"Flannery" at Cogburn Road Park
Artist : Wendi Schutt
Piano Donor: Anonymous
Location: Cogburn Road Park in Alpharetta
Find and play Flannery under the pavilion.
Flannery's Story
Flannery, painted by Wendi Schutt, is the first public piano in Alpharetta.
“The City of Alpharetta is excited to welcome its first public piano to Cogburn Park,” said Morgan Rodgers, Director of the Alpharetta Recreation and Parks Department. “It is our goal to have a public piano in every one of our public parks in the City of Alpharetta, and we thank Play Me Again Pianos for helping make this dream a reality. Music is universal, and these works of art will allow music to fill the spaces in our parks.”
Flannery O'Connor is one of Wendi's favorite authors, and Wendi drew her inspiration for the piano design from the O'Connor family farm, 'Andalusia', where Flannery raised peacocks. O'Connor and her family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia in 1940 to live on Andalusia Farm where she completed some of her best known works.
Flannery O'Connor was an American writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and thirty-two short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries, and is considered one of the best short story authors of the 20th century.
At Andalusia, she raised and nurtured some 100 peafowl. Fascinated by birds of all kinds, she raised ducks, ostriches, emus, toucans, and any sort of exotic bird she could obtain, while incorporating images of peacocks into her books. She described her peacocks in an essay entitled "The King of the Birds."
Wendi painted three adult male peacocks, one female peacock and two peacock chicks on the piano among hollyhocks, snapdragons and sunflowers.
This 1962 photo shows author Flannery O'Connor in the driveway at Andalusia in Georgia. . The final home of O’Connor is being given to Georgia College after a small foundation struggled to keep up the historic property. The Savannah-born author spent the last 13 years of her life on the middle Georgia dairy farm known as Andalusia. O’Connor completed her best-known works there, including the short story collection “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.”
(Joe McTyre /Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) The Associated Press
Wendi's connection to Andalusia is through her aunt and uncle Joanne and Robert Battle. Joanne gave tours of the farm and Robert, also an artist, often included barns from the property in his work.
Andalusia is now a museum dedicated to O'Connor's work. We think that our piano, Flannery, is a lovely tribute as well.
About Wendi Schutt
Wendi is a local Alpharetta fine artist who works in the mediums of water based oil and acrylic paint. She paints vivid landscapes, animals and some portraiture. She is involved in her community as a commission member for the Recreation and Parks Department for the City of Alpharetta and as the Cultural Arts liaison and is a founding member of Arts Alpharetta. Wendi believes that art makes the difference between a good life and an excellent life. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and says Alpharetta reminds her of Austin more and more these days, “except cleaner!” Wendi’s paintings currently hang in private collections and corporate environments throughout Atlanta and the U.S. For more information visit ArtsAlpharetta.org.
About the City of Alpharetta
Alpharetta is home to more than 65,000 residents and sees its population swell to more than 100,000 each workday. Alpharetta is now Georgia’s 12th most populous city, boasts some of the best schools in the United States, and is known far and wide as the Technology City of the South due to the large number of tech-focused companies that call Alpharetta home.
Yet, while the community now has the trappings and success of a metropolitan city, Alpharetta remains known for its sense of community; an ideal environment for raising families, making friends, and enjoying a quality of life that is second to none. For more information visit Alpharetta.GA.US.
Flannery's Birthdate: October 29, 2017
Installation #11
Flannery’s Retirement Date: September 24, 2023
Share Your Flannery Stories
If you have a story with Flannery that you'd like to share, please do so, we'd love to hear from you! We'd also enjoy seeing your pictures and videos.
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