum admission.
Speakers
Julia Forbes
Julia Forbes is the High Museum of Art’s Associate Director of Institutional Research. She is responsible for designing, implementing, and reporting on quantitative and qualitative research studies regarding the High’s impact. Prior to her current position, Forbes served for over eighteen years as the Shannon Landing Amos Head of Museum Interpretation and is a founding member of the Association for Art Museum Interpretation. She holds degrees in Art History and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a master’s degree from the George Washington University in Art History/Museum Training.
Katherine “Katie” Jentleson, PhD
Katherine “Katie” Jentleson, PhD, is Senior Curator of American Art and the Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art at the High Museum of Art. Since joining the High in 2015, she has curated ten exhibitions, including Patterns in Abstraction: Black Quilts from the High’s Collection, George Voronovsky: Memoryscapes (2023), and Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, which has toured the country from 2021 through 2025. Her exhibitions and publications have been awarded major support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Art Bridges Foundation, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. She has grown the High’s internationally renowned folk and self-taught art collection by more than six hundred objects, including major acquisitions of work by Voronovsky, Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, the Gee’s Bend quilters, and Henry Church. Jentleson holds a BA from Cornell University and a PhD in art history from Duke University.
Wendy Corona
Wendy Corona joined Channel 2 Action News in January 2013. She anchors Channel 2 Action News at 4 and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and also reports daily throughout the metro. Wendy has hosted numerous special event broadcasts from sporting to philanthropic gala events and finds joy connecting with the community this way. She is a board member for Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School, who graduated its first class in Georgia in May 2018. Wendy is especially supportive of in the areas of women’s health, education, literacy projects and domestic violence. Born and raised in Southern California, Wendy is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, fluent in Spanish and the first in her entire family to graduate from college. Wendy graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Spanish.
Related Events
The High is taking over Peachtree Street to throw a 100th birthday bash you won’t forget. Join us for a free Block Party featuring live music, DJs, art-making, food vendors and special surprises.
Join us for a day of free admission and drop-in programming for adults of all ages! Whether you like to explore on your own, join a conversation, or create art, there is something for you. Come as you are and stay as long as you like.
The High turns 100 this year, and we’re marking it with a party worthy of a century of secrets. Join us Friday, October 30 for A Haunting at 100, a Halloween night unlike anything else the museum has hosted.