It was 48 years ago when the doors of the Peachtree City Elementary School first opened. The young cherub faced students filed into the shining new building with their parents, meeting teachers, adjusting to the new surroundings.
This was an epic moment in Peachtree City’s history, the moment when a fledgling community, master planned and full of hope, became a legitimate place to reside and send your children to school. These were the children of the city’s pioneering families who watched asphalt cul de sacs materialize in what was once agricultural land and Flat Creek dammed to form Lake Peachtree.
Peachtree City Elementary School was an authentic government building of size and stature and it marked a point on the city’s historical timeline that announced the city was real, sustainable and growing. The school was the first multigenerational institution of Peachtree City where the children of the former students attended, and soon the grandchildren would attend. It was truly the crucial foundational hub of the new city’s civic life.
In recent years, this pinnacle of pride for the city was threatened with closure as the county’s student population shrank and newer schools loomed large on the scale of infrastructure. The mere thought that an era may be ending was too much for the families in the surrounding neighborhoods to accept. Strong support was shown by the community for keeping the school open, revealing that the historical significance was too powerful to ignore.
The Board of Education made a commitment to insure the future existence of the oldest school in Peachtree City and to protect the sole structure that has linked the city’s people for generations.
As the Peachtree City Elementary School approaches its 50th anniversary, the school’s faculty and PTO, with the assistance of the Fayette County Public Arts Committee, is requesting proposals from artists who are interested in creating a unique, large indoor mural for the lunchroom-auditorium of the school.
What makes this project unique is it will be a collaboration between the mural artist and local volunteer community artists. Members of the community and former students will be able to participate in this historic project that will mark the school’s half century of serving our citizens in 2018.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to put your personal brush stroke on a piece of Peachtree City history and I hope our local amateur and professional artist will volunteer for this community project,” said Fayette County Commissioner and former Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown.
The Peachtree City Elementary School PTO is seeking broad participation from artists to provide conceptual design proposals for a large mural to be located in the lunchroom/auditorium space. The selected artist is responsible for creating the entire mural concept and painting the central core of the project. The design should allow for local volunteer artists to paint some of the ancillary portions of the mural beyond the central core, under the contracted mural artist’s supervision.
Artists are asked to provide a powerful representation of the school’s identity and shape the narrative of the school’s unique place in the community. The city of Peachtree City has some unique features that the Peachtree City Elementary community value and ask that those features are embodied within the mural. The visual images used to tell their story are open to artists who can imaginatively reflect the core values of school, community, and the student’s place within the community.
Artists are encouraged to visit the mural site prior to submission.
To receive the complete Call for Artists application, contact the school’s administrative office at (770) 631-3250 or Principal Kristin Berryman at berryman.kristin@mail.fcboe.org.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, residents of metro Atlanta and be willing to adhere to all contractual obligations, project guidelines, and the timeline.
Former Peachtree City Elementary School students are also invited to contribute financially to this project.
