LOCATIONFort Worth, TX PROFESSIONArt conservator A FAVORITE TOOLAntique surgical scalpel When Shan Kuang began pursuing a degree in chemistry at Yale, she planned to go to medical school, but she just couldn’t shake her passions for art and history.

Georgia has done it. So have Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. South Carolina is considering doing it for the second time in recent years, with changes that would go into effect in 2025. Across the South and beyond, states are tightening

THE CHESAPEAKE BAY GLITTERS AT THE BASE OF the hill behind Mark McNair as he swings a small hatchet into a block of white cedar, which with each effortless strike looks more and more like a duck. “I make this look easy because I’ve been doing it a lo

LOCATIONRichmond, VA MEDIUMTaxidermy HOMETOWNGreensboro, NC Not unlike an ambitious portrait artist, Erica Heller aims to capture the living essence of her subjects. But instead of brushes and paints, she first reaches for scalpel and fleshing box, a

Spring has sprung and the grass has riz, which means it’s bachelorette party season—the time when brides-to-be join forces with their besties to storm the streets in matching pastel outfits, feather boas, and tiaras increasingly askance as the night

In the late eighties, a Savannahian pulled the visiting journalist John Berendt aside. “As far as Savannah is concerned,” she told him, “being a writer and being from New York is a deadly combination.” “I understand,” he replied. “But I have no inten

■ Follow me on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) @davedibenedetto I have been a morning person for as long as I can remember, a trait that plays well with my passion for the outdoors, on the water or in the field. But more often than not, it means I

Chloe Wright and Ryan Smith’s first project, the Rosecomb, opened in the North Shore neighborhood of Chattanooga in the summer of 2021 as the oakleaf hydrangeas in the front yard bloomed. The pair, who have since married, decorated the garden house b

While New York and Los Angeles have long been the epicenters of the contemporary American art trade, Atlanta is making a strong case for joining that list. One combined force shifting attentions south: Benjamin Deaton and Anna Scott K. Masten, who, j

The moment Whitley Esteban saw the aging white cottage, tucked behind a thin picket fence and a bed of weeds in Pensacola’s Seville Historic District, she knew it was the one. “It’s like that dog at the shelter that has really big, beautiful eyes but

It’s another stormy day in Nashville, a city that’s seen its fair share of turbulent weather over the past few years. Last December, another brigade of tornadoes raked Middle Tennessee, including one Sierra Ferrell says almost hit her house. She has

The first time I saw Joan Griswold, I said, “Damn, she’s pretty. What does she do?” “Paint,” I was told. “You mean…?” “Yep. An artist.” “Well, where’s her ocelot?” You see, I didn’t grow up around artists. I did once happen upon Salvador Dalí, in a d

When I texted friends, “Is it okay for a couple to TEXT thank-you notes for their wedding gifts?” I got three “OH HELL NO”s and one “HAIL NO!” (the latter from my friend in Florida who is such a Southern lady that she won’t curse in print). Some text

People write books for many reasons: adventure, fulfillment, curiosity, passion, money. I wrote my new book, Dogland, for all those reasons. But also: I needed some dogs in my life. My wife and I had fourteen years with a yellow Lab mutt named Fred.

Wayne Edens fell in love with fishing as a young boy, prowling the salt water and fresh water of his home state, Florida. The sport was “a joy,” recalls the seventy-three-year-old retired insurance executive, who lives in New Smyrna Beach. A way of f

LOCATIONAtlanta, GA MEDIUMPhotography HOME STATEGuanajuato, Mexico José Ibarra Rizo can replay every detail of the nearly two-thousand-mile journey he and his mother, Amelia, took from Guanajuato, Mexico, to Gainesville, Georgia, when he was seven ye

While walking her rescue dog, Charlie, around her Birmingham, Alabama, neighborhood on a spring morning, Geri-Martha O’Hara passed a big honeysuckle bush bursting with blooms. One deep inhale of the aromatic blossoms and she knew just what to use for

ARTISAN ................................................. ROBERT THOMAS LOCATION ................................ NORTH CHARLESTON, SC COMMISSIONS .................... ROBERTTHOMASIRON.COM Charleston and its environs are steeped in ironwork, thanks t

IN A SMALL CARDROOM AT THE BACK OF A MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE CLUBHOUSE in Augusta, Georgia, a handful of old men gather and reminisce. Do you remember when…? How about that time…? What about when Willie Peterson wound up on the cover of Sports Illustra

One evening at Virginia Commonwealth University, Corey Pemberton saw a glow coming from a room. It was a glassblowing studio; the aspiring graphic design and illustration student hadn’t realized his campus had one. But watching molten glass turn into

Shield Ranch lies in the heart of Barton Creek watershed, critical to the Edwards Aquifer, a major water source for Central Texas. Blake Murden, the 6,400-acre property’s CEO and manager, was driving us over the expanse in his pickup, stopping to sho