SUMMERVILLE - The Summerville area in Chattooga County was famous as the home of folk artist Howard Finster, but it's become a gathering place for many other artists.

Linda Espy, who creates polymer-clay sculptures and vintage-style jewelry, estimates Summerville has close to 50 artists, including sculptors, wood carvers, portrait painters and glass blowers.

"I lived here for 33 years and gradually discovered, kind of accidentally, there were so many artists here that people didn't know about," Espy said.

For example, Carl McCleskey and Betsy Scott moved from Marietta to the south end of Lookout Mountain just above Summerville, where they started a hobby around bronze sculptures. That hobby, now a full-time job, led to their biggest piece to date, a monumental heron sculpture in place at the Greg Norman golf club in Lake Powell, Fla.

Many of their other pieces have migrated to zoos, churches, colleges and private properties in many parts of the world, McCleskey said.

Their studio contains sculptures of lions, elephants, buffalos and panthers.

"Betsy has always been interested in nature, wildlife, she had planned all her life to live out like this," McCleskey said.

Atteka Abdou, who calls herself an "octopus artist," moved back to Summerville, her childhood home, a couple of years ago after she studied briefly in New York City and graduated from Berry College in Rome.

"I love the mountains and the community," the 27-year-old environmental artist said.

Her studio is filled with her three-dimensional paintings in vibrant blues, magenta and yellows of octopus arms. On the wall there's an 8-foot painting of an octopus.