The Sandy Springs Library Branch dedicated a whimsical mural by artist Diana Toma on April 14 in a project funded by the Friends of the Sandy Springs Library.
Friends President Christine Heller said during the pandemic the nonprofit organization had few requests from the library system, so the money it collected from book sales grew into a larger than normal amount. That created the opportunity for a bigger project. The group decided to select an artist to paint a mural on a wall above the children’s section.
“The board and I decided, ‘well, why don’t we see if we can get a mural together?’ So, we put out a call and we went and we looked at three different artists and we chose Diana,” Heller said.
“The whole idea with this is creating a state of well-being for the children coming here and very good, very friendly energy,” Toma said.
The Friends group normally raises about $20,000 a year, she said. The $10,000 it cost to pay the artist and rent the equipment – including a boom lift used to raise Toma up to the high section of wall – was a significant expense.
Toma already had a piece of art in the adult section of the library, Fulton County Library System Executive Director Gayle Holloman said.
Toma said the library became important to her during one of the most difficult times of her life as she was going through a divorce. She brought her children who were “tiny toddlers” at the time to do research on how to become a better artist and painter.
Being invited to paint the mural 12 years later was even more special because of her history with the library, Toma said.
Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis spoke at the dedication. He said something he loves about the county libraries, particularly those in his district – Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton – is fantastic community members like the Friends group come in and do a lot of work at the libraries.
“Libraries are meant to connect kids with reading. Anything like that can keep kids excited and draw them in is super critical really to the future of everything we’re doing in this community,” Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett said.
Ellis and Barrett’s commission districts include different parts of Sandy Springs.
