Local Artist and Instructor Selected for City of Canton Mural Project Shanna Coulter, a fine art instructor at Cherokee High School, was selected as the featured artist to complete a 3 feet high and 540 feet long mural on Railroad Street. The City of Canton and the Downtown Canton Main Street’s Public Art Steering Committee issued a call for artists for the project early in 2020, and Coulter’s design stood out among the many who presented. Coulter submitted a rendering of a mural representing the history and diversity of Cherokee County.“We envisioned a parade of ‘legs’ through history, marching toward the present moment,” shared Coulter, who plans to complete the painting with a team of artists. “The mural would begin with the Native Americans who were here when the county first began to attract settlers, through the ‘Gold Rush,’ the ‘poultry capital of the world,’ the Great Fire, Denim Day, the Civil Rights Movement, and the integration of schools, to the colorful fashion of the mid-to-late 1900s.” “We want to use as many historical photographs for reference as we can get our hands on,” she continued. “As the timeline of Cherokee County reaches the 2000s, we would like to recruit living representatives to photograph for the final decades of the mural. Additionally, the blue river from the Canton logo would weave through connecting everyone, and the mural would end with the Canton logo.” The Public Arts team that helped with the selection of the Railroad Street mural project’s artist and design included Councilor Brooke Schmidt; Councilor Will Carlan; Councilor Sandy McGrew; Jamie Foreman, owner of Menagerie on Main; Penn Hodge, developer at The Mill on Etowah; and Velinda Hardy, downtown development manager. Artists were asked to consider connectivity, community, and blending the historic with the contemporary.“Shanna’s design is essentially a super creative take on a timeline,” explained Schmidt. “She plans to meet with Stefanie Joyner at History Cherokee to make sure clothing is correct and to get other ideas for Canton-specific items to include.” Coulter will complete the project by June, with the help of her team of artists and fellow art teachers, including Shannah Dean, Lori Thompson, Chris Lambert, MaryJo Mulvey, Leslie Babcock, Susan Jones, and Morgan Boswell. Funding for the mural project will be provided by the Canton Main Street Board and a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts.
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