On October 25, 2017 students from Lamar Dodd School of Art will be honored by the City of Rutledge, GA for their outstanding work creating the town’s Memorial Day mural Never Forgotten, completed this past May. The mural honors the veterans who have served in the United States military, which was commissioned by the Rutledge Garden Club. The group of students will be honored with a bronze plaque that bears the names of the students. 

The students Selena Roth (BFA ’17, Printmaking), Gunnar Tarsa (BFA ’17, Drawing), Young Lim Lee (Painting), Hannah Duggan (Painting), and Garrett Ray (BFA ’17, Interdisciplinary Studies) are part of a public art group called Color the World Bright that was established by Professor Joseph Norman in 2007. Roth who served as Project Manager, said “… it was really cool to work on the mural because the entire community was excited about it… we’d be working away and people would stop by and talk about their family members who served, or talk about their own military experience, and how cool it was the town would now have this giant mural featuring all the branches of the armed forces.”

Joesph Norman has conducted mural commissions with UGA students in the countries of Cuba, Ecuador and Costa Rica. Color the World Bright consists of five to six outstanding UGA students at any given time. Norman independently trains them in the art of traditional and contemporary mural making. The group changes personnel either through a normal graduation or after the completion of 2 to 3 projects. This year, Color the World Bright 5.0 has executed 3 large-scale major murals. One for the City of Rutledge, one for the town of Tignall, GA and one within Snelling Dining Hall on UGA campus. Color the World Bright 5.0 will be honored with their second proclamation by the North Wilkes Steering Committee in Tignall during their fall festival on November 11 for their mural titled I’d Rather Be In Tignall.