Maceo Rogers: The Artist Behind the Community Leader
Many people know Maceo Rogers through his economic development work. He is President and CEO of the Development Authority of Clayton County, also known as Invest Clayton. His creative life tells another part of his story: Rogers is a visual artist whose work draws on memory, place and everyday life.
Rogers grew up in Cuthbert, Georgia, where the rural landscape left a lasting mark on his imagination. He began drawing and painting as a child, first capturing the people and surroundings he knew. Later, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications from the Atlanta College of Art.
That sense of place appears in the range of materials he uses. Rogers works with acrylic and oil paints, watercolor, pastels, pen and ink, charcoal, and dirt. In his earlier work, he painted familiar rural scenes such as old barns and weathered shacks. His practice has since moved across realism, surrealism and abstraction, while continuing to draw from lived experience.
The use of dirt gives his work a particularly personal connection to the land and environments that shaped him. It brings a tangible piece of that experience onto the canvas, alongside color, texture and image. For viewers, the result can feel both distinctly Southern and open to many interpretations.
His work has also reached audiences through teaching and exhibitions. Rogers has taught art classes at Fort Valley State University and led workshops around Atlanta. In 2022, ArtsXchange presented Thru the Lens, an exhibition of his acrylic, dirt and mixed-media paintings.
That community connection extends into Clayton County. One of Rogers’ works hangs at the City Center in Jonesboro, bringing his art into a shared civic space where residents and visitors can encounter it as part of everyday life.
Rogers’ story brings art and civic life into the same frame. His leadership serves Clayton County through economic development; his artwork offers another way to understand the places, experiences and histories that shape a community. Both forms of work leave something for people to encounter, reflect on and carry forward.
Best of Clayton County shares stories about the people, places and ideas that make our community worth celebrating.
Discover more at www.bestofclaytoncounty.com and visit the Best of Clayton County Community Gallery at www.bestofclaytoncounty.com/bethebestgallery.
Source links:
Invest Clayton: https://www.investclayton.com/staff-board.php
ArtsXchange exhibition and artist biography: https://www.artsxchange.org/exhibitions/thru-the-lens
Rainy Night in Georgia: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/rainy-night-in-georgia-maceo-rogers.html
Maceo Rogers’ artist website: https://www.artbymaceo.com/
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