2020 Mar/Apr NCM

Seeing Newnan

How larger-than-life portraits became a reflection of ourselves

Painting to Connect Senoia’s Angelo Robinson uses color to inspire

A Life Well Drawn

The NCM Q&A with David Boyd Sr.

MARCH | APRIL 2020 COMPLIMENTARY COPY

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our features 22 | Painting to Connect Senoia artist Angelo Robinson uses creativity and color to inspire connection and community. By Jennifer Dziedzic

30 | Special Night for Special Needs People of all ages with special needs are the guests of honor at a party thrown just for them. By Susan Mayer Davis

34 | The NCM Q&A: A Life Well Drawn From political cartoons to celebrity portraits, David Boyd Sr. has drawn and painted a lot about life. By Jackie Kennedy

42 | Seeing Newnan We catch up with Mary Beth Meehan and a few of the people she photographed for her oversized portraits displayed throughout Newnan. By Jonathan Shipley

50 | One Couple, Three Weddings When one ceremony won’t suffice, try holding three weddings. By Jenny Enderlin

70 | Teaching Art For more than four decades, Sharpsburg artist Kay Stanley has helped others pursue painting. By Jackie Kennedy

22

28

in this issue 10 | From the Editor 11 | From Our Readers 12 | Roll Call 14 | Coweta Quotes 16 | Book Review 18 | Coweta to Me 19 | Best of Coweta 58 | Non-Profit Spotlight 64 | Coweta Cooks 74 | Coweta Prose 76 | Coweta Garden 79 | Hip Holidays 80 | Coweta Calendar 82 | Coweta Kids Care 84 | Blacktop 86 | The Wrap-Up

on the cover Kayla Duffey's larger-thanlife portrait

by Mary Beth Meehan graces our cover.

➤ Seeing Newnan, page 42

Photo by Chris Martin

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to our spring Arts Issue!

T

he hardest thing about putting together any issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine (NCM) is choosing what to hone in on. That’s never easy, but with this issue, the multitude of art offered throughout Coweta County made it even more difficult.

Coweta is fast becoming known for attracting artists and art lovers. The Newnan-Coweta Art Association boasts members not only from Coweta but from surrounding counties as well. Artwork displayed in local galleries, shops and, for now, on downtown Newnan’s exterior walls is admired by appreciative art lovers. Art events, like Newnan’s upcoming Spring Art Walk on March 27, are well-attended.

With a plethora of story ideas to pull from, narrowing it down for this issue was a challenge. Finally, we chose to focus on a popular art installment nearing the end of its run, a Senoia artist whose use of color inspires, a Sharpsburg artist who teaches others, and a Newnan mainstay whose art has entertained and informed for decades.

For almost a year, Mary Beth Meehan’s humongous portraits have towered over pedestrians strolling Newnan sidewalks. When her installation first went up, it created quite a stir. Now that the dust has settled, we look at what we might draw from the experience. (See page 42.)

Senoia artist Angelo Robinson’s upbeat personality comes across in his artwork, which features vivid colors in pieces that, although often abstract, paint a very real take on life today. (See page 22.) And Sharpsburg artist Kay Stanley has been teaching others painting techniques for more than four decades. (See page 70.)

In The NCM Q&A, we feature David Boyd Sr. A political cartoonist for half a century and the illustrator for Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck books, he recently took up painting to capture caricatures of celebrities in works that will charm the socks off you, much the same as their creator will. (See page 34.)

As we continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary, we honor other Cowetans celebrating their own milestones, like the folks at St. George Catholic Church, whose superb cookbook turns 2 this month. Compiled to commemorate the parish’s 80th anniversary, the book is loaded with great recipes, including their much-admired desserts. (See page 64.)

Reach out to us with your story ideas and keep sending your Blacktop photos, Coweta to Me columns and Coweta Kids Care nominations. Receiving them is a constant reminder that our community is alive and well, caring and committed.

On that note, we invite you to vote in our 2020 Best of Coweta Contest, see page 19. Winning businesses will be featured in our July/August “Best of Coweta” issue. Voting runs March 1 to April 15 and 10 voters each will win a $25 gift card.

If you’re out and about during the Spring Art Walk, be sure to stop by. We’ll be displaying art created by our employees and serving our president’s crazy-good cheese straws, pralines and homemade lemonade.

I can’t wait.

Jackie Kennedy, Editor

magazine@newnan.com 10 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

From Our Readers Dear Editor, I want you to know how absolutely thrilled and honored and pleased Mary and I are about the magazine cover and the whole story and the way you handled it in your magazine (January-February 2020, “Coweta’s Carl Ware, From local farm to global business,” page 38). It is very professionally done, and the color theme is unbelievably pleasant and reflective of your quality and our lives. Just know that I’m very grateful and thankful to you for that great work put into this 25th anniversary issue.

Sincerely,

SALON AND LIFESTYLE BOUTIQUE

Carl Ware

Dear Editor, I am writing to share the biggest appreciation for publishing the article about my artwork in your magazine (January/ February 2020, “Romance in Art,” page 29). For me, it is like a miracle! You can’t even imagine what it means for me. Who am I? Just one emigrant, especially here in Coweta County where there are a lot of talented artists and unbelievable people.

Thank you very much again. Thank you for your attention to my artwork and supporting me. I am so appreciative of you and your team.

With warmest regards and the best wishes,

Say Hello to Your Good Hair Day.

Yana Pidorvan

Dear Editor, Nice job on the magazine. We are happy to be a part of this issue (January-February 2020, “Coweta’s Master Gardeners share tips year-round,” page 50). Thanks for the warm welcome.

Dale Senko

14 JEFFERSON STREET • NEWNAN, GA 30263

DOWNTOWN NEWNAN

Let Us Hear From You...

Send thoughts, ideas and suggestions to magazine@newnan.com

770.301.8797

JAMESMALONE.COM MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 11

Our Contributors

ROLL CALL

Jenny Enderlin is a freelance writer and Marine Corps spouse who lives in downtown Newnan. She enjoys her involvement with One Roof, Newnan-Coweta Historical Society, Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Coweta County Democrat Party, and Backstreet Community Arts.

Jonathan Shipley is an Atlanta-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Gramophone, Fine Books & Collections Magazine and other publications. You can find him on Twitter, at @ shipleywriter, and Instagram, / jonathanshipley.

Jeffrey Ward is a native San Franciscan, Vietnam vet and University of Washington communications grad with a 50-year career in aviation. He’s been married 47 years, has two adult children and six grandchildren, and is a foodie and Facebook junkie.

Susan Mayer Davis lives with husband Larry and golden retriever Mariah. What she enjoys most about writing for NCM is meeting great people when she researches articles and then sharing their stories. “It’s fun,” she says, “but it’s also a privilege.”

Jennifer Dziedzic lives in Newnan with her husband and daughter and works as a massage therapist. In her free time, she loves to take her daughter kayaking, swimming and checking out books at their favorite library, the Carnegie.

Sara Moore’s warm and welcoming nature influences her photography by putting her subjects at ease. She enjoys living the quiet country life while residing in Newnan with her husband, horses, dogs, chickens and ducks.

12 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

Chris Martin has photographed Major League Baseball, NCAA football, bull riding, air shows, space launches and international swim meets featuring Michael Phelps. He shoots action sports for The Heritage School in Newnan and for The Newnan-Times Herald.

COWETA QUOTES

Art and Artists The first step — especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money —

the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture.

To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in.

To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK

author of “Fight Club”

There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Dutch post-Impressionist painter

Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist

once he grows up.

PABLO PICASSO

Spanish artist

Art and life are subjective.

Not everybody's gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG

actress and comedian

I don’t want life to imitate art.

I want life to be art.

CARRIE FISHER

actress, Princess Leia in “Star Wars”

Modern paintings are like women, you'll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.

FREDDIE MERCURY

lead vocalist of Queen

Art is the only serious thing in the world.

And the artist is the only person who is never serious.

OSCAR WILDE

Irish poet and playwright

He who works with his hands is a laborer.

He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.

He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

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BOOK REVIEW

Only the Brave Need Apply A book review of ‘Tidal Flats’ Written by DAVID FOX

W

hat I’m about to write should come as no surprise to married couples or to those once married: It ain’t easy.

Nope, marriage is definitely not a walk in the park, regardless of love or the best tof intentions.

For as long as novelists have been putting pen to paper or electronic characters into a computer, this topic has been fodder for every sort of story imaginable. In “Tidal Flats,” first time Atlantan author Cynthia Newberry Martin has decided that she, too, will dip her quill into this literary tradition.

Written in the first person, from the wife’s point of view, this story details the challenges of her marriage to a worldrenowned photojournalist who is as much in love with his profession as he is with his wife.

By any stretch of the imagination, this is not your ordinary spousal relationship where one of the mates toils at the office, then returns home at a reasonable hour to the comforts and open arms of the loving spouse. In Martin’s scenario, at the beginning of their marriage, the Time magazine celeb is off in Afghanistan for weeks at a time while his anxious wife waits for his return. Both quickly realize this long-distance arrangement will not work. They strike a deal, which they call “The Tidal Flats Agreement” whereby, after three years, he will give up his trips to Afghanistan to lead a more tranquil, domestic existence.

This is a doomed agreement from the get-go and the agita that ensues comprises the bulk of the novel.

Martin treats these issues in a meaningful way, using the conflicts that arise to grapple with a host of important themes. Beyond each partner’s need to 16 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

decide which is more important, the person they love or the life they want, she grapples with the defining roles society arbitrarily assigns to each of us. In our culture, where both partners are increasingly being asked to manage family and career, these oft incompatible goals demand our collective attention.

The question for readers is: Does Martin create a compelling enough narrative that differentiates her work from those of her predecessors who have exhaustively plowed these contretemps into the ground?

And, more importantly, does she do her job as a storyteller well enough so that we actually care about the outcome for her New Age couple?

While her book is exquisitely written and not selfindulgent or maudlin when it could have easily lapsed into those indulgences, it nonetheless, for me at least, fails to connect.

Here’s my two cents: Unless you’re a big fan of this genre, I’d wait for Martin’s next novel — as long as it avoids the travails of matrimonial bliss.

“Tidal Flats” by Cynthia Newberry Martin was published in 2019 by Yellow Pear Press, San Francisco, Calif.; 318 pages. ★★★ David Fox has settled in Senoia after a 13-year stint in Anchorage, Alaska, where he worked as a marketing executive and book reviewer for the Anchorage Press.

Read a good book lately?

Share your favorite new read with NewnanCoweta Magazine by writing a book review for possible publication in an upcoming issue.

Keep your review at 350-450 words and please include the author’s name, page count and date of publication as well as any awards the book may have won.

Be sure to give the book your rating of 1 star=You’ll never miss it; 2 stars=Okay; 3 stars=Pretty good; 4 stars=Read it; or 5 stars=Best. Book. Ever.

Send your review with your contact information to magazine@newnan.com or mail to Newnan-Coweta Magazine, 16 Jefferson Street, Newnan, Ga. 30263.

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COWETA TO ME

We Have Never Looked Back Written by PAM YAHANDA

What is Coweta to You?

W

e moved from Indiana to Peachtree City in 2014 so that my husband, Alan, could join Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan. He is a surgical oncologist and was recruited by a former colleague.

We settled in Peachtree City where our daughter was enrolled in public school. In Indiana, all three of our children attended a small private school, similar to The Heritage School. We often came to Newnan for cultural events and always enjoyed the small town atmosphere and walkable square.

About two years ago, our daughter Katie applied to The Heritage School because she missed the smaller environment. She was accepted.

Around that time, we attended several events in Newnan, including a concert at Wadsworth Auditorium and an author-in-residence lecture.

An internist from Columbia University, if I recall correctly, gave a spectacular reading regarding the death of his father from bladder cancer.

A light bulb went off for us – we needed to quit driving over and become part of the Newnan community full-time.

I had floated the idea, and my husband will say that the turning point for him was when we exited the Wadsworth Auditorium on a beautiful evening. Across the street, The Cellar had live music going and loads of people were out and about on the lighted streets.

We have never looked back and are greatly enjoying our new location. Each of us feels like the move has been very positive and we are so pleased to be a part of this cultured, diverse and warm community. NCM

Whether you’ve lived here all your

Whatever your own Coweta County

life or only a year, we want to hear your

story is, we’d like you to share it with

personal Coweta story.

readers of Newnan-Coweta Magazine.

Did you and your husband fall in love

Keep your word count at 350-450 words,

here? Did you move here in your senior

please. Email your “Coweta to Me” story

year of high school and make lifelong

to magazine@newnan.com or mail to 16

friends? Did you pick guitar with your

Jefferson St., Newnan, GA 30263. We

grandpa and grow up to be a musician?

look forward to hearing from you.

VOTE NOW!

Honor your favorite Coweta businesses by voting them Best of Coweta 2020!*

MARCH 1 – APRIL 15, 2020

HOW TO VOTE:

ONLY LOCALLY-OWNED, COWETA COUNTY BUSINESSES/ENTITIES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING. BIG-BOX STORES, NATIONAL CHAINS AND FRANCHISES ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE VOTED BEST OF COWETA.

PRINT BALLOT: • Please read the rules, and print clearly and legibly.

• Enter the name of one (1) COWETA COUNTY business of your choice next to each category as completely and correctly as possible. If a business has multiple locations, indicate the location to which your vote applies. Proceed through each voting section in the same manner. If you have no favorite for a particular category, you must enter N/A. • Drop off your completed ballot in person Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. or mail to: Newnan-Coweta Magazine, ATTN: Best Of Coweta 16 Jefferson St., Newnan, GA 30263 • Print ballots will also be available to fill out at The Newnan Times-Herald office during the voting period, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• All COMPLETED print ballots must be received at our office by 5 p.m. on April 15, 2020.

YOU COULD

WIN! 10 random voters will be selected to receive a

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ONLINE BALLOT: • Scan the QR code below or visit times-herald.com or newnan.com and follow the link to complete the online ballot, following the same naming guidelines stated above.

• All COMPLETED online ballots must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on April 15, 2020.

ALL PRINT AND ONLINE BALLOTS MUST CONTAIN A VALID AND LEGIBLE FIRST AND LAST NAME, PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE ELIGIBLE. ENTIRE BALLOT MUST BE COMPLETED TO BE ELIGIBLE. ONE BALLOT PER PERSON WILL BE ACCEPTED.

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VOTING CATEGORIES Please enter only ONE (1) LOCALLY-OWNED COWETA COUNTY business per line in each category.* Please print clearly and legibly.

FOOD & DRINK

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Best Breakfast/Brunch: ________________________________________

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ENTERTAINMENT Best Kids’ Entertainment: ________________________________________ Best Local Band:

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Name: ___________________________________________ Phone: _____________________ Email: _______________________________________________________________________ Please return this page to: Newnan-Coweta Magazine, ATTN: Best of Coweta, 16 Jefferson Street, Newnan, GA 30263 *Rules and conditions apply. See opposite page for rules.

BEST OF COWETA 2020

Voting and Prize Drawing Official Rules NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. ALL FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. WHEN TO VOTE: Voting begins on March 1, 2020 at 12 a.m. ET and ends on April 15, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET. WHO CAN VOTE: Voting is open only to legal residents of the United States and Georgia who are eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of voting. Employees and independent contractors of The Newnan Times-Herald and NewnanCoweta Magazine are not eligible to participate.

ONLY LOCALLY-OWNED, COWETA COUNTY BUSINESSES/ ENTITIES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING. BIG-BOX STORES, NATIONAL CHAINS AND FRANCHISES ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE VOTED BEST OF COWETA. HOW TO VOTE ONLINE: During the voting period, visit times-herald.com or newnan.com and click on the Best of Coweta 2020 Reader’s Choice Survey link; scan the QR code on one of the print ads in Newnan-Coweta Magazine or The Newnan Times-Herald; or scan the QR code on one of the promotional posters at any business displaying one. Enter your first and last name, one (1) valid phone number, and one (1) valid email address and proceed to the first voting section.

Enter the name of one (1) COWETA COUNTY BUSINESS of your choice for each category, as completely and correctly as possible. If a business has multiple locations, indicate the location to which your vote applies. Proceed through each voting section in the same manner, and click on Submit at the end. If you have no favorite for a particular category, you must enter N/A. Online ballots must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on April 15, 2020 in order to be eligible. No online ballots will be accepted after this time.

HOW TO VOTE ON PAPER: Best of Coweta 2020 paper ballots will be available in the Saturday editions of The Newnan Times-Herald during the voting period, as well as at the offices of The Newnan Times-Herald and Newnan-Coweta Magazine. Fill in your first and last name, one (1) valid phone number, and one (1) valid email address at the bottom (required), and fill in your choice for each category as described in the “How to Vote Online” section above. If you have no favorite for a particular category, you must enter N/A. Please print clearly and legibly.

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WINNERS: Category Winners: The leading vote recipients in each category will be declared the winner of that category (the “Category Winner” or “Category Winners”). In the event of a tie, a random drawing will be held among the tied Category Winners to determine the final Category Winner. A candidate may win in more than one category, but votes will not be combined across categories.

If a selected winner is not eligible in accordance with these rules, the category win will be forfeited and awarded to

another eligible business who has received the next highest number of votes in the same category.

Odds of Winning: Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible votes received in each category.

Winner Notification: Category Winners will be notified by staff of Newnan-Coweta Magazine after April 15, 2020.

Winners will receive a window decal identifying them as a winner for each category in which they received the most reader votes (one sticker for each category won). Winners will also be announced in the July/August issue of NewnanCoweta Magazine. Survey winners must each sign a Media Release form upon delivery of winner’s decal(s). Winners will be photographed at a mutually agreeable date for prize winner and provider. Winners agree to allow use of their name, photograph, likeness and any information provided on the entry form, in any medium of communications, including print, internet, radio and/or television and for any purpose including editorial, advertising, promotional or other purposes, by The Newnan Times-Herald, Newnan-Coweta Magazine and times-herald.com, their affiliates or sponsors, without compensation, except where prohibited by law.

PRIZE DRAWING: Ten (10) voter ballots will be drawn at random on or around April 16, 2020, from all eligible ballots, for the voter to receive a prize of one (1) twenty-five dollar ($25) Gift Card of the Sponsors’ choosing.

Odds of Winning: Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible ballots received.

Winner Notification: Winners will be notified by telephone and/or email on or around April 22, 2020 in accordance with the contact information supplied on the ballot. If a Newnan Times-Herald/Newnan-Coweta Magazine representative who attempts to contact a prize winner is unable to speak directly to that person within 24 hours of the initial notification attempt, if prize notification is returned to Sponsor as undeliverable, or if prize is refused or cannot be accepted for any reason, that person will forfeit all rights to the prize and an alternative winner will be drawn. Upon forfeiture or refusal, no compensation will be given.

How to Claim: Potential prize winners may pick up their gift cards at The Newnan Times-Herald/Newnan-Coweta Magazine, 16 Jefferson Street, Newnan, GA 30263, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Photo ID must be presented for verification. Prize must be claimed by May 1, 2020 at 5 p.m. or it will be forfeited. Potential prize winners must each sign an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and a Media Release form to be eligible to accept the prize. Prize winners will be photographed at a mutually agreeable date for prize winner and provider, but no later than May 1, 2020.

The prize will be forfeited and awarded to another eligible voter if winner does not sign the Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability, or if selected winner is not eligible in accordance with these rules.

Potential prize winner must pay their own transportation and/or other expenses to claim their prize, and is responsible for any charges not specifically listed as part of the prize, including but not limited to transportation, parking, gratuities or incidentals. Prize is non-negotiable and not redeemable for cash or credit. No substitution or transfer of the prize will be allowed, except at the sole discretion of the Sponsors.

Sponsors reserve the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value. No compensation will be given for lost, stolen, mutilated, or expired gift cards.

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Prize winners agree to allow use of their name, photograph, likeness and any information provided on the entry form, in any medium of communications, including print, internet, radio and/or television and for any purpose including editorial, advertising, promotional or other purposes, by The Newnan Times-Herald, Newnan-Coweta Magazine and times-herald.com, their affiliates or sponsors, without compensation, except where prohibited by law.

All decisions of The Newnan Times-Herald and NewnanCoweta Magazine regarding the Prize Drawing are final.

CONDITIONS AND DISCLAIMERS: Participation constitutes acceptance of rules and conditions.

The Newnan Times-Herald and Newnan-Coweta Magazine are not responsible for votes that are lost, late, incomplete, misdirected, incorrect, garbled, illegible, or incompletely received, for any reason, including by reason of hardware, software, browser, or network failure, malfunction, congestion, or incompatibility at Sponsors’ servers or elsewhere. All ballots submitted, both online and printed, become the property of the Sponsors and will not be returned.

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Sponsors are not responsible for errors in the administration or fulfillment of this survey, including without limitation mechanical, human, printing, distribution, or production errors, and may cancel, terminate, or modify this promotion based upon such error at their sole discretion without liability. Sponsors reserve the right to amend these Official Rules at any time without prior notice. Sponsors are not responsible for any printing or typographical errors in any material associated with this promotion.

Sponsors, at their sole discretion, reserve the right to disqualify any votes or ballots believed to violate these rules. Sponsors, at their sole discretion, reserve the right to disqualify any business or person tampering with the voting process or operation of the web site, or otherwise attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the survey. Offering potential incentive for voting (e.g., buying votes, offering services or discounts in exchange for votes, providing entry into a sweepstakes for votes) is prohibited and will result in disqualification of the candidate.

In the event of a dispute, online ballots will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at time of voting. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, education institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.

Collection and use of personally identifiable information will be in accordance with the Sponsors’ Privacy Policy as posted on the Sponsors’ websites.

The use of any automated system to submit ballots is prohibited and will result in the disqualification of all such ballots as well as the voter. This contest is not intended for gambling. If it is determined that a voter is using the contest for gambling purposes, he/she will be disqualified and reported to the authorities.

Each participant agrees to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless The Newnan Times-Herald and Newnan-Coweta Magazine and their subsidiaries, affiliates, shareholder, employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives, advertising and promotional agencies from any liability arising from or related to the promotion, including without limitation, personal injury, death, and property damage, and claims based on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy. Further, participant fully and unconditionally releases all claims of any nature relating to the use of participant’s ballot, name or likeness.

The promotion and all related pages, material and content are copyright The Newnan Times-Herald and NewnanCoweta Magazine. Copying or unauthorized use of any copyrighted materials, trademarks or any other intellectual property without the express written consent of its owner is strictly prohibited.

COWETA ARTS

Color, Community and Connection Senoia Artist Angelo Robinson paints to inspire Written by JENNIFER DZIEDZIC • Photographed by SARA MOORE

S

enoia painter and photographer Angelo Robinson lives a nontraditional life. He is a married stay-at-home dad and his wife, Trang, commutes to California as a labor and delivery nurse.

From 1 a.m. until his youngest son, Nigel, goes to school are the magic morning hours when Robinson works in his studio, motivating himself with music at odd hours to create abstract and mixed media art.

Robinson says art has been therapeutic for him. Growing up the oldest of eight children in a pastor’s family in Hiram, he competed in football, basketball and track and was president of the Art Society at Paulding County High School.

“The art got me out,” he says of his modest upbringing. “I went to contests and went to a private school of art in New York, and I got a bigger experience mentally.”

Though he had been awarded several art

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The artist incorporates metal, leather, beads, fabric and trinkets into her jewelry designs.

“Dynasty: 3 in 5 years” – 48x72 acrylics, spray paint, latex paint, printed materials on canvas

COWETA ARTS

“Why do the rules say that I cannot do that?”

— Angelo Robinson

Angelo Robinson displays his zeal for bright colors while plein air painting outside his home in Senoia.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 23

COWETA ARTS

In his Senoia studio, Angelo Robinson adds strokes of color to complete a new work.

“All of my series speak somewhere in relation of race and ethnicity because that’s one of the biggest things that I think we separate nowadays, in a negative way.”

— Angelo Robinson

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scholarships, Robinson instead chose a career in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, he did mural work to stay creative on ships and at the barracks.

“I did a painting on the door for my command master chief on the USS Mount Baker,” he recalls.

“And I designed the final ball cap for the USS Mount Baker before it decommissioned. I have always been an artist within what I was doing.”

During his years at sea, where there were no places for paints to cure, Robinson’s mediums were mostly watercolors and colored pencils.

“In Dubai, I found an art store,” he says. “I bought a sketchbook and charcoal pencils, so I learned all the dry mediums.”

COWETA ARTS

His art developed organically through his life experiences and travels.

His passion to stay out of one niche and to follow his artistic intuition led him to his experiments with mixed media.

“Why do the rules say that I cannot do that?” asks the artist who enjoys playing with textures and incorporating found objects into art, including thrift shop finds tied into his works.

Since returning to Georgia and relocating to Senoia in February 2016, Robinson has had his art featured at Senoia Coffee and Cafe where he held his first show, Love Thy Neighbor.

He is a member of the Senoia Arts Collective.

“Everything I do has a connectionto-community undertone to it,” he says.

His most recent local exhibit, Crayola Feelings, was on display at Southern Arc Dance Studio

in Newnan.

Explaining his vision on Crayola Feelings, Robinson says, “Crayola is a box of crayons and we are all in the box of crayons, which is the earth. We are all crayons because we are all human beings but within those crayons you’ve got blue, red, orange, green, but then within blue you’ve got 50 shades of blue.

Now in society and how things are, it’s ‘I don’t like that green. You’re too yellow.’ That’s what the show’s about.”

Robinson says young people who attended the show seemed to get a lot out of it.

“The kids that came to the show had a blast,” he says. “They got to talk about it. We are just who we are.”

Demonstrating his passion for opening people’s minds, Robinson invites one to look at a painting from the exhibit, which seems to show a

combination of green and black. The artist explains, however, that the color isn’t actually black but a deep forest green, again teaching that what we think we see in others is not always the case.

“All of my series speak somewhere in relation of race and ethnicity because that’s one of the biggest things that I think we separate nowadays, in a negative way,” says Robinson. “Culture is culture. We have been told that things are not acceptable. It does not have to make you bitter and hate everybody. It exists, but it doesn’t have to be this thing that they make it into in the media where it’s always black versus white.”

Robinson’s first major show, Simply So Sexy, at the San Diego Contemporary Art Fair in 2015, featured acrylic paintings on dibond Continued on page 28.

“Family Fun” – 60x40 acrylics, printed materials on canvas

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COWETA ARTS

“Green” – 48x30

“Blue” – 48x30

“Red” – 48x30

“Black” – 48x30

“Blue Butterflies” – 9x12

“Yellow Butterflies” – 9x12

“Purple Butterflies” – 9x12

“Pink Butterflies” – 9x12

Complete series: acrylics, spray paint, melted crayons, found objects on canvas

CRAYOLA FEELINGS “This series explores the relationship between color and emotion. It also is a commentary on the fact that within a box of Crayola crayons, there is everything you need to create a beautiful masterpiece. Each crayon is different. They may not be used the same way, at the same time or at all. However, each is equally important to providing options and endless possibilities to the user. There is color within color. Some colors work well with each other and some don’t. Despite these differences, all crayons still exist as a unit within their respective families and the box as a whole. No matter our race or ethnic background, we all make up the human race, and can provide beautiful options to help create a better life for our fellow man.”

— Angelo Robinson

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COWETA ARTS

“Organic Construction” – 12x16 acrylics, spray paint, latex paint on canvas

“Synaptic Symphony” – 40x60

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COWETA ARTS

“Wanted” – 72x48

Continued from page 25.

aluminum. According to the artist, it tore down assumptions of race and perfection with the message: “Simply being yourself is good enough because God made you that way.”

Robinson photographs special needs children and Parkinson’s patients in dance classes at Southern Arc. His gift is seeing life and humanizing people through those candid moments, taking their photos because they are dancers, not because they have limitations.

“I have a soft spot for special needs and for kids,” he says.

Channeling happiness is how Robinson loves to reach the world with his art.

While art for some is an extravagance, he wants that to be different.

“Art is about community,” he says. “Wine and cheese is great, but to me I want you to enjoy it.”

He encourages conversation, questions and debate.

Helping others move toward talking about the art instead of internalizing it is one of his goals.

“It’s all about dialogue,” he concludes. NCM 28 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

“The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.”

— Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance painter

“Black Earth, Blood and Water: A Head Above the Rest” – acrylics on canvas

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CLOSER LOOK

Community Prom Changes Lives Written by SUSAN MAYER DAVIS • Photographed by SARA MOORE

O

nce a year, a local church transforms its fellowship hall or gymnasium into a magical place of dancing, games, food and fellowship for an often-overlooked population – those with developmental or physical disabilities. For one night, special guests arrive at their own private event dressed up and ready to party.

Called “Jesus Prom,” the annual event is inspired by the Bible parable about inviting the poor, crippled, lame and blind to your wedding feast (Luke 14:12-14). The purpose is to make these folks feel special and loved, as God loves them, according to Kent Sisler who, with Tommy and Ashley Collins, organizes the annual event.

“This is more than just a party; it’s a celebration of folks who may have been made to feel ‘less than’ in their lives because they, by necessity, live in this world differently than the majority,” says Sisler.

Jesus Prom originated at Cindy O’Neal, left, dances with her Southland Christian

special needs brother, Danny Holland.

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Church in Nicholasville, Ky., and debuted here in 2017, according to the Jesus Prom Atlanta website, which is overseen by Sisler. Last year’s prom was hosted by Legacy Christian Church in Senoia with approximately 100 guests with special needs participating in a “Friday Night Fever” disco party.

This year, the fourth annual Jesus Prom moves to Heritage Christian Church at 2130 Redwine Road in Fayetteville; however, the event welcomes special needs guests from Coweta, Spalding, Henry and Fayette counties.

This year’s theme is “Giddy Up for Jesus Prom” and guests are invited to wear boots, fringe and cowboy hats. The event is set for March 20.

“The Jesus Prom is a place where we can all come as we are, a place of love and acceptance, a place of freedom and joy,” says Sisler.

“It’s about the heart of Jesus, a heart of joy, acceptance and truth. Jesus Prom is for all of us.”

The annual event has met with success thanks to the dedicated efforts of people like Sisler and the Collinses. Sisler, who adopted two children from overseas, became part of a new community of support when he learned that one of his adopted daughters had special needs.

Tommy Collins is assistant director of Clearwater Academy, a private school in Turin that focuses on children with learning differences. His wife, Ashley, teaches English

CLOSER LOOK

Prom participant Owen Apfel, left, and his buddy, Lindsey Doroshenko, prepare to walk the red carpet.

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CLOSER LOOK

Jackson Lester, center, shares high fives as he enters the prom with his volunteer escort.

These volunteers make sure each guest has an amazing time dancing, playing carnival games and taking photos in the old-fashioned photo booth. Music plays as dinner is served, friendships are made, and guests begin to sense that they, too, are special. and language arts at Starr’s Mill High School.

in Senoia and Peachtree City. Along with numerous

volunteers to help with the daunting task of putting on

donations to pull off each year. Chick-fil-A routinely

The Collinses and Sisler have recruited a host of

the Jesus Prom. They have garnered support, both physical and financial, from several churches in the area, including Crossroads Church, with three campuses in Coweta

County, and A Better Way Ministries, with locations 32 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

volunteers, the event takes about $20,000 in cash and provides meals for approximately 400 people, while other businesses donate time and materials.

A Better Way Ministries, which offers a discipleship

program for men suffering from addiction, volunteers

CLOSER LOOK manpower to help with set-up and take-down for the prom.

“All the guys love it,” says Doug Campbell, assistant director of A Better Way. “They are in the process of restoring what they lost in their lives, and they have such a sense of fulfillment by doing this for others.”

When the guests arrive, they walk on a red carpet to their ballroom and are greeted by a buddy who’s specifically trained to be their friend and partner for the evening. These volunteers make sure each guest has an amazing time dancing, playing carnival games and taking photos in the old-fashioned photo booth. Music plays as dinner is served, friendships are made, and guests begin to sense that they, too, are special.

Each guest wears a nametag on a lanyard with a list of their special needs. Any food allergies?

Will bright lights bother them? Are they on medication? A doctor and a nurse are available for emergencies. Trained assistants are on-hand in both the men’s and ladies’ rooms.

There are various reasons why the Collinses, Sisler and other volunteers spend so much time and money to present this event annually. Sisler expresses his desire for God’s special children and adults to be able to experience the allembracing love God has for all of his children.

“They are not broken. They are not disposable or invisible,” says Sisler. “They are only differently made by their creator, and we all strive to make them somehow feel this in their souls at the Jesus Prom.”

Tommy and Ashley hope to bring focus to this population and their long-term care needs.

“Many families worry about what will happen to their loved ones when the parents pass and their special needs child is left alone to cope,” says Tommy. “It’s a topic that’s seldom discussed but must be examined. We hope this prom, as well as making the guests know they are loved and are special, will help the community become aware of the need for long-term care for many of these precious people.”

To attend Jesus Prom or volunteer to help, visit jesuspromatlanta.com and register before March 15. There is no cost, but it’s important to have the health information of each guest as they will be matched up with a buddy who best fits their needs. NCM

THE NCM Q&A

David Boyd Sr. A Life Well Drawn Written and Photographed by JACKIE KENNEDY

D

David Boyd Sr.

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avid Boyd Sr.’s quick wit and baby face belie the fact that he’s an octogenarian. At 80, he’s as full of opinion, humor and candor as he’s ever been, and he’s churning out paintings at a pace that would baffle younger artists.

The Newnan resident first gained acclaim for his political cartoons that ran four times a week in newspapers throughout the nation from 1968 until his retirement from cartooning in 2016. In those 48 years, he took on the politically powerful in Georgia politics and beyond, sometimes hardhitting, sometimes with a lighter touch.

In 1993, Boyd illustrated the first of 16 books he would collaborate on with redneck humorist Jeff Foxworthy, creating spot-on caricatures for the hilarious characters Foxworthy dreamed up. Boyd also illustrated books by Lewis Grizzard, his friend and golfing buddy with whom he visited Scotland to golf at St. Andrews.

A Citadel graduate and Army veteran, Boyd moved to Newnan to head the local chamber of commerce and met Rosalyn McKoy, whom he married in 1969. The couple raised three children, each an artist: David Boyd Jr., Rosalyn Moore Boyd McKoon and Bonne Boyd Bedingfield.

Newnan-Coweta Magazine visited with the senior Boyd at his

THE NCM Q&A

David Boyd Sr. works on a commissioned piece.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 35

NCM Q&A studio in downtown Newnan where he continues to create art. Since his son started making waves in the art world, the elder signs his pieces: Old Boyd. His latest passion is painting caricatures of friends and famous folks, especially celebrity rock stars and musicians.

NCM: How did your art career get started?

BOYD: I never planned a career in art; it just happened. I had been drawing all my life, but it was just stuff I did because I enjoyed it. But I did it well enough to rely on it if I ran out of money. When I was in college, if I ran out of money I’d draw some caricatures. Then I learned how to draw other stuff with ink, from pencil, and all that.

NCM: How many papers were you in?

BOYD: Overall, I probably had 200 newspapers, not all at the same time, but I never worked it. I was

NCM: Lester Maddox was one of your favorite subjects.

BOYD: Donald Duck. I’ve told you that story.

NCM: Tell it again.

NCM: When did you start drawing political cartoons?

BOYD: The first cartoon I ever drew that was published was when Ellis Arnall was running for governor. Bo Callaway, Lester Maddox and Ellis Arnall were all hooked up in a three-way race, and I drew the cartoon and took it down to The Newnan Times-Herald and they ran it.

Gus Wood was my business partner and he says, “I think you ought to send that thing out to every paper in the country.” And that’s what we did. We got in enough papers to make it worthwhile, and that’s the way it started.

running a printing business at the same time, and I was putting in a pretty good week there, and then I was getting up on Friday morning and going to bed late Saturday night; that’s when I was drawing.

BOYD: Lester Maddox had just been defeated by Jimmy Carter. It wasn’t that Carter had won; it was that Lester Maddox had lost.

Back then, I’d go out early Saturday mornings, after I’d been up all night long, and walk up the street to Mary Hawkes restaurant. I always saw this old woman out walking, too, and she was just like my grandmother; she had high-heeled shoes and her legs looked like old-timey piano legs, real thick calves and thin ankles. She followed me in the restaurant, I’m sitting there reading The Times-Herald, and she says, “You’re the poor man’s Walt Disney, ain’t you? You draw all those pieces in the paper.”

I said, “Well, I don’t know if Walt Disney would appreciate that comparison, but I’m flattered that you want to think that.”

She turned the paper around and thumped my cartoon and said, “What are you going to do now that you’ve killed your Donald Duck?”

NCM: Lester Maddox was gone, and he was your Donald Duck.

BOYD: He was my Donald Duck. And I told Lester Maddox one time that I didn’t hate him like he thought I did. I told him, “We’re getting ready to get old and I want you to know before you go that I love you to death.” And he said, “Well, I never did love you until right now.” He was a character, he really was.

NCM: Being a political cartoonist, you’ve got to have backbone.

BOYD: Well, you’ve got to be smart enough to have opinions. You need to know why you think what you

David Boyd Sr. created thousands of political cartoons during his career.

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NCM Q&A

Old Boyd captures the character of rock legends, from left, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.

think. I have always liked politics and have always loved history, and I had opinions about politics. I think the political spectrum is not about government; it’s about the individual. If the government works, it’s because the individual is strong. I believe the government has done maybe as much damage as good, and the worst thing you can do for someone is to do something for them that they ought to be doing for themselves.

NCM: What kind of heat did you take for your work?

BOYD: Not as much as you’d think. I remember the last speech I gave when I said that I did not think Teddy Kennedy was without significance because before he came along we thought you had to be poor to be white trash. I was speaking at Sea Island to the Judicial Association, and they are all the old judges, and it did not occur to me that those were the old Democrats. And they just sat there and looked at me like the RCA dog. It was the worst feeling I’d ever had in my life. Nobody laughed.

NCM: They groaned, huh?

BOYD: Yes. Did I ever tell you about going to New York to talk to King Features?

NCM: No, tell me.

BOYD: I don’t think I’ve ever told this story. Neil Friedman had just been appointed the president of King Features. Gus Wood says, “We need to go big time. Who should I send this material to?” I said, “King Features.”

Two weeks later, we get a letter that says, “We received the information you sent us and we have looked at it with a great deal of interest. If we had known, we could have arranged to meet you when you were up here.”

Gus had gone to New York to deliver a deposition and dropped off some cartoons for King Features. And Neil Friedman wrote us a letter and said, “Appreciate it if you’d let us know the next time you’re going to be in the New York area so we can arrange to meet with you.” And Gus writes him back: “Unfortunately, we do not have any plans to ever be in the New York area again; however, the next time you are in the Newnan, Georgia area, please give us a ring.”

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 37

NCM Q&A

I could hardly wait to get up there. King Features is the end of the world for what I was doing. End of the world.

So, I go up there and meet with Neil Friedman and he says, “You have stumbled across something that we are very interested in. We think that the future of the newspaper business is going to trend into weekly newspapers. We’ve got all this talent that we syndicate, and we want to get it to the weekly newspapers. Why

“Lewis was un-damn-believable.

Unbelievable. He did more stuff that was notorious and infamous and brilliant than he’ll ever remember.”

— David Boyd Sr. don’t we buy you out or we form a partnership and you keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll provide you with talent and syndicate into all the weekly newspapers?”

And I said, “Like who?” And he said, “Who would you want that we’ve got?” And I said, “Can you get William Buckley?” He said, “In a heartbeat.”

And he opened his drawer and pulled out a picture of William Buckley with his tongue in Friedman’s ear and says, “He was the best man in my wedding. We can get him to do anything you want him to do. So, how many people do you employ?”

I said, “I don’t employ anybody.” He said, “Well, how do you do it?”

I said, “I keep up with the news all week long and draw it after the news is over on Friday. I take it to the darkroom on Saturday and shoot it, dry it, strip it up and run the material in time for Gus Wood to send it out.”

He says, “We have more in legal fees for one week than you’ve got in your entire production costs for a year. How soon can we get down there and talk to you?” And I said, “Well, let me go home and talk to Gus.” So I’m flying home and I can hardly wait to see Rosie and I’m thinking of all that we had done to get that thing published—and they would give their left youknow-what for that information—and by the time I got home, I had decided the last thing I wanted to do was to move off to New York.

But I would have loved knowing William Buckley.

NCM: You dropped it?

BOYD: We just never wrote them back. And I have never told that story, because I’m a little bit ashamed of it.

NCM: It would have changed your life.

BOYD: I loved Newnan, Georgia, so much and was so happy with Rosie that I didn’t want to change anything, and I’m still like that. And we’re getting ready to get old. But I still wouldn’t want to die in New York City.

I would not change anything. Before I die I want to tell everybody thank you for letting me do what I wanted to do.

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NCM Q&A

NCM: What a great story. You’ll never know what might have transpired if you’d done that, but I don’t see how it could have been better than the life you’ve lived.

If you’d moved to New York, you wouldn’t have become friends with Lewis…

BOYD: …I would have never been to Scotland. I would have never met Jeff Foxworthy.

NCM: Tell me the importance of illustrating for Lewis and Jeff?

BOYD: That gave me credibility.

They are two of the greatest personalities I’ve ever met in my life.

Oh, Lewis. Lewis was un-damnbelievable. Unbelievable. He did more stuff that was notorious and infamous and brilliant than he’ll ever remember.

And Jeff Foxworthy, that was a whole other level of what I was doing. There were a lot of spinoffs—calendars, greeting cards and T-shirts—and I got a cut out of all that. It made me some money.

NCM: Do you still keep in touch with Jeff?

BOYD: Yeah, but I don’t bother him. I call him on his birthday. He has done some stuff for me that I appreciated. Rosalyn said the first person she saw when they got me to Atlanta (after Boyd suffered a stroke in 2016) was Jeff Foxworthy.

I don’t know how he found out about it, but you remember stuff like that.

NCM: The artwork you did for him helped brand him.

David Boyd Sr.'s whimsical portrait of Rolling Stones' legend Keith Richards is spot on.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 39

NCM Q&A

David Boyd Sr. illustrated Jeff Foxworthy's books and calendars for many years.

BOYD: Well, I think it did, and I’m not naïve enough to think he wouldn’t have made it big time anyway. I mean, he would have found somebody that did what I did for him. But he’s said he knew we were made for each other when he was held at bay by a group of mangy hound dogs in my front yard and everybody was sitting around spitting watermelon seeds in the backyard.

He said we talked the same language, that I drew the pictures he saw in his mind.

NCM: You two were quite a team. And you and your wife make a great team. Tell me about Rosie.

BOYD: Rosalyn wanted to be a ballerina. She loved to dance and that’s what she studied at Converse College. I’d rather see her dance than anything. She says, “When I die, if I go to heaven, I’m going to dance on my toes.”

NCM: What are you going to do when you get to heaven?

BOYD: I want some good scotch whiskey, and I want it to be all right to drink it. I want to have a good drink with the Lord.

NCM: Okay, but seriously?

BOYD: Oh, I don’t know. I just want to get there.

What more can you say about your life than that you’re happy about it? I love my wife, my children, my brother, my parents. I love my heritage, my state and my country.

NCM: What do you fear?

The Art of Old Boyd David Boyd Sr.'s artwork will be on exhibit March 13-27 at Boyd Gallery, located at 14 East Washington Street in Newnan. An Opening Reception is set for 6-9 p.m. on March 13. The Closing Reception coincides with Newnan's Spring Art Walk on March 27, 5-9 p.m.

40 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

BOYD: You know the horror I have?

I don’t want to leave Rosalyn by herself, because I know she loves me.

I don’t want to be left alone without her, either. Rosalyn loves me to death, but she doesn’t have any idea how sorry I am.

NCM: You don’t think she does?

BOYD: She may. Yeah, she may.

NCM: But you both are doing well.

You still have time.

NCM Q&A

“I loved Newnan, Georgia, so much and was so happy with Rosie that I didn’t want to change anything, and I’m still like that.”

— David Boyd Sr.

BOYD: Well, we’ve gotten lately to where we talk about it. I’m not scared of dying. Lewis told me before he went in the hospital that last time: “Everybody wonders about me. Let me tell you the way I look at things. You take both extremes: Adolf Hitler, he went to hell, and there’s a lot of room between there and the best person that will ever get to heaven. I ain’t nearly as bad as Hitler, so don’t worry about me.”

But he said it better than that. I wish I could remember because I thought about it a lot, what he said. If I was going to give somebody a eulogy, that’s what I’d say.

Rosalyn and David Boyd Sr. share a tender moment at Boyd Gallery in downtown Newnan.

NCM: It gave him peace?

BOYD: It gave me peace. NCM

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Seeing

NEWNAN How portraits helped Newnan see itself Written by JONATHAN SHIPLEY Photographed by CHRIS MARTIN

Z

ahraw and Aatika Shah peer out at the Wishbone Fried Chicken place on Jefferson Street. Trent Citarella, holding firm an American flag, gazes at people who pass by the Goodyear store. Helen Berry, over the Piedmont Newnan Fitness Center, looks across the way at the Coweta County Probate Court.

Zahraw and Aatika have lived in Coweta County about eight years. Trent graduated from Newnan High School before joining the U.S. Army. Helen, a retiree, was born in Newnan.

They each have graced the town’s walls, them and 14 other Newnanites whose images are detailed in portraits that are huge, larger-than-life works of art on display throughout the city.

The subjects include teachers and pastors, mill workers and children, Army brats and food service workers.

Basically, the neighbor next door, man and woman, black and white, native and immigrant.

“It has been a journey,” says Pulitzer Prize-nominated photo journalist Mary Beth Meehan, who took the photos.

Based in Rhode Island, she photographed the locals as part of an art project sponsored by the University of West Georgia.

“Seeing Newnan” originated after Robert Hancock, president of ArtRez, an artist in residence program in Newnan, and Chad Davidson, director of the University of West Georgia (UWG) School of the Arts, attended an art conference in Rhode Island in 2015. There, they first

42 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

Photo by Sarah Campbell

“The portraits forced us to see something we had not necessarily noticed before.”

— Beth Neely

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 43

The Portrait Subjects:

Tina

“Give people a chance. You never know what kind of gem is inside until you’re open.”

— Tina Oliver

Tina Oliver’s photo is on the corner of Spring and Jefferson. In it, she’s wearing a bikini top and cut-offs and holding a can of beer and a pack of cigarettes.

Oliver says she received a lot of negative reactions when the banner went up. She was called names. She was chastised online.

“I wish people would open their eyes and minds more,” says Oliver. “Just quit being so quick to judge people. Judge the portrait, not me.”

She thinks it’s beautiful.

“Mary Beth did an awesome job,” says Oliver.

After she shared that the negative comments about her portrait hurt her feelings, positive reactions came flooding in. Family and friends called her brave. Younger citizens began championing her. Oliver believes some were introduced to their own misconceptions when faced with her photo.

“Say hi to your neighbors, strangers, and don’t judge people because you don’t like their looks, color, where they are from,” she says. “Give people a chance. You never know what kind of gem is inside until you’re open.”

viewed one of Meehan’s portraits.

“I was smitten,” Davidson recalls, imagining an exhibit of similar photos in Newnan might bring “a sense of vibrancy, energy, dynamism — a celebration of everyday citizens.”

Meehan arrived in town in 2016 as an ArtRez participant and soon after began her work.

Davidson reflects back on how her photographs have changed Newnan.

“Art’s aim, at least in my thinking,” he says, “is to disrupt the easy conclusion, to challenge peoples’ assumptions.”

His favorite photograph, though he makes note that he loves them all, is the one of the Rev. Rufus Smith.

“I adore that suit and I just love his pensive look,” says Davidson, adding, “What struck me most about the community’s reaction to the photos was the extreme, overwhelming positivity. Folks in Newnan stood up and were heard.”

In the first few days after the portraits went up, there was a flurry of social media activity complaining about the Shah sisters, but “it was just five or six people on Facebook” being negative, according to Hancock. The vast majority of responses were of people defending the project and the sisters.

Meehan says the project caused her to get out of her bubble, to meet new people and get to know them. It led her to confront her own preconceptions of people and allowed her to see others more clearly.

“It sounds corny,” she says, “but it has been life-changing.”

In late spring 2019, the portrait banners went up all across downtown Newnan, thanks to permission from business owners who allowed, gratis, the banners to adorn their exterior walls. The exhibit’s purpose,

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 45

according to its creator, was to explore community, identity and culture in Newnan and Coweta County.

The exhibit, she surmises, has met its goals.

“It’s had a ripple effect,” she says. “People are aware of one another. It’s showing us different versions of ourselves that we have to address: Who do we think we are? How do we see ourselves? How do others see us?

How do those answers differ? What makes a community?”

Newnan Times-Herald Co-Publisher Beth Neely agrees.

“On social media, we kept seeing people ask ‘Who are these people and why are their pictures hanging on our walls?’” Neely recalls. “It’s become way too easy to stick close to social circles that only represent our preferred demographic. Fewer people are willing to break out of that routine or look up from their phones to really see who all is living alongside them. The portraits forced us to see something we had not necessarily noticed before.”

The newspaper published several stories about the art installation and multiple residents wrote letters to the editor and opinion pieces about the photographs, sharing their varying thoughts. Overall, Neely notes, Meehan’s exhibition seems to have received an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

When they first went up, however, Neely adds: “There was a lot of love for them — and a lot of hate.”

Comments online included “Liberal hogwash” and “Why the hell [is the photographer] from Rhode Island when this county is loaded with brilliant artists who represent diversity?”

It was temporary, the hate. The negative reactions were soon overwhelmed by positive

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The Portrait Subjects:

Kayla

“...It's not often someone approaches you and asks you to be a part of something that can inspire others.”

— Kayla Duffey

Kayla Duffey thinks the Meehan project was a gem.

Her photo faces Beth Neely’s office at The Newnan-Times Herald.

“When the portrait first went up, I admit I sort of thought she was frowning,” says Neely. “Then when I came back a little later and looked again, she wasn’t frowning as much. I realized that I had been in a bad mood earlier and projected my emotions onto her neutral expression. After it hit me, I was like, ‘Wow, okay, now I get it.’ Each portrait has made me think about what I see versus what I feel, comparing that visceral reaction to what’s really there in front of me.

“Now, every time I look out my window, I say hello to her.

She’s become another face I see as part of my day, another neighbor to greet.”

A photographer herself, Duffey was apprehensive about getting out from behind her camera and in front of another’s.

“But it’s not often someone approaches you and asks you to be a part of something that can inspire others,” she says.

“I was hoping it would bring the community together even more.”

It has for her.

“I have gained some new friends and some newfound respect for the people of Newnan,” says Duffey.

The Portrait Subjects:

Rufus

“Everyone has a look on life. This allows us to look together.

It is a sharing.”

— Rufus Smith

For Rufus Smith, a local pastor who lives on the land his family has owned for generations, the exhibit reaffirmed his beliefs.

“This is the way it ought to be, making things better, helping folks,” he says.

Smith says the town knows him as a man of God, preaching his message any way he can, even if that’s by posing for a portrait affixed to a downtown wall.

For drivers coming into town off the interstate, the juxtaposition of Smith in formal attire just across the street from Tina Oliver in her bikini top gives folks who stop for the red light something to ponder.

“Everyone has a look on life,” Smith says. “This allows us to look together. It is a sharing.”

Will the community continue the journey after the photos come down in late spring?

“Allowing in the experiences of another human is very valuable,” says Mary Beth Meehan.

Smith doesn’t hesitate talking about what’s valuable.

“Love one another,” he says, no matter if you work in a house of pancakes or a house of God; whether you’re a student or retiree; no matter your race, gender, orientation, political affiliation, age, any of it.

Seeing Newnan helped us do that — by looking into the eyes of each other.

ones from community members, eager to support both the art and those portrayed in it. Online comments included, “Newnan needs it,” “This is important work,” and “I just love her work here, the stories and photos.”

Newnan not only learned about itself — others learned about Newnan, too.

Atlanta TV stations, including Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), covered the portrait installation. Virginia Prescott at GPB interviewed Meehan for “On Second Thought,” an hour-long weekly news talk show.

The controversy around the art installation also attracted national attention from newspapers, including the New York Times, which sent reporter Audra Burch to Newnan to peruse the portraits and interview locals.

Burch is a native Georgian who grew up in Decatur and lives in Atlanta.

A local resident not affiliated with the project contacted the New York Times, according to Hancock.

“We are very, very grateful for that,” he says. “This would have never happened if she didn’t reach out.”

Burch’s article appeared on the front page of the Jan. 19 printed edition and online with a different headline. In print, the headline was “Art Forces a Small Southern City to Rethink Its Image” while the online story was topped with a subhead of, “Newnan, Ga. decided to use art to help the community celebrate diversity and embrace change. Not everybody was ready for what they saw.”

When asked if he thinks the portrait project “rattled” Newnan, Hancock replies, “I think it rattled a few people.”

Since the article ran, Hancock and other ArtRez board members as well as University of West Georgia faculty have reported getting emails from across the U.S. and even France. NCM

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 49

NCM SPOTLIGHT

Three Times a Bride Written by JENNY ENDERLIN Wedding Photography by Cindy Brown

N

ot many couples can say they’ve married three times, and fewer can say they’ve done so on three continents.

However, that’s exactly what U.S. Navy Lt. Joshua Hickman, of Newnan, and Aljean Vidal of Cebu, Philippines, did over the course of a year.

Joshua is a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship chaplain; his wife is a nurse who decided to work in Japan, in part to learn a fourth language and enjoy anime without subtitles. The couple met while Joshua was assigned to Naval Hospital Yokosuka. He is the son of Newnan residents John and Bette Hickman. Aljean’s parents are Amelito and Evangeline Vidal.

Bette got to know Aljean during visits and quickly became enamored with her. “She’s so full of joy and fun and frolic,” says Bette.

In turn, Aljean affectionately calls her mother-in-law “Mommy Bette” and entrusted her with a task few brides would consider delegating: choosing the wedding attire.

“I’ll bring some dresses and you can look at them,” Bette told her future daughter-in-law.

So what did Aljean think when Bette returned? “Stunning,” exclaims the bride. “They were all stunning. Mommy Bette is my fashion savior and my

Opposite page, top: With their bridal party at attention, Joshua Hickman and his bride Aljean honor a U.S. Navy tradition by passing under a sword arch.

50 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

NCM SPOTLIGHT

Mother-ofthe-groom Bette Hickman painted magnolia flowers on 150 small canvases Happy with her dramatic weight loss, Beth Carroll holds up a shirt that once fit her. to give to guests at her son’s wedding.

Dr. Joel Richardson leads the ceremony of matrimony for Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Hickman at The Newnan Centre in October.

NCM SPOTLIGHT

Top: Origami cranes were included in the event to signify success, good fortune and dreams come true.

Above: Artist Eve Graybeal Olsen, a former student of Bette Hickman, worked on a painting of the couple that was completed during the reception.

52 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

fashion guru.”

Bette was thrilled when her daughter-inlaw picked not one but all three dresses. Aljean designated one for the civil union in Japan, another for the religious wedding in Italy, and one for a military reception.

The first of the three weddings occurred in Yokosuka, Japan, with vows exchanged in a Jan. 4, 2019, civil ceremony and a reception held to celebrate the couple.

As Joshua explains, “There is a tight family within the Navy. It was important to have some form of reception for that group specifically. I knew that most, if not all of them, would be unable to attend our big wedding in Newnan.”

Next came the religious wedding on May 23, 2019, in Naples, Italy. Aljean is a devout Catholic and when the couple discovered Joshua was going to Italy for training, they seized the opportunity to have their friend Navy Chaplain Lt. Cmdr.

Joselito “Lito” Tuongsong marry them in the church. Father Lito had taken Joshua under his wing when they were stationed together in Japan

NCM SPOTLIGHT

Guests were presented with a wedding coin as a token of gratitude for joining the couple on their happy day.

and taught him about Filipino culture.

“He was very warm and welcoming, and showed me that marriage between a Catholic and Baptist is not only possible but can be complimentary,” reflects Joshua.

The intimate ceremony took place in the Chapel at Cappoducino Naval Air Station which has views of both

The bride rocked this pair of Christian Louboutin shoes at her wedding ceremony in Newnan.

the Port of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. Aljean wore a highend vintage dress, procured by her mother-in-law, along with a veil of her own making.

For the final ceremony, the vow renewal at the Newnan Centre on Oct. 19, 2019, the bride wore an exquisite custom dress by Filipino designer Pinky Magalona. It was paired

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Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Hickman celebrate their third wedding ceremony with Hickman’s parents, Lt. John and Bette Hickman.

54 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

with gold Christian Louboutin shoes gifted by bridesmaids.

With the couple living abroad, much of the planning for the local wedding fell to Bette.

“The Newnan Centre was amazing and worked with me every step of the way,” she says. “Our city is blessed to have this beautiful venue with a first class staff.”

Bette’s flair as an artist was evident throughout the event. She hired accomplished artist Eve Graybeal Olsen, her former child protégé, to do a live painting of the couple during the reception.

“I was blown away. It was astonishing to see an artist painting our portrait,” says Aljean.

“We will treasure this for life.”

The couple incorporated more than 100

NCM SPOTLIGHT personally folded origami cranes as part of a crane marriage blessing, based on the Japanese tradition that views cranes as symbols of success and good fortune ­— and fashioning origami cranes as a way to make your heart’s desire come true.

The Hickmans eschewed the Filipino tradition of having 30 to 50 members in their bridal party, but they did opt to have a Bible bearer and a “little bride” who serves as the couple’s inspiration to raise children in the Catholic faith.

Dr. Joel Richardson, now retired from Central Baptist Church, presided over the local ceremony, and Joshua’s niece, Layla Kahn-Hickman, surprised the couple by singing “Finding Wonderland.” Flower arrangements were provided by florists Laura Mattia and Cheree Stevens, and the wedding cake was the creation of family friend Bonne Above: Revelers congratulate the third-time newlyweds, Aljean and Joshua Hickman, aboard the Newnan trolley.

Opposite page, top: Aljean Hickman encourages her little bride, Milagrosa Maria Acederra, before the Newnan ceremony begins.

Boyd Bedingfield. The Hickman wedding was the first in Newnan to utilize the city’s trolley for a private event.

As for selecting a caterer, there was no question about it. Joshua had worked for Jennifer and Johnny Hanna’s local catering company when he was younger and readily admits, “I am a better Navy chaplain as a result of serving people... Last week, I replaced a young sailor in the galley for a few hours. It was like riding a bike.”

For wedding favors, Bette spent four months handpainting 150 small canvases depicting magnolia flowers as a nod to Joshua’s Southern roots. Additionally, the bride and groom designed a military challenge coin to give each of their guests. Per Naval tradition, the bridal couple passed through a sword arch and cut their cake with a Navy sword.

The wedding in Newnan drew people from all over the world and the unique touches made it meaningful for all the guests, though perhaps especially for Bette.

“For my son to have found a girl who is so filled with joy made every minute that I put into this wedding worth it for me,” she says. “They are wildly, madly in love with each other. It just makes me so happy.” NCM

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Not Your Mama’s Wedding Millennials trade old traditions for new ones Written by JACKIE KENNEDY

W

edding ceremonies evolve through generations and, as today’s millennials marry, new trends

take over where old traditions once ruled.

Engagement ring designer and jeweler Jean Dousset knows a thing or two about today’s weddings. The great-

recently surveyed 1,850 newlywed couples to learn how they planned and pulled off their wedding. Survey results showed that as some time-honored traditions are phasing out, new ones are forming.

And for those reluctant to change, hold on: The news

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EXPLORE OUR AMENITIES FOR at the reception. Likewise, religious ceremonies are not nearly as common as they once were.

Even the ways millennials live leading up to marriage are different with many couples moving in together sooner while tying the knot later than their parents did. When they do get married, their weddings look a lot different. When’s the last time you nibbled on nuts and mints at the church fellowship hall reception? And can you remember when you last saw cans tied to the back of a car for the newlyweds’ departure?

In place of traditions like those, new wedding day habits adopted by millennials include sparkler exits and first looks, with the bride and groom seeing each other for the first time before the ceremony.

Trends they’re moving to include writing their own vows, throwing an after-party and having dessert other than the traditional wedding cake.

Conducted in October 2019, the survey included 1,850 respondents who were wed within the previous five years. Sixty percent were women, 40 percent were men, and the average age was 33.

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Nearly 50 percent of millennial couples paid for their own wedding by splitting the costs 50/50.

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NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: RACE For The Orphans

“Do for one what you can’t do for many.”

— Pastor Andy Stanley

Exuding joy on RACE day, Emerson Smith runs the Tot Trot.

The Preston family founded and annually prepares for and participates in RACE for the Orphans, from left: Shelby, Nathan, Jenna, Jason, Andrew and Kelly.

58 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

Photos by Christy Grote

Kellen Owens holds his son Leo, who was adopted from Ethiopia with help from a RACE for the Orphans grant.

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: RACE For The Orphans

Race for the Orphans Written by JEFFREY WARD Photographs courtesy of RACE for the Orphans

A

tlanta Pastor Andy Stanley once said, “Do for one what you can’t do for many.”

That sums up the mission and focus of RACE for the Orphans, a Coweta County event featuring a 5K run and related activities.

The acronym RACE stands for “Raising Awareness, Compassion and Education.”

Proceeds from the event are distributed as grants to help local families in their efforts to adopt. This year’s race is set for Saturday, May 2, at Coweta County Fairgrounds in Newnan.

According to UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), there are approximately 153 million orphans worldwide. One goal of RACE for the Orphans is to decrease that number.

Jason and Kelly Preston, of Newnan, started the RACE in 2013 when they were seeking to expand their family. Proceeds from the inaugural race helped them adopt Jenna Jean from China. Since then, 23 children have been welcomed into adoptive families through the efforts of RACE. Jason and Kelly, both experienced runnerathletes, are eager to talk about the event’s origins.

“We thought we would simply invite a few friends and fellow runners to raise

Nick and Katie Hayes adopted Melanie with help from a 2018 RACE grant. Family members are, from left, Nick, Bethany, Melanie, Jude and Katie.

some much-needed funds for our adoption expenses,” Kelly recalls. “We were totally overwhelmed and unprepared when more than 350 runners showed up and we didn’t even have any timing equipment.”

Buoyed by their success, the couple made the race an annual affair, and participation has grown each year since. The race is now professionally handled by the Orion Company and serves as an official qualifier for the Atlanta Peachtree Road Race.

Last year’s RACE drew more than 1,000 MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 59

Nick and Katie Hayes adopted Melanie with help from a 2018 RACE grant. Family members are, from left, Nick, Bethany, Melanie, Jude and Katie.

Photo by Matt Evans

Children race the one-mile fun run, this year named Mia’s Mile in memory of Mia Jordan, left, who was adopted in 2015 with help from RACE for the Orphans and died in 2019 from medical complications.

participants and raised $65,000 for nine families seeking adoption.

According to adoption.com, the cost for an international adoption averages between $10,000 and $40,000. Depending on the child’s home country, the process can take months to years to complete, says Kelly.

“Each adoption process is unique, taking into consideration factors like the orphan’s age at the time of adoption, the adoptee’s country of origin, language barriers, and how a newly adopted child will assimilate with siblings,” she says.

Grant recipients from the 2018 RACE, Nick and Katie Hayes 60 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

already had two biological children but they felt led by God to welcome an orphan into their family. Initially, they researched adoption grants, reached out to their church, and talked at length with Kelly Preston for advice.

“Kelly inspired us to be patient with the process of dealing with foreign governments and other adoption agencies, no matter how long it took,” says Nick.

Originally, he and Katie wanted to adopt a healthy baby, but a 12-yearold girl with multiple special needs from the Philippines stole their hearts. Melanie was born with a fused jaw and without hands or feet. She is now a thriving sibling in the Hayes family and requires little assistance in coping with her disabilities.

Trey and Crystal Pate were

recipients of a RACE grant that enabled them to take the domestic adoption route. After intensive social agency vetting, they waited two years to meet their son Jackson, who is now 2 years old.

“Adoption is a symbolic picture of what Christ has done for all of us, and it cost him so much more,” says Trey.

RACE for the Orphans features a 5K, Tot Trot and one-mile fun run. Kelly’s favorite is the Tot Trot: “It starts out like the Black Friday stampede into a major department store with much noise, jostling and energy.”

While the spring race day is the group’s main event, RACE also hosts a retreat in early fall for adopting families to reconnect and share experiences. NCM

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: ArtRez

Gray Cottage, next door to the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society headquarters at McRitchie-Hollis Museum, serves as a studio retreat for artist residents from throughout the world.

Gray Cottage, Home to Creation Guest Artists Live and Create in Newnan Home Written by JENNIFER DZIEDZIC • Photographed by CHRIS MARTIN

I

n the midst of the historic district of downtown Newnan stands a cozy gray cottage that many may not have noticed. Its purpose is quite important, yet understated.

This is where Newnan ArtRez has made its home and where artists from anywhere in the world can come to spend time, to focus and hone in on their craft, while also giving back to the community.

The program has included writers, painters, musicians and installation artists who stay anywhere from two weeks to a month in the little gray cottage.

The ArtRez Board of Directors chooses its artists-in-residence based on their qualifications, professionalism and locale.

The board agrees it’s important to bring in emerging mid-level artists and not hobbyists.

ArtRez Board Chairman Robert Hancock and fellow co-founders Bette Hickman and Millie Gosch built the program and developed the vision.

“Newnan was really fledgling on the art scene,” says Gosch. “One conversation led to another and then Robert included Bette, and Gray Cottage kind of came about, and thus ArtRez was born in 2015.”

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 61

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: ArtRez perfect. He embraced the community, loved living in Newnan, rode his bicycle all over town, and greeted people warmly. I know probably 50 people in town who have one of his pieces of art. We have enriched our ties culturally on behalf of the sister city relationship because of the Arts.”

Says Tudhope: “As the first artist in residence at Gray Cottage, I had the most amazing experience. I was made incredibly welcome by everyone involved and all the locals I met, many of whom I have stayed friends with. Newnan is blessed with such a wonderful creative force driving the Arts in Newnan. The beautiful town and weather helped to change my painting style, which I feel has flourished. I will be forever grateful.”

Board member and City of Newnan Assistant City Manager Hasco Craver says the ArtRez program allows for conversation about public art. He promises there is more to come, as each month the board subcommittee studies submissions from the U.S. and internationally.

“We’re continually striving towards actualizing the mission, which is never complete,” says Craver.

That mission is to offer emerging and mid-career artists a retreat to pursue visual, literary and musical projects; to create opportunities for the community to engage with artists; and to support art experiences that enrich local residents.

“We are constantly evolving and changing, learning as we host people,” Hickman says. “We are very grateful — Bette Hickman to the city and the University of West Georgia for their support.”

The cultural exchange in this program is crucial, residency program. according to Gosch.

“The location was wonderful because it’s a charming “The give-back for artists is to do one public event town,” she says. “You can get away from the daily per week that they stay,” she says. “The artists love to grind and you can focus on the time and the place that give back.” you’re painting.”

Visiting the Boys and Girls Club or Backstreet The ArtRez board meets monthly and a subArts to share their work, holding free art demos at the committee chooses artists brought into the program.

Carnegie for the public, and holding private art classes “I am on a sub-committee that looks at the different are just some of the ways the resident artists have given applications we get,” says Hickman. “We really read back to the community. every word. We look at how that person will impact ArtRez board members believe Gray Cottage and our community, what they will be to our youth and the artist resident program would not have happened what gifts they can bring to us.” without serendipitous timing.

Peter Tudhope was the program’s first participant.

“We just kept gathering the right people and it “Because we have a sister city with Ayr, Scotland, was the right time in history for success,” Hickman I asked my colleagues there to help us find an appropriate artist,” Hickman recalls. “Peter was concludes. NCM “I wanted to save the house, Robert came up with the means, and Millie had the idea, so we really just came together,” adds Hickman. “The rest is history, and I'm delighted to be a part of it.”

The program now includes 10 board members, all working to bring in new artists on a regular basis.

Serving on the board of directors for Newnan-Coweta Historical Society at the time, Hickman and Hancock wanted to do “something special” with the house behind the Historical Society’s McRitchie-Hollis Museum.

“My vision was to save the house,” says Hickman.

“I loved the house and didn’t want the footprint to be disturbed. And Robert said, ‘It has to mean something. It can’t just be another part of the historical society.’ So Millie came up with the idea of turning it into a resident’s cottage.”

Hickman says ArtRez gives her the opportunity to be in an organization that puts art first.

“We try very hard to involve resident artists in the community, and of course we must include children; that’s part of our vision,” she adds.

Gosch, Newnan native and plein air painter, felt her hometown was the perfect setting for an artist

“I wanted to save the house, Robert came up with the means, and Millie had the idea, so we really just came together. The rest is history, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.”

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5

8

6

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Gray Cottage welcomes ArtRez participants to spend two to four weeks creating art on their own terms, free from everyday hassles in a community that supports their creativity. Photos feature: 1. The living room. 2. Studio. 3. A guest book for visitors to record their stay at the cottage. 4. Millie Gosch, right, discussing a recent resident’s work with fellow ArtRez board member Susan Crutchfield. 5. The front door at 23 Clark Street. 6. Bette Hickman welcoming visitors and residents. 7. Pieces created at Gray Cottage. 8. The bedroom. 9. Spacious area in the small bungalow.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 63

COWETA COOKS

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Just Desserts St. George Catholic and its saintly sweet tooth

T

Written and Photographed by JACKIE KENNEDY

he parishioners at Saint George Catholic Church, in Newnan, are known to be good cooks, but it’s their desserts for which they’re Coweta Countyfamous.

Their sweet treats are featured in the church’s cookbook, “Feast of Saint George,” which was published in March 2018 to commemorate the local parish’s 80th anniversary. In the two years since, all but about 200 of the cookbooks have sold with proceeds supporting the church’s culinary ministry, which teaches youngsters how to cook.

For parishioner and cookbook editor Denise Pierce, collaborating on the cookbook was a joyful endeavor. She already had worked on two cookbooks, one in 2001 to support Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in Tyrone and another called “Good Food! Good Cheer!” for her daughter’s cheerleading squad to raise funds for athletic equipment at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City.

“These types of cookbooks are always different because it’s 64 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

COWETA COOKS a selective group of people you draw recipes from,” says Pierce. “And they are good for fundraising because they contain good family recipes that you don’t want to lose.”

Pierce was delighted the first time she had the opportunity to work on a cookbook.

“I had a bunch of recipes to put in because I wanted to keep them alive for my children and my children’s children to have when I’m gone,” she recalls.

“That’s what’s so important about these church cookbooks: They contain tried and true recipes that are handed down from generation to generation.”

All 450 recipes in the Saint George cookbook were submitted by church members and friends.

“The cookbook reflects Saint George Catholic Church’s willingness to help and the love for our neighbors that we want to share,” says Connie Cebulski, who helped put together the cookbook.

“All those who donated their recipes usually help by bringing dishes for the mercy meals we have after funerals and by bringing food for ecumenical community events and for parish events, like picnics, first communion and confirmation.”

Each year during Lent, this year from February 26 through April 9, Saint George joins other local churches for a weekly ecumenical worship service at noon on Wednesdays followed by a potluck luncheon provided by the host church. Churches

take turns hosting and, through the years, Saint George has gained a reputation among the various congregations for their desserts, according to Cebulski.

“Everyone compliments our desserts,” she says. “Especially when we host the Lenten luncheon at Saint George, we hear repeatedly that they come to our lunch for the desserts.”

In 1955, the ladies of Saint George started an annual streusel and bake sale which was held at the church on the day before Thanksgiving.

“Among our church’s earliest members was the Mansour family who were Lebanese Catholics, and the women were known for making cakes,” Pierce recalls. “People used to line up

Connie Cebulski, left, and Denise Pierce were among Saint George Catholic Church members who contributed recipes to “Feast of Saint George,” the parish cookbook published in 2018. Here, the ladies showcase desserts from the cookbook.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 65

COWETA COOKS for the sale so they would have all these fabulous desserts for their Thanksgiving dinner.”

The highlight of the annual bake sale was Rose Schuldises’ streusel, according to Pierce who says the bake sale continued for 54 years, through 1999, before going through an 18year hiatus. In 2017, to celebrate the

church’s 80th anniversary and the new cookbook, the bake sale began anew with Schuldises’ streusel again stealing the show.

“We spend two weekends before the sale making the streusel, then we wrap it up and freeze it,” says Pierce. “We do advanced sales and also do some on the sale day.”

There’s at least one popular recipe you won’t find in the “Feast of Saint George” cookbook, though: that beloved streusel.

“The streusel is top secret,” says Pierce. “The ladies gave me a copy of the recipe to make my streusel, but when I tried to put it in the cookbook, they looked at me like I was nuts.”

Butter Pecan Cheesecake

a double thickness of foil and wrap foil securely

Cookbook Committee

around pan.

1 1/2 cups Pecan Sandies cookie crumbs 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided 1/3 cup butter, melted 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 cups sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 eggs, beaten To make crust: Combine crumbs, 1/2 cup pecans and butter. Reserve 1/3 cup of mixture. Press remaining mixture in the bottom and up one inch of sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Place pan on 66 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

To make filling: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth.

Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs and beat at a low speed to combine. Fold in pecans. Pour filling into crust and sprinkle reserved crumb mixture on top. Place pan on a large baking sheet. Fill baking sheet with one inch of water and bake 70 to 80 minutes or until center is set.

Remove springform pan from water bath and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge to loosen and cool one hour longer.

Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan before serving.

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

COWETA COOKS

Janet Treadaway PUDDING 1

loaf French or Cuban bread, chopped or chunked into squares

1

quart milk

1/4

cup whiskey, optional

Carrot-Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Aline Archibald 2

cups plain flour

3 eggs

1

teaspoon baking powder

2

cups sugar

1

teaspoon baking soda

2

tablespoons vanilla extract

1

teaspoon cinnamon

3

tablespoons butter

2

cups sugar

1/2

can condensed milk

3

cups finely shredded carrots

1/2

cup raisins, optional

1

(8Âź-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained

1/2

cup peaches, optional

1

cup cooking oil

4

eggs, room temperature

2

(3-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak bread in milk and whiskey. Add eggs, one at a time, and stir well.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well; let stand 20 minutes. In a square baking pan, spray cooking spray on bottom and sides. Pour all ingredients into a baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

WHISKEY SAUCE 1

cup sugar or condensed milk

1

stick of butter

1

ounce whiskey, optional

1

egg

Cook sugar and butter in a double boiler until hot.

Add whiskey, more if desired, then add well-beaten egg. When done, pour over bread pudding.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature 2

teaspoons vanilla extract

1

pound confectioners sugar

To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.

Add carrots, pineapple, oil and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed about 30 seconds or until combined.

Spread into 2 prepared 9x1-inch pans. Bake for 35 minutes or until cakes test done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to completely cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

To make frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla and beat again until light and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar a little at a time and beat all together until smooth.

Key Lime Pie M. Davis CRUST 1 1 1/2

package graham crackers stick butter, melted cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend ingredients. Press into bottom of springform pan or 9-inch deep pie dish lined with parchment paper. Bake 8 minutes and cool.

FILLING 2 1 5

1

(14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk cup key lime juice egg yolks zest of 4 key limes pint heavy cream, whipped

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except whipped cream. Pour into cooled crust and bake 8 minutes Chill, then freeze for 1 hour before serving. Serve with huge dollops of whipped cream.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 67

Churches join for Lent

COWETA COOKS Jamaican Mystery Cake Cathy Rook CAKE 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 1/3 cups sugar 3

teaspoons double acting baking

powder 1

teaspoon salt

1

cup milk

1/2

cup shortening

2

unbeaten eggs

CREAM FILLING/WHIPPING CREAM FROSTING

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2

cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together first 4 ingredients into mixing bowl.

Add milk and shortening. Beat 1½ minutes at low speed. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat 1½ minutes. Turn into two 8-inch round layer pans, well greased and lightly floured on the bottom. Bake 30-35 minutes; cool.

Prick each layer all over with a fork.

Combine in small saucepan: sugar, coffee and water. Bring to a boil. Boil 4 minutes.

Spoon over cake layers. Cool, and then fill with Rum Cream Filling and frost with Whipping Cream Frosting.

Share Your Cookbook Has your church, school or civic group produced a cookbook as a fundraiser? If so, we’d love to share your recipes with our readers.

Send information about your group and cookbook to magazine@newnan. com, call 770.253.1576, or drop by our office at 16 Jefferson Street in Newnan.

We look forward to hearing from you and sharing your recipes.

cup flour

1/3

cup sugar

1/4

teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee 1/2

1/3

3

beaten eggs

2

tablespoons butter

2

teaspoons rum flavoring,

Seven Newnan churches will take part in annual ecumenical services during the Lenten season with pastors leading devotionals at guest churches. The half-hour services begin at 12 p.m. and are immediately followed by lunch, which costs $5 with proceeds donated to charity.

No reservations are required. Host churches and the guest pastor speaking there are: Feb. 26, St. Paul’s Episcopal: Jimmy Patterson of First Baptist March 4, Saint George Catholic: Matt Sapp of Central Baptist March 11, First Baptist: Henry Atem of Saint George

or rum 1

cup heavy cream

1/4

cup confectioners sugar

For cream filling: Combine flour, sugar and salt in a saucepan.

Gradually add milk and eggs. Cook, stirring constantly until thick. Stir in butter and rum flavoring. Cover and chill. Reserve ½ cup for frosting.

For frosting: Beat heavy cream with confectioners sugar and reserved cream filling until thick.

March 18, Cornerstone United Methodist: Charles Robinson of First United Methodist March 25, Central Baptist: Scott Pickering of Cornerstone United Methodist April 1, First United Methodist: David Jones of Newnan Presbyterian April 8, Newnan Presbyterian: Hazel Glover of St. Paul’s Episcopal

Triple Chocolate-Nut Clusters Nancy Mader 1

(16-ounce) jar dry roasted peanuts

1 (9.75-ounce) can salted whole cashews 2 cups pecan pieces 18 (2-ounce) chocolate bark coating squares, cut in half 1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate morsels 4 (1-ounce) bittersweet chocolate baking squares,

broken into pieces 1 tablespoon shortening 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine peanuts, cashews, pecan pieces, chocolate bark, chocolate morsels, bittersweet chocolate and shortening in a 5-quart slow cooker; cover and cook on low 2 hours or until chocolate is melted. Stir and add vanilla, stirring well to coat.

Drop candy by heaping teaspoonful onto wax paper. Let stand at least 2 hours or until firm. Store in an airtight container. Makes 6 dozen. NCM

MARCH MADNESS at THE BOYD GALLERY

Two International Artists & One Old Boyd The Art of Vicki Norman, England March 7, 6-9 | March 8, 10-2

The Art of Old Boyd, Parts Unknown & Leon Holmes, Australia Opening Reception | March 13 | 6-9 Closing Reception | March 27 | 5-9 www.theboydgallery.com

SHOP NEWNAN

Historic Downtown Newnan 14 North Court Square Newnan, GA 30263 (770) 253-2720

COWETA ARTS

Teaching Art Self-taught Sharpsburg painter instructs others Written and Photographed by JACKIE KENNEDY

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or 42 years, Kay Stanley has taught art classes to young and old, novices and those with experience. She believes anyone can learn to paint, as long as they have the passion to keep at it.

“It’s just like riding a bicycle or learning to cook or sew,” she says. “All it takes is a desire and a willingness to practice.”

The Sharpsburg resident has been at it

Senoia resident Karen Boswell, left, like her teacher Kay Stanley, believes that anyone can learn to paint. “I’m a piano teacher and it’s the same,” says Boswell. “People say you

have to have natural talent, but you don’t. You have to have discipline. Discipline wins out over talent any day.”

70 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

herself since she was a child. Her mediums include oil, acrylics, watercolor, ink, pencil and pen.

“My family, by their example, taught me at an early age that it was always good to have some type of hand work going,” she recalls. “Drawing and painting was my thing.

As a young adult I became involved in tole and decorative painting and this soon led to serious interest in fine arts.”

Eventually, while residing in Fairburn, she was asked to lead art classes at an arts and crafts store with locations in Union City and Fayetteville.

“And 42 years later, I am still teaching,” says the self-taught artist.

Since moving to Sharpsburg 30 years ago, Stanley has taught weekly art classes at the Sharpsburg Recreation Center. And for nine years, she instructed Newnan homeschoolers through the Eagles Nest homeschool group and the Community Home Educators Association.

Although Stanley took correspondence courses in art and has studied at various workshops, she says her students have been her greatest teachers.

“I credit my students with helping me grow as an artist,” she says. “We all inspire and encourage each other and learn by doing.

Some of the students who attend class have been participating for 20-plus years. Some are a lot newer to the classes. I am very proud of all of them and their accomplishments.”

COWETA ARTS

Terry Gregg, left, of Newnan, has been taking classes from Kay Stanley for three years and enjoys the direction and support she receives in class.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 71

COWETA ARTS

Peachtree City resident Michele Stravelakis, right, has traveled to Sharpsburg for Kay Stanley’s art classes for more than 25 years. “Once you get started, it’s hard to stop,” says Stravelakis.

Join an Art Class Kay Stanley’s art classes at Sharpsburg Recreation Center include:

The main thing, according to Stanley, is that everyone in her classes has fun and enjoys being and learning together.

“It is so rewarding to see a student’s joy when learning and to see them feeling good about their accomplishments and about themselves,” she says. “I have always heard that ‘Art is the easiest way to leave home without going anywhere.’ That is so true. Art is great therapy.”

In her paintings, Stanley strives to capture the beauty and emotion in the simple things of life.

“My favorite subjects are flowers, still life and landscapes,” she says. “I especially love color and the play of light on things. It is fun to experiment and I often enjoy combining different techniques and using various styles.”

Her creations have garnered awards from the Third (Georgia) Congressional District Art Show, NewnanCoweta Art Association (NCAA) spring show, Manget Brannon Art Show in Raymond, Sharpsburg Art Show and the NCAA Juried Show.

In addition, she designed the logo for the Coweta County Courthouse bicentennial and the logo for the City of Sharpsburg. One of her paintings was displayed in the Washington D.C. office of U.S. Representative Mac Collins and later purchased by his chief of staff.

“My life has been truly blessed with a love and passion for art and I have a huge desire to share that love with others,” the artist concludes. NCM

Wednesday: Acrylic Painting 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., $60 for four weeks.

Thursday: Watercolor Painting and Experimenting 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., $60 for four weeks.

Both of these classes are ongoing with a new project beginning at the first of each month. Work is done from photos and life with Stanley doing demos to teach. Sometimes students paint from a theme; sometimes they choose their own theme. Stanley provides a list and students purchase their own supplies.

Friday: Paint Night Third Friday of each month, 6:30 p.m.9:30 p.m., $30, all supplies included.

Projects are usually in acrylics and students leave with a finished painting.

Contact kayart1@bellsouth.net for class schedule and supply lists.

72 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

Kay Stanley shares tips and progress on paintings with students in her class, from left, Karen Boswell, Carmella Campbell and Karyl Lauzon, all of Senoia; Stanley and Anna Moreland, both of Sharpsburg; and Georgina Boesing, Teresa Benefield, Barbara Hellwig (in front), Ruth Whitaker, Ruth Osorio and Terry Gregg, all of Newnan.

COWETA ARTS

2

1

Art by Kay Stanley 1. Elizabeth, 16x20 pencil 2. Pear, 10x8 oil 3. Watermelon and Pitcher, 9x12 oil 4. Magnolia, 16x20 watercolor

“Color gets all the credit, but value does all the work.”

3

— Kay Stanley

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MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 73

Coweta Prose Exploring the Moment, Connecting through Poetry Written by JACKIE KENNEDY

C

oweta County resident Laura Johnson wrote a few poems here and there as she was growing up but ramped up her efforts in recent years.

“I started writing poetry intensely as an adult,” says Johnson. “It’s a way to explore a moment and to share what’s in your heart with people without hitting them over the head with it. Poetry is a way to connect with others. We all go through the same things.”

Johnson’s first book of poetry, “Not Yet,” was released in March 2019 by Kelsay Books, based in American Fork, Utah. The title poem was first published in Blue Heron Review. Others of Johnson’s poems have appeared in literary journals including The New Southern Fugitives, Literary Mama and The Reach of Song.

A Georgia native, Johnson earned her English and education degrees from Auburn University and her Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from Fairfield University, in Bridgeport, Conn.

Johnson will attend the elite Kenyon Review Summer Writer’s workshop in June. The selective program involves spending eight days on the Kenyon College campus in Gambier, Ohio, while studying with the acclaimed Jamaican-American poet Shara McCallum and other poets.

An English/ESOL teacher at Fayette County High School in Fayetteville, Johnson serves as sponsor of The Unleashed Pens, the school’s creative writing club. She leads a monthly writer’s workshop, Lines Between the Wines, at Warm Springs Cellars in Warm Springs.

Johnson lives with her husband, Scott, and their pets in Sharpsburg. She is currently working on her second book. Four poems from “Not Yet” appear here.

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Waiting I perused unneeded products – plush towels and shiny crock pots – and glanced back once, twice, hoping someone would claim him.

He was wrinkled. His face blank and as gray as his three-sizes-too-big slacks.

His bloody-brow-bandage flag of pain begged for attention while folks like me pushed buggies of groceries and things or waited in the lines nearby.

He continued to sit alone, but I walked on through the on-clearance clothes and cat food for urinary tract conditions, blue-plus-pink-make-purple Ziplock bags, jumbo, large, and medium-sized eggs, lined-up soymilk and stacked-up yogurt, hanging, illuminated bags of yellow and white shredded cheeses, the aisle of Campbell’s canned soups and creams, Mahatma rice, and nicely packaged Jolly Green beans. They filled my brain, and pushed the old man out. I rounded through produce, picking up potatoes, bananas, and pears, then returned to the front where I saw him, still sitting there on that Wal-mart metal mesh bench, legs crossed, staring ahead like none of it mattered.

“You’ve been sitting here a long time.” He turned his eyes toward mine. Skin tags lay on lashes.

“I’m waiting for my son. He was shopping, but now he’s down there, doing his taxes.”

Random hair grew on his face.

“You hurt your head.”

His loose-bandage blood was substantial.

“I have cancer –” His words turned in my chest and dropped.

“I’m sorry.”

My feelings wrestled with silence. Ice cream melted in my cart.

“I’ve seen the doctor about my head, my son is right down there.”

Permission to leave.

“Okay, I just wanted to know you weren’t alone.”

A large rolling box of Sony TV, cocked diagonally, And little bouncing can-we-set-it-up-tonight feet.

I stood, touched his shoulder.

Disappointment then resignation flashed in his eyes, he said “Thank you.” I pushed my groceries through the automatic exit, wrapped in a splotchy smug cloud of guilt and relief.

COWETA PROSE

Lizard in My Mailbox Not Yet

Electric bills, carpet-cleaning ads and Consumer Report magazines have no hold on you. You see my mailbox only as an echoing, cavernous hole.

Almost-solid sand.

Waves whispering roars.

Gray lacking.

I saw you as a mysterious blurred and blended-gray item, left in back after I retrieved my paper stack.

I reached and grabbed. You bolted against

Lapping, crawling foam.

Sandpipers advance and retreat– Busy, hurried, snatching.

my folded palm; and the frantic frogs, crickets, and lizards I caught in knee-high grass, my muddy metal pail in hand, all kicked against the uncoiled decades stretched from innocence to

A stranger and I walk toward the pink glow.

Connecting, knowing glances; Camera hope.

information on reptile-bites and salmonella, kicked against the wall between lizardhood and ladyhood.

Time’s stacked-up messages snatched a startled yelp from my grown-up depths, and like a snake scared by human steps quickly releases its prey and unwinds, I released you.

We slowed our breaths, and I watched your wary eye eyeing mine; I watched your pumping chest.

Then I walked down my drive, leaving you And my hanging mailbox door behind.

Nightmare It was like that time I swam with a fat kid on my back – a burst of strength and I was up, but then I’d sink back down afraid we would both drown, and then I was up, and then down.

But in this dream, we weren’t swimming; I was flying your dead weight on my back, and someone was chasing us.

We fell through a clothes line, panties wrapped around my face, people stared out their apartment windows, Wagging their heads at the fuss, the disgrace.

I could have flown alone – tossed you off to fall and thunk and die, I could have soared and saved myself, but even My subconscious couldn’t choose that life.

The indentation– a thumb pressed on the sea.

Slow-rising lava hump– arching boundary infusing the waiting gray– Pink, purple, blues.

Waves whispering roars.

Sandpipers advance and retreat.

We stop and stare, raise our lenses in the air to catch what can’t be caught.

Fire beyond the water, beyond the thorny Fall, beyond all groans and grasping, calling to a gleam inside of us.

Light beyond bearing.

Unreachable beauty.

God’s voice: “Not yet.”

Heads bow, Eyes turn west.

Fire burning in my breast.

Laura Johnson

Share Your Prose Are you a closet poet? Or a creator of short fiction?

Share your best work with us and we may publish it in an upcoming issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine.

Submit your work along with your name, address, email address and daytime phone number to magazine@newnan.com or mail or drop by our office at Newnan-Coweta Magazine, 16 Jefferson Street, Newnan, GA 30263.

COWETA GARDEN

Have Plants, Will Sell Master Gardeners Host Spring Sale in April

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Written by DALE SENKO Photographs courtesy of Coweta County MGEVs

igns of spring are everywhere in Coweta. Birds are chirping, azaleas are blooming, daffodils are emerging, and the Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEVs) are getting ready for a gigantic plant sale on Saturday, April 4.

The sale, which has been around since 2004, celebrates the beginning of the spring planting season.

Master Gardener Extension Volunteer Edie Scott had the idea for the plant sale.

She and a small group of MGEVs gathered donated plants, transported them to a tent on Newnan’s Court Square, and sold the plants in conjunction with the Newnan Coweta Art Association’s Spring Show.

“It was a popular event and a great opportunity for MGEVs to talk with the public about gardening,” says Scott.

Fast forward to 2020. The plant sale has 76 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

expanded in size and preparation time, and now a fall plant sale is also held. Days after the spring sale, MGEVs start propagating cuttings from shrubs for the following fall and spring sales.

Before the first cold spell in fall, mother plants are donated from MGEV gardens.

Mother plants are mature plants used to take cuttings in order to propagate “baby” plants.

Mother plants are stored in the Coweta County MGEV greenhouse awaiting early winter propagation. Cuttings from annuals like coleus, begonias, euphorbia and Cuban oregano are propagated.

Before Christmas, MGEVs kick off the operations plan for the spring plant sale. This plan is based on the experience of MGEVs who document the techniques and information from previous sales and pass the information along to the next year’s committee chairs.

How to get a passalong from a mother plant Customers form lines early at the 2019 Spring Plant Sale.

In December, a seeding timetable is established to start vegetables, herbs and annual flowers in the greenhouse. Over two dozen varieties of tomato and pepper seeds are planted. Shoppers will find varieties of indeterminate (vining) and determinate (bushy) tomatoes and a wide range of sweet and hot peppers.

Culinary herbs such as oregano, sage, parsley and thyme are grown for the sale. There will be some surprises this year.

“The public can expect to see some different flowering annuals such as salvia, dahlias, and gazania,” says Kathy Olmsted, co-chair of the spring plant sale.

In addition, plant digs from MGEV gardens supplement the inventory of plants. Intake days are held for plant donations. Some are passalong plants, which have an old Southern tradition and are often hard to find at today’s garden centers.

All plants sold at the Spring Plant Sale have been grown by MGEVs with much care and pride, according to Greenhouse Chair Audrey Harrelson.

“The MGEVs are always looking for better ways to propagate plants

and improve the sales day experience for the public,” she says.

When seedlings are ready, the tedious job of dividing and repotting them begins. All plants are labeled with a description, prices and growing requirements. The master gardeners also combine beautiful assortments of container plants popular with shoppers.

Two days before the sale, a caravan of MGEV trucks line up to move a sea of plants from the greenhouse to the Ag Building located at the Coweta County Fairgrounds.

Thousands of plants are loaded and unloaded into separate sales areas.

Signs are placed to help shoppers find vegetables, herbs, perennials, annual flowers, shrubs, trees and native plants. All plants are inspected, tagged and cleaned to look perfect for sale day.

Master Gardener Extension Volunteers assemble early on sale day for a meeting, photos and final instructions. Jobs include greeters, plant experts, checkers, cashiers and holding area organizers. The “Ask the Coweta County MGEV” team members are on-hand to answer questions about plant diseases,

Every day my husband and I walk the neighborhood. One of my neighbors was tending her garden and I complimented her confederate rose. The next day, she was there to greet us and share a cutting from the plant. So now I always describe this plant in my garden as a passalong from Shirley. (A book by Steve Bender and Felder Rushing, “Passalong Plants,” recounts the wonderful Southern tradition of sharing plants in this way.)

— Dale Senko

insects and turf growing, etc.

After months of preparation, MGEVs are ready and eager to welcome the community to the sale.

Long customer lines form well before the 8:30 a.m. opening.

Proceeds from plant sales support MGEV scholarships for graduating seniors, the “I Can Garden” Club at the Newnan-Coweta Boys and Girls Club, McGuffey Nature Trail, MGEV Speaker’s Bureau, Backyard Association Monthly Presentations, “Ask the MGEV” booth at Market Days on the Square, Coweta County MGEV Help Desk and 4-H projects.

NCM

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 77

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Prune early spring blooming plants like forsythia, quince and winter honeysuckle after they finish blooming.

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Sow seeds indoors for spring vegetables and flower transplants according to germination and planting dates.

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The Coweta Cities & County EFCU would like to thank Sheriff Lenn Wood for his more than 41 years serving and protecting the residents of Newnan & Coweta County.

We would also like to thank Sheriff Wood for his 23 years at the Credit Union volunteering on the Credit Committee!

It’s volunteers like Lenn, dedicated to the community, that make the difference at Coweta Cities & County EFCU!

Membership may be easier than you think!

43 Jefferson Parkway P.O. Box 71063 Newnan, GA 30271-1063

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EMPLOYEES FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

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Let the foliage of spring blooming bulbs turn brown before removing.

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Plant summer annuals after the danger of frost has passed.

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Spread three to four inches of mulch around plants, trees and shrubs to discourage weeds and conserve moisture.

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Monitor landscape plants weekly for aphids on new growth and blast them off with a water hose.

The 2020 Coweta County MGEV Plant Sale on April 4 runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Ag Building located at the Coweta County Fairgrounds at 275 Pine Road in Newnan.

Visit the Ask the MGEV booth on Newnan Market Days every first Saturday from May through October.

For more, contact the Coweta County Extension Office at coweta.extension@uga.edu.

March 2020

HIPHOLIDAYS 2 Old Stuff Day

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National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day

Take some time on this made-up holiday to appreciate the beauty of all things old and vintage.

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Unofficial holiday created in 2007 to mark the beginning of a 12-day period when, according to the Cinco de Marcho website, “people train their livers for drinking huge amounts of alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day.”

National Day of Unplugging National Dentist’s Day

National Cereal Day

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National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day

15 Ides of March 16 Julius Caesar was warned by soothsayers to “beware the Ides of March.” Evidently, he didn’t heed the warning; he was stabbed by Marcus Brutus on this date in 44 BC.

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Celebrate by shopping at locally owned businesses throughout Coweta County.

National Pencil Day

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Purple Day – Epilepsy Awareness

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Eat an Eskimo Pie Day

3 National Walk to Work Day

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Walk to work today! If you live too far from your job, take a walk at lunch time or when you get back home. The goal: walk at least 30 minutes today.

National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

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Caramel Popcorn Day Good Friday

National Beer Day

15 World Art Day 16

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National Stress Awareness Day

International Plant Appreciation Day

An international celebration of the fine arts, this day aims to foster appreciation of art National and to spread enthusiasm and Dolphin Day awareness of the arts. (We’re doing our part with this issue National Pecan Day of NCM, The Arts Issue.)

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Easter Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

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International Day of Happiness World Storytelling Day

National Crayon Day

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Palm Sunday

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April 2020 If you’ve ever been rejected, this day is for you. It’s a day for all of us who have been spurned but lived to tell about it.

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National Poultry Day

National 24 Puppy Day National Chips and Dip Day

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National Freedom of Information Day

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National Good Samaritan Day

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International Jugglers Day

Mushroom Day

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25 World Penguin Day

26 National

Pretzel Day

This day coincides with the annual northward migration

Volunteer Recognition Day

Kindergarten Day

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Administrative Professionals Day

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penguins. Take a moment Take Your Daughter Pig in a Blanket Day of to learn more about these to Work Day Arbor Day tuxedo-wearing waddlers.

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International Astronomy Day Hairstyle Appreciation Day MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 79

EventCalendar

March-April 2020 MARCH

7

YOU LIKE IT’ 19-22, ‘AS Newnan Theatre Company, 26-29 Newnan • $10-$20,

Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.;

Sunday, 3 p.m.

This William Shakespeare play examines love, power and forgiveness while taking a jaunt through the idyllic Forest of Arden. For more, visit newnantheatre.org or call 770.683.6282.

SHAMROCK RUN

Downtown Court Square, Newnan • 8 a.m.

The Newnan Junior Service League hosts its 14th annual 5K and 10K races that are both USATF-certified courses. The 10K course is for competitive runners, while the 5K and Leprechaun Dash are fun for the whole family. For more, visit njslserves.org.

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Coweta County Fairgrounds, Ag Building and Outdoor Theater, Newnan • 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

MARKET DAY

Courthouse Square, Newnan • 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

This AKC event features matches as an important learning process for dogs, exhibitors, handlers, judges and members. The annual spring match offers conformation, obedience, rally and trick dog testing. For more, contact matchchair@ newnankennelclub.org.

The market in downtown Newnan showcases handmade, homemade and homegrown products with 50 booths offering everything from honey and jelly to pottery and art. Pickin’ on the Square brings together acoustic musicians on the courthouse steps. Visit mainstreetnewnan.com.

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MOLLIE BURCH: LUNCHEON AND FASHION SHOW

LIVERPOOL 26 LEGENDS

The Nixon Centre for the Arts, Newnan • 7 p.m., $15-$20

The Nixon Centre for the Arts, Newnan Noon

The Liverpool Legends are back with The Complete Beatles Experience. These four talented musicians/ actors were handpicked by Louise Harrison, sister of the late George Harrison of The Beatles. As such, Liverpool Legends is the only Beatles Tribute Band with a direct family link to the original Fab Four. For more, visit thenixoncentre.net or contact 770.254.2787 or info@thenixoncentre.net.

The Mollie Burch women’s clothing line, CROSBY, is distinguished by custom prints, vibrant color and whimsical design. Founded on the desire to fight social injustice, CROSBY uses bright designs to support organizations that aid victims of sex trafficking. Burch will speak about her clothing line and mission at this limited seating luncheon and fashion show. For more, visit thenixoncentre.net.

ring acaring cteaching teaching reaching reaching rve Rese ce spa your 20 for 20 ear! ol y scho

Experienced childcare professionals committed to providing quality care to the children in our community.

APRIL

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106 BAILEY STATION CIRCLE SHARPSBURG • 770-304-8857

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The Nixon Centre for the Arts, Newnan 7 p.m.

MASTER GARDENER EXTENSION VOLUNTEERS 2020 SPRING PLANT SALE Coweta County Fairgrounds, Newnan • 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Plants raised by local master gardeners are for sale. Bring a box or a wagon and stock up on flowers, trees, tomato and pepper plants, herbs and more. For more, see story on page 76 or visit facebook.com/ cowetacountymastergardenerextensionvolunteers.

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Children age 6 weeks to 12 years

JIGJAM JigJam is a multi-award winning quartet from Ireland that blends the best of traditional Irish music with bluegrass and Americana in a genre which has been called I-Grass, or Irish- influenced bluegrass. For more, visit thenixoncentre.net or contact 770.254.2787 or info@thenixoncentre.net.

NEWNAN 243 SUMMERLIN BOULEVARD CROSSING NEWNAN • 770-253-8104 BAILEY STATION

NEWNAN KENNEL CLUB MATCH SHOW

MARKET DAY

Courthouse Square, Newnan 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

The market in downtown Newnan showcases handmade, homemade and homegrown products.

Pickin’ on the Square brings together acoustic musicians on the courthouse steps performing bluegrass, gospel and other music. Visit mainstreetnewnan.com.

NEW CAR’ 16-19, ‘BECKY’S Newnan Theatre Company, Newnan 23-26 $10-$20 • Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.;

Sunday, 3 p.m.

Becky Foster is caught in middle age, middle management and in a middling life with no prospects for change on the horizon. One night a socially inept and grief-stricken millionaire stumbles into the car dealership where she works and Becky is offered nothing short of a new life.

For more, visit newnantheatre.org or call 770.683.6282.

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RELAY FOR LIFE OF COWETA COUNTY

Coweta County Fairgrounds, Newnan 4-10 p.m.

The event gets underway by honoring everyone who has been affected by cancer and everyone who has contributed to the success of the Relay. The heart and soul of Relay for Life events, survivors and caregivers are honored with their own walk as supporters cheer them on. For more, contact tanya.fairbanks@cancer.org or call 770.362.2252.

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BEE GEES GOLD: THE TRIBUTE

The Nixon Centre for the Arts, Newnan 3 p.m.

John Acosta has performed in Bee Gees tributes all over the world, singing the tunes of lead singer Barry Gibb with a zest for detail like no other. Expect to hear hits like “I Started a Joke,” “Stayin’ Alive” and “You Should Be Dancing.” For more, visit thenixoncentre.net or contact 770.254.2787 or info@thenixoncentre.net.

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ABBY’S ANGELS RAINBOW RUN AND FAMILY FUN DAY

Coweta County Fairgrounds, Newnan 9 a.m.

A 5K Rainbow Run gets the day started with lots of color.

After the run, the celebration continues with music, food, games and a raffle. All proceeds benefit Abby’s Angels Foundation. Donations of school supplies will be accepted at the run. Visit abbysangelsfoundation.org for a list of needed items and for more about the Rainbow Run.

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TASTE OF SENOIA

Senoia Masonic Lodge and 20 Main Street, Senoia • 1-4 p.m.

The Senoia Optimist Club sponsors this annual event with various restaurants participating. Enjoy bluegrass music by Dan Daniel and the Georgia Grass, a pie eating contest, face painting, “The Walking Dead” tours and historic home tours. For more, visit facebook.com/ senoiaoptimistclub.

MAY

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RACE FOR THE ORPHANS 5K

Coweta County Fairgrounds, Newnan 8 a.m.-11 a.m.

The 8th annual RACE for the Orphans raises money to help local families seeking to adopt or in the process of adoption. The Tot Trot begins at 8:15, the One-Mile Run starts at 8:30, and the 5K takes off at 9 a.m. with the awards ceremony set for 10 a.m. The 5K course is USATFcertified and a Peachtree Road Race qualifier. For more, see our Nonprofit Spotlight on page 58. To register for the race, visit racefortheorphans.org.

ANYTHING BUT OLD SCHOOL Here’s to new adventures, people, ideas, possibilities. Sarah found all of the above at UWG Newnan, where she was able to earn a quality education while living and working in the community she loves. The University of West Georgia made it possible for her dream of becoming a nurse a reality.

When you Go West, the sky’s the limit. Blaze your own trail forward.

Learn more at westga.edu.

COWETA KIDS CARE

Middle Schoolers bake and rake to help others Written by JACKIE KENNEDY

Evans Middle School students armed with personal care items and stuffed animals to take to Ruth Hill Elementary are, from left, Dax Kilby, son of Brian and Carolyn Kilby; Nicholas Parker, son of Ken and Dianne Parker; Cam Lovett, son of Brandon and Lori Lovett; Taylor Drake, son of Taylor and Lori Drake; Bryce Vukovich, son of Matt and Lindsey Vukovich; Keegan Turner, son of Michelle Croasmun and Brian Turner; and Jayden Morrison, son of Cassandra Orr. Participants not pictured include Gus Anderson, son of Harris and Sally Anderson, and Henry Smith, the group’s only eighth grader, son of Stephen and Anne Smith.

82 | WWW.NEWNAN.COM

T

wo groups of neighborhood and family friends – one of girls, another of boys, and almost all students at Evans Middle School – enjoyed a volunteer project so much last fall that they’ve decided to do one each month until they graduate from high school.

The sixth-grade girls and seventh-grade boys volunteered in October to help Ruth Hill Elementary School by supplying items needed for a school project. The middle school boys provided toiletries and stuffed animals, and the girls made and delivered blankets, according to Dianne Parker, the mom of two of the young volunteers, seventh grader Nicholas and sixth grader Francesca.

“After that, the kids decided to adopt some children their age through the Christmas in Coweta program,” says Parker. “The girls decided to have bake sales and the boys did yard work to raise money to purchase Christmas gifts for the children.”

The girls organized and did all the baking for two sales, offering pound cakes, holiday treats and dog cookies. They raised enough money to buy Christmas gifts for two teenagers as well as bikes and helmets for their siblings. The boys used their pay for doing yard work to make Christmas merry for two teenage boys.

“They were so thoughtful shopping for their gifts, picking out the right colors and finding something to meet the interest of the children they were shopping for,” says Parker. “Pulling it all together was a bit overwhelming, but the end result was so special — to see how much they cared about what they had done. It was a

COWETA KIDS CARE

Middle school girls from Newnan shop to fill the wish list of children at Christmas, from left: Emma Cox, daughter of Anthony and Melissa Cox; Sarah Frank, daughter of Phillip and Candace Frank; Mary Hollis Kidd, daughter of Scott and Missy Kidd; Macie Lynn Bohannon, daughter of Brad and Alicia Bohannon; Ella Sherrer, daughter of Craig and Rebecca Sherrer; Francesca Parker, daughter of Ken and Dianne Parker; Olivia Morris, daughter of Joseph and Jeanne Morris; Margaret Gail Barron, daughter of Tom and Kristin Barron; Kathleen Burnette, daughter of Jeff Burnette and Betsy Burnette; and Lucy O’Rourke, daughter of Chris and Alison O’Rourke. Not pictured but active in the group is Anna Wicker, daughter of Jim and Julie Wicker.

Photos Courtesy of Dianne Parker

“I think that it is important to help others because we have so much and many people don’t have as much as we do. So I want to help give back because everyone deserves to be happy.”

really nice way to end a very busy holiday season with them.”

The children’s thoughtfulness comes across in their comments.

“I like helping others because it makes me feel good,” says Taylor Drake. “The group can continue helping others this year and give food to the needy and shut-ins.”

“I like to give back to others that can’t do for themselves,” says Keegan Turner. “I want to continue doing things that make others feel like they are a part of something.”

Lucy O’Rourke, the only participant who does not attend Evans Middle School (she’s a student at Landmark Christian School in Fairburn), sums it up like this: “I think that it is important to help others because we have so much and many people don’t have as much as we do. So I want to help give back because everyone deserves to be happy.”

The boys and girls kicked off their volunteerism efforts in 2020 by visiting a nursing home in January and volunteering at Bridging the Gap in February. NCM Nominate a Coweta kid who cares by writing to magazine@newnan.com.

For that Something Borrowed...Something Blue

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carriagehousesenoia.com MARCH/APRIL 2020 | 83

ALL ROADS LEAD TO COWETA

Blacktop Photo by Holli Walpole

Holli Walpole, of Newnan, captured fall colors refle cted at Lake Peachtree in Peachtree City.

Photo by Susan Cline Arguilla

County on the way off Bill Cline Road in west Coweta the sunset photo.

Susan Cline Arguilla shot this photo for d use ember 2019. No filter was of gratitude,” full home from Thanksgiving dinner in Nov day a for ing end ect perf ent, the “It was just natural beauty in the momsays Arguilla.

Photo by Mirela Jenkin

s

Mirela Jenkins says she continue to work on theand husband Tab Jenkins, of Newnan, interior of her “She Shed where she works on int erior decorations for he,”r the place home.

submit your

photos

Email us your photos of life in and around Coweta County and we may choose yours for a future edition of Blacktop!

Photos must be original, high-resolution (300 DPI) digital photos in .jpg format, at least 3”x 5” size.

Please include your name so that we can give you credit for your photo in the magazine!

Photo

by Gary Wilson The sun shines br ightly through tr Wilson’s Coweta ees in the backyard of Gary County home.

Email your photos with the subject “Blacktop” to the address below.

magazine@newnan.com

SPRING March 27 - Spring Art Walk, 5-9pm April 04 - Market Day, 10am-2pm

April 16 - Taste of Newnan, 5-8:30pm May 02 - Market Day, 10am-2pm

SUMMER June 06 - Market Day, 10am-2pm June 11 - Summer NewnaNights, 6-9pm June 19 - Summer Wined Up, 5-9pm July 04 - July 4th Parade, 9am July 04 - Market Day, 10am-2pm

Photo by Jodi Astin

se Freeman by muralist Molly RoNe ing int pa e lif nwnan. ha r-t The large ton Street in downtown adorns West Washing

July 09 - Summer NewnaNights, 6-9pm Aug 01 - Market Day, 10am-2pm Aug 13 - Summer NewnaNights, 6-9pm June 10 - Oct 15 Wednesdays Farmer’s Market

2020

DOWNTOWN NE WNAN E VENTS www.mainstreetnewnan.com

AUTUMN Sept 04 - Labor Day Sidewalk Sale Sept 05 - Sunrise on the Square Road Race, 8am Sept 05 - Market Day, 10am-2pm Sept 18 - Fall Art Walk, 5-9pm

Oct 02 - Oktoberfest, 5-9pm Oct 03 - Market Day, 10am-2pm Oct 24 - Tucked Away Music Fest, 2-7pm Oct 30 - Munchkin Masquerade, 10am-12pm June 10 - Oct 15 Wednesdays Farmer’s Market

WINTER Nov 07 - Market Day, 10am-2pm Nov 20 - Holiday Sip & See, 5-9pm Nov 27 - Plaid Friday

This butterfly wears the

Nov 27 - Santa on the Square, 6-8pm Nov 28 - Small Business Saturday Dec 05 - Market Day, 10am-2pm

Photo by Sally Ray color blue brilliantly.

Photo by Jodi Astin ille grabbed the attention The blue brick wall in Grantvlive d in Grantville for three of Jodi Astin, of Newnan. “Iattentio n to its features,” she years and never paid muchas time passes, you see things says. “It’s amazing how, ly beauty all around us if we differently. There is definiteand look for it.” open our eyes

If you would like information about how to advertise your business in Newnan-Coweta Magazine, call 770.253.1576 or email advertising@newnan.com

THE WRAP-UP/TOBY NIX

On the Receiving End of Art

T

he Oxford English Dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

My wife can take a No. 2 pencil and draw the most amazing things, while I can’t even draw a convincing circle. Our children inherited her artistic ability. I’m more than a little jealous of them all.

I think I can stretch the definition enough to claim my writing is art. I express myself, so there’s that. I only write what I have seen or felt, so I’m not sure what color that is on the creative or imaginative part of the litmus test. My words are on paper, which gives me a visual form. And I have it on good account that my mom likes everything I ever write, so for at least one person, I am nailing the “beauty and emotional power” part.

For something to be art, the responsibility falls on the person on the receiving end of the

expression rather than the creator. Personally, I don’t get abstract art, but I know some people do. What doesn’t work for me works for them.

Neither of us is wrong.

I have a recording of Kris Kristofferson singing “Me and Bobby McGee” live. Right before the music starts, he says, “If it sounds country, man, that’s what it is.” I’ve always loved that line. He’s letting the crowd know that he’s just singing his song. They can decide for themselves what it is.

There is no wrong answer.

Creators can only put their creations out for the public to consume. They have no say in how it’s received. And putting yourself out there can be a scary thing to do.

I’ve written columns that I didn’t like at all but were well received. Conversely, I’ve written things that I thought would win me a Pulitzer Prize that went over like a lead balloon. You just never know.

I’ve learned to just put it out there. If I’m trying to sing a G note and one person in the crowd hears a G, then I reckon that’s a success.

Coweta County is lucky to have amazing artists in its midst. All we have to do is start on the Newnan Town Square on the weekend and hit any watering hole to find locals expressing themselves by way of words and music.

Several times a year, there are Art Walks and other opportunities to get out and see photographs, drawings and paintings offered up from the artists who use ink, paint, film and other materials as their medium.

If you’ve never taken advantage of these opportunities to see your neighbor’s art, I would enthusiastically suggest you do so.

I guarantee you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of something that you will decide is worthy of being called art. It’s one of the many reasons Newnan holds a special place in my heart. NCM Southern born and Southern bred, Toby Nix is a local writer who works in law enforcement.

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