‘Seeing this community helped’: Mill Hill Art community unites on ideas for new Macon Park – 13WMAZ.com

MACON, Ga. – Art and roy scott go way back. He loved it as a child and as a young man. Art has meant everything to him.

He was 17 years old when he enlisted in the Navy and was sent away from home. That istoIt was the year when Otis Redding died in a plane crash, and his song, “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” was released posthumously.

Scott listened to and sang the song, which he says summed up his life in the Navy.

“That song moved me and meant a lot to me,” Scott said.

He was so moved by it that decades later he created a work of art as a tribute to Otis Redding, and the coming-of-age song.

Today he is retired and spends a lot of time creating at his home in the Mill Hill Art Village. The town of East Macon was created for artists to be close to each other.

East Macon is also home to the birthplace of the City of Macon. The city was established in 1823 on the banks of the Ocmulgee River. To celebrate Macon’s bicentennial, a park is being created right next to the neighborhood.

Neighbors gathered on Tuesday to look at plans for the park and share new ideas and feedback on what it will look like.

“Nothing is structured. It will essentially be the term ‘passive park.’ It will have no play structures, no water features, no basketball courts. It’s not that kind of park. It’s a contemplative park, beautifully wooded and grassy. A beautiful park. with grass and trees,” said landscape architect Wimberly Treadwell.

Scott hopes that once the park is created, it will bring more people and recognition to the arts community in East Macon.

“I think my excitement is to see, mainly, to see that this community helped,” Scott said.

Now the bicentennial committee is looking for artists from all over Macon to help create the new park. They are looking for artists to submit qualifications for art to be displayed in the park.

According to the Macon Arts Alliance website, they are looking for work that:

• Commemorate Macon history, evoking emotion. Macon’s story includes pain, segregation, harshness, a lot of recognizable feelings.
• Create interest in and around past and present healing, reconciliation and restoration.
• Inspire people to view the Macon community with hope and a spirit of equity, empathy, social justice, and community integrity for the future.

“We want artists from all genres. It could be something musical. It could be something that goes with the wind,” Treadwell said.

You can find more details about what they are looking for and instructions on how to apply at the Macon Arts Alliance website.