On Saturday, with the Dairy Festival going on across the street, three painters from the Color the World Bright program, directed by UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art Professor Joseph Norman, labored all day creating downtown Eatonton’s newest public artwork.
A new mural emerged in coordination with Kevin Tomson Hooper of The Artisans Village, Maggie Milner at the Eatonton-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, and Steve Culberson, owner of the building that houses Nails by Aaron at the northwest corner of North Jefferson Avenue and Marion Street.
“We wanted to add a pop of color to the wall, do something to attract more people, and provide a new photo opportunity,” Milner said. “And we knew that we had contact with the muralists who have come and done the ghost murals (restoring and recreating old, faded advertising) around town, so we thought, what better timing than see if we can have it happen during the Dairy Festival? So we very quickly just started brainstorming and this all happened within about a month. It all just lined up perfectly."
Led by Katie Eidson, a crew of three UGA students worked more than eight hours painting the unique mural on the building’s exterior wall.
“It’s just people having a shared vision. We’re a creative community, we’re an arts community, and we wanted to continue to showcase that. We wanted to do a mural that was representative of part of who we are, but also just a beautiful piece of artwork,” Milner explained. “It’s being a little bold, but if you look at it, everything’s very intentional. So the different wildflowers, it’s very much representative of the fields and the farms that we have.
And the blue could be interpreted as either paint strokes, representative of our arts community, but also the water of the lakes, or even clear skies. So it was done in that way, the organic stroke manner, very intentional.”
Though just a few days old, Milner said she’s already received considerable positive feedback on the colorful addition to Eatonton’s public facade.
“It’s just a way to bring together various parties, property owners, organizations and the artists,” she said. “It’s a way to bring together different folks who have an invested interest in this community and to showcase part of who we are. I’m pretty happy with it.”