Spring has sprung in Suwanee, and with the blooming of the dogwoods comes another annual tradition in our parks: Art on a Limb! Through the Art on a Limb program, the City of Suwanee hides two pieces of art along one of the greenways or within city parks each day throughout the month of May. Those who find the art pieces get to keep them!

This year's Art on a Limb artist is a community favorite, as well as a previous program participant: Potter Richard Shivers – also known as "Mr. Shivers the Music Teacher" to 35 years' worth of Riverside Elementary alumni.

"Knowing the project would be displayed in the parks, I designed a pottery piece of a tree leaf," said Shivers. "We stroll, play, exercise, and gather at the beautiful parks in our town and nature is an important part of our community."

Shivers also created the green ceramic frog bowls with leafy tree branches that served as the 2014 Art on a Limb offering.

"Art on a Limb was a ten-year-old program at the time, and we wondered if it had reached the end of its lifespan," said Doherty. "I credit Mr. Shivers for breathing new life into an old program! People were so excited to search for art created by a well-known community member, especially former students."

Pottery was one of those things Shivers had always wanted to do "one day." After retirement and five years learning from "some of the best pottery teachers in the Atlanta area" at the Hudgens Center for the Arts, he decided to get serious about his hobby and opened his home studio, Measure of Clay.

"Having an art piece to take home from the park is a great acknowledgement of the importance of art, as well as a wonderful gift from the city to its people," said Shivers. "To have art in front of people all the time – that's a wonderful thing."

Artist's Statement

"Each leaf has a heart-shape cut out in the center of the piece to represent the Suwanee community we love. The piece is made from a special clay called "Peach" to correlate with Georgia being the Peach State. The pattern on each leaf is an abstract swirling circle to compliment the Suwanee logo circles and the colors chosen for the project were taken from the colors of the Suwanee logo: bright yellow, lime, blue, red, beige, purple, orange, gold, green, and pink. Each leaf has an additional pottery piece with an "S" stamped into the clay plus "Suwanee" is impressed on the back of each leaf. Beads of various sizes were added to the piece, again with chosen colors from the Suwanee logo to decorate each piece and give it "artsy" touch, which also supports the confirmation that this is an art community. The result is each leaf is different, but yet the same in some way just like a community."

– Artist Richard Shivers