Savonna Nicole Atkins is an Atlanta-based painter and mixed-media artist. Through abstract paintings, embroidered textile work, and installation, Atkins explores self-concept, competition for social validation, the necessity for connection, and the absurdity of ideals. Atkins cuts and arranges fabric like smears and strokes of paint, relishing in the vast variety of textile textures. Stitches are sculptural lines that integrate and create strong securing connections. Her forceful marks, clunky knits, sheer silks, and delicate embellishments intertwine and collect with persistent intensity. Competitive struggles and absurdities of society fuel her obsessively layered process and complex forms.

Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Atkins grew up attending Young People’s Studio classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Atkins later moved to North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where in 2011 she received a B.A. in Recreation Therapy with minors in Studio Art and Psychology. Atkins continued her art education in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received an MFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Atlanta in 2015. Her work is in the SCAD Savannah and SCAD Hong Kong permanent collections as well as in other private collections throughout the Southeast. Atkins is represented by gallery43 in Roswell, Georgia and Linda Matney Gallery in Williamsburg, Virginia.