Painting inspired by GreenHouse to hang in facility

Published 11:17 pm Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Sara Morgan’s watercolor paintings hang in some of this area’s most well-known buildings, including the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, Murray Medical Center and the Creative Arts Guild.

On Wednesday, Morgan donated a painting called “Canadian Clown” to the GreenHouse, an organization sponsored by the district attorney’s office in Whitfield County that helps children who have been physically and sexually abused.

Morgan had visited the GreenHouse while serving on the Whitfield County grand jury.

“Sara was touched by some of the cases she heard while serving on the grand jury,” said District Attorney Kermit McManus, who unveiled the painting at the GreenHouse on Wednesday.

“She was impressed with the facts of the cases and the loving care by the GreenHouse staff,” McManus said.

The painting will be renamed “Sara’s Clown” in honor of the artist, McManus said.

Morgan said she found the model for the painting at a small shop while on a visit to Canada.

After her last visit to the GreenHouse, Morgan decided to donate the painting in hopes that those seeing the clown would be “welcomed by its cheering smile.”

Morgan has been painting for more than 40 years and has exhibited work in four countries. Her painting of the old county courthouse will be on display during the dedication of the expanded courthouse in May. She was commissioned by Dalton lawyer Carlton McCamy in 1993 to paint the structure, which was erected in 1891 and demolished in 1961. The painting currently hangs in the firm’s law library.