Xtra0817 by The Times-Herald

AUG 17, 2016

NEWNAN

Farmer’s Market in Downtown Newnan Aug 17 | 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. | $0 The Coweta County Farmer’s Market offers locally grown fruits, vegetables, honey, and fresh cut flowers. On Wednesdays, the Farmer’s Market is located around the Courthouse Square in Downtown Newnan from 9 am to 1 pm. It is facilitated by the UGA Coweta County Extension office, in partnership with Main Street Newnan and Coweta County. The market is recognized by Georgia Grown, and holds a membership through this program. Produce sold at the downtown market is strictly agricultural and excludes craft.

NEWNAN

Consigning Closests Aug 19 | 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. | $0 SonRise Baptist Church, located at 6 Shenandoah Blvd. in Newnan, will host Consigning Closets, Infant - Teen Sale on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 19 and Aug. 20. Select remaining merchandise will be marked to half price on Saturday. For more information about this event, contact Vicki Powell by email at vicki@consigningclosets.com or by phone at 678-485-8708.

LAGRANGE

Bow Wow Meow Luau Aug 20 | 6 p.m. | $0 Join the LaGrange and Troup County Humane Society for the annua Bow Wow Meow Luau per adoption event. The fun and casual event benefits local animals in need, by offering sheltered animals for adoption at a lower price. For a sneak peek of auction items before bidding begins, join the Humane Society at Pawtini Hour at 6 p.m. The Luau and silent auction will begin at 7 p.m. with live music by Lisa and The E-Lusion. For more information regarding this event, contact the LaGrange-Troup Humane Society at 706-298-3608.

HAPEVILLE

BattleActs at Hapeville Performing Arts Center

Muralist brightens up downtown Newnan By MAGGIE BOWERS Maggie@newnan.com It has been nearly six years since Newnan’s newest artist-in-residence made the decision to “upsize” her paintings. Molly Rose Freeman earned a Creative Writing degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and spent the first several years working in a studio in Asheville’s River Arts District. The nowmuralist said her works during that time were on a much smaller scale. “I mostly made really small paintings and drawings. After a while though, I started to feel claustrophobic,” Freeman said. “I wanted to sort of stretch out a little bit and be outside.” Freeman said it was around that time that she received a call from a friend who was planning a trip to Miami, Fla. to paint a mural. The visiting painter explained that, in Miami, there is a mural district known as Wynwood Walls. “In 2010, a friend of mine had gotten a wall to create a large mural and he needed extra hands to help him,” Freeman said. “I ended up painting a few spaces of my own while I was there and loved it.”

“I really like to be outside and I really like to move my body.” Freeman explained that, for her, painting murals seemed the perfect way in which to translate drawing into something that felt more accessible, and less confined. “I really like to be outside and I really like to move my body,” Freeman said. “I love murals and it has become my primary source of art and inspiration.” Aside from her first experience in Florida, painting murals has led Freeman to many locations across the nation and

beyond. The artist attempted to recount the many walls she has transformed in the past six years. “I traveled to Mexico just a few years ago and painted down there,” Freeman recalled. “I’ve also painted in San Francisco, California and New York and, of course, Georgia.” Freeman maintains a small studio at the Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta, which the artist acquired after relocating to the city in 2013, but had visited Newnan only once before becoming the latest artist-in-residence. The meeting, just a few months prior to becoming a temporary resident of the Gray Cottage in downtown Newnan, included lunch with the artist-in-residence board, in addition to a short driving tour through much of Coweta County. Freeman noted that it was on this tour that she first began to get a feel for the type of painting that might suit the small town of Newnan. The artist said she enjoyed not only the history of the city, which can be found in every corner, but the lush, green spaces that bloom in summertime.

MURAL, page 2