Colorful, abstract magpies will soon cover a three-story wall at Suwanee’s newly renovated 60-year-old municipal court building, once the city’s original city hall. Georgia muralist Lauren Pallotta Stumberg was chosen by the Suwanee Public Art Commission to create the mural along with two free-standing five-foot-tall metal magpie sculptures.
The renovated 3,200-square-foot building includes a three-story addition with approximately 8,600 square feet and expanded lobby to accommodate court session crowds, doubled court clerk work space, and added new space for the police Special Enforcement Unit.
The mural will be paid for using the city’s request for developers to commit one percent of construction costs toward public art.
Stumberg frequently uses abstracted magpies in her work, having been inspired by an English nursery rhyme that translates one’s fortune based on the number of magpies one sees.
“It is this perception of the magpie that inspires my work – the notion that the bird is an omen of change, and change, good or bad, is often invaluable,” said Stumberg. “In this way, the presence of the magpie is a calling to enter a crucible of the spirit. It asks you to rethink social norms, to shift perspectives, to be open to personal transformation.”
Information on the artist: www.thinkgreatly.com/about.
