Georgia Martin gets to see her art larger than she ever thought she would while also supporting a community organization.
Martin was chosen to paint a mural on the Giving Garden’s shed.
She said she’s used to painting on a small scale and making a huge mural was never on her radar. When high school art teacher Austin Lauxman gave students the opportunity to submit their ideas for the mural, she decided to give it a try.
The idea came from garden board member Amy Gordon Ames as a way to make the garden colorful and more of a venue to bring people to. She and board member Dana Chance reached out to Lauxman to find a way to collaborate.
All students in his Art 3 and 4 classes participated in the assignment, with the designs voted on by the Giving Garden board. The students were given some words to inspire their paintings like food, generosity and community. Lauxman helped guide students into what characteristics make a good mural.
He said Martin’s proposal had all the components of a good mural as it told a story, had simple colors and bold lines. He was confident the board would pick hers for those aspects, he said.
“She grasped that pretty well, and it was bright and beautifully done and felt complete,” he said.
Martin felt good about her design when she turned it in, but she also knew this wasn’t her typical style, she said. She is honored to be chosen out of all the student entries.
“It’s amazing. It’s so cool seeing something that I drew be so big. It really means a lot to me to be able to contribute to this community and to have something like this. I’m really proud,” Martin said.
When laying out her design, she wanted to incorporate all the aspects of the garden. She also knew it needed to be something bold with strong outlines she could more easily transfer to a large scale on the wall.
Her original design included a farmer and two kids, but once getting a paper more to scale, she decided to add the flowers and pollinators. On the food side, she added a cardinal for Eudora.
The process started during Martin’s junior year, and she started sketching the mural during her senior year. Last summer, she and Lauxman started measuring out how the original drawing would correspond with the shed wall.
They used chalk lines to create a grid and then used charcoal to create the painting’s black outlines. The outlines were then painted over with black paint by Martin, Chance and Gordon Ames.
Chance said getting to involve the community and allow different people to contribute to its beauty is one of the main goals of the garden.
“I think it’s just such a dynamic, beautiful piece of art that is eye-catching as soon as you see it, and you pull up into the garden and it’s there, and it’s bright and beautiful,” she said.
Gordon Ames wants to remind people the garden is open every day and is a place for anyone who wants to come enjoy the mural, the garden or the little free library.
She thinks the design Martin created exceeded expectations and was the encapsulation of the garden that the board wanted.
“I’m so excited about it. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. I mean, Georgia’s design is just absolutely perfect for our space and for the community,” she said.
Martin estimates the outline process to make the grids and charcoal pencil the lines took her and Lauxman about seven hours, and then about five or six hours to paint the outlines. Garden volunteers helped paint the design while Martin was in school in Manhattan. The project was officially completed last month.
Although she is an artist, she decided to go to college for electrical engineering, but art will always be a part of her life, she said.
Her father, Grant Martin, is a longstanding member of the Planning Commission and knows how important community involvement is, he said. He’s always tried to stress the importance of giving back to the community through community service and philanthropy, so seeing her complete this project makes him proud.
“Fortunately for Georgia, she is a very talented artist, and had, I would say, a couple career path choices, and she’ll always have art, but she’s excited to pursue electrical engineering,” he said.
She never saw herself doing a mural but now that she has, she said it’s a good feeling to have something she created in her hometown.
“I never in a million years thought that I’d have something like this to look at and be a part of the community. It really is an incredible feeling,” she said.
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